Results A total of 124 patients (44% normal ALT levels, median age 42 years, 68% males, 93% IDUs, 33% alcohol abuse, 5% HBsAg+, median CD4 count 511 cells/μL, median serum HCV-RNA 6.05 log10 copies/mL, 62% HCV genotype 1) were analyzed. Overall 34% of the whole population displayed the IL-28B CC genotype. When comparing ALT groups, 18 (32.7%) with normal ALT showed CC vs 25 (36.2%) with elevate...

UNLABELLED By performing regular blood transfusion and iron chelation therapy, most patients with beta thalassemia major (BTM) now survive beyond the third decade of life. Liver disease is becoming an important cause of morbidity and mortality in these patients. Chronic hepatitis and/or severe iron overload are both important causes of liver pathology. Iron chelation with desferrioxamine (DFO) ...

INTRODUCTION The natural history of patients with inactive hepatitis B virus (HBV) is still unclear, persisting doubts about the optimal management of these patients. AIM To evaluate the long-term outcome in a cohort of hepatitis B inactive carriers. METHODS We conducted a retrospective study in a cohort of 100 HBV inactive carriers (categorized after quarterly determinations of serum ALT a...

Objective. Objective. Previous studies showed that obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) was associated with liver diseases such as elevated liver enzyme levels and hepatic steatosis. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels and OSAS and its severity. Methods. A total of 617 patients who under...

OBJECTIVE Apathetic hyperthyroidism can be misdiagnosed or diagnosed late, and older patients are often susceptible to adverse effects of treatment for thyrotoxicosis. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with apathetic hyperthyroidism. METHODS We retrospectively examined serum calcium, phosphorus and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP) levels and thyroid-associated v...

Aim of the study was to evaluate serum levels of insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 in patients with liver cirrhosis and to compare serum IGFBP-3 levels with other liver function tests. Fifty-one patients with liver cirrhosis were selected for our study. We measured IGFBP-3 (1.67+/-1.06 mg/l, mean+/-SD), albumin (32+/-8 g/l), prealbumin (0.22+/-0.14 g/l), AST (2.29+/-2.38 microkat/l),...

BACKGROUND After the discovery of type C hepatitis virus, the studies on this virus are extensively progressing. The treatment of this viral infection is also widely progressing. Among many agents, recombinant interferon alpha therapy is generally accepted as an effective single agent. To evaluate the efficacy of interferon and to observe the changes of serum aminotransferase (ALT), antibody to...

A retrospective analysis of data from a cohort of patients coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) who were treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) at 3 infectious diseases units in northern Italy was performed. While the patients were receiving HAART, CD4(+) cell counts significantly increased and HIV RNA serum levels decreased. However,...

It has been suggested that an increase in serum alanine transaminase (ALT) activity in blood donors may identify infection with non-A, non-B hepatitis. To facilitate identification of such donors, the reference range for ALT was measured on a Technicon SMAC 1 Analyser, using serum from 364 blood donors and 567 plasmapheresis donors. The distribution of ALT activities displayed a positive skewne...

Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is the most commonly used marker of liver injury, but normal ALT levels are seen in a proportion of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected patients with severe liver injury. Golgi protein 73 (GP73) is a promising alternative marker of liver injury. This study assessed the relation between GP73 levels and liver disease severity, monitored the kinetic changes in G...