News by Subject Medicine & Health

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a reversible complication of liver cirrhosis thought to be caused by ammonia and is typically treated with lactulose. Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina conducted a cohort study that examined the correlation of ammonia levels with lactulose treatment. They found no correlation between ammonia level and dose of lactulose given. They concluded that ammonia levels are not helpful for clinicians in the management of HE in cirrhotic patients.

University of Colorado researchers have found lower vaccination rates among children who receive liver transplants, increasing the risk of sickness for those children, who already face significant health issues. The findings are discussed in a 'Research Letter' included in the November 12, 2019 issue of JAMA and also call attention to data that CU School of Medicine faculty members published earlier this year in JAMA Pediatrics.

A team of researchers including those from King's College London and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, have for the first time successfully applied bacteriophage (phage) therapy in mice to alcohol-related liver disease. Phages are viruses that specifically destroy bacteria.

Budesonide, a drug commonly used to treat Crohn's Disease, may offer fewer side effects and work at least as well as prednisone as an anti-organ rejection medication in liver transplant patients.

Liver toxicity is a big problem in the drug, food, and consumer products industries, especially because results in animal models fail to predict how chemicals will affect humans. A new Liver-Chip designed at the Wyss Institute and developed by its spin-out company Emulate, Inc. and pharmaceutical collaborators successfully predicts how different drugs impact rat, dog, and human models, and could help get the most effective drugs to patients faster.

Could there one day be a vaccine against the ravages of aging? A new gene therapy developed by the Wyss Institute and HMS was able to treat four age-related diseases in mice with a single injection of a combination of health-associated genes, showing promise for improving health during the aging process.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have uncovered a novel molecular mechanism that allows damaged adult liver cells to regenerate, paving the way for design of drugs to boost regeneration in conditions such as cirrhosis or other chronic liver diseases where regeneration is impaired.