Effects of Deoxynivalenol and Zearalenone on the Histology and Ultrastructure of Pig Liver

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of single and combined administrations of deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEN) on the histology and ultrastructure of pig liver. The study was performed on immature gilts, which were divided into four equal groups. Animals in the experimental groups received DON at a dose of 12 μg/kg body weight (BW) per day, ZEN at 40 μg/kg BW per day, or a mixture of DON (12 μg/kg BW per day) and ZEN (40 μg/kg BW). The control group received vehicle. The animals were killed after 1, 3, and 6 weeks of experiment. Treatment with mycotoxins resulted in several changes in liver histology and ultrastructure, including: (1) an increase in the thickness of the perilobular connective tissue and its penetration to the lobules in gilts receiving DON and DON + ZEN; (2) an increase in the total microscopic liver score (histology activity index (HAI)) in pigs receiving DON and DON + ZEN; (3) dilatation of hepatic sinusoids in pigs receiving ZEN, DON and DON + ZEN; (4) temporary changes in glycogen content in all experimental groups; (5) an increase in iron accumulation in the hepatocytes of gilts treated with ZEN and DON + ZEN; (6) changes in endoplasmic reticulum organization in the hepatocytes of pigs receiving toxins; (7) changes in morphology of Browicz–Kupffer cells after treatment with ZEN, DON, and DON + ZEN. The results show that low doses of mycotoxins used in the present study, even when applied for a short period, affected liver morphology.

A hepatitis C patológiája

The hepatitis C virus is an RNA virus, which belongs to the genus Hepaciviruses of the family Flaviviridae. Chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and ultimately even liver cancer may develop in over 80% of infected cases. The histological features of hepatitis C and hepatitis caused by other hepatotropic viruses show many similarities, however, certain specific histological characteristics are observable. Accordingly, intense lymphocytic infiltration around the periportal areas, steatosis and biliary alterations are frequent findings. Further characteristics of hepatitis C include liver cell destruction (apoptosis, necrosis), periportal inflammation and fibrosis, the degrees of which can be determined by means of the histology activity index. Our knowledge on the hepatitis C virus genome and the mechanism of replication of the virus have established the use of modern, direct-acting antivirals in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Orv. Hetil., 2015, 156(21), 836–839.

A Framework for Prediction of Response to HCV Therapy Using Different Data Mining Techniques

Hepatitis C which is a widely spread disease all over the world is a fatal liver disease caused by Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). The only approved therapy is interferon plus ribavirin. The number of responders to this treatment is low, while its cost is high and side effects are undesirable. Treatment response prediction will help in reducing the patients who suffer from the side effects and high costs without achieving recovery. The aim of this research is to develop a framework which can select the best model to predict HCV patients’ response to the treatment of HCV from clinical information. The framework contains three phases which are preprocessing phase to prepare the data for applying Data Mining (DM) techniques, DM phase to apply different DM techniques, and evaluation phase to evaluate and compare the performance of the built models and select the best model as the recommended one. Different DM techniques had been applied which are associative classification, artificial neural network, and decision tree to evaluate the framework. The experimental results showed the effectiveness of the framework in selecting the best model which is the model built by associative classification using histology activity index, fibrosis stage, and alanine amino transferase.

Comparison of histology activity index scores in patients with HBeAg positive and HBeAg negative CHB to see difference in severity of liver injury

The aim of this study is to compare histology activity index (HAI) scores in patients with HBeAg positive and HBeAg negative CHB to see if there is any difference in severity of liver injury between these two types of HBV. We did percutaneous liver biopsies of 77 CHB patients. Serum HBeAg status were assessed in all study subjects. Of them, 37.66% patients (29/77) had HBeAg positive HBV infection, while the rest 62.33% (48/77) had HBeAg negative HBV infection. 22/48 (27.78%) patients with HBeAg negative CHB had mild to moderate CH (HAI score 4-12) and 26/48 (72.22%) patients had minimal CH (HAI score 1-3). In contrast, mild to moderate CH was seen in 19/29(72.23%) patients with HBeAg positive CHB. The study shows there is no correlation between the necro-inflammatory activity in the liver and HBeAg status in the ser um in patients with CHB. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v42i1.18970 Bangladesh Med J. 2013 Jan; 42 (1): 7-10

The value of liver biopsy in chronic hepatitis

Liver needle biopsies played important role in determining the various forms of chronic hepatitis, the activity of inflammation and the degree of fibrosis. A breakthrough in their evaluation was provided by the so-called Knodell Histology Activity Index (HAI) system, which expressed the dynamics of the process and histological characteristics of therapy response. The HAI system underwent several modifications, the most widely used being the Desmet, Ishak modifications as well as the METAVIR scoring system. These systems examine necroinflammation and degree of fibrosis separately, namely the grade and stage of chronic hepatitis. Determination of fibrosis has become the subject of discussion lately, since the amount of connective tissue deposition (collagen fiber, extracellular matrix) is not clearly identifiable with the stage of chronic hepatitis. Histological evaluation of the liver remains decisive in determining the effect of the various new therapeutic drugs, in particular the protease and polymerase inhibitors of certain nonstructural proteins of the hepatitis C virus. It can be established however, that in recent years liver biopsies have become rather a selective than routine technique. Orv. Hetil., 2011, 152, 856–858.

Soluble CD30 serum levels before and after treatment with α-interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis C

It has been suggested that soluble CD30 (sCD30) serum levels in chronic hepatitis C are correlated with the activity of the disease and with the outcome of interferon (IFN) treatment. In this study, sCD30 serum levels in 25 patients with chronic hepatitis C, before and after treatment with IFN-2α, were measured. A total of 20 healthy subjects were used as controls. High sCD30 levels in serum were found in 36% of patients and in 5% of controls. In patients with sCD30 levels above or within the normal range, no significant differences in age, gender, serum transaminases and histology activity index were found. In relation to IFN treatment, only responder patients had serum sCD30 higher than controls, although the difference between responders and non-responders was not significant. No changes from baseline values were observed after treatment. Although high, sCD30 serum levels in chronic hepatitis C are not correlated with the disease activity, are not affected by IFN treatment and are not predictors of response to IFN treatment.