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Week Ending: April 14th , 2007
Alan Franciscus
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April 7th , 2007
Tablets Top List of Liver Killers
http://www.news.com.au/
PARACETAMOL, (acetaminophen) the drug commonly found in headache tablets, has surpassed hepatitis and alcohol to become the most common cause of liver failure in Australia.
Doctors are being urged to exercise caution when prescribing paracetamol following cases of patients suffering accidental poisoning after taking only the recommended dose of the painkiller, often sold under the brand Panadol.
A report published in The Medical Journal of Australia found people who didn't eat enough, drank a lot of alcohol or took certain medications were vulnerable to toxic effects from paracetamol.
Elderly people with kidney or heart and lung problems may also be at increased risk.
"Accidental paracetamol poisoning should be suspected in any patient with acute liver failure,'' the report said.
"Clinicians should be cautious about prescribing regular doses of paracetamol for pain control in malnourished or fasting patients, and need to counsel patients who are regular users of the drug.''
Healthy people are usually able to metabolise paracetamol, most of which is excreted from the body in urine.
But the drug can accumulate in people with risk factors, rendering even a normal dose toxic.
The Accidental Paracetamol Poisoning report, compiled by experts from Austin Health in Victoria, describes the case of a 45-year-old Australian woman who died from liver failure.
She was taking paracetamol for abdominal pain after having a hysterectomy and suffering complications. Her eating had been poor because of pain, vomiting and treatment.
"The patient ... was noted to be displaying odd behaviour,'' the record states.
"The following morning she became increasingly confused and drowsy.
"She was admitted to the intensive-care unit, where her conscious state deteriorated rapidly and she required intubation.''
The woman was transferred to a liver transplant unit but died before a donor organ became available.
A post-mortem examination found a toxic level of paracetamol in her body. Hepatitis and alcoholism is another major cause of acute liver failure.
Parents are warned not to give children painkillers unless they have high fever or severe pain.
Dr David Thomas, pediatric spokesman for the Australian Medical Association, said: "Paracetamol and ibuprofen are drugs - they aren't without risks or side-effects."
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April 8th, 2007
Benton Leads Push for More Organ Donors to Register as an Organ Donor:
By KATHIE DURBIN
http://www.columbian.com
OLYMPIA - Suffering from hepatitis, Michael Sivley of Vancouver was hours from death two years ago when a donated liver became available and saved his life.
On Friday, the 52-year-old father of three joined Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, in proclaiming April the state's first Organ Donor Awareness Month.
Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a similar proclamation on March 26 encouraging all Washington residents to "consider giving life by registering as an organ and tissue donor."
Benton, joined by Secretary of Health Mary Selecky, took the opportunity Friday to urge Washington residents to register as donors and save lives.
"You might not be able to single out those who have chosen to donate organs to save a life," Benton said in introducing his resolution on the Senate floor. "But these individuals may be the only hope" for individuals facing organ failure and their families, he said. "One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people and enhance the lives of more than 50."
Though 90 percent of Americans say they support organ donation, only about 40 percent of Northwest residents have chosen to participate by obtaining stickers for their driver's licenses that designate them as organ donors, Benton said.
"This is a great way to let people know what your wishes are," he said.
Sivley, a military veteran, said he had been on a national waiting list for 10 months at the time a donated liver became available and was told by his doctors that he had about five hours to live.
"I suffered a debilitating disease," he said. "The VA decided not to transplant me. They sent me to the University of Washington instead."
The Veterans Administration Medical Center in Portland performs most organ transplants for veterans in the western United States.
In gratitude for his life, Sivley now volunteers at the transplant lodging facility at the Vancouver Veterans Affairs Medical Center campus. The facility provides housing for veterans who are being assessed for liver and kidney transplants. It was Sivley who contacted Benton and asked whether he could do something to draw attention to the urgent need for organ donors.
A total of 1,475 people in Washington await donated organs, said health secretary Selecky. Most are waiting for kidney transplants.
A source of life for others
Like others who spoke Friday, Selecky had a personal story to tell. "My dad died in 1960 at a very young age," she said. "As a result of the gift of his eyes, two people got to see."
Shirley Harney-Taylor of Auburn serves on the board of LifeCenter Northwest, a nonprofit organ registry that covers Washington, Alaska, Montana and Northern Idaho. Last year, the center assisted 139 families, she said. As a result of donated organs, 352 lives were saved.
Harney-Taylor became involved in organ donation after her 16-year-old son was killed when his bicycle collided with a car. She made the decision to donate his organs. "My tragedy was never going to change," she said. "Out of death and loss can come the source of life for others."
She said her organization's goal is to add a half-million people to the registry in the four states.
The issue of organ donation has not been without controversy in this legislative session. In March, the House passed Senate Bill 1637, which would revise the state's Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. The law regulates the donation of bodies and body parts for transplant, therapy, research and education.
The bill expanded the list of people who may authorize donation of organs to include people as young as 15, parents of minors, adult grandchildren and legal guardians; increased the number of ways that the willingness of a person to donate an organ could be communicated; and presumed that an anatomical gift document is valid unless proven otherwise.
Some doctors and medical ethicists opposed the bill, saying it would make it harder for dying patients, especially those who chose not to donate their organs, to enforce their end-of-life decisions. They said the bill would move the state closer to an "opt-out" system, in which it is presumed that all dying patients may be organ donors unless they leave specific instructions to the contrary.
That bill died in a Senate committee.
LifeCenter Northwest
11245 S.E. 6th St., Suite 100
Bellevue, WA 98004
www.livinglegacyregistry.org
To get a heart symbol on your Washington driver's license designating you as an organ donor, contact your local driver's licensing office. Donors must be 18 or older, or at least 16 with parents' permission.
Did you know?
- 6,500 Americans die each year waiting for a donated organ.
- 1,475 Washington residents are on the national waiting list for donated organs.
- 75 percent of those need kidney transplants.
Kathie Durbin works in The Columbian's Olympia bureau. Reach her at 360-586-2437 or kathie.durbin@columbian.com
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Cost-Effectiveness of Ligation vs. Beta-Blockers in the Prevention of Variceal Bleeding
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
Endoscopic variceal ligation is cost-effective relative to beta-blockers for the prevention of variceal bleeding in cirrhotic patients if quality of life-years are considered. If only life-years are considered, then endoscopic variceal ligation is not cost-effective. These findings are published in the April issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hepatology is available online via Wiley InterScience at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal
/hepatology.
Thirty to forty percent of patients with cirrhosis have esophageal varices. Bleeding from varices occurs in almost one in three of these patients and can be fatal. Non-selective beta-adrenergic blockade has been the most widely investigated therapy to reduce the risk of variceal bleeding. Another effective alternative is endoscopic variceal ligation. The effects of both treatment options on mortality are uncertain.
Since both approaches reduce the risk of variceal bleeding, researchers led by Thomas Imperiale, MD, of Indiana University School of Medicine, sought to compare their cost-effectiveness and quality of life outcomes.
They developed a Markov decision model for patients with cirrhosis, portal hypertension, and medium-to-large esophageal varices who would be candidates for primary prophylaxis with either beta-blockade or ligation. Using a 5-year time horizon, they examined direct costs, life-years, and quality-adjusted life years.
The researchers found that when only life-years are considered, ligation is not cost-effective when compared with beta-blocker therapy. However, when both life-years and quality are considered, "the gain in effectiveness with initial ligation is "worth" the increase in cost," they report. They found that over five years, for every 1000 patients with high-risk varices, initial ligation prevents variceal bleeding in 77 persons, 65 bleeding episodes, 5 TIPS procedures, and 7 deaths, as compared with initial beta-blocker therapy.
The study did not consider severe complications from TIPS, ligation or beta-blocker therapy. It also did not examine non-adherence. If TIPS or compliance (or both) had been included in the model, ligation would have been even more cost-effective. Finally, the study did not look at the costs and effects of liver transplantation or development and management of hepatocellular carcinoma. But in spite of these limitations, it clearly showed that ligation was cost-effective based on quality-adjusted life years.
"At a $50,000 willingness to pay, ligation is not cost-effective compared to beta-blocker therapy if only the life years are considered; however, at $25,548 / QALY, ligation is cost-effective if quality-adjusted life years are considered," they conclude. "Further study is needed to determine the extent to which these findings may be affected by the use of beta-blocker co-therapy after a first bleed, an extended time horizon, and by patient-derived utilities."
###
Article: "Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Variceal Ligation vs. Beta-Blockers for Primary Prevention of Variceal Bleeding." Imperiale, Thomas; Klein, Robert; Chalasani, Naga. Hepatology; April 2007; (DOI: 10.1002/hep.21605).
Contact:
Amy Molnar
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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April 9th, 2007
Researchers at Hacettepe University, Department of Pediatric Hematology Release New Data on Cancer Vaccines
http://www.newsrx.com/
Scientists discuss in "Unexpected protection from infection by two booster hepatitis B virus vaccination in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia" new findings in cancer. "The protective power of two booster dose vaccination against hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has not been previously studied in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who remained unresponsive to immunization. The aim of this study was to determine the HBV infection rate in vaccinated and unvaccinated patients with or without seroconversion and to compare these groups in respect to HBV infection rate," investigators in Ankara, Turkey report.
"The study group included 111 male and 85 female ALL patients with a mean age of 6.23+/-4.10 years. Patients were divided into three groups as follows: Group 1 included 82 patients who were vaccinated during maintenance chemotherapy, Group 2 included 87 unvaccinated patients, and Group 3 included 27 patients who were vaccinated prior to the diagnosis of ALL. Seroconversion was obtained in 35.4% (29/82) of patients in Group 1. The incidence of HBV infection was significantly lower in Group 1 (4/82, 4.8%) than in Group 2 (25/87, 28.7%). When we compared only the seronegative patients in Group 1 with Group 2 in respect to HBV infection rate, Group 1 still had a significantly lower HBV infection rate than Group 2 (7.5% versus 28.7%) (p <0.001). No patients in Group 3 (n=27) had HBV infection. In addition to the seroconversion level, infection rate is also important in the evaluation of the effectiveness of vaccination. Our study results suggest that a high protective role of HBV
“Vaccination was also observed in non-seroconversion ALL patients," wrote S. Yetgin and colleagues, Hacettepe University, Department of Pediatric Hematology.
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Immune Response to Viruses Like HIV and Hepatitis C
http://www.huliq.com
After a viral infection, a small percentage of the T cells generated to kill virus-infected cells remain on guard to establish long-term immunity. These so-called memory T cells, which derive from a family of immune cells known as CD8 T cells, engage in a self-renewal process that is essential to their persistence. This ongoing process ensures effective protection against any repeat infection by the same virus, even decades later.
But not all infections are equal. While most viral infections are cleared from the body within a few days or weeks, some infections, such as HIV or hepatitis C infections, become chronic. Some studies have suggested that the virus-specific CD8 T cells generated during a chronic infection may not develop the same characteristics as the CD8 T cells that persist after an acute infection.
Now, scientists at The Wistar Institute have found that the CD8 T cells generated to fight a chronic infection operate under an entirely different maintenance scheme than do the CD8 T cells that become memory T cells following an acute infection, becoming wholly dependent upon the presence of virus for their continuation. Details of the study will appear in the April 16 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine, published online April 9.
In addition, the CD8 T cells maintained during chronic infections establish a distinct pattern of cell division that creates a rapid turnover of cells, a characteristic that could be manipulated to design new therapeutic options for chronic infections, says E. John Wherry, Ph.D., senior author on the study and an assistant professor in the Immunology Program at Wistar.
"It appears the immune system responds to viral infections with two very different cell types," Wherry says. "In one case, when virus is completely cleared, you have a memory T cell capable of self-renewal. But during chronic infection, you have a totally different type of T cell that is not governed by the same pathways and mechanisms."
Understanding how the body’s immune response operates during chronic infections, and why it fails to clear these infections, could help scientists design more effective therapies to fight chronic infections and certain types of tumors, says Wherry.
In previous studies, Wherry had shown that chronically stimulated CD8 T cells were unable to undergo the slow, steady self-renewal process used by the CD8 T cells that persist as memory T cells after an acute infection. In addition, his studies showed that CD8 T cells associated with chronic infections responded poorly to IL-7 and IL-15, growth factors needed to maintain memory T cells after an acute infection. He theorized that prolonged exposure to the virus might prevent the development of normal memory T cells.
To test his theory, Wherry and his group infected mice with a virus that simulates a chronic infection. The scientists then treated the mice to clear the virus from their systems. When the virus was cleared, the CD8 T cells that had partial function also disappeared. By not going through the normal process of self-renewal, the disappearing T cells left the mice with no long-term immunity.
"The findings suggest that we’re caught in an immunological catch-22 with chronic infections," Wherry says. "The persistence of the virus is inactivating the T cells, yet the T cells are now dependent on the persisting virus for their maintenance."
The study also showed that over a four-week period, the CD8 T cells generated to fight the virus had divided five to six times, yet the number of these T cells remained relatively stable. Wherry says this observation suggests that either a very small subset of the cells are recruited to divide or that the virus-driven division of this T cell population is accompanied by extensive cell death.
Though these questions remain to be answered, the findings have implications for developing treatments for patients with chronic infections, Wherry says. "The results suggest that the rate of proliferation or cell death could perhaps be modulated to alter the size or quality of virus-specific CD8 T cell populations during persisting infections."-The Wistar Institute
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Nearly 500,000 Chinese Die of Hepatitis B Annually
http://english.people.com.cn/
China has the world's largest population of hepatitis B patients, with nearly half a million people dieing of the liver disease every year, said an official with the country's Hepatitis Prevention Foundation Sunday.
Wang Zhao, head of the foundation, said about 120 million Chinese have tested positive for hepatitis B, which has become a severe public health problem in the country.
His foundation and Novartis pharmaceuticals will provide 120 lectures in major cities to raise awareness of the prevention of hepatitis.
Last November two clinics were set up for young hepatitis B patients to provide better and more personal treatment schemes that fit their age.
Hepatitis B is spread by contact with infected blood or through sex. The virus can survive only briefly outside the human body.
Source: Xinhua
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Experts to Work on Hepatitis C Vaccine
Teena Thacker
http://www.indianexpress.com
Decision came week after ICMR and German-based HANRC jointly set up a science centre
NEW DELHI, APRIL 8: A week after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Helmoholtz Association of National Research Centre (HANRC) jointly set up an Indo-German Science Centre for Infectious Diseases (IGSCID), experts from both countries have decided to work on developing a vaccine for Hepatitis C.
Experts from HANRC, Germany, will visit India with their “specially designed” mice, which will be used for testing and developing a vaccine for the deadly virus.
According to ICMR estimates, about 1.5 million people in India are infected with the disease.
Experts are hopeful that the experiment, which will begin in July this year in collaboration with the National Institute of Virology (NIV), will prove to be beneficial.
Speaking to The Indian Express from Pune, Director of NIV A C Mishra said, “They possess the expertise as they have designed these mice and we have different strains of the virus and molecular information here. Both these form the basis of the experiment. We have worked out the logistics, and if all goes well, we will soon be able to produce a vaccine for the virus.” The immune systems of the special mice models developed by Germany are similar to that of humans and possess the ability to replicate the disease. “There are no animal models present here that can be used for Hepatitis C. This is one of the reasons why the vaccine for the virus could not be developed anywhere in the world.
These mice have been designed by experts and can replicate the disease as in the case of humans. They have human liver cells and thus can be infected by the virus. This is a top priority project for both the governments and we hope that their mice and our virus related information will be fruitful,” said Mishra.
The scientific cooperation between both the countries was strengthened when they signed an MoU last year in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel.
The newly inaugurated centre will work in areas of virology, developing vaccines and anti-infectives. A high-level delegation from Germany — led by Prof J Mlynek, President of HANRC--along with a team of 11 scientists are currently on a visit to India.
Prof N K Ganguly, Director General of ICMR, said the Centre would provide adequate funding opportunity for twin objects of the projects, administering collaborative budgetary efforts, promoting exchange of scientists and holding joint workshops.
MORE ON HEPATITIS C
Seroprevalence (the number of persons in a population testing positive for a specific disease based on blood serum specimens) of Hepatitis C virus in the Indian population is around 1.5-2%.
Every year, between 1.5 million and two million Indians die due to chronic liver disease. In India 15% deaths are due to hepatitis C virus and 45% are due to Hepatitis B virus.
Specialists say that Hepatitis C rates are quite high among patients receiving dialysis, blood transfusions and organ transplants, and among people with haemophilia or thalassaemia.
Across India, genotype 3 is the most common genotype making up for 40% of cases. But the spread of the virus is not uniform. In north India 60% are type 3. In southern India it is mainly genotype 1 and 4, and partly 3.
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April 10th, 2007
Film Follows Life of Hepatitis C SuffererBack to Health
http://www.24dash.com
Pam Caulfield
A moving documentary that follows the efforts of a hepatitis C sufferer to lift the lid on the potentially fatal disease is to be shown on digital television today.
Louie, Me and Hepatitis C shows the daily struggle of single mother Gemma Peppe as she undergoes treatment and tries to bring up her son.
The documentary, being shown on the Community Channel today and April 12 at 9.30pm, portrays the human side of a disease which affects an estimated 500,000 people in the UK. Out of that number, less than 1% are receiving treatment.
Gemma, a former drug addict, believes she caught hepatitis C by injecting herself with a dirty needle.
She explores the prejudice experienced by hepatitis C sufferers and is worried that politicians and many health professionals are not taking the potential scale of the disease seriously.
Community Channel broadcasts 24 hours a day, every day on Sky 539, Virgin TV 233 and from 6-9am on Freeview 87.
It aims to make viewers think again about the world, and inspire them to take action on the causes and issues that matter to them.
Don't miss the 24dash.com audio bulletins for the latest news and information - http://www.24dash.com/podcasts
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Transfusion Victim Waits on the Truth
By Jane Lavender
http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk
A FORMER haemophiliac is to give evidence to a formal inquiry seeking to discover why thousands of people given blood in the 1970s and 1980s were infected with hepatitis C or HIV.
David Fielding was given the tainted blood products in NHS transfusions and contracted hepatitis C, which destroyed his liver and led to a transplant.
His brother, Brian, also a haemophiliac, contracted AIDS by the same process and died in 1990.
Mr Fielding, aged 51, of Darley Avenue, Farnworth, has now been called to give evidence at the inquiry on April 18.
The father-of-three said: "I'm the last person to give evidence on the first day of the inquiry, but I only have 20 minutes to tell my side of the story so I need to make sure it's really powerful.
"This is something I have waited a long time to do because haemophiliacs are dying and they are waiting to be told the truth.
"There are a lot of families who haven't been able to move on because the hurt is so bad. It's awful watching friends and loved ones die."
After being treated with contaminated blood during the 1970s and 1980s, 4,670 people in the UK were diagnosed with hepatitis C and 1,243 were told they had HIV.
Just 2,552 patients with hepatitis C and 361 with HIV are still alive today.
In 1993, Mr Fielding was told he had hepatitis C and by 1995 his liver was riddled with cirrhosis.
Just hours away from death, he was given a life-saving transplant, which has not only cured him of his liver disease, but also his haemophilia.
The independent inquiry, which was launched last month, is being chaired by Lord Archer of Sandwell, and will investigate the circumstances surrounding the tragedy and its consequences.
Also on the inquiry panel are Lord Tunberg, past president of the Royal College of Physicians; Dr Judith Willets, chief executive officer of the British Society for Immunology and Dr Norman Jones, a consultant physician at a London hospital.
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April 12th, 2007
Drug Use Blamed for Hepatitis C Rise
http://www.news.com.au/
CRAIG BILDSTIEN
FORTY-TWO per cent of prisoners in South Australia have hepatitis C, a University of Adelaide study has found.
A 15-month survey of 700 inmates revealed injecting drug use was "common".
Epidemiologist Dr Emma Miller yesterday said it was the major cause of a high-rate of blood-borne viruses in the state's jails.
"Seventy per cent of people entering our prisons have a history of injecting drug use," she said.
"Most of them modify that behaviour in prison, but contaminated needles represent a significant threat to other prisoners and staff."
Her investigation found tattoos - most of them applied in jail - account for up to 5 per cent of all new cases of hepatitis C in SA.
Dr Miller said the prevalence of hepatitis C on entry to jails was about 40 times higher than for the general population. For female inmates, the figure was 65 per cent.
She has provided a report on her findings to both the Correctional Services and Health departments.
"A successful methadone program is already well established and positively evaluated in all of our prisons, but it's currently the only systematic strategy in place specifically aimed at reducing the transmission of blood-borne viruses in prison," she said. Dr Miller conducted the study as part of her PhD in Medicine, which she completed in 2006.
Corrections media spokesman Christian Thompson said the department was committed to operating a safe, secure and humane prison system.
He said officers were trained to use standard health precautions wherever there was a risk of coming into contact with blood or bodily fluids.
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Dr. Deuell Prescribes Needle Exchange Bill for Texas
http://www.pegasusnews.com
By Pegasus News wire
I'm excited to point out that Sen. Bob Deuell's SB 308 allowing local governments to decide whether to operate needle exchange operations will get a hearing this morning in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. With a Republican physician as bill sponsor there's a chance support for this bill might finally galvanize in the Senate - a majority of senators supported the bill in 2005, but not quite the 2/3 needed for passage.
The Texas Medical Association supports the bill, and the idea has been endorsed by many major medical groups. Deuell's legislation was given a boost from Texas Monthly's Evan Smith having an article and letter on the subject messengered to senators last month. Even the conservative blog, The Lone Star Times, came out in favor of the bill this spring. The Drug Policy Alliance sent out an action alert to its Texas membership that included an excellent summation of why the bill makes sense from the perspective of economics and public health:
Texas has the fourth highest rate of HIV/AIDS infections, almost 400,000 people infected with hepatitis C, and about 100,000 injection drug users who turn to the streets and alleyways to find and share scarce syringes. 20-25% of Texas HIV cases can be traced to syringe sharing, and hepatitis C is present in the blood of 70-90% of injection drug users. Texas must enact effective and inexpensive measures to stem the spread of these diseases.
From 2001-2005, Texas spent $377 million Medicaid dollars treating HIV/AIDS, and $134 million treating hepatitis C. As both diseases continue to spread and the costs compound, Texas health care providers continue to struggle to meet the needs of ailing patients as budgets get cut, access to health care decreases and effective prevention measures are overlooked. SB 308 is an effective and proven way to significantly decrease the amount of tax payer dollars necessary to treat preventable infections. A 2006 study estimated that every HIV infection averted will save over $300,000 health care dollars. If syringe exchange programs prevented just 5% of the average 4,000 HIV cases identified in Texas each year, we would avert $60 million in long-term HIV treatment costs.
Syringe exchange programs not only decrease HIV/AIDS, but also cast a net to pull high risk populations into social services and support networks that can provide addiction treatment assistance, disease testing and prevention information, and trusted contact with health care providers.
This is the third session in a row the bill was carried in the Senate by a Repubican; the previous two terms Sen. Jon Lindsay, a former Harris County Judge, now retired, carried the ball. You can go here to watch the live broadcast at 10 a.m., or if you want to watch later the video will be posted here soon after the hearing is completed.
UPDATE: This bill passed out of committee on a 5-1 vote. Amazingly, not one person spoke against the legislation! Sen. Dan Patrick was the only no vote, though he did not explain his opposition. But both Chair Jane Nelson and Sen. Kyle Janek backed the bill after failing to support it in previous sessions. Janek, who is a physician, said the bill would protect not just drug addicts but also healthcare workers. Sen. Deuell's opening statement on the bill was excellent: "My faith does not allow me to give up on anyone," he declared. Congratulations to Sen. Deuell and all SB 308's supporters.
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Family’s Anxious Wait for Test Results after Boy, 8, Falls on to Hypodermic Needle
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk
By Lucy Stephens
Eight-year Steven Edwards, who was stuck in the hand by a discarded hypodermic needle, with his father, Stephen
ONE minute her son was innocently playing - the next, she was plunged into the sort of nightmare every parent dreads when he fell on a hypodermic needle.
Now mum-of-four Karen Edwards, of Dringhouses, York, faces an agonising wait to find out whether her eight-year-old son has been infected with a potentially deadly disease after being pierced by the needle.
Karen is terrified her son Steven might have become infected with Hepatitis C or even Aids after falling off his bike yesterday and getting the needle stuck in his hand.
But she must wait for up to six weeks before finding out the results of an emergency blood test her son underwent at York Hospital to check for Hepatitis C - which can eventually be fatal.
Karen said: "He still could die from it if the needle has got Aids or HIV in it - he has to have another test in four to six weeks.
"There are drug addicts at the back of us. Whoever is responsible for dropping it, I will find them. I'm really angry."
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Liver Regeneration May Be Simpler Than Previously Thought
http://www.sciencedaily.com
Science Daily — The way the liver renews itself may be simpler than what scientists had been assuming. A new study, appearing in the April 13 issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry, provides new information on the inner workings of cells from regenerating livers that could significantly affect the way physicians make livers regrow in patients with liver diseases such as cirrhosis, hepatitis, or cancer.
"The human liver is one of the few organs in the body that can regenerate from as little as 25 percent of its tissue," says Seth Karp, assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, Boston, and main author of the study. "It is not known how the liver does it, but our results provide some details of what makes the liver so unique."
Although organ regeneration has been observed in many animals, the details of how it happens at the cellular level are still not completely understood. So far, scientists have shown that cells that participate in tissue regeneration behave as if they were part of a growing organ in an embryo. In other words, the cells act as if the liver is growing, as do other organs in a developing embryo.
Many of the proteins that induce organ regeneration have been identified and scientists are now trying to make organs regrow by stimulating these proteins. Regrowing livers this way would be especially useful for patients whose livers are so damaged -- say, by a tumor that has spread to most of the liver -- that a large part would be removed. Unless such patients receive the right amount of liver transplant from an organ donor, they do not always survive. Quickly stimulating the growth of the remaining portion of their liver could be their only chance of survival.
To investigate how the liver regenerates, Karp and his colleagues set out to determine which proteins are involved in the regenerating cells. The scientists were also interested in testing whether regenerating cells behave like embryonic ones, as is commonly assumed for other organs. New processes may explain why the liver is so uniquely capable of renewal and repair after injury, the scientists thought.
Karp's team considered two samples of mice. The first consisted of embryonic mice at various stages of development while the second was composed of adult mice to which two-thirds of their liver were removed. Using techniques such as DNA microarrays -- which determine which genes are active in a cells -- and software programs that analyze the collected information, the scientists listed all the proteins that help the cells grow and proliferate in both samples.
The results were unexpected. The researchers noticed that only a few proteins were common to both processes. Proteins called transcription factors, which affect DNA in the cell's nucleus, were highly involved in the development of embryos' livers but not in adult liver regeneration. Instead, proteins that help cells proliferate were active in both the developing and regenerating livers.
These findings showed that a regenerating liver does not behave as a developing embryo. Instead, regeneration could actually be only due to an increase in cells that multiply through regular cell divisions, a process called hyperplasia.
The new results may also have important medical implications. Transcription factors are known to be more difficult to manipulate than the other identified proteins. Since the transcription factors were not present in regenerating livers, it might be easier to stimulate liver regeneration by only activating the other identified proteins.
"These results are very encouraging," Karp says. "Not only did we discover that the number of proteins involved in liver regeneration is relatively low, but they don't include transcription factors, so we may be closer to being able to stimulate liver regeneration than we thought."
The next step will be for scientists to understand whether the regenerating cells are stem cells. Studies have shown that adult stem cells are involved in the repair of many organs, but in the case of the liver, the cells repairing it through regeneration may simply be regular cells, not stem cells.
"We think that the liver regrows through a relatively simple process, which could explain its prodigious ability to repair itself," Karp says.
Article: "Restoration of Liver Mass after Injury Requires Proliferative and Not Embryonic Transcriptional Patterns" by Hasan H. Otu, Kamila Naxerova, Karen Ho, Handan Can, Nicole Nesbitt, Towia A. Libermann, and Seth J. Karp
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
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