Use of endoscopic plication to repair a dysfunctional gastric conduit.

Video 1Full length video showing the use of endoscopic plication to repair a dysfunctional gastric conduit.

Thromboelastography characteristics in critically ill patients with liver disease.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine how thromboelastography (TEG) parameters differ by various clinical conditions that commonly occur in patients with cirrhosis, including sepsis, acute on chronic liver failure (ACLF), alcohol-associated hepatitis (AAH) and portal vein thrombosis (PVT). BACKGROUND: TEG, a whole blood assay, is used to assess several parameters of coagulation and is becoming increasingly used in clinical practice. STUDY: This study was a retrospective chart review of 155 patients admitted to the ICU with decompensated cirrhosis from 2017 to 2019. RESULTS: The R time was significantly shorter in patients when they were septic compared to when they were not and longer in patients with vs. without ACLF grade 3. Alpha angle and maximum amplitude was decreased in patients with severe AAH compared to those without severe AAH; and maximum amplitude was increased in patients with acute PVT compared to those with chronic PVT. R time was positively correlated with Chronic Liver Failure Consortium Organ Failure and Chronic Liver Failure Consortium ACLF scores (rho = 0.22, P = 0.020), while alpha angle and maximum amplitude were negatively correlated with MELD-NA. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest TEG parameters vary in several clinical conditions in patients with decompensated cirrhosis who are admitted to the ICU. Prospective research is needed to confirm our findings and to determine how this knowledge can be used to guide clinical practice, as well as blood product transfusions in the setting of bleeding or prior to invasive procedures.

Sweet Syndrome Associated with Active Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Case Series of a Rare Extra-intestinal Manifestation.

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous extra-intestinal manifestations (EIM) occur in up to 20% of patients with IBD. Information about Sweet syndrome (SS)'s clinical course as a rare cutaneous EIM in IBD is limited to case reports. We present the largest retrospective cohort on the occurrence and management of SS in IBD. STUDY: Electronic medical records and paper charts since 1980 were retrospectively reviewed at a large quaternary medical center to identify all adult IBD patients with histopathology-proven SS. Patient characteristics and clinical outcomes were evaluated. RESULTS: 25 IBD patients with SS were identified; 3 patients were assessed to have AZA-induced SS. The majority of SS patients were female. Median age at diagnosis was 47 years (IQR 33-54 years) and SS appeared at a median of 6.4 years after IBD diagnosis. IBD patients with SS had a high rate of complicated IBD phenotypes (75% extensive colitis in UC and 73% stricturing or penetrating disease in CD, with 100% colonic involvement), as well as frequent co-occurring EIMs (60%). SS correlated with global IBD disease activity. Corticosteroids were an effective therapy for SS in IBD. Recurrence rate of SS was 36%. CONCLUSION: Contrary to previous case reports, SS was a cutaneous EIM occurring late after diagnosis of IBD in our cohort, with occurrences paralleling global IBD disease activity. Although AZA-induced and IBD-associated SS were both effectively treated with corticosteroids, distinguishing them is relevant for future IBD treatment strategies.

Chronic Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction Is Associated with Intestinal Methanogen Overgrowth.

BACKGROUND: Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIP) is a rare motility disorder characterized by dilated small bowel in the absence of mechanical obstruction. CIP has a known association with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO); however, data regarding association with specific subtypes such as methane-positive (M+) and hydrogen-positive (H+) SIBO are limited. Therefore, we conducted this study to characterize subtypes of SIBO in CIP and compare them with non-CIP patients. AIMS: The aim is to explore the association and prevalence of hydrogen and methane subtypes of SIBO in patients with CIP. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was conducted for 494 patients who underwent glucose breath tests (GBT) in 2019. CIP was diagnosed based on clinical suspicion and after ruling out mechanical obstruction. We also reviewed demographic data, including age, gender, body mass index, tobacco and alcohol history, medical comorbidities, use of proton pump inhibitors, and history of colectomy. RESULTS: Among 494 patients, 7.7% (38) had CIP. The prevalence of M+ GBT in CIP patients was higher compared with non-CIP patients, and it was significant [52.6% (20/38) versus 11.8% (54/456), p < 0.001]. The prevalence of H+ GBT in our cohort of CIP patients was similar to that of non-CIP patients [23.7% (9/38) versus 25.7% (117/456), p = 0.941]. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of methane-positive GBT was higher in CIP patients than in patients without CIP. This finding further strengthens the hypothesis that the relationship between motility disorders and methanogen overgrowth is facilitative.

Multiorgan Dysfunction Related to Kratom Ingestion.

Consumption of herbal supplements has been linked to multiorgan toxicities. Kratom is an herbal extract that has gained popularity for its analgesic and psychotropic properties. Several cases of kratom-induced liver injury have been reported, but data on multiorgan involvement remain scarce. We present the case of a 37-year-old woman who developed a mixed hepatocellular and cholestatic pattern of acute liver injury, acute kidney injury, and pancolitis after prolonged use of kratom-containing herbal supplements.

Impedance Spectroscopic Study of Nickel Sulfide Nanostructures Deposited by Aerosol Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition Technique.

This research aims to synthesize the Bis(di-isobutyldithiophosphinato) nickel (II) complex [Ni(iBu2PS2)] to be employed as a substrate for the deposition of nickel sulfide nanostructures, and to investigate its dielectric and impedance characteristics for applications in the electronic industry. Various analytical tools including elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, IR, and TGA were also used to further confirm the successful synthesis of the precursor. NiS nanostructures were grown on the glass substrates by employing an aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) technique via successful decomposition of the synthesized complex under variable temperature conditions. XRD, SEM, TEM, and EDX methods were well applied to examine resultant nanostructures. Dielectric studies of NiS were carried out at room temperature within the 100 Hz to 5 MHz frequency range. Maxwell-Wagner model gave a complete explanation of the variation of dielectric properties along with frequency. The reason behind high dielectric constant values at low frequency was further endorsed by Koops phenomenological model. The efficient translational hopping and futile reorientation vibration caused the overdue exceptional drift of ac conductivity (σac) along with the rise in frequency. Two relaxation processes caused by grains and grain boundaries were identified from the fitting of a complex impedance plot with an equivalent circuit model (Rg Cg) (Rgb Qgb Cgb). Asymmetry and depression in the semicircle having center present lower than the impedance real axis gave solid justification of dielectric behavior that is non-Debye in nature.

Machine Learning Models to Predict Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events After Orthotopic Liver Transplantation: A Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE: To develop machine learning models that can predict post-transplantation major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular mortality in patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: High-volume tertiary care center. PARTICIPANTS: The study comprised 1,459 consecutive patients undergoing LT between January 2008 and December 2019. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: MACE, all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular mortality were modeled using logistic regression, least absolute shrinkage and selection surgery regression, random forests, support vector machine, and gradient-boosted modeling (GBM). All models were built by splitting data into training and testing cohorts, and performance was assessed using five-fold cross-validation based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and Harrell's C statistic. A total of 1,459 patients were included in the final cohort; 1,425 (97.7%) underwent index transplantation, 963 (66.0%) were female, the median age at transplantation was 57 (11-70) years, and the median Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score was 20 (6-40). Across all outcomes, the GBM model XGBoost achieved the highest performance, with an area under the receiver operating curve of 0.71 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.63-0.79) for MACE, a Harrell's C statistic of 0.64 (95% CI 0.57-0.73) for overall survival, and 0.72 (95% CI 0.59-0.85) for cardiovascular mortality over a mean follow-up of 4.4 years. Examination of Shapley values for the GBM model revealed that on the cohort-wide level, the top influential factors for postoperative MACE were age at transplantation, diabetes, serum creatinine, cirrhosis caused by nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, right ventricular systolic pressure, and left ventricular ejection fraction. CONCLUSION: Machine learning models developed using data from a tertiary care transplantation center achieved good discriminant function in predicting post-LT MACE, all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular mortality. These models can support clinicians in recipient selection and help screen individuals who may be at elevated risk for post-transplantation MACE.

The association of D-dimers with mortality, intensive care unit admission or acute respiratory distress syndrome in patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIM: To determine if D-dimers are elevated in individuals with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection who have adverse clinical outcomes including all-cause mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) admission or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the published literature in PubMed, Embase and Cochrane databases through April 9, 2020 for studies evaluating D-dimer levels in SARS-COV-2 infected patients with and without a composite clinical endpoint, defined as the presence of all-cause of mortality, Intensive care unit (ICU) admission or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). A total of six studies were included in the meta-analysis. RESULTS: D-dimers were significantly increased in patients with the composite clinical end point than in those without (SMD, 1.67 ug/ml (95% CI, 0.72-2.62 ug/ml). The SMD of the studies (Tang et al, Zhou et al, Chen et al), which used only mortality as an outcome measure was 2.5 ug/mL (95% CI, 0.62-4.41 ug/ml). CONCLUSION: We conclude that SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with elevated D-dimers have worse clinical outcomes (all-cause mortality, ICU admission or ARDS) and thus measurement of D-dimers can guide in clinical decision making.

Leishmanicidal potential of N-substituted morpholine derivatives: synthesis and structure-activity relationships.

A series of N-substituted morpholines 2-20 was synthesised by reacting various acid chlorides and alkyl halides with morpholine (1). All of the synthesised compounds 2-20 were screened for their leishmanicidal effects using amphotericin B (IC(50) = 0.24 microg L(-1)) and pentamidine (IC(50) = 2.56 microg mL(-1)) as standards and a structure-activity relationship (SAR) study was established. The compounds 2 (IC(50) = 48 microg mL(-1)), 3 (IC(50) = 30.0 microg mL(-1)), 10 (IC(50) = 41.0 microg mL(-1)), 15 (IC(50) = 33.0 microg mL(-1)), 16 (IC(50) = 35.0 microg mL(-1)) and 20 (IC(50) = 47.0 microg mL(-1)) showed weak leishmanicidal activities.

Synthesis of coumarin derivatives with cytotoxic, antibacterial and antifungal activity.

The synthesis and selective biological screening of 7-hydroxy-4-methyl-2H-chromen-2-one (2), 7-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-2H-chromen-2-one (15) and some of their derivatives were carried out. Compound 13 was found to be most potent cytotoxic agent with LD50 = 126.69 microg/ml. In antibacterial assay the compounds showed a broad spectrum of activities. Compound 11 exhibited a very high degree of plant growth inhibition at three levels of concentration. Compound 4 showed very promising antifungal activity against Candida albicans. Compounds 12 and 13 demonstrated excellent antioxidant activity.

Synthesis, antifungal, and phytotoxic effects of some benzopyrone derivatives.

Syntheses of benzopyrones 1, 13, and their derivatives, as well as their phytotoxic (in vitro) and antifungal (in vitro) screening was carried out. Compounds 2, 7, 8, and 10 showed significant phytotoxic activity, whereas 3, 8, 10, and 12 exhibited significant antifungal (in vitro) activity.

Synthesis and biological screening of 7-hydroxy-4-methyl-2H-chromen-2-one, 7-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-2H-chromen-2-one and their some derivatives.

7-Hydroxy-4-methyl-2H-chromen-2-one (2), 7-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-2H-chromen-2-one (15) and their some derivatives were synthesized for exploring selected biological screening. The compounds 9 and 13 had shown high degree of cytotoxic activity. Three compound 9, 10 and 13 showed high degree of bactericidal activity amongst the present series.