HCV News Ticker-Hepatitis C Treatment - Clearing The MInd

Hepatitis C treatment – Clearing the mind

The issue of whether the hepatitis C virus (HCV) affects brain function continues to arouse interest, investigation, and debate. Symptoms such as fatigue, poor memory, and concentration (“brain fog”) are commonplace and an effect of this infection on mental health related quality of life, which is independent of liver fibrosis, is well established [1]. However, despite convergent lines of evidence pointing to a biological effect of HCV within the CNS and some hypothesised mechanisms, there remains, as yet, a lack of incontrovertible evidence to definitively prove the fact.

Liver-induced inflammation hurts the brain
Recently, inflammation has been identified as a factor with important systemic repercussions on liver diseases [9]. Cirrhotic patients are particularly susceptible to bacterial infections which may be followed by systemic complications [10] that can be responsible for patient’s demise, in spite of apparent control of the bacterial infection

Hep Review magazine

Hep Review magazine is published every three months and provides news, information, posters, opinion and referrals about HCV and HBV (primarily hep C).

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GI & Hepatology News
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New AGA Standards For GIs Performing CTC

Computed tomographic colonography is an acceptable alternative to colonoscopy as a colorectal cancer screening method in average-risk, asymptomatic adults, but gastroenterologists planning to use the technology should undergo more extensive training than previously recommended, according to updated standards from the American Gastroenterological Association.

Gastric Bypass at 6 Years: Diabetes Remission Persists
Cardiometabolic improvements following gastric bypass surgery persist over time, according to findings from the first prospective, long-term controlled trial to focus on gastric bypass patients.

Study May Alter Barrett’s Surveillance
The incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma among patients with Barrett’s esophagus was only 1.2 cases per 1,000 person-years in a study of the entire population of Denmark reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Certain Diabetes Drugs May Raise Pancreatic Ca Risk
The possibility that incretin-based therapies for type 2 diabetes can raise cancer risk warrants further investigation, a leading clinical diabetologist has said.

C. diff Infection, Colonization Have Different Predictors
Health care–associated Clostridium difficile infection correlates with different host and pathogen variables than does health care–associated C. difficile colonization, according to a report in the Nov. 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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CCO Hepatology inPractice™ is now live! Simultaneously search multiple databases offering instant answers to your clinical questions:

• Viral hepatitis textbook (10 chapters)
• Drug reference database
• PubMed
• Clinical guidelines
• ClinicalTrials.gov
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The Beckoning Future: How Hepatitis C Drugs in Development May Affect Practice Today and Tomorrow Review the current benefits and limitations with protease inhibitor-based HCV therapies, and the emerging data on potential future regimens and the advances they represent.

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