Background: The association between vitamin D levels and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been increasingly determined in recent researches. The aim of this study was to determine the association between vitamin D levels, measured as serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) and NAFLD. Serum 25(OH)D was prospectively determined in 80 patients. Of them, 40 subjects had NAFLD, whereas 40 subjects served as healthy control. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as serum 25(OH)D level < 20 ng/ml. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and regression analysis methods were used in our analysis. Results: About 70% of patients with NAFLD had vitamin D deficiency, but only 35% in the control group had. The mean serum 25 (OH)D was significantly lower in patients with NAFLD than the healthy control group (16.13 ± 10.23 versus 27.35 ± 10.58 ng/mL; P < 0.001). ROC curve analysis revealed that serum 25(OH)D level of less than 11.2 ng/ml increases the risk of NAFLD with 45% sensitivity and 97.5% specificity (Serum 25(OH)D level ≤ 18.1 ng/ml in males and ≤ 9.4 ng/ml in females increase the risk of NAFLD). Multivariate regression analysis showed that vitamin D deficiency, high age, and high BMI were associated with a significant high risk of NAFLD. Conclusion: NAFLD patients have low serum vitamin D concentrations, suggesting that vitamin D may have a role in the development of NAFLD. Future studies are recommended to determine the important therapeutic implications of vitamin D for the prophylaxis or the treatment of NAFLD.

Background Although Ramadan fasting has a beneficial effect on health, the role of Ramadan fasting on patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), as quantified by the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP), is not determined yet. So, this study aimed to determine the effect of Ramadan fasting on patients with NAFLD by assessing the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) and biochemical parameters of the fatty liver. Patients and methods A prospective observational study was conducted on 40 NAFLD patients, who were diagnosed by ultrasonography and quantified with controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) in transient elastography (FibroScan) and fasted the month of Ramadan. Transient elastography for CAP and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) were performed. Fibrosis 4 score (FIB4) and NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS) were also calculated. Results There is a statistically significant change in body mass index, fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, serum albumin, total protein, AST, ALT, and alkaline phosphatase after Ramadan fasting. There were significant clinical improvements after Ramadan fasting in FIB-4 (1.31 ± 0.26 and 1.24 ± 0.25 respectively, p < 0.001), CAP (318.52 ± 34.59 and 294.0 ± 20.34, respectively, p < 0. 001), and LSM (6.95 ± 1.62 and 6.59 ± 1.49, respectively, p < 0. 001). Conclusion Our study demonstrates that Ramadan fasting could improve liver steatosis in patients with NAFLD proved with a significant reduction in the CAP and LSM.

Background The presence of bacteremia as a complication of variceal bleeding in patients with liver cirrhosis had been investigated by many studies. The aim of this study was to assess the bacteremia as a risk factor for variceal upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding in cirrhotic patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 99 patients with chronic liver disease divided into three groups: group I included 35 patients presented with first attack of variceal bleeding, group II included 35 patients presented with recurrent attacks of variceal bleeding, and group III included 29 patients with no history of previous variceal bleeding as a control group. Routine laboratory tests were done, upper GI endoscopy, blood culture, and measurement of procalcitonin level in blood. Results Patients with recurrent variceal bleeding had statistically (p < 0.05) the highest percentage of positive blood culture followed by patients with first variceal bleeding and the control (60% vs 45.7% vs 24.1%) respectively. In addition to procalcitonin results, patients with recurrent variceal bleeding had statistically the highest values of PCT followed by patients with first variceal bleeding and the control (1.92 vs 0.325 vs 0.22 ng/ml) respectively. Multivariate regression analysis showed that procalcitonin and hemoglobin only was the significant predictors for variceal bleeding. Hemoglobin at cutoff value of ≤ 9.6 and procalcitonin (ng/dl) at cutoff value of > 1.76 is the most specific in predicting bleeding 86.21%, 86.21% (CI 95%) respectively. Conclusion Bacteremia and procalcitonin are risk factor for variceal bleeding in cirrhotic patients. Procalcitonin can be used as easily measurable and surrogate biomarker for bacteremia and variceal bleeding.