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The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the impact of obesity, determined by different anthropometric measures, on clinical and endoscopic severity of GERD and the relation between serum leptin and clinical and endoscopic severity of GERD in Egyptian patients. The study was carried out at Ain Shams University Hospitals and Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt. A total of 60 patients with clinically and endoscopically evident gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) were enrolled in this study as well as 20 healthy subjects matched for age and gender serving as the control group. Patients were divided according to their body mass index (BMI) into two groups: group 1 (n = 30): overweight and obese (BMI ≥ 25 and/or waist-to-height ratio [WHtR] ≥ 0.5) and group 2 (n = 30): normal weight (BMI ≥ 18 to < 25 and/or WHtR ≥ 0.4 to < 0.5). Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, anthropometric measures, and symptom severity score questionnaire were done for all patients. Serum leptin hormone was assessed for patients and control groups.The evidence revealed statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of different anthropometric measures (P < 0.00) except the height (P < 0.9), abdominal fat depot equations (P < 0.00), endoscopic findings according to Los Angeles classification (P < 0.001), symptom severity score (P < 0.00), and serum leptin hormone (43.96 ± 23.50 in group 1 vs. 7.5133 ± 8.18294 in group 2 and 6.98 ± 5.90 in the control group) (P = 0.00). Obesity in general and central (abdominal) obesity specifically has significant impact on clinical and endoscopic severity of GERD. Increased leptin hormone level is associated with clinical and endoscopic severity of GERD. Future trial on larger number of patients is emphasized.

AIMTo determine risk factors, causative organisms and antimicrobial resistance of bacterial infections following living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) in cirrhotic patients.METHODSThis prospective study included 45 patients with hepatitis C virus-related end-stage liver disease who underwent LDLT at Ain Shams Center for Organ Transplant, Cairo, Egypt from January 2014 to November 2015. Patients were followed-up for the first 3 mo after LDLT for detection of bacterial infections. All patients were examined for the possible risk factors suggestive of acquiring infection pre-, intra- and post-operatively. Positive cultures based on clinical suspicion and patterns of antimicrobial resistance were identified.RESULTSThirty-three patients (73.3%) suffered from bacterial infections; 21 of them had a single infection episode, and 12 had repeated infection episodes. Bile was the most common site for both single and repeated episodes of infection (28.6% and 27.8%, respectively). The most common isolated organisms were gram-negative bacteria. Acinetobacter baumannii was the most common organism isolated from both single and repeated infection episodes (19% and 33.3%, respectively), followed by Escherichia coli for repeated infections (11.1%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa for single infections (19%). Levofloxacin showed high sensitivity against repeated infection episodes (P = 0.03). Klebsiella, Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas were multi-drug resistant (MDR). Pre-transplant hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and duration of drain insertion (in days) were independent risk factors for the occurrence of repeated infection episodes (P = 0.024).CONCLUSIONMDR gram-negative bacterial infections are common post-LDLT. Pre-transplant HCC and duration of drain insertion were independent risk factors for the occurrence of repeated infection episodes.

Peripheral and autonomic neuropathy has high prevalence in patients with HCV-related chronic liver disease. On the other hand, vitamin B12 level is high in those patients and there is no role for vitamin B12 in the liver cirrhosis-related neuropathy.