Francesco Tovoli’s Post

What’s curious about this map? It shows the disparity between the hotspots of high disease prevalence for patients with decompensated liver disease and areas which have been historically research active. It is well documented that patients with #liverdisease are underserved. Developing new treatments that improve the outcome for this patient group remains an unmet area of clinical need. As an active CRO in #hepatology #clinicaltrials, we are delighted to collaborate with the UK hepatology community including Oliver Tavabie, Gautam Mehta, Rajiv Jalan, Daniel Green and the UK-Chronic Liver Failure network (UK-CLIF), on a review discussing the challenges and opportunities for innovating hepatology trials in the UK. HOW THIS STUDY MIGHT AFFECT RESEARCH, PRACTICE OR POLICY ⇒ We propose a number of innovations in clinical trial design to improve access to clinical trials for patients, clinicians and investigators alike. ⇒ We highlight the importance of agreeing and implementing standards of care for this patient group, which should not just improve clinical outcomes but reduce heterogeneity in standard of care/placebo cohorts. ⇒ We discuss the potential role of collaboration with industry to improve the delivery of clinical trials. ⇒ We discuss the importance of ensuring the development of the next generation of investigators to ensure sustainability to this model of working. You can read the full review on the PHARMExcel website 👉 https://lnkd.in/dkg42TwU #Heptology #ClinicalTrials #Gastroenterology #LiverDisease #FrontlineGastroenterology #ClinicalResearch # Yvanne Enever

We are happy to share our latest publication by partners of the ENDOTARGET EU Project consortium 📢 Our partners from Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela and Servizo Galego de Saúde published their paper "The Hepatokine RBP4 Links Metabolic Diseases to Articular Inflammation" in the Antioxidants MDPI Journal. The Muskuloskeletal Pathology Group, lead by Rodolfo Gomez Bahamonde, investigated the role of retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) in an articular context. They measured RBP4 levels and RBP4’s impact on articular cell types as well as performed proteomic analysis on primary human osteoarthritis chondrocytes, revealing relevant RBP4 concentrations in crystalline arthritis (CA) patients’ synovial fluids. These levels have also been linked to hypertensive patients with metabolic disruption. Furthermore, in their study evidence is provided that RBP4 acts as a DAMP at these concentrations, inducing robust inflammatory, catabolic, chemotactic, and metabolic responses in chondrocytes, synoviocytes, and neutrophils. These effects may explain RBP4-related metabolic diseases’ contribution to joint destruction in various rheumatic conditions like CA. Read the paper now at the Antioxidants Journal Page: https://lnkd.in/eb7ngwh3 Or on our website: https://lnkd.in/eyEENV52

Are you a liver disease researcher looking to expedite your clinical trial? Did you know... Our case-finding tool can help your sites streamline recruitment and answer your preliminary research questions. Some of the first questions for most clinical trials are which population to target, how many sites are needed, and what inclusion/exclusion criteria to set. hepatoSIGHT simplifies this process by quickly and accurately quantifying and characterising the population based on real-world data. This can expedite the recruitment process and ensure that studies can more efficiently enroll participants. hepatoSIGHT can also identify specific hepatic phenotypes, including rare diseases, helping to reduce screen failure rates and ensure researchers work with the most relevant patient cohort for their study. By quickly identifying suitable patients, researchers can conduct their clinical trials more cost-effectively. This not only accelerates the pace of research, but also maximises the impact of the study's findings. To learn more about how hepatoSIGHT can help researchers pave the way in hepatology research, head over to our website 👇 https://lnkd.in/esMJr9wv  #LiverDisease #ClinicalTrials #MedTech

Our paper entitled “Prone positioning is followed by a transient decrease in glomerular filtration rate: the prospective Maastricht Intensive Care COVID cohort” is published in the Journal of Nephrology. (https://lnkd.in/e8hmENyi) We investigated the association between prone positioning during mechanical ventilation and markers of kidney function over time in patients from the prospective MaastrICCht cohort. In conclusion, prone positioning during mechanical ventilation transiently affected kidney function in COVID-19. Our study suggests that the potential benefits of improved ventilation and oxygenation by prone positioning outweigh an unfavorable effect on kidney function. Many thanks to all co-authors and collaborators of the MaastrICCht cohort! Frank van Rosmalen Marc Hemmelder Riquette Hulsewe Yvo Kusters Hans Ubben Daisy van Renswouw Katrien Gilissen Iwan van der Horst Walther N.K.A. van Mook Bas van Bussel Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM)

If you have not heard about the Global NASH Council, which includes a group of 140 international leaders in MASLD and MASH, this data will impress you. "The Global NASH Council (GNC) and Global Liver Council members have consistently demonstrated exceptional academic productivity, producing a substantial body of high-impact evidence in liver disease and NAFLD/MASLD. Our influential work has not only garnered widespread recognition but has also inspired and influenced the research directions. In the latest data from ScholarGPS (2022), our members have been ranked at the top of the field of liver disease, NAFLD, fatty liver disease and hepatology. Highly Ranked Scholars™-Lifetime are eminent authors whose Top Percentage Ranks places them above 0.05% of all scholars due to highly significant impact and quality of their scholarly contributions based on lifetime contributions." Ranking Scholar Report: #1 Zobair Younossi #2 Arun Sanyal #11 Elisabetta Bugianesi #16 Stephen A. Harrison #22 Giulio Marchesini #26 Luca Valenti #28 Rohit Loomba #34 Quentin M. Anstee #35 Kenny Cusi #36 Jacob George #39 Jian-Gao Fan #50 Massimo Colombo #51 Michael Trauner #58 Yusuf Yilmaz

Come listen to lecture titled "Artificial Intelligence and the Retina for Predicting Cardiovascular Risk: Reti-CVD, an AI Software Medical Device for Cardiovascular Risk Assessment". 👏👏👏👏👏

The recent change in nomenclature from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) has been paramount in differentiating individuals with hepatic steatosis based on cardiometabolic risk factors and alcohol consumption. This has led to the development of differentiating MASLD from metabolic dysfunction-associated alcoholic liver disease (MetALD) and pure ALD. But what about capturing patients at risk of developing metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH)? Our study delineates in the UKB cohort with MRI data that the prevalence of at-risk MASH is the lowest compared to other subtypes, but exhibited the highest risk of liver damage due to elevated aminotransferases, higher BMI and increased hepatic fat retention on imaging. This suggests that this patient population, though underrepresented, are crucial demographics to treat due to the risk of developing advanced-stage liver cancer and end-stage cirrhosis. https://lnkd.in/ewZH5XRK

Meet the researchers at NIDDK who are dedicated to understanding rare diseases. Dr. Theo Heller and his team from our Translational Hepatology Section are studying Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC), a chronic liver disease that is present in only 5-16 of every 100,000 people. Thanks to the contributions of clinical study participants, researchers hope to understand PSC better and develop early diagnosis methods. Read more about this research and other work in rare diseases in our latest Director's Update: https://lnkd.in/e-rYrSG6 #DKupdate

Exciting news in @HEPJournal from director Arun Sanyal and a team of international all ⭐ colleagues! A milestone in non-invasively identifying at-risk MASH -- The metabolomics-advanced steatohepatitis fibrosis score (MASF score) can accurately identify metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASLD) with ≥F2 fibrosis (at-risk MASH). 🔬The MASEF score, based on a unique combination of serum-based metabolomics and clinical data and developed by our partner, OWL Metabolomics, offers a new level of precision in diagnosing MASH. #liver https://bit.ly/47yPB4j

Research underway at Ontario's hospitals can help unlock the secrets of how treatments work and opportunities for advancement. Professor Daniel Drucker and his team at Sinai Health's Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute have discovered a gut-brain-immune network that controls inflammation across the body and affects organ health. The research centres on the effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, or activators, which clinicians use to treat type 2 diabetes and which have recently proven highly effective for weight loss. “We know from clinical studies that GLP-1 does all this amazing stuff in people, but we don't fully know how it works," said Drucker. Drucker has received some of the world's most prestigious awards in the life sciences for his many findings on GLP-1, including the 2023 VinFuture Emerging Innovation Prize and the 2023 Wolf Prize in Medicine. As well, GLP-1-based diabetes drugs that emerged from Drucker's early research were named 2023 breakthrough of the year by the Science Magazine. Read more about this study: https://lnkd.in/g-sE6vVv #hospitalresearch #diabetes