Gallbladder Problems: Signs, Symptoms, Treatments and Outlooks

Most people don't pay much attention to their gallbladder until it starts causing trouble. However, when the gallbladder starts acting up, it can be quite painful and require immediate action.

This article will look at what the gallbladder does, the symptoms of a problem with the gallbladder, treatment options, and long-term outlook.

What is the gallbladder?

The gallbladder is a 4-inch-long pear-shaped organ found under the liver in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen. It stores the bile the liver makes to digest fat.

Read more: Gallbladder Problems: Signs, Symptoms, Treatments and Outlooks

The gallbladder is found just below the liver. Its job is to store bile used to digest fat.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Gene Mutation 'Hotspots' Linked to Better Cancer Outcomes

Patients with the mutations tended to survive longer and had tumors more susceptible to aggressive treatment.

Breast cancer patients with groups of mutations clustered in their genome have better outcomes than patients without them, researchers found in a recent study.

More than half of breast cancer patients have clusters of genetic mutations called kataegis, and their cancer tends to be less invasive, offering better opportunities for effective treatment, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego.

Read more: Gene Mutation 'Hotspots' Linked to Better Cancer Outcomes

Although researchers are unsure of how the clusters of genetic mutations called kataegis occur,
but cancer patients who have them in tumors tend to respond better to treatment and have better
outcomes, according to a recent study.

Source: cigdem/Shutterstock

MCQ 7. A Blood Sample is Left on a Phlebotomy Tray for Four Hours

MCQ 7. A blood sample is left on a phlebotomy tray for four hours before it is delivered to the laboratory.

Which group of tests could be performed with the least effect on the results?

a. Glucose, Na, K, CO2 content

b. Uric Acid, BUN, creatinine

c. Total and direct bilirubin

d. CK, ALT, ALP, ACP

e. Lactate and ammonia

Answers

MCQ 8. A Pregnant Woman with a Lactase Deficiency

MCQ 8. A pregnant woman who has a lactase deficiency and cannot tolerate milk in her diet is concerned that she will not be able to produce milk of sufficient caloric value to nourish her baby. 

What should she be advised?

a. She must eat pure galactose in order to produce the galactose moiety of lactose.

b. She will not be able to breast feed her baby because she cannot produce lactose.

c. Production of lactose by mammary glands do not require ingestion of milk or milk products.

d. She can produce lactose by degrading alpha-lactalbumin.

e. She must eat pure fructose which will be converted to galactose moiety of lactose.

Answers

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Scientists Identify Trigger and Treatment

Apart from lifestyle changes and weight loss, there are currently no effective or safe treatments for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Now, for the first time, researchers find that a protein called cdk4 occurs at higher levels in mouse models and human patients with the disease. Also, when they blocked the protein in mice, using drugs, it significantly reduced development of hepatic steatosis - the first stage of the disease.

The study, by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, is published in the journal Cell Reports.

Senior author Nikolai Timchenko, a professor in the department of surgery at the University of Cincinnati and head of the Liver Tumor Biology Program at Cincinnati Children's, says:

"This is the first study to show that cdk4 triggers development of NAFLD [non-alcoholic fatty liver disease] and that inhibiting this enzyme can both prevent and reverse the first step of the disease."

Read more: Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Scientists Identify Trigger and Treatment

The researchers found high levels of a protein called cdk4 in people with fatty livers.

Source: medicalnewstoday

'Breast Cancer Gene' BRCA1 Linked to Aggressive Uterine Cancer

Mutations in women's BRCA genes, which are linked to both breast cancer and ovarian cancer, may also increase their risk of developing a particularly deadly form of uterine cancer, a new study finds.

The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are sometimes referred to as the "breast cancer genes" because women who have a mutation in one or both of these genes face a much greater risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer than women without mutations in these genes.

But previous studies have also suggested that women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation may also be more likely to develop a type of uterine cancer called uterine serous carcinoma, said Dr. Noah Kauff, director of clinical cancer genetics at the Duke Cancer Institute in North Carolina and the senior author of the new study.

Read more: 'Breast Cancer Gene' BRCA1 Linked to Aggressive Uterine Cancer

SebastianKaulitzki | Shutterstock

Source: livescience

BRCA1 Gene Mutation May Raise Risk of Aggressive Endometrial Cancer

The risk of aggressive serous or serous-like endometrial cancer may be higher for women with a BRCA1 gene mutation, even after undergoing risk-reducing surgery involving the removal of the fallopian tubes and ovaries. This is the finding of a new study published in JAMA Oncology.

However, the study found that a mutated BRCA1 gene did not increase women's overall risk of uterine cancer if they had undergone the risk-reducing procedure, called risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO).

RRSO is the surgical removal of the fallopian tube and ovaries, and it is sometimes recommended for women who are at high risk of breast or ovarian cancers as a result of BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations.

Read more: BRCA1 Gene Mutation May Raise Risk of Aggressive Endometrial Cancer

Researchers say women with a BRCA1 mutation are at higher risk for aggressive endometrial cancer,
even after undergoing risk-reducing surgery.

Source: medicalnewstoday.

Liver Regeneration — Mechanisms and Models to Clinical Application

Liver regeneration has been studied for many decades and the mechanisms underlying regeneration of the normal liver following resection or moderate damage are well described. A large number of factors extrinsic (such as bile acids and circulating growth factors) and intrinsic to the liver interact to initiate and regulate liver regeneration. Less well understood, and more clinically relevant, are the factors at play when the abnormal liver is required to regenerate. Fatty liver disease, chronic scarring, prior chemotherapy and massive liver injury can all inhibit the normal programme of regeneration and can lead to liver failure. Understanding these mechanisms could enable the rational targeting of specific therapies to either reduce the factors inhibiting regeneration or directly stimulate liver regeneration. Although animal models of liver regeneration have been highly instructive, the clinical relevance of some models could be improved to bridge the gap between our in vivo model systems and the clinical situation. Likewise, modern imaging techniques such as spectroscopy will probably improve our understanding of whole-organ metabolism and how this predicts the liver's regenerative capacity. This Review describes briefly the mechanisms underpinning liver regeneration, the models used to study this process, and discusses areas in which failed or compromised liver regeneration is clinically relevant.

Key points

• Liver regeneration occurs efficiently in the normal liver to restore architecture, size and function; chronic injury severely impairs liver regeneration through excess inflammation, scarring and epithelial abnormalities, and is less well-studied but clinically important
• New experimental models are emerging; zebrafish are an excellent new tool to study liver regeneration and enable large-scale chemical screening assays
• A gap exists between current animal models of liver regeneration and clinically important scenarios of severe liver injury and impaired liver regeneration
• Understanding and promoting regeneration and repair of the failing liver is a key challenge of major clinical importance
• Modern imaging techniques will enable noninvasive real-time assessment of liver structure and function
• Cell therapies that have been successful in animal models are now being trialled in the more challenging clinical arena

Read more: Liver Regeneration — Mechanisms and Models to Clinical Application

Figure 2: Schematic of normal and abnormal liver regeneration.

Source: NatureReviewsGastroenterology&Hepatology

How Fat Becomes Lethal, Even Without Weight Gain

Recent findings have the potential to help scientists better understand a growing class of often fatal metabolic diseases.

Sugar in the form of blood glucose provides essential energy for cells. When its usual dietary source – carbohydrates – is scarce, the body goes into starvation mode and the liver can produce glucose with the aid of fat.

But new research from Johns Hopkins adds to evidence that other tissues can step in to make glucose, too. The research also found that the liver’s role in breaking down fats is vital to protect the organ from a lethal onslaught of fat.

Read more: How Fat Becomes Lethal, Even Without Weight Gain

Source: scothealthcare

Cancer Breakthrough? Novel Insight into Metastasis Could Offer New Treatments

Researchers from the United Kingdom may have made a breakthrough in cancer treatment, after discovering an unusual mechanism by which cancer cells spread and survive in the body.

In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers reveal how two molecules join forces to help cancer cells survive as they metastasize.

Metastasis is the process by which cancer cells break away from the primary tumor and spread to other parts of the body through the bloodstream or lymph system.

Once cancer has spread, the disease becomes much more challenging to treat Chemotherapy, hormone therapy, radiotherapy, and other treatments can yield success for some metastatic cancers, but for most, the prognosis is poor.

Read more: Cancer Breakthrough? Novel Insight into Metastasis Could Offer New Treatments

Source: medicalnewstoday