by Oliver Reed  , Patrick B Allen  , Grant Caddy  , John Eccles  and Tony CK Tham

Received: 28 January 2019;  Published: 26 March 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.hg.1901015

Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract which can result in luminal stenosis and up to 90% of patients requiring surgery during their lifetime. Medical management aims to reduce the inflammatory burden to prevent the development of inflammatory strictures, progression to fibro-stenosis and subsequent obstructive symptoms. Endoscopic balloon dilatation (EBD) is a well-established, safe technique in the management of short strictures to prevent patients ha [...]

by Ramareddy V Guntaka

Received: 20 December 2018;  Published: 13 March 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.hg.1901014

Liver fibrosis leading to cirrhosis and cancer affects millions of people and causes thousands of deaths all over the world. Many signaling pathways could be targeted to block fibrosis but these are not successful. Reviewing recent literature and from our own studies we identified novel target, such as YB-1, which is implicated in inflammation, angiogenesis and accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM). In addition we observed and showed that the end product of fibrosis, collagen gene, itself i [...]

by Marcel Tomaszewski  and Philip Wong

Received: 22 August 2018;  Published: 03 January 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.hg.1901013

There is evidence to suggest that older livers regenerate less well and display cellular senescence. Additionally, elderly patients with certain liver diseases have a less favourable course. Chronic liver disease, amongst the elderly, has a significant negative effect upon quality of life and functional independence. Frailty, commonly encountered in geriatric patients, remains a significant negative predictor of physical, psychological, functional and survival outcomes in chronic liver disease. [...]