Monthly Archives: March 2017

The global burden of disease attributable to viral hepatitis is increasing. In 2013, viral hepatitis was the seventh leading cause of death worldwide, owing to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).1 HCC is the fastest increasing cause of cancer… Continue reading →

This may be the first time that the incoming president of the AGA has been introduced by a colleague who is also their spouse. I have known Sheila as her lab partner in college, husband, collaborator and still, her lab partner. We have car-pooled to wo… Continue reading →

Dietary exposure to aflatoxin is an important risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, little is known about the genomic features and mutations of aflatoxin-associated HCCs compared with HCCs not associated with aflatoxin exposure. We i… Continue reading →

“Where there is no vision, the people disappear”—King Solomon Proverbs Continue reading →

Neural stem and progenitor cells from the enteric nervous system (ENS) might serve as a source of cells for treatment of neurogastrointestinal disorders. Before we can use these cells, we must increase our understanding of the signaling mechanisms that… Continue reading →

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is well-recognized as a common blood borne infection with global public health impact, affecting 3 to 5 million persons in the U.S. and over 170 million persons worldwide. Chronic HCV infection is associated wi… Continue reading →

Hirschsprung disease is caused by failure of enteric neural crest cells (ENCCs) to fully colonize the bowel, leading to bowel obstruction and megacolon. Heterozygous mutations in the coding region of the RET gene cause a severe form of Hirschsprung dis… Continue reading →

We investigated the roles of interleukin 28A (also called IL28A or interferon lambda 2) in intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) activation, studying its effects in mouse models of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and intestinal mucosal healing. Continue reading →