Chronic alcohol exposure can lead to alcoholic liver disease, including hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and chronic inflammation can simultaneously cause systemic medical illness. Recent evidence su...Chronic alcohol exposure can lead to alcoholic liver disease, including hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and chronic inflammation can simultaneously cause systemic medical illness. Recent evidence suggests that alcoholic liver disease is a predictor for liver-related diseases, cardiovascular disease, immunologic disease, and bone disease. Chronic inflammation in alcoholic liver disease is mediated by a direct inflammatory cascade from the alcohol detoxification process and an indirect inflammatory cascade in response to gut microflora-derived lipopolysaccharides (LPS). The pathophysiology of alcoholic liver disease and its related systemic illness is characterized by oxidative stress, activation of the immune cascade, and gut-liver interactions. Integrative therapeutic strategies for alcoholic liver disease include abstaining from alcohol consumption; general anti-inflammatories such as glucocorticoid, pentoxifylline, and tumour necrosis factor-α antagonist; antioxidants such as N- acetylcysteine; gut microflora and LPS modulators such as rifaximin and/or probiotics. This review focuses on the impact of chronic liver inflammation on systemic health problems and several potential therapeutic targets.展开更多
Although low testosterone levels in men have been associated with high risk for cardiovascular disease, little is known about the association between male sex hormones and subclinical coronary disease in men with appa...Although low testosterone levels in men have been associated with high risk for cardiovascular disease, little is known about the association between male sex hormones and subclinical coronary disease in men with apparently low cardiometabolic risk. This study was performed to investigate the association between male sex hormones and subclinical coronary artery calcification measured as coronary calcium score in non-obese Korean men. We examined the relationship of total testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin, bioavai lable testosterone and free testosterone with coronary calcium score in 291 non-obese Korean men (mean age: 52.8--- 9.3 years) not having a history of cardiovascular disease. Using multiple linear regression, we evaluated associations between log (sex hormone) levels and log (coronary calcium score) after adjusting for confounding variables in 105 men with some degree of coronary calcification defined as coronary calcium score ~〉 1. In multiple linear regression analysis, bioavailable testosterone was inversely associated with coronary calcium score (P=0.046) after adjusting for age, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol consumption, regular exercise, mean blood pressure, resting heart rate, C-reactive protein, fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, hypertension medication and hyperlipidernia medication, whereas total testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin and free testosterone were not (P=0.674, P=O. 121 and P=O. 102, respectively). Our findings indicate that bioavailable testosterone is inversely associated with the degree of subclinical coronary artery calcification in non-obese men.展开更多
文摘Chronic alcohol exposure can lead to alcoholic liver disease, including hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and chronic inflammation can simultaneously cause systemic medical illness. Recent evidence suggests that alcoholic liver disease is a predictor for liver-related diseases, cardiovascular disease, immunologic disease, and bone disease. Chronic inflammation in alcoholic liver disease is mediated by a direct inflammatory cascade from the alcohol detoxification process and an indirect inflammatory cascade in response to gut microflora-derived lipopolysaccharides (LPS). The pathophysiology of alcoholic liver disease and its related systemic illness is characterized by oxidative stress, activation of the immune cascade, and gut-liver interactions. Integrative therapeutic strategies for alcoholic liver disease include abstaining from alcohol consumption; general anti-inflammatories such as glucocorticoid, pentoxifylline, and tumour necrosis factor-α antagonist; antioxidants such as N- acetylcysteine; gut microflora and LPS modulators such as rifaximin and/or probiotics. This review focuses on the impact of chronic liver inflammation on systemic health problems and several potential therapeutic targets.
文摘Although low testosterone levels in men have been associated with high risk for cardiovascular disease, little is known about the association between male sex hormones and subclinical coronary disease in men with apparently low cardiometabolic risk. This study was performed to investigate the association between male sex hormones and subclinical coronary artery calcification measured as coronary calcium score in non-obese Korean men. We examined the relationship of total testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin, bioavai lable testosterone and free testosterone with coronary calcium score in 291 non-obese Korean men (mean age: 52.8--- 9.3 years) not having a history of cardiovascular disease. Using multiple linear regression, we evaluated associations between log (sex hormone) levels and log (coronary calcium score) after adjusting for confounding variables in 105 men with some degree of coronary calcification defined as coronary calcium score ~〉 1. In multiple linear regression analysis, bioavailable testosterone was inversely associated with coronary calcium score (P=0.046) after adjusting for age, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol consumption, regular exercise, mean blood pressure, resting heart rate, C-reactive protein, fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, hypertension medication and hyperlipidernia medication, whereas total testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin and free testosterone were not (P=0.674, P=O. 121 and P=O. 102, respectively). Our findings indicate that bioavailable testosterone is inversely associated with the degree of subclinical coronary artery calcification in non-obese men.