Rare causes of anemia in liver diseases

Anemia is a common finding among patients with liver diseases. Patients who suffer from anemia are at a higher risk of liver function decompensation and hospitalization. It affects significantly their quality of life and contributes to mortality. Anemia is present in 70% of patients with liver cirrhosis and with varying incidence accompanies other liver disorders. As the etiology of anemia in liver diseases is multifactorial, various cases represent different clinical entities. Anemia accompanying hepatic disorders can be broadly divided into several types, such as anemia associated with blood loss, as well as aplastic, hemolytic and micronutrient deficiency anemia. However, it is sometimes difficult to delineate between those types in the clinical practice, as several pathophysiological causes can be present in one patient. It is reported that the most common cause of anemia in liver disease is blood loss and iron deficiency. Still, the incidence of unclear cases reaching over 50% suggests that other types of anemia can be underdiagnosed. This review comprehensively describes less frequent types of anemia associated with liver disease, namely hemolytic and aplastic anemia (AA). Hemolytic anemia can complicate autoimmune liver diseases or be a manifestation of membranopathy of red blood cells, dependent on severe hepatic function impairment or alcoholic liver disease. Aplastic anemia is best known as a sequela of viral hepatitis, but some degree of bone marrow inhibition can complicate virtually all advanced liver diseases.

Measurements of the neutron cross sections of hydrogen and deuterium in H2O-D2O mixtures using the deep inelastic neutron-scattering technique

We investigated the neutron cross sections of hydrogen and deuterium by means of the deep inelastic neutron-scattering technique in H2O-D2O mixtures. The interest in this work was to examine the anomalous behavior in the hydrogen neutron cross section reported in the past in similar experiments that raised a yet unsettled controversy. The measurements were made at the Bariloche pulsed neutron source (Argentina) in pure H2O and D2O, with mixtures of molar concentrations of deuterium of xD=0.3 and 0.4, at room temperature, under the same experimental conditions as the former experiments. The results are in good agreement with the standard cross sections and are incompatible with the anomalies pointed out.

Search for anomalous effects in H2O/D2O mixtures by neutron total cross section measurements

We investigate anomalies ascribed to quantum entanglement phenomena recently reported in deep inelastc neutron scattering (DINS) measurements by an independent neutron technique on H(2)O/D(2)O mixtures. We performed transmission experiments to study several liquid H(2)O/D(2)O mixtures at room temperature in the epithermal energy range. We obtain the total cross sections of the mixtures, which are in agreement with the expected results according to the tabulated values within a 0.3% relative error. We observe no anomalies and stress the limitations of the validity of the data-processing procedures employed in the DINS experiments where the anomalies were reported.

Quantum effects on liquid dynamics as evidenced by the presence of well-defined collective excitations in liquid para-hydrogen

The origin of the well-defined collective excitations found in liquid para-H2 by recent experiments is investigated. The persistence of their relatively long lifetimes down to microscopic scales is well accounted for by calculations carried out by means of path-integral-centroid molecular dynamics. In contrast only overdamped excitations are found in calculations carried within the classical limit. The results provide fully quantitative evidence of quantum effects on the dynamics of a simple liquid.