Comment in 2020

Progress towards hepatitis B virus (HBV) elimination targets remains slow, despite efforts to support enhanced prevention, diagnosis and treatment. On the basis of insights from interventions against HIV, we argue for the wider use of antiviral therapy for HBV, highlighting the potential public health benefits in preventing liver disease and reducing transmission.

Case reports and retrospective cohort studies have reported an association between acute pancreatitis and COVID-19. As SARS-CoV-2 (the causative agent of COVID-19) receptors are expressed in the pancreas and endothelial damage can occur, this association is plausible. However, this hypothesis has many biases and needs further investigation.

To therapeutically modulate gut microbial ecosystems, a better understanding of gut ecology is key. High-throughput in vitro ecology provides a tool with the necessary power to address these needs and interpersonal treatment response variation.

Structural racism in academia and academic medicine is destructive to science and society. To deny its existence is to fertilize the soil in which it thrives. Uprooting it demands, at the very least, a fundamental transformation in institutional education, policies, practices and resource allocation with sustained anti-racist actions.

The effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on liver transplantation programmes and recipients is still not completely understood but overall involves the risk of donor-derived transmission, the reliability of diagnostic tests, health-care resource utilization and the effect of immunosuppression. This Comment reviews the effect of COVID-19 on liver transplantation and summarizes recommendations for donor and recipient management.

Data based on next-generation sequencing (NGS) of colorectal cancers (CRC) clearly show that up to 10% of all cases harbour pathogenic variants. Thus, NGS performed for all patients with CRC under the age of 50 could be a cost-effective strategy, leading to a personalized approach to patients and family members.

Deep learning can mine clinically useful information from histology. In gastrointestinal and liver cancer, such algorithms can predict survival and molecular alterations. Once pathology workflows are widely digitized, these methods could be used as inexpensive biomarkers. However, clinical translation requires training interdisciplinary researchers in both programming and clinical applications.

The gastrointestinal tract represents a target organ for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), warranting a thorough discussion on the consequences, particularly regarding inflammatory bowel diseases. Here, aspects of gastrointestinal involvement with SARS-CoV-2, the role of viruses as modulators of mucosal immunity and as treatment-related safety hazards, and the current clinical evidence will be discussed.

Greater than the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis, systemic inequity in social determinants of health is the pandemic that has long fostered vulnerability to disease and poor health outcomes in the USA. Our response has major implications for the health of our nations.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) itself and/or the use of hepatotoxic drugs might negatively affect the course and management of patients with pre-existing chronic liver diseases. However, the greatest effect of COVID-19 on liver diseases will be indirect and delayed, resulting from the impending global economic crisis.

On ‘International NASH Day’, we launch a call for the global health community to collaboratively shape and deliver a comprehensive, long-term public health agenda for NAFLD. A global multidisciplinary coalition is needed to guide our response to this increasingly prevalent, yet underaddressed disease.

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 has undeniably affected modalities of medical and gastroenterology training in all endemic areas. Indeed, the adoption of various distance-learning techniques has been mandatory to facilitate education and enhance skills such as problem-solving, self-directed learning, open communication and also holistic non-cognitive attributes such as adaptability and collaboration.

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) practices have been disrupted. This Comment summarizes the key strategies that should be implemented for both patients and IBD specialists to provide optimal care while avoiding new outbreaks for the first 6–12 months after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting and changing the daily practice of gastrointestinal endoscopy worldwide. To protect patients and endoscopy unit personnel, endoscopy units have had to postpone a large proportion of endoscopic procedures. These delays might have an effect on the screening for and surveillance of digestive cancers.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) worldwide outbreak has led to a dramatic challenge for all healthcare systems, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) centres. Here, we describe the fast changes and clinical issues that IBD specialists could face during this SARS-CoV-2 infection pandemic, highlighting the potential rearrangements of care and resetting of clinical priorities.

Patients are exposed to and actively seeking health information on social media. Greater attention to and engagement with social media communication could improve health literacy and counteract misinformation as well as promote innovation. However, effective and responsible social media use is nuanced and requires guidance.