BMC infusion into hepatic artery of patients with advanced chronic liver disease is safe and feasible. In addition, a decrease in mean serum bilirubin and INR levels and an increase in albumin levels are observed. Our data warrant further studies in order to evaluate the effect of BMC transplantation in patients with advanced chronic liver disease.

Although there is significantly lower gastrointestinal toxicity in patients treated with selective COX-2 inhibitors, other severe adverse effects have been observed, including renal failure and cardiovascular effects, such as myocardial infarction acute and thrombosis. Despite these potential side effects, these new drugs are being tested in different clinical conditions, especially in cancer prevention and Alzheimer's disease.

To investigate potential risk factors associated with Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection, we performed a case-control study in 167 consecutively selected hospitalized children in Salvador, Brazil. Hp infection was identified by the presence of IgG against Hp in serum samples. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire, 38.3% children were found to be seropositive and classified as cases, and 61.7% were seronegative controls. After multivariate analysis, independent variables associated with Hp infection included: the educational attainment of the child's provider > or = 11 years (OR 0.1, 95% CI 0.01-0.9), poor garbage disposal service (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.0-4.9), thumb sucking (OR 4.6, 95% CI 1.1-19.8), brushing teeth more than once a day (OR 5.6, 95% CI 1.8-17.7), having a pet dog (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.0-6.1), and a history of chronic urticaria (OR 4.0, 95% CI 1.5-10.8). The risk factors identified are consistent with some, but not all, previous studies supporting either oral-oral or faecal-oral transmission of Hp. Our data suggested that a higher educational attainment might play an important role in preventing Hp infection.

Polymorphisms in the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene have been associated with variations in nitric oxide (NO) formation and response to drugs in white subjects. We examined whether genetic polymorphisms (T-786C, b/a intron 4 and Glu298Asp) and haplotypes of the eNOS gene affect NO formation in 179 healthy black subjects. To assess NO formation, we measured the concentrations of nitrite in the plasma, red blood cells and whole blood. Although we found no effects of individual eNOS polymorphisms on NO formation, we found that the 'C-4b-Glu' haplotype is significantly more common in subjects with low circulating plasma and whole blood nitrite concentrations compared with subjects with high circulating nitrite concentrations (both P<0.0007). These findings reproduce previous findings in white subjects and are consistent with the idea that defining genetic markers is more important than ethnic classification, at least in terms of NO formation.

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