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Dec
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The 2021 ACCEA round opened on Monday 7th December 2020 and will close at 17:00 on Thursday 18th March 2021.
DEADLINE for applying for BASL support is 09:00 on MONDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2021.
BASL will need to have completed the process of selecting those applicants who will receive our support well before the ACCEA deadline date.
If you wish to be considered for a new national award in the 2021 round and you would like to seek BASL support, you should submit a copy of your Application Form to the BASL Secretariat.
Applications should be sent to Judy Hawksworth at judy@basl.org.uk by 09:00 on Monday 1st February 2021.
When submitting your application to BASL, please provide the name of an individual who has agreed to write your supporting citation. Please note, we will need to request a citation for every applicant even if the member is not successful in gaining BASL support, in order to meet the tight deadlines imposed by ACCEA.
Please also include a paragraph on your involvement/work with BASL as this will become relevant later in the BASL process.
Follow this link for further information on the Gov UK ACCEA website.
Further information on how BASL decides whom to support can be found in the document below:
Download How BASL Decides_ACCEA 2021.pdf
ACCEA regard the citations provided by BASL as important: they give added value to the process. The citation helps clarify information in the application and can put an individual's contribution into the wider context.
We look forward to receiving your applications.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact judy@basl.org.uk .
18 December 2020
Nov
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The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus. Labelled a Cinderella story of medicine, investigations for causes and prevention of ‘post-transfusion hepatitis’ started with Harvey Alter an aspiring haematologist who collaborated with Baruch Blumberg leading to the discovery of hepatitis B; Harvey Alter was the second author in the original article (view > here) and the first author of the next describing the characteristics of the ‘Australia antigen’ (view > here).
Harvey Alter later observed that only 20% of transfusion hepatitis was explained by the hepatitis B virus and carried on to demonstrate the transmissibility of the ‘non-A, non-B hepatitis virus ’ in chimpanzees. Michael Haughton led the direct molecular cloning of HCV (view > here). While Blumberg won the Nobel Prize way back in 1976, Alter together with Houghton in 2000 and Charles Rice in 2016 (for his seminal work on HCV replicon system) received the Lasker Award (hailed as a pre-Nobel award).
Following the Lasker Award, Alter said that ‘I am perhaps the thread that links these events, but the story is a fabric woven by many collaborators who played essential parts and by the conducive environment of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) intramural program that has nurtured these clinical investigations...My gratitude is without bounds’. He also wrote about the discovery of Australia antigen, a serendipity (view > here).
Houghton’s response to the Nobel award was that ‘We thought it would be solved quickly, but it actually took seven years to find’.
Rice reminisced that ‘Manufacturers are now attempting to lower the price, in part by granting production rights in poorer countries. I would have been much happier had it been more rapid.’ Rice also told the interviewer that the WHO was unlikely to be able to eradicate the virus by 2030, in part because a broadly effective and widely available vaccine was still years away.
An essay on the history of Hepatitis C by Harvey Alter, was recently published online in the AASLD Journal Clinical Liver Disease; Download History Of HCV - BLOG 2020.pdf
Guruprasad Aithal
President, BASL
Oct
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Frontline Gastroenterology are looking to appoint new Trainee Associate Editors.
Closing date 16/11/2020.
For more information click > here .
Oct
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The Royal College of Physicians’ Accreditation Unit is seeking to appoint a quality lead to take responsibility for the level one submissions of services working towards full accreditation and supporting services to level 2. The post holder will represent IQILS and support the development of the programme and increase awareness and engagement among Liver services.
This is an exciting and varied role suitable for a consultant hepatologist. The time commitment is 0.5 PA per week. The role description can be found on the IQILS website: https://www.iqils.org/CMS/AllNews.aspx
If you are interested in this role, please send your CV and a supporting statement of no more than 2 pages outlining how you meet the person specification to askiqils@rcplondon.ac.uk by the closing date.
Please contact the IQILS manager, Madeline Bano at askiqils@rcplondon.ac.uk if you have any questions or would like an informal discussion about the role.
Applications will close at midnight on Sunday 8 November 2020. Interviews will be held in the morning of Thursday 19 November.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) believes that equality of opportunity is fundamental in whatever way individuals become involved with the RCP, whether as physicians, physicians-in-training or staff. It welcomes and actively seeks to recruit people to its activities regardless of race, religion, ethnic origin, disability, age, gender and sexual orientation. The RCP aims to reflect the diversity of its members in all its committee, senior roles and staff.
Oct
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An international study led by researchers at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has shown that patients with cirrhosis are at increased risk of dying as a result of COVID-19.
The study, published in the Journal of Hepatology, found that mortality from COVID-19 was particularly high among patients with more advanced cirrhosis (called Childs-Pugh B or C cirrhosis) and those with alcohol-related liver disease.
The study was a collaboration between scientists at the Oxford Liver Unit, based at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital, and colleagues at the University of North Carolina (USA), and was supported by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL)
The paper presented data on over 1,300 patients from 29 different countries and compared COVID-19 outcomes between patients with and without liver disease.
“Our study confirms that severity of liver disease is closely associated with poor outcomes from COVID-19, with cirrhosis patients being at significantly increased risk of death,” said Dr Thomas Marjot, who leads the study alongside Professor Eleanor Barnes of the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine.
“Given the huge global burden of cirrhosis, with an estimated 112 million people affected, and the resurgence of the virus in many areas of the world these findings have far-reaching implications for how we manage patients with liver disease during the pandemic. This includes the need to consider enhanced protection and social distancing for patients with advanced cirrhosis,” Dr Marjot explained.
The study found that mortality among patients with cirrhosis was 32%, compared with 8% in those without. However, the risk of mortality increased in those with more advanced forms of cirrhosis, rising as high as 51% in those in the most severe category. Other risk factors for death included advancing age and alcohol-related liver disease.
The majority of deaths in cirrhosis patients (71%) were from respiratory failure caused by COVID-19. The virus also seemed to cause a deterioration in liver function, with patients developing complications such as ascites or encephalopathy even in the absence of typical respiratory symptoms of COVID-19.
This work follows a recent publication from the same group in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology which showed that liver transplant recipients did not appear to be at increased risk of death from the virus.
Dr Andrew Moon at The University of North Carolina said: “This study nicely compliments our findings in patients with prior liver transplantation. In contrast to the presence of advanced cirrhosis, having a liver transplantation was not associated with increased risk of death from COVID-19. This suggests that we should aim to continue liver transplant services during the pandemic wherever possible.”
Professor Thomas Berg, EASL Vice-Secretary General and Head of the Division of Hepatology at Leipzig University Medical Centre in Germany, said: “The findings from this large registry study are very relevant to clinicians and patients worldwide, as we continue to optimise liver disease management during the pandemic.
“These results are timely and reinforce the recommendations made in the joint Position Papers by EASL and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) published in JHEP Reports, which offer guidance on how to approach patients with different types and stages of liver disease.”
ENDS
Contact:
Roy Probert, Senior Communications Manager
Mobile: 07341 115585
roy.probert@ouh.nhs.uk
Sep
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Many people have been consuming more alcohol during lockdown, especially those with hazardous or harmful drinking behaviour. Anecdotal observations suggest an increase in the number and severity of admissions of patients with alcohol-related liver disease (ArLD) since lockdown was implemented with more patients presenting with advanced disease including variceal haemorrhage and alcoholic hepatitis. The ArLD Special Interest Group aims to perform a systematic national service evaluation of ArLD hospital episodes to determine whether the number of ArLD patients and the severity of their disease is different post-lockdown compared to a similar period in 2019. Working in collaboration with Public Health colleagues, this information will be combined with a national dataset to help us understand the effect of lockdown on our vulnerable patient group and to plan alcohol services at a local and national level.
We need your help to contribute data from your Trust. We are using a validated Excel-based tool to identify eligible patients and a simple Excel data collection tool. An evaluation lead and any other assistant (e.g. specialty trainee) at each participating centre will be recognised as co-authors in any publications that arise from this evaluation.
To register your interest in participating in this national service evaluation and to receive further details, please email me at ashwin.dhanda@nhs.net .
Thank you for your support,
Ashwin
Dr Ashwin Dhanda, BASL ArLD SIG lead
Sep
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The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is welcoming you to take part in the 5th ‘Annual Call for New Topics’. This is an opportunity for you to propose a national screening programme for a condition not yet considered by the UK NSC.
If you have an idea for a proposal, then please follow this link to be taken to the guidance:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-nsc-evidence-review-process/appendix-d-how-to-submit-a-proposal-to-the-uk-nsc .
Please ensure you read through it carefully and use the template submission form. This will help you through the various requirements of a proposal.
The deadline for submissions is midnight, Sunday 6th December 2020.
Evidence Team
UK National Screening Committee
www.screening.nhs.uk
Public Health England hosts the UK National Screening Committee
Aug
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Download the BSG - BASL Decompensated Cirrhosis Discharge bundle checklists below:
Download Cirrhosis discharge bundle long V1.1 BSG-BASL 25-08-2020.docx
Download Cirrhosis discharge bundle short V1.1 BSG-BASL 25-08-2020.docx
Aug
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Members are invited to vote for their next President Elect.
The successfully nominated candidates are:
• Professor Rajiv Jalan
• Professor David Jones
• Dr Rebecca Jones
If you are a BASL member and have not received a voting link please contact judy@basl.org.uk .
Deadline for voting 23:59hrs on Thursday 10th September 2020.
Aug
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BASL is a nominating body for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 and the latest date by which we can nominate candidates to the REF 2021 expert sub-panels has been extended to 7th September 2020.
Nominations for a REF sub-panel are aimed at career academics that understand REF2021 and are subject to approval by the BASL Committtee. Any enquries from interested BASL members must be with the Secretariat (admin@basl.org.uk) by noon on Wednesday 19th August 2020, any received after this date will not be considered.
The current nominations’ call is for additional members and assessors with expertise in specific areas, to ensure each sub-panel has an appropriate breadth of expertise and volume of panel members necessary for the assessment of REF submissions.
It is recommended that you visit the REF2021 website for all of the information on REF sub-panels and roles : https://www.ref.ac.uk/panels/nominating-panel-members/ before contacting BASL.
