A Spotlight on Progress and Pitfalls in NAFLD/MAFLD Studies, 2022 Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the leading etiology of chronic hepatitis in the Western world and the only one for which global prevalence is steadily rising over time. In the last years, there have been substantial advances in our understanding of the epidemiology, the (non-invasive) diagnostic methods (including omics technologies), the natural history and the major risk factors for advanced liver disease in NAFLD, including genetic variants and the gut microbiota. Promising results have also arisen from drugs targeting metabolic pathways involved in the progression of liver damage. Recently, international experts also proposed redefining NAFLD as metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), but the impact of this name change on risk prediction of both hepatic and extra-hepatic outcomes is not known.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), formerly known as Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), is recently proposed nomenclature with a new set of diagnostic criteria. With an estimated 2 billion people being affected around the world, MAFLD signifies a growing global health burden, and such health challenge is expected to grow in the coming decade and especially among demographics with higher rate of obesity. Currently, MAFLD is recognized to increase the risk for higher severity in patients with the COVID-19.

Call for Papers for Special Issue ‘Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and the Liver’ The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is now a global pandemic, but a huge knowledge gap remains about the effects of this novel virus on the human body. Because angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the reported receptor for SARS-CoV-2, is highly expressed in almost the entire gastrointestinal tract, a significant portion of patients develop elevated liver enzyme levels and gastrointestinal symptoms, but the underlying pathophysiology is obscure.

Author Interview: Thomas McQuaid Author of "Sofosbuvir, a Significant Paradigm Change in HCV Treatment"

Author Interview: Lucija Virovic Jukic Author of "Hepatitis C Virus, Insulin Resistance, and Steatosis"