News & Comment

Artificial intelligence is rapidly being adopted in healthcare, but studies have shown a ‘deskilling’ phenomenon. Routine exposure to medical artificial intelligence can pose deskilling risks for physicians. We discuss these risks and whether such systems violate the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act, the world’s first comprehensive regulatory framework on artificial intelligence.

This Comment highlights the effects of war- and armed conflict-related healthcare disruptions on chronic liver conditions — a crisis that increases morbidity and mortality. Major disruption mechanisms are described, and we advocate for conflict-adapted hepatology guidelines and practical, multi-level response strategies appropriate for armed conflict-associated humanitarian situations.

A new Consensus Statement puts forward a definition of ‘gut health’ in an attempt to bring some clarity and consistency to a term that is widely used but often ill-defined and vague.

Steatotic liver disease has a high human and economic burden, yet remains absent from WHO normative guidance, action plans and strategies. This position statement — endorsed by patient, national and international organizations from around the world — calls on the World Health Assembly to pass the first ever steatotic liver disease resolution.

Drug classes offer convenient clinical shorthand but obscure meaningful differences between individual therapies in inflammatory bowel disease. As treatment options expand, moving beyond class effects towards drug-level selection informed by pharmacology, efficacy, safety and patient context is essential to deliver more precise care.

The elimination of hepatitis B will not be achieved through innovation alone. It requires dismantling the structural inequities that have long constrained who leads, funds and benefits from global hepatitis B research.

The gastrointestinal tract is a critical interface for microplastic and nanoplastic exposure, yet causal links to health outcomes remain uncertain. We outline current methodological challenges and provide a list of minimum standards for rigorous study design, standardized reporting and careful attention to interpretations to distinguish mechanism from signals.

Direct-acting antiviral agents have substantially improved the rate of sustained virologic response and safety in the treatment of hepatitis C. However, concerns about the long-term outcomes for individuals who achieve sustained virologic response still exist. Herein, we propose a new conceptual model for redefining the goals and strategies of ongoing hepatitis C elimination campaigns.