Evaluation of D-dimer and prothrombin time in alcohol related liver cirrhosis with comparison of machine learning analyses.

OBJECTIVES: Liver cirrhosis (LC) can be caused by obesity, alcohol consumption, viral infection, and autoimmune disease. Early diagnosis and management of LC is important for patient quality of life. Non-invasive diagnostic methods are useful for predicting the current status and mortality risk of LC. The purpose of this study is to identify relevant diagnostic factors measured in routine laboratory test of alcohol-related liver cirrhosis (ALC) patients. METHODS: This study analyzed data from 127 patients with ALC, including their laboratory test results and clinical information, including coagulation parameters, hematologic parameters, and biochemical parameters. These data were used to compare the performance of the prediction models from three machine learning algorithms including K-nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and random forest (RF). RESULTS: Higher Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score were associated with prothrombin time (PT) and D-dimer. Logistic and multiple linear regression analyses revealed significant factors predicting mortality in the MELD group. Machine learning approaches were used to predict death in ALC patients using some laboratory parameters associated with mortality. The prediction model based on SVM exhibited better prediction performance than others. CONCLUSION: PT and D-dimer were the factors that were most strongly associated with 90-day mortality, and machine learning methods can create prediction models with good predictive power.

Black Soybean and Adzuki Bean Extracts Lower Blood Pressure by Modulating the Renin-Angiotensin System in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.

Hypertension, causing cardiovascular disease, stroke, and heart failure, has been a rising health issue worldwide. Black soybeans and adzuki beans have been widely consumed throughout history due to various bioactive components. We evaluated the antihypertensive effects of black soybean and adzuki bean ethanol extracts on blood pressure, renin-angiotensin system (RAS), and aortic lesion in spontaneously hypertensive rats. A group of WKY (normal) and six groups of spontaneously hypertensive rats were administered with saline (SHR), 50 mg/kg of captopril (CAP), 250 and 500 mg/kg of black soybean extracts (BE250 and BE500), 250 and 500 mg/kg of adzuki bean extracts (AE250 and AE500) for eight weeks. BE250, BE500, AE250, and AE500 significantly (p < 0.05) reduced relative liver weight, AST, ALT, triglyceride, total cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, and angiotensin-converting-enzyme level compared to SHR. The angiotensin II level in AE500 and renin mRNA expression in BE500 and AE500 were significantly (p < 0.05) decreased compared to SHR. The lumen diameter was significantly (p < 0.05) reduced in only CAP. Furthermore, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and angiotensin II level in AE500 were lower than those of BE500. These results suggest that AE exhibit more antihypertensive potential than BE in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activities of Weissella cibaria against Pathogens of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections.

Recently discovered preventive effects of probiotics on oral health have attracted interest to their use for the prevention and treatment of various diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties of Weissella cibaria against Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, S. pneumoniae, and Moraxella catarrhalis, the major pathogens of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). The antimicrobial activities of W. cibaria were compared with those of other oral probiotics using a competitive inhibition assay and the determination of the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs). In addition, a time-kill assay, spectrophotometry, and confocal laser scanning microscopy were used to confirm the antimicrobial and antibiofilm abilities of W. cibaria CMU (oraCMU) and CMS1 (oraCMS1). Both live cells and cell-free supernatants of all tested probiotics, except Streptococcus salivarius, showed excellent antimicrobial activities. All target pathogens were killed within 4 to 24 h at twice the MIC of oraCMU and oraCMS1, which showed the highest antimicrobial activities against M. catarrhalis. The antimicrobial substances that affected different target pathogens were different. Both oraCMU and oraCMS1 showed excellent abilities to inhibit biofilm formation and remove preformed biofilms. Our results suggest that the W. cibaria probiotics offer new possibilities for the prevention and treatment of bacterial URTIs.

A Rapid, Accurate, and Efficient Method to Map Heavy Metal-Contaminated Soils of Abandoned Mine Sites Using Converted Portable XRF Data and GIS.

The use of portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) increases the rapidity and accuracy of soil contamination mapping, respectively. In practice, it is often necessary to repeat the soil contamination assessment and mapping procedure several times during soil management within a limited budget. In this study, we have developed a rapid, inexpensive, and accurate soil contamination mapping method using a PXRF data and geostatistical spatial interpolation. To obtain a large quantity of high quality data for interpolation, in situ PXRF data analyzed at 40 points were transformed to converted PXRF data using the correlation between PXRF and ICP-AES data. The method was applied to an abandoned mine site in Korea to generate a soil contamination map for copper and was validated for investigation speed and prediction accuracy. As a result, regions that required soil remediation were identified. Our method significantly shortened the time required for mapping compared to the conventional mapping method and provided copper concentration estimates with high accuracy similar to those measured by ICP-AES. Therefore, our method is an effective way of mapping soil contamination if we consistently construct a database based on the correlation between PXRF and ICP-AES data.

Mapping Copper and Lead Concentrations at Abandoned Mine Areas Using Element Analysis Data from ICP-AES and Portable XRF Instruments: A Comparative Study.

Understanding spatial variation of potentially toxic trace elements (PTEs) in soil is necessary to identify the proper measures for preventing soil contamination at both operating and abandoned mining areas. Many studies have been conducted worldwide to explore the spatial variation of PTEs and to create soil contamination maps using geostatistical methods. However, they generally depend only on inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) analysis data, therefore such studies are limited by insufficient input data owing to the disadvantages of ICP-AES analysis such as its costly operation and lengthy period required for analysis. To overcome this limitation, this study used both ICP-AES and portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) analysis data, with relatively low accuracy, for mapping copper and lead concentrations at a section of the Busan abandoned mine in Korea and compared the prediction performances of four different approaches: the application of ordinary kriging to ICP-AES analysis data, PXRF analysis data, both ICP-AES and transformed PXRF analysis data by considering the correlation between the ICP-AES and PXRF analysis data, and co-kriging to both the ICP-AES (primary variable) and PXRF analysis data (secondary variable). Their results were compared using an independent validation data set. The results obtained in this case study showed that the application of ordinary kriging to both ICP-AES and transformed PXRF analysis data is the most accurate approach when considers the spatial distribution of copper and lead contaminants in the soil and the estimation errors at 11 sampling points for validation. Therefore, when generating soil contamination maps for an abandoned mine, it is beneficial to use the proposed approach that incorporates the advantageous aspects of both ICP-AES and PXRF analysis data.

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) powder as a natural food-grade antioxidant in deep-fat-fried products.

The addition of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) powder in flour dough as a natural antioxidant was investigated, and oxidation of frying oil and the lipid in fried products during frying was also studied. Flour dough with spinach powder was rolled into sheets of 0.1 cm thickness and then cut into squares to be fried. Each frying was performed in 160 degrees C soybean oil for 1 min, repeated every 20 min for 20 h. Fried samples were analyzed immediately or after being stored at 60 degrees C for 12 days under dark. The lipid content of fried dough was lower in samples with the addition of spinach powder. Spinach in the dough decreased accumulation of the polar compounds in soybean oil during frying but had little effect on the fried dough. It also reduced conjugated diene and aldehyde formation in the lipid of fried dough during storage. Improvement in lipid oxidative stability, presumably due to pigments in spinach, was more noticeable in the fried products during storage than in the frying oil.