Infection evaluation in the early period after liver transplantation: A single-center exploration.

BACKGROUND: Infection is a significant risk factor that impacts for perioperative morbidity and mortality in liver transplantation (LTx) patients and is difficult to evaluate quantitatively in the early posttransplantation period. Thus, a biomarker to assess the risk of infection and the prognosis of the recipient is highly desirable. METHODS: A total of 128 consecutive patients with end-stage liver diseases undergoing LTx between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021, at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, were screened retrospectively. Graft preservation fluid and blood samples were collected for culture, and other perioperative laboratory examination results were recorded, for assessment of infection status. RESULTS: After a follow-up period of 30 days, the survival rate among the 128 LTx recipients was 94.5%. Multivariable regression analysis showed that the logarithmically transformed neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (HR = 3.548, 95% CI: ; p = .041) on post-LTx day 1 and graft preservation fluid culture positivity (HR = 12.032, 95% CI: ; p = .006) were independent predictive factors for early prognosis after LTx. CONCLUSIONS: Positive graft preservation fluid culture and the logarithmically transformed NLR on post-LTx day 1 were independent predictive factors for early prognosis after LTx. The logarithmically transformed NLR could provide an earlier indication than culture results in clinical practice.

Liver transplantation in Crigler-Najjar syndrome type I disease.

BACKGROUND: Crigler-Najjar syndrome type I (CNS I) is a very rare autosomal recessive inherited disease that liver transplantation can properly deal with. METHODS: We present one case of an 18-month-old child with CNS I diagnosed by clinical findings and genetic detecting. LTx was performed 5 days after kernicterus broke out and neurological symptoms were successfully reversed. RESULT: Magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed encouraging results that brain pathology had a trend to return to normal in 1-year follow-up, combined with electroencephalogram and motor development estimate studies. CONCLUSIONS: Liver transplantation can cure CNS I with reversible neurological symptoms to some extent in time. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy may be a future option of predicting brain conditions and selecting suitable patients with CNS I for transplantation.

Evaluating the Response and Safety of Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccines in Liver Transplant Recipients.

Purpose: To evaluate the response and safety of an inactivated vaccine (Sinovac Life Sciences Co., Ltd., Beijing, China) for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in liver transplant (LTx) recipients from China. Patients and Methods: Thirty-five recipients post LTx from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine who received inactivated vaccine from June to October 2021 were screened. Information regarding vaccine side effects and clinical data were collected. Results: Thirty-five LTx recipients were enrolled, with a mean age of 46 years, and most patients were male (30, 85.71%). All the participants had a negative history of COVID-19 infection. Predictors for negative response in the recipients were interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) induction during LTx, shorter time post LTx and application of a derivative from mycophenolate acid (MPA). No serious adverse events were observed during the progress of vaccination or after the vaccination. Conclusion: LTx recipients have a substantially partial immunological response to the inactivated vaccine for COVID-19. IL-2R induction during LTx, a shorter time post LTx and the application of a derivative from MPA seem to be predictors for a negative serological immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody response in recipients. The findings require booster vaccination in these LTx recipients.

[Progress in quality analysis of honey by infrared spectroscopy].

The detection of the quality of honey and the differentiation of adulteration are very important for quality and safety assurance. Traditionally used chemical methods were expensive and complicated, therefore they are not suitable for the requirement of wide-scale detection. In the past decade, the detection technology of honey developed with a trend of fast and high throughput detection. Spectroscopy has the fast and non-contact characteristic, and was widely used in petrifaction. This technology also has the potential for application in honey analysis. In the present study, the progress in quantitative and qualitative analysis of honey by near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) and mid infrared spectroscopy (MIR) is reviewed. The application of this two spectroscopy methods to honey detection refers to several aspects, such as quality control analysis, determination of botanical origin, determination of geographical origin and detection of adulteration. The detailed information of the detection of honey by NIR and MIR spectroscopy was analyzed, containing detection principle, technology path, accuracy, influence factors, and the development trend.

[Possibilities of near-infrared spectroscopy for the assessment of principle components in honey].

The potential of near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) as a nondestructive method for determining the principle components of honeys was studied for 153 unifloral honeys and multifloral honey samples. Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy (FT-NIR), CCD near-infrared spectroscopy and PDA near-infrared spectroscopy were evaluated to quantitatively determine water content, fructose content and glucose content in honey. On the basis of partial-least square (PLS) regression, the models of honey were compared. The best calibration model gives the correlation coefficients of 0.978 5, 0.931 1 and 0.90 7 for water, fructose and glucose, respectively, with the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.410 8(%), 1.914 48(%) and 2.531 9(%) respectively. The results demonstrated that near-infrared spectrometry is a valuable, rapid and nondestructive tool for the quantitative analysis of the principle components in honey.

[Analysis of NIR characteristic wavelengths for apple flesh firmness based on GA and iPLS].

In the present study, the fruit flesh firmness of apple was analyzed by near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy using an FT-NIR spectrometer. The sensitive spectral regions that provide the lowest prediction error were analyzed by different well-known variable selection methods, including dynamic backward interval partial least-squares (dynamic biPLS), sequential application of backward interval partial least-squares and genetic algorithm(dynamic biPLS & GA-PLS), and iterative genetic algorithm partial least-squares (iterative GA-PLS). Iterative GA-PLS, dynamic biPLS & GA-PLS led to a distinct reduction in the number of spectral data points with better predictive quality. Furthermore, the majority of selected wavelengths were content with the characteristic of the sorption bands of fruit flesh firmness. Pectin constituents, complex non-starch polysaccharides, which are related to texture change in apple, play an important role in their harvest maturity, ripening and storage. Comparing NIR characteristic wavelengths of apple flesh firmness and typical absorption bands for pectin, it was found that characteristic wavelengths of apple flesh firmness were consistent with the pectins relevant spectral regions. Therefore, the NIR characteristic wavelengths of apple firmness based on GA and iPLS reflected the chemical component of apple and the results were reasonable.

[Using GA-dOSC method to eliminate interference of peel with prediction of apple firmness based on near infrared diffuse reflection spectra].

In the present work, "Fuji" apples from Shandong Yantai were used to take the diffuse reflection spectra by FT-NIR PLS components (i.e., factors) were computed by nonlinear iterative partial least squares (NIPALS) and the number of latent factors (LV) was optimized by a leave-one-out cross-validation procedure on the calibration set. On the basis of partial least square (PLS) regression, the models for apples' firmness before and after peeling were compared. In order to eliminate the effect of apple peel on prediction, spectral pretreatments such as multiplicative scatter correction (MSC), derivative, direct orthogonal signal correction (DOSC) and wavelengths selection based on genetic algorithms (GA) were used. Finally, the results of different spectral treatments were compared. In conclusion, the RSDp of models for apples before and after peeling was 16.71% and 12.36%, respectively, suggesting that the apple peel played a negative role in constructing good predictive models. Moreover, the traditional spectral pretreatments (such as MSC, derivative) can hardly resolve the problem. In this research, GA-DOSC played an important role in reducing the interference of apple peel. It not only reduced the wavelength variables from 1480 to 36, but also reduced the latent variables from 5 to 1. The correlation coefficient (r) was improved from 0.753 to 0.805, and the RMSECV and RMESP were reduced from 1.019 kgf x cm(-2) and 1.197 kgf x cm(-2) to 0.919 kgf x cm(-2) and 0.924 kgf x cm(-2), respectively. Especially, the RSDp was decreased remarkably from 16.71% to 12.89%. The performance of the model after GA-DOSC treatment was similar to the model using spectra of apple flesh (12.36%). It was concluded that the prediction precision based on GA-DOSC satisfied the requirement of NIR non-destruction determination of apples firmness.

[Feasibility of using NIR spectroscopy to detect melamine in milk].

In the present study, 22 certified milk samples without melamine were collected, then 50 adulterated milk samples with added different content of melamine (0.1-1 500 mg x kg(-1)) were prepared. The near-infrared (NIR) spectra of these milk samples were measured. The possibility of using NIR spectra to detect melamine in milk was studied. Partial least square regression (PLSR) was applied to construct the calibration model between NIR spectra and the content of melamine. The results showed that NIR spectroscopy can not accurately predict the content of melamine because of its poor detection limit. However, the combination of NIR spectra and partial least square-discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) was applied to differentiate the certified milk samples and the adulterated milk sample. The classification accuracy was 100%. Therefore, NIR spectra could be used to preliminarily detect whether the milk was adulterated with melamine. As a complementary detecting method to the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), NIR spectra could improve the detecting efficiency of milk

[Improving apple fruit quality predictions by effective correction of Vis-NIR laser diffuse reflecting images].

In the present study, improved laser-induced light backscattering imaging was studied regarding its potential for analyzing apple SSC and fruit flesh firmness. Images of the diffuse reflection of light on the fruit surface were obtained from Fuji apples using laser diodes emitting at five wavelength bands (680, 780, 880, 940 and 980 nm). Image processing algorithms were tested to correct for dissimilar equator and shape of fruit, and partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis was applied to calibrate on the fruit quality parameter. In comparison to the calibration based on corrected frequency with the models built by raw data, the former improved r from 0. 78 to 0.80 and from 0.87 to 0.89 for predicting SSC and firmness, respectively. Comparing models based on mean value of intensities with results obtained by frequency of intensities, the latter gave higher performance for predicting Fuji SSC and firmness. Comparing calibration for predicting SSC based on the corrected frequency of intensities and the results obtained from raw data set, the former improved root mean of standard error of prediction (RMSEP) from 1.28 degrees to 0.84 degrees Brix. On the other hand, in comparison to models for analyzing flesh firmness built by means of corrected frequency of intensities with the calibrations based on raw data, the former gave the improvement in RMSEP from 8.23 to 6.17 N x cm(-2).

[A preliminary experience of treatment of severe aplastic anemia with murine anti-human CD3 T lymphocyte monoclonal antibody].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy of the specific murine anti-human CD(3) T lymphocyte monoclonal antibody (CD(3) MoAb) for severe aplastic anemia (SAA). METHODS: 13 SAA patients were chosen with a medium age of 22 years, including 4 untreated patients and 9 nonresponding to previous management. They were treated with 5 mg of CD(3) MoAb per day for a total 10 days. RESULTS: The response rate was 11/13, including 2 cured and 2 remission cases during a follow up of 3 to 15 months. As compared with the pretreatment condition the proliferation of bone marrow in 8 cases become better; the leukocytes, granulocytes, hemoglobin and platelets of peripheral blood increased 1.59 x 10(9)/L, 0.72 x 10(9)/L, 40 g/L and 47 x 10(9)/L respectively (P < 0.01, respectively); the ratio of CD(4)/CD(8) of T cell subsets increased from 1.12 to 1.42 while the expression of HLA-DR antigen decreased from 29.2 to 15.2 (P < 0.01, respectively); TNF alpha, IFN gamma and IL-2 secreted by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) decreased obviously from 267, 784 and 92 to 152, 570 and 51 U/ml on the average respectively (P < 0.01, respectively). The main side effects were fever in all the patients and shortness of breath in 4 cases, but none died during the therapy. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to other kinds of common immune suppressor, CD(3) MoAb showed better response and probably higher efficacy and safety for SAA. It is necessary to have more cases and to follow up longer to estimate its long term effect and side effects.

[Comparative proteomics research of apoptosis initiation induced by homoharringtonine in HL-60 cells].

OBJECTIVE: To study the related proteins of apoptosis initiation induced by homoharringtonine (HHT) in HL-60 cells. METHODS: After establishment of an apoptosis initiation model induced by HHT in HL-60 cells, proteins of untreated and HHT treated HL-60 cells were extracted, and the two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-DE) maps of the extracted proteins were established by using the immobilized pH gradient (IPG) two-dimensional electrophoresis respectively. The alteration protein spots were identified with assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and database searching. RESULTS: Proteomics analysis showed that proteins including MHC class I antigen, calbindin D-28K, chloride channel protein 6, oncoprotein 18, zinc finger protein Helios and apoptosis inhibitor like protein 2 were involved in apoptosis initiation induced by HHT. CONCLUSION: The present study might conduce to the researches of HL-60 cells carcinogenesis and pave the way to exploit drug precursor related to HHT and initiation of apoptosis in HL-60 cells.