Characterization of Nutrient Intake in Biopsy-Confirmed NAFLD Patients.

Objectives: Weight loss improves the liver pathophysiological status of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients. However, there are few studies that investigate the accurate relationships between nutritional intake and disease progression in NAFLD patients. Methods: A total of 37 biopsy-confirmed NAFLD patients were enrolled in this study. Clinical and nutritional control data of 5074 persons were obtained from the National Institute of Health and Nutrition. Each NAFLD subject recorded dietary intake for seven consecutive days using a dietary questionnaire and photographs of each meal. A dietitian analyzed and quantified the nutritional data in each patient. We further analyzed the nutritional intake of NAFLD patients in three groups according to the following criteria: (1) liver fibrosis degree (advanced, early), (2) gender (male, female), and (3) body mass index (BMI) (high, low). Results: Excesses or deficiencies of multiple nutrients were found in NAFLD patients compared with control subjects. In addition, there were variations in nutritional intake. (1) The intake of vitamins A, B6, and E, pantothenic acid, soluble dietary fiber, and salt was lower in the advanced fibrosis group than in the early fibrosis group. (2) Fat intake was higher in male patients, and dietary fiber intake was lower in both male and female patients compared with control subjects. (3) Saturated fatty acid intake was higher, and copper and vitamin E intakes were lower in patients with high BMI than with low BMI. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that differences were found in some nutrient intake of NAFLD patients and controls and according to the severity of the conditions (liver fibrosis degree, BMI).

Probe for label-free quantitative analysis in liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.

A technique for detecting ion suppression in LC/MS was developed by adding a specific concentration of a probe molecule to an LC mobile phase. The probe is sufficiently acidic and hydrophilic, such that the intensity of the protonated probe, as analyzed in a mass spectrometer, is expected to decrease much more than those of other analytes when ion suppression occurs. Thus, the potential occurrence of ion suppression is detected by monitoring the intensity of the protonated probe. However, the probe has been developed for limited conditions of the LC mobile phase used in proteomics. In this paper, we examine the probe's applicability to the experimental conditions used in pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism. Our results demonstrate that the probe can be used in mobile phases, in which the pH ranges from 1.8 to 6.7 and the organic solvent concentration ranges from 10 to 90%. Furthermore, the detection of ion suppression in the analysis of Omeprazole in human plasma was demonstrated by increasing the amount of the plasma in the sample solution.