[Update points for the 2022 edition of the European Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Hepatic Encephalopathy and comparison with China's 2018 edition guidelines].

The European Association for the Study of Liver Diseases issued the "Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Hepatic Encephalopathy" in 2022, which included recommendations for clinical diagnosis, assessment, treatment, management, and prevention. The Society's "Hepatic Encephalopathy Clinical Practice Guidelines in Chronic Liver Disease," which was last published in 2014, and the "Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Hepatic Encephalopathy in Cirrhosis," which the Chinese Society of Hepatology, Chinese Medical Association, released in 2018, have certain differences and updates in terms of comparison to terminology, grading and classification, diagnosis, clinical evaluation and treatment, management, and prevention. Herein, the updated points of this guideline and the differences between it and our nation's guidelines are summarized in order to refine and understand the guiding role of the new version of the guideline for the clinical treatment of hepatic encephalopathy and provide aid for standardizing clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Diagnostic potential of urinary monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 for Alzheimer's disease and amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study aimed to investigate whether urinary MCP-1 can distinguish patients with AD, patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and cognitively normal (CN) subjects. METHODS: A total of 754 participants, including 97 patients with AD, 50 patients with aMCI and 84 age- and sex-matched CN controls as well as a cohort of 523 CN subjects of different ages, were enrolled from five hospitals located in different areas of China. Urinary MCP-1 levels were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The correlations between urinary MCP-1 levels and cognition test scores or age were analysed. The optimal diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were determined using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. RESULTS: In the cohort of CN subjects of different ages, urinary MCP-1 levels increased with ageing and were correlated with age. The urinary MCP-1 levels were higher in females than in males. In the cohort composed of patients with AD, aMCI and age- and sex-matched CN controls, urinary MCP-1 levels were significantly higher in patients with AD and aMCI than in CN controls. There were no differences in urine MCP-1 levels between the AD group and the aMCI group. The urinary MCP-1 levels were correlated with the Mini-Mental State Examination scores and age, and were able to differentiate patients with AD and aMCI from CN subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Urinary MCP-1 is a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of AD and aMCI.

CHANGES OF WNT/B-CATENIN SIGNALING AND DIFFERENTIATION POTENTIAL OF BONE MARROW MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS IN PROCESS OF BONE LOSS IN OVARIECTOMIZED RATS.

BACKGROUND: In vitro studies of the changes about osteoblastogenesis and adipogenesis potential of BMSCs were not clear. As it is the critical pathway for osteogenic differentiation and bone formation, whether or not Wnt/ß-catenin signalling is involved in the changes of osteogenic and adipogenic potential of BMSCs and participates in bone content decrease of ovariectomized (OVX)osteoporosis rats has been rarely reported. MATERIAL/METHODS: BMSCs from femurs of ovariectomzed rats were isolated and cultured in vitro. The proliferation potential of BMSCs was analysed by CCK-8 assays . Osteoblastic and adipogenic differentiation potential of the BMSCs was assessed by ALP activity assay, Alizarin red S staining, Oil red O staining and RT-PCR analysis. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that BMSCs from bilateral ovariectomization rats were endowed with lower proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation potential but higher adipogenic potential than the control group in vitro. In addition, ß-catenin was found to have been decreased in OVX BMSCs, indicating that Wnt/ß-catenin signalling pathways were suppressed in OVX BMSCs . CONCLUSIONS: Results suggested that changes in the Wnt canonical signalling pathway may be related to imbalances of osteogenic and adipogenic potential of BMSCs, and this may be an important factor related to bone content decrease in ovariectomized osteoporosis rats.

Wetting behavior of water on silicon carbide polar surfaces.

Technically important wide band-gap semiconductors such as GaN, AlN, ZnO and SiC are crystallized in polar structures. Taking SiC as an example, we investigate the effect of surface polarity on the wetting behavior by water using experiments and molecular dynamic simulations. It is found that the contact angle (CA) of deionized water on the carbon-face (C-face) is significantly larger than that on the silicon-face (Si-face) for both 6H-SiC and 4H-SiC, while the CA of tetrachloromethane is almost the same on these two faces. This finding clearly indicates that polar interactions between water and SiC induce such a large difference in the CA. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations suggest that a larger CA on the C-face than that on the Si-face is resulted from the different charge agglomeration on the two faces. These results will not only be helpful in improving the state of the art processes such as rinsing and wet etching in device fabrication, but also offer a reliable method to determine the polarity of SiC crystals quickly, simply, accurately and nondestructively, which is easily extendable for the measurement of other polar crystals.

Mechanism of liver X receptor α and ATP binding cassette transporter A1 involved in preeclampsia using an optimized deep learning model.

OBJECTIVE: Preeclampsia (PE) is a complex disease-causing multisystem damage. Many genes, environmental factors, and their interactions are involved in the development and progression of PE. The pathogenesis of PE is not fully understood, limiting the prevention and treatment of PE. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of 4,4'-diisothiocyanato-stilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (DIDS), an ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) blocker, on apoM mRNA and protein levels. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The role of liver X receptor α (LXRα) and ABCA1 in the pathogenesis of PE was investigated by optimizing the design of DIDS inhibition based on a deep learning model. RESULTS: The proportion of primipara in the research group, EOPE group, LOPE group, and controls was 59.82%, 65.85%, 56.34%, and 21.43%, respectively. The difference between the research group and the controls was statistically significant (p<0.01). In the clinical data, serum-free triiodothyronine (FT3), gestational age at delivery, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), hemoglobin (HGB), albumin, and platelet (PLT) in the research group were lower than those in the controls (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: ABCA1 is considered to affect apoM mRNA expression, G/HDL-C may increase the risk of LOPE, and overweight or obesity, abnormal glycemic regulation, and hypothyroidism are independent risk factors closely related to the pathogenesis of PE and its subgroups.

[Seroprevalence of the specific antibody against Toxoplasma gondii among patients with hematological diseases].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infections among patients with hematological diseases, so as to provide insights into improving the prognosis and quality of life among patients with hematological diseases. METHODS: A total of 240 patients with hematological diseases (including 170 patients with hematological tumors and 70 patients with non-tumor hematological diseases) admitted to The Affiliated Hospital of Putian University during the period from January 1, 2021 through October 10, 2023 and 500 healthy volunteers in the hospital during the same period were enrolled. Subjects' demographics and serum samples were collected, and serum specific IgG and IgM antibodies against T. gondii were detected using the chemiluminescence assay, with any of a positive IgG or IgM antibody defined as a positive T. gondii infection. The seroprevalence of specific IgG and IgM antibodies against T. gondii was compared between patients with hematological diseases and healthy volunteers. RESULTS: The mean age (F = 2.034, P > 0.05) and gender distribution (χ2 = 0.462, P > 0.05) were comparable among patients with hematological tumors, patients with non-tumor hematological diseases and healthy volunteers, and there was no significant difference in the proportion of history of cat or dog contacts between patients with hematological diseases and healthy volunteers (χ2 = 0, P > 0.05). The seroprevalence of anti-T. gondii antibody was significantly higher among patients with hematological diseases than among healthy volunteers (15.8% vs. 0.6%; χ2 = 71.902, P < 0.01), and there was a significant difference in the seroprevalence of anti-T. gondii antibody among patients with hematological tumors (18.2%), patients with non-tumor hematological diseases (10.0%) and healthy volunteers (χ2 = 78.327, P < 0.01). The seroprevalence of anti-T. gondii antibody was significantly higher among patients with hematological tumors and non-tumor hematological diseases than among healthy volunteers (both P values < 0.05), while no significant difference was seen in the seroprevalence of anti-T. gondii antibody between patients with hematological tumors and non-tumor hematological diseases (P > 0.05). In addition, the proportion of history of cat or dog contacts was significantly higher among patients with hematological diseases that were positive for serum anti-T. gondii anti-body than among those negative for serum anti-T. gondii antibody (21.1% vs. 5.4%; χ2 = 8.653, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: There is a high seroprevalene rate of T. gondii infections among hematological diseases, which is significantly greater than that among healthy volunteers.

The effect of N-acetyl-glucosamine on stratum corneum desquamation and water content in human skin.

Alpha-hydroxy acids have been used topically to treat skin for both dermatological and cosmetic problems for many years. Though there are many known benefits of the use of alpha-hydroxy acids on skin, there have been recent reports that topical treatments with alpha-hydroxy acids increase skin damage resulting from UVB. Additionally, high concentrations of alpha-hydroxy acids by themselves have also been found to cause skin irritation. In order to find alternatives to alpha-hydroxy acids, we investigated a variety of amino sugar compounds that were previously reported to inhibit the reaggregation of dissociated corneocytes by modulating cellular adhesion. In vivo, we observed that topical treatments with a formulation containing N-acetyl-glucosamine (NAG) led to an increase in skin moisturization, a decrease in skin flakiness, and the normalization of stratum corneum exfoliation. In vitro, we observed an upregulation of differentiation markers, keratin 10 and involucrin, in keratinocytes treated with NAG. CD44 is a lectin cell adhesion molecule that is also expressed in keratinocytes. Amino sugars such as NAG may competitively bind to CD44, modulating keratinocyte cellular adhesion. We hypothesize that these amino sugars modulate keratinocyte cellular adhesion and differentiation, leading to the normalization of stratum corneum exfoliation. We propose the use of amino sugars such as NAG as alternative compounds to replace the use of alpha-hydroxy acids in skin care.

Child, Maternal and Demographic Factors Influencing Caregiver-Reported Autistic Trait Symptomatology in Toddlers.

Current research on children's autistic traits in the general population relies predominantly on caregiver-report, yet the extent to which individual, caregiver or demographic characteristics are associated with informants' ratings has not been sufficiently explored. In this study, caregivers of 396 Singaporean two-year-olds from a birth cohort study completed the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers. Children's gender, cognitive functioning and birth order, maternal age, and ethnic group membership were not significant predictors of caregiver-reported autistic traits. Poorer child language development and higher maternal depressive symptoms significantly predicted more social-communicative autistic traits, while lower maternal education predicted more behavioural autistic traits. Children's language and informants' educational level and depressive symptomatology may need to be considered in caregiver-reports of autistic traits.

Involvement of Wnt signaling pathway in murine medulloblastoma induced by human neurotropic JC virus.

By using the early genome of the human neurotropic polyomavirus, JCV, we have created transgenic animals that develop cerebellar primitive neuroectodermal tumors which model human medulloblastoma. Expression of T-antigen was found in some, but not all, tumor cells, and examination of the clonal cell lines derived from the tumor population showed enhanced tumorigenicity of cells expressing T-antigen in comparison to T-antigen negative cells. Considering the earlier notion on the potential involvement of beta-catenin with human medulloblastoma, we investigated various components of the Wnt signaling pathway including beta-catenin, its partner transcription factor, LEF-1, and their downstream target gene c-myc in these two cell populations. Immunohistochemical staining of the cells revealed enhanced nuclear appearance of beta-catenin in T-antigen positive cells. Results from Western blot showed higher levels of beta-catenin and LEF-1 in T-antigen positive cells in comparison to those in T-antigen negative cells. The enhanced level of LEF-1 expression correlated with the increase in DNA binding activity of this protein in nuclear extracts of T-antigen positive cells. Results from Northern and Western blot analyses revealed that the level of c-myc expression is augmented both at the RNA and protein levels in T-antigen positive cells. These observations corroborated results from transfection studies indicating the ability of JCV T-antigen to stimulate c-myc promoter activity. Further, co-transfection experiments revealed that the amount of c-myc and T-antigen protein in tumor cells may dictate the activity of JCV early promoter in these cells. These observations are interesting in light of recent discoveries on the association of JCV with human medulloblastoma and suggest that communication between JCV and the Wnt pathway may be an important event in the genesis of these tumors.

The psychometric properties of the Quantitative-Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT) as a measure of autistic traits in a community sample of Singaporean infants and toddlers.

BACKGROUND: There is growing research evidence that subclinical autistic traits are elevated in relatives of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), continuously distributed in the general population and likely to share common etiology with ASD. A number of measures have been developed to assess autistic traits quantitatively in unselected samples. So far, the Quantitative-Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT) is one of very few measures developed for use with toddlers as young as 18 months, but little is known about its measurement properties and factor structure. METHODS: The present study examined internal consistency, factor structure, test-retest stability, and convergent validity of the Q-CHAT in a sample of toddlers in Singapore whose caregivers completed the Q-CHAT at 18 (n = 368) and 24 months (n = 396). RESULTS: Three factors were derived accounting for 38.1 % of the variance: social/communication traits, non-social/behavioral traits, and a speech/language factor. Internal consistency was suboptimal for the total and speech/language scores, but acceptable for the social/communication and non-social/behavioral factor scores. Scores were generally stable between 18 and 24 months. Convergent validity was found with the Pervasive Developmental Disorders subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) completed by caregivers when their children were 24 months. Q-CHAT total scores in this sample were higher than those reported in other unselected samples from the UK. CONCLUSIONS: The Q-CHAT was found to have a three-factor structure, acceptable internal consistency for its two main factor scores (social/communication and non-social/behavioral), normally distributed scores in an unselected sample, and similar structure and measurement properties as those reported in other published studies. Findings are discussed in relation to existing literature and future directions for the validation of the Q-CHAT.

Human keratinocytes respond to osmotic stress by p38 map kinase regulated induction of HSP70 and HSP27.

Human skin is exposed to an environment that varies in humidity from 100 to 0%, leading to seasonal variations in the condition of the skin. Exposure to a low humidity environment creates an osmotic gradient across the stratum corneum, which is known to modulate cutaneous barrier function. Heat shock proteins protect against stress-induced destabilization of proteins. We investigated whether osmotic shock (sorbitol) induced a heat shock protein response in normal human keratinocytes, and used heat shock as a positive control. Both heat shock and osmotic stress (200 and 300 mM sorbitol) clearly induced heat shock proteins 70 and 27 mRNA levels. The induction of heat shock protein 70 mRNA levels by osmotic stress peaked at 16 h and persisted until 24 h, whereas upregulation of heat shock protein 70 mRNA levels by heat peaked at 2 h and returned to baseline levels by 6 h. Sorbitol also increased heat shock protein 70 levels in a concentration-dependent manner. The kinetics of heat shock protein 27 mRNA induction by osmotic stress and heat were similar with peak induction at 6 h. The mitogen activated protein kinase family of proteins plays an important part in the coordination of gene responses to various stress conditions. We have demonstrated that the p38 mitogen activated protein kinase was strongly activated by 200 mM and 300 mM sorbitol. The specific p38 mitogen activated protein kinase inhibitor PD169316 almost completely blocked heat shock protein 70 mRNA induction by 200 mM and 300 mM sorbitol and completely suppressed heat shock protein 27 mRNA induction with 200 mM sorbitol. PD169316 also counteracted upregulation of heat shock protein 70 levels by sorbitol. These data indicate that keratinocytes respond to osmotic stress by p38 mitogen activated protein kinase regulated induction of heat shock proteins. This molecular pathway may be relevant for the mechanisms regulating the response of human skin to variations in environmental humidity.

On the existence and stability of liquid water on the surface of mars today.

The recent discovery of high concentrations of hydrogen just below the surface of Mars' polar regions by Mars Odyssey has enlivened the debate about past or present life on Mars. The prevailing assumption prior to the discovery was that the liquid water essential for its existence is absent. That assumption was based largely on the calculation of heat and mass transfer coefficients or theoretical climate models. This research uses an experimental approach to determine the feasibility of liquid water under martian conditions, setting the stage for a more empirical approach to the question of life on Mars. Experiments were conducted in three parts: Liquid water's existence was confirmed by droplets observed under martian conditions in part 1; the evolution of frost melting on the surface of various rocks under martian conditions was observed in part 2; and the evaporation rate of water in Petri dishes under Mars-like conditions was determined and compared with the theoretical predictions of various investigators in part 3. The results led to the conclusion that liquid water can be stable for extended periods of time on the martian surface under present-day conditions.

How does a normal human cell become a cancer cell?

The mechanism by which cells become cancerous has been studied in several different species and cell types. Here, we will focus on the mechanism by which a normal human cell becomes a cancer cell and specifically discuss genes that researchers have used to transform cells. Studying how those genes affect cellular immortalization and transformation will help researchers understand more about cancer biology, find new treatments for cancer and/or improve cell survival during gene therapy.

[Effects of smoking on interleukin-2 and its receptor system in human peripheral blood].

42 healthy male smokers and 42 healthy male nonsmokers matched in age and life style were strictly chosen into the study from Beijing urban and rural areas. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs) were separated and then stimulated by PHA under 37 degrees C, 5% CO2 condition. Immunochemical methods were applied in testing the synthesis of interleukin 2(IL-2) and the expression of its membrane receptor (mIL-2R) and the level of soluble receptor (sIL-2R) in serum. The results showed that when compared with nonsmokers, stimulated PBMC from smokers had significant higher percentage of mIL-2R positive cells (P < 0.05) in vitro. Levels of sIL-2R in serum of smokers were also significantly higher than those of nonsmokers (P < 0.05). The percentage of IL-2 secrete cells of smokers had higher tendency (P = 0.08). These data indicated that the immune function of smokers and nonsmokers are different concerning the IL-2 and its receptor system.

[A method of preparing the section of eye tissue for transmission electron microscopy].

A method of preparing the section of eye tissue for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is recommended. The tissue was prefixed with a mixed solution of 4% paraformaldehyde and 2.5% glutaraldehyde and followed by softening in 3% EDTA solution for 20 minutes, then the tissue was fixed in 1% osmium tetroxide, dehydrated in series acetone, infiltrated in Epox 812 for a longer, and embeded. Ultrathin sections were cut with glass knives or diamond knife, stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate and examined with H600-IV. The advantage of this method is that the ultrastructures of tissues are well preserved without any damage and distortion. The main points of the procedure of preparation have been discussed.

Normal human keratinocytes pretreated with damaged mRNA are resistant to UVB damage and exhibit increased DNA repair.

Treatment of normal human keratinocytes with UVC-irradiated rabbit globin mRNA 24 h before and after UVB exposure increased the survival of the human keratinocytes. We also observed that UVC-damaged mRNA reduced the formation of sunburn cells in skin models. We next tested the effects of UVC-damaged mRNA on cellular repair of DNA. DNA repair was evaluated using 2 assay methods. The first method used a damaged plasmid that is transfected back into the cell where it is repaired by the host cell repair mechanism. In these experiments, we observed that externally added UVC-damaged rabbit globin mRNA enhanced the repair of a plasmid transfected into the host keratinocyte cells. The second method used to determine the effects on DNA repair was direct immunostaining for thymidine-thymidine dimers (TT dimers) in histological sections of the skin models. Skin models were irradiated with UVB and then fixed immediately or after 24 h and stained for TT dimers. UVB irradiation immediately caused an increase in the number of stained keratinocytes in the skin. The number of stained cells decreased in skin fixed 24 h after UVB. This is due to repair of the TT dimers and their removal. Sections of skin models pretreated with UV-damaged mRNA exhibit greater removal of these TT dimers after 24 h. The above evidence suggests that damaged mRNA can trigger a host cell DNA repair pathway.

[The standardized techniques for preparing samples used in pathologic diagnostic transmission electron microscopy].

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been used widespreadly in the field of diagnostic pathology. Based on the practical domestic condition and aimed at fully satisfying the needs of the pathologic diagnostic TEM, a set of standardized techniques were established for preparing different kinds of samples. The techniques included the preparation and storage of fixatives and embedding media, the requirement of sampling, the 5 h and 24 h embedding procedures for fresh specimens, the embedding procedure for suspension specimens and specimens collected from fine needle aspiration biopsy, as well as the procedures for preparing samples taken from paraffin embedded blocks or paraffin sections. In practical use, we found that the advantage of these techniques was that the ultrastructures of the tissues and cells were well preserved and they perfectly met the needs for diagnosis of tumors, kidney diseases, et al. The main points of the standardized techniques have been discussed in detail in this paper.