Diagnostic efficacy of FibroScan for liver inflammation in patients with chronic hepatitis B: a single-center study with 1185 liver biopsies as controls.

BACKGROUND: Noninvasive diagnostic technologies that can dynamically monitor changes in liver inflammation are highly important for the management of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients and thus warrant further exploration. This study assessed the diagnostic efficacy of FibroScan for liver inflammation in CHB patients. METHODS: A total of 1185 patients were selected, and ultrasound-guided liver biopsy was performed within 1 month after the FibroScan test. The liver stiffness measurement (LSM), the reliability criteria (IQR/M) of LSM, the quality of liver biopsy (complete portal area, PA), and the liver inflammation grades were the main observation items of this study. With liver biopsy as the control, the diagnostic efficacy of FibroScan for liver inflammation in CHB patients was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: The grade of liver inflammation was positively correlated with the stage of fibrosis (rho = 0.829, P < 0.001). Different grades of inflammation will have significant rise in LSM values within the same fibrosis stage, and LSM values were positively correlated with liver inflammation grade and fibrosis stage, and the rho is 0.579 and 0.593 respectively (P < 0.001). Significant differences in the LSM of FibroScan were observed among different grades of liver inflammation (P < 0.0001). Liver biopsy (PA > 10) served as the control, and the cutoff point and the area under ROC curves (AUCs) of the LSMs for different inflammation grades were as follows: G2, 8.6 kPa, 0.775; G3 9.8 kPa, 0.818; and G4, 11.0 kPa; 0.832. With LSM cutoff values of 8.6 kPa, 9.8 kPa and 11.0 kPa, FibroScan showed certain diagnostic value for CHB patients with G2, G3 and G4 liver inflammation, especially those with G4 inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: The grade of liver inflammation was positively correlated with the stage of fibrosis, different grades of inflammation will have significant rise in LSM values within the same fibrosis stage. In addition to liver fibrosis, FibroScan could evaluate liver inflammation in CHB patients in a noninvasive manner.

High intensities of population movement were associated with high incidence of COVID-19 during the pandemic.

Increased population movements and increased mobility made it possible for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which is mainly spread by respiratory droplets, to spread faster and more easily. This study tracked and analysed the development of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the top 100 cities that were destinations for people who left Wuhan before the city entered lockdown. Data were collected from the top 100 destination cities for people who travelled from Wuhan before the lockdown, the proportion of people travelling into each city, the intensity of intracity travel and the daily reports of COVID-19. The proportion of the population that travelled from Wuhan to each city from 10 January 2020 to 24 January 2020, was positively correlated with and had a significant linear relationship with the cumulative number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in each city after 24 January (all P < 0.01). After the State Council launched a multidepartment joint prevention and control effort on 22 January 2020 and compared with data collected on 18 February, the average intracity travel intensity of the aforementioned 100 cities decreased by 60-70% (all P < 0.001). The average intensity of intracity travel on the nth day in these cities during the development of the outbreak was positively related to the growth rate of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the n + 5th day in these cities and had a significant linear relationship (P < 0.01). Higher intensities of population movement were associated with a higher incidence of COVID-19 during the pandemic. Restrictions on population movement can effectively curb the development of an outbreak.

Mendelian randomization suggests a causal relationship between gut microbiota and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in humans.

Targeting the gut microbiota is an emerging strategy to treat nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Nonetheless, the causal relationship between specific gut microbiota and NAFLD remains unclear. We first obtained genome-wide association study statistics on gut microbiota and NAFLD from publicly available databases. We then performed the Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to determine the potential causal relationship between the gut microbiota and NAFLD by 5 different methods, and conducted a series of sensitivity analyses to validate the robustness of the MR analysis results. Furthermore, we investigated the direction of causality by bidirectional MR analysis. For 211 gut microbiota, 2 MR methods confirmed that phylum Tenericutes, class Deltaproteobacteria and class Mollicutes were significantly associated with the risk of NAFLD. Heterogeneity (P > .05) and pleiotropy (P > .05) analyses validated the robustness of the MR results. There was no causal effect of NAFLD on these bacterial taxa in the reverse MR analysis. We identified specific gut microbiota with causal effects on NAFLD through gene prediction, which may provide useful guidance for targeting the gut microbiota to intervene and treat NAFLD.

[Effects of Stored Apheresis Platelet Apoptosis on Aggregation Function].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of storage lesion in apheresis platelets on platelet apoptosis and the changes of aggregation function, and analyze the relationships between the apoptosis and aggregation function. METHODS: Platelet samples were collected from 10 healthy donors with O blood group. Firstly, the effects of storage lesion in platelets on the platelet apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry. Then, using a multiplate analyzer, individual-donor Plt aggregation response to stimulation by the agonists ADP, Collagen, TRAP and ASPI was examined. Finally, the relationships between its apoptosis and aggregation function was analyzed by correlation regression analysis. RESULTS: By flow cytometry it was found that with the prolonging of storage time, the apoptosis ratio of platelets significantly increased in a time-dependent manner, the apoptosis rates of platelets on 2nd, 5th and 8th day were (2.87±0.31)%, (11.08±1.54)% and (27.99±2.76)% respectively (P<0.01). Compared with Day 2 platelets, the d 5 platelets stored for 5 d significantly decrease the aggregation response to stimnlation of collagen, TRAP, and ASPI. Compared with platelets stored for 5 d, platelets stored for 8 d significantly decreased the aggregation response to stimnlation of collagen, TRAP and ASPI (P<0.01). However, when stimulated by ADP, the aggregation response was similar among Day 2, Day 5 and Day 8 platelets. The rate of the aggregation function was also declined significantly when stimulated by collagen, TRAP, and ASPI, but not ADP. Further regression analysis showed that the aggregation function of apheresis platelet negatively correlated with the apoptosis (r=-0.9497, r=-0.9527, r= -0.9707 and r= -0.9352 respectively), and the correlation is very strong. CONCLUSION: With the prolonging of storage time, the apoptosis ratio in platelets significantly increased. The aggregation function also is declined significantly when stimulated by collagen, TRAP, and ASPI, but not ADP. The aggregation function of apheresis platelets closly correlats with the apoptosis.