ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Schistosoma japonicum causes marked liver fibrosis, while lethal syndromes present in advanced schistosomiasis patients. Its management depends on the degree of fibrosis present. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-two patients were recruited to assess the diagnostic value of bio-markers in patients with advanced schistosomiasis japonica. Fibrosis was assessed in liver biopsies using METAVIR system. The correlation between conventional parameters and significant fibrosis (F2-F4) was assessed using univariate analysis and logistic regression. The method of area under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) was used as a measurement of diagnostic efficacy. RESULTS: White blood cell counts, platelet counts and albumin (all P<0.05) were significantly lower, while prothrombin time, international normalized ratio (INR), hyaluronic acid (HA), IV collagen and ultrasound fibrosis scores (all P<0.01) were significantly elevated in F2-F4 patients compared with F0-F1 patients. HA and INR were identified as independent predictors by multivariate analysis (P=0.023 and P=0.013, respectively). Of the routine laboratory tests for the diagnosis of significant fibrosis, HA gave the best AUROC of 0.875 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.701-0.997). We constructed a new simple index (INR×HA/100) to discriminate between F2-F4 patients and F0-F1 patients. It showed the highest AUROC of 0.921 (95% CI: 0.828-1.000), and had better diagnostic values than APRI and FIB-4. CONCLUSION: HA and INR were reliable markers for differentiating significant liver fibrosis in patients with advanced schistosomiasis japonica. And the new simple index can easily predict significant liver fibrosis with a high degree of accuracy.
Subject(s)
Liver Cirrhosis/diagnosis , Schistosoma japonicum/physiology , Schistosomiasis japonica/complications , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Animals , Area Under Curve , Biomarkers/blood , Biopsy , Demography , Female , Humans , Hyaluronic Acid/analysis , International Normalized Ratio , Liver/pathology , Liver Cirrhosis/diagnostic imaging , Male , Middle Aged , ROC Curve , Reproducibility of Results , Schistosomiasis japonica/diagnosis , Sensitivity and Specificity , Severity of Illness Index , Time Factors , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
The fatty acid concentrations in maize grain were analyzed with a set of 294 samples including normal inbred lines, high-oil inbred lines and high-oil recombinant inbred lines (RIL). The method of partial least squares (PLS) regression with internal cross validation was employed to develop the measuring models of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) for concentrations of four major fatty acids, palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids, as well as oil concentration in maize grain. The NIRS models were accurate for oleic acid, linoleic acid and oil concentrations. The determination coefficients of these models in cross validation were 0.89, 0.88 and 0.91, respectively; the determination coefficients in external validation were 0.86, 0.84 and 0.92, respectively; and the ratio of standard deviation (SD) to root mean square error of validation (RMSEV) in both calibration and external validation sets (RSC(P)) was higher than 2.5. But the models for palmitic and stearic acid concentrations were not accurate enough with determination coefficients in cross validation and external validation lower than 0.80, and RSC(P) lower than 2.5. Further practical validation showed that the predicted results by using NIRS models for oleic acid, linoleic acid and oil concentrations were accurate and reliable, which will be a useful approach to the measurement of a large number of breeding samples during genetic improvement of oil quality and quantity in maize.