Ten-Day Vonoprazan-Amoxicillin Dual Therapy as a First-Line Treatment of Helicobacter pylori Infection Compared With Bismuth-Containing Quadruple Therapy.

INTRODUCTION: No study has investigated the efficacy and safety of vonoprazan-amoxicillin dual therapy compared with bismuth quadruple therapy (B-quadruple). This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 10-day vonoprazan-amoxicillin dual therapy as a first-line treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection compared with B-quadruple and to explore the optimal dosage of amoxicillin in the dual therapy. METHODS: A total of 375 treatment-naive, H. pylori -infected subjects were randomly assigned in a 1:1:1 ratio into 3 regimen groups including VHA-dual (vonoprazan 20 mg twice/day + amoxicillin 750 mg 4 times/day), VA-dual (vonoprazan 20 mg + amoxicillin 1,000 mg twice/day), and B-quadruple (esomeprazole 20 mg + bismuth 200 mg + amoxicillin 1,000 mg + clarithromycin 500 mg twice/day). Eradication rates, adverse events (AEs), and compliance were compared between 3 groups. RESULTS: The eradication rates of B-quadruple, VHA-dual, and VA-dual were 90.9%, 93.4%, and 85.1%, respectively, by per-protocol analysis; 89.4%, 92.7%, and 84.4%, respectively, by modified intention-to-treat analysis; 88.0%, 91.2%, and 82.4%, respectively, by intention-to-treat analysis. The efficacy of the VHA-dual group was not inferior to the B-quadruple group ( P < 0.001), but VA-dual did not reach a noninferiority margin of -10%. The AEs rates of the B-quadruple group were significantly higher than those of the VHA-dual ( P = 0.012) and VA-dual ( P = 0.001) groups. There was no significant difference in medication compliance among 3 treatment groups ( P = 0.995). CONCLUSIONS: The 10-day VHA-dual therapy provided satisfactory eradication rates of >90%, lower AEs rates, and similar adherence compared with B-quadruple therapy as a first-line therapy for H. pylori infection. However, the efficacy of VA-dual therapy was not acceptable.

Experimental study on anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity for municipal solid waste.

Anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity is an important parameter controlling fluid movement in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills, while measurements of anisotropy are rare. In this study, a laboratory-scale enhanced reactor was built to create MSW samples with different degrees of degradation. Vertical and horizontal hydraulic conductivities of these samples were measured in a self-designed permeameter to study the effects of compression and degradation on anisotropy of MSW. CT scanning was performed to observe the internal pore-structure of MSW under compression. A prediction model of anisotropy under compression was established. It was found that as degradation time increased from 0 month to 18 months, the dry mass percent of 0D particles increased from 12.3% to 38.8%, while 2D particles content decreased from 78.7% to 47.2%. As vertical stress increased from 50 kPa to 400 kPa, dry unit weight (γd) increased from 3.26 kN/m3 to 5.51 kN/m3, anisotropy (A) increased from 1.26 to 5.17. It was because that the size and continuity of pores decreased and the angle of pore arrangement tended to be horizontal as the vertical stress increased. The relation between anisotropy and vertical stress could be well fitted with the prediction model. When degradation time increased from 0 month to 18 months, A decreased linearly from 5.02 to 2.75 due to the decreasing content of 2D particles. Anisotropy also decreased with the decreasing C/L. Compression has much greater influence on waste anisotropy than that of degradation. Anisotropy of MSW at different depths of landfills could be determined based on the trend lines in this study.

Characterization of compression behaviors of high food waste content (HFWC) MSW and no food waste content (NFWC) MSW in China.

In this paper, three sets of laboratory tests were conducted on high-food-waste-content (HFWC-), no-food-waste-content (NFWC-) and decomposed (D-) MSWs to characterize their compression behaviors. The immediate compression ratios C'c were 0.30, 0.23 and 0.18 for HFWC-MSW, NFWC-MSW and D-MSW respectively, and tended to increase with the increasing food waste content of MSW. The release of intra-particle water contained in food waste contributed over 23.6-29.2% to immediate compression for HFWC-MSW. The mechanical creep ratios C'sc were 0.02, 0.015 and 0.01 for HFWC-MSW, NFWC-MSW and D-MSW respectively. A prediction model for C'sc was proposed which incorporated the effects of moisture content, dry unit weight and organic waste content. The bio-compression ratios C'sbI, C'sbII and C'sbIII in response to degradation stage I, II and III were 0.12, 0.10 and 0.02 for HFWC-MSW, and were 0.01, 0.15 and 0.01 for NFWC-MSW. Bio-compression is dominant in stage I and II and mechanical creep is the major contributor in stage III for HFWC-MSW, but to NFWC-MSW, mechanical creep is dominant in stage I and III, and bio-compression takes the main position in stage II. The bio-compression tended to increase linearly with leachate draining rate for HFWC-MSW, and the release of intra-particle water contributed 61.9-65.6% to bio-compression. A new model was proposed that can well capture the highly non-linear behavior of bio-compression for both HFWC-MSW and NFWC-MSW. Based on the above findings, the settlement behavior of HFWC-MSW and NFWC-MSW landfills was compared, and suggestions for technique-efficient and cost-effective design of a NFWC-MSW landfill were discussed.

Experimental study of the intrinsic permeability of municipal solid waste.

Changing patterns of municipal solid waste (MSW) management, for example sorting for recycling and mechanical-biological treatment (MBT), will change the nature of the residual material going to landfill and in particular its intrinsic permeability. This is an important parameter, not least because of its influence on gas and leachate flows and the ramifications for gas and leachate management. This paper reports the results of laboratory permeability tests on specimens of MSW recovered from boreholes drilled in a Chinese landfill, under both liquid and gas flow. The test results are used to assess the intrinsic permeability of the waste, and are compared with corresponding data from raw and MBT municipal solid wastes from developed countries in the context of differences in waste composition, porosity and particle size. For the Chinese waste, the intrinsic permeability decreased with depth, while at a given depth the permeability determined with gas flow was consistently larger than that determined with liquid flow. Intrinsic permeabilities determined in liquid flow showed no clear trend of variation with effective particle diameter d10, but reduced with drainable porosity (the drainable porosity, ne, being a more appropriate and useful measure than the total porosity, n). Conversely, intrinsic permeabilities determined in gas flow showed a clear decrease with decreasing d10, but no consistent variation with porosity. These differences are potentially significant in assessing the impacts and interactions between gas and liquid flows; some reasons for them are suggested.

Galangin inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition and angiogenesis by downregulating CD44 in glioma.

Galangin (3,5,7­trihydroxyflavone), a natural flavonoid present in plants, has been reported to possess anticancer properties in various types of cancers comprising glioma. The underlying mechanism, however, has not been fully elucidated. CD44, a hall marker in glioma, has been reported to be associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and angiogenesis, which play important roles in glioma progression. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether galangin can inhibit EMT, angiogenesis and CD44 expression in glioma. We observed that galangin inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion and angiogenesis of glioma cells in a dose-dependent manner, suppressed the expression of CD44 and inhibited angiogenesis of glioma cells through downregulating vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in HUVECs. In addition, the overexpression of CD44 in U87 and U251 cells partly abolished the effects of galangin on glioma cells. Moreover, galangin suppressed tumor growth in an intracranial glioma mouse model. These results indicate that galangin is a potential novel drug for glioblastoma treatment due to its ability to suppress of CD44, EMT and angiogenesis.

Tim-3 expression in glioma cells is associated with drug resistance.

OBJECTIVE: T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin-domain containing-3 (Tim-3) has been widely recognized as a negative regulator of antitumor immunity. However, the mechanism by which Tim-3 suppresses antitumor treatment in gliomas remains unclear. This study aims to explore whether Tim-3 is expressed and to evaluate its effect in drug-fasted glioma cells. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: U87 and U251 glioma cell lines were tested. Cell proliferation activity, cell viability, and the protein and mRNA levels of Tim-3 were detected using CCK-8, flow cytometry, Western blotting, and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Enhancement of the sensitivity of glioma cells to chemotherapeutic agents was tested after inhibiting Tim-3 expression using Tim-3 small interfering RNAs (siRNA). RESULTS: As temozolomide (TMZ) concentration increased, the ratio of apoptotic cells also increased accordingly. However, the level of Tim-3 expression in living cells from the high-dose group was higher than in the low- and middle-dose groups. After interfering with the expression of Tim-3 using siRNA against Tim-3, the killing effect of TMZ rose through an increase in apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of Tim-3 mRNA and protein in glioma cells was detected. Significantly, knocking down Tim-3 expression improved the potential of TMZ treatment.

lncRNA GHET1 down-regulation suppresses the cell activities of glioma.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as new modulators in cancer origination and progression. The previous study found lncRNA gastric carcinoma highly expressed transcript 1 (GHET1) was significantly up-regulation in the gastric cancer. In our present study, we studied the GHET1 expression in glioma and its effects to biological activities of glioma in vitro and vivo studies. In the clinical analysis, the results were shown that lncRNA GHET1 was significantly up-regulation and the Numb protein expression was significantly down-regulation in glioma tissues. In vitro and vivo studies, the results were shown that lncRNA GHET1 knock-down had effects to inhibit biological activities by regulation Numb and down-stream genes P53 and MMP2/9. The results suggested that GHET1 is a novel tumor oncogene by Numb in glioma. LncRNA GHET1 may serve as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for glioma.

Effects of ω-3 Fatty Acids on Toll-like Receptor 4 and Nuclear Factor κB p56 in the Pancreas of Rats With Severe Acute Pancreatitis.

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to determine the effects of ω-3 fatty acids (ω-3FAs) on the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor κB p56 (NF-κBp56) signaling pathway in the pancreas of rats with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). METHODS: Sixty-four Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: the control, SAP-saline, SAP-soybean oil, and SAP-ω-FA groups. Severe acute pancreatitis was induced by the retrograde infusion of sodium taurocholate into the pancreatic duct. The expression of TLR4 and NF-κBp56 in the pancreas was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. The levels of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor α in the pancreas were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. RESULTS: Toll-like receptor 4, NF-κBp56, and inflammatory cytokine expression in the pancreas was increased significantly in the SAP group compared with that in the control group (P < 0.05), but was significantly decreased in the ω-3FA group compared with that in the soybean oil group at 24 and 48 hours (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that during the initial stage of SAP ω-3FAs could efficiently lower the inflammatory response by activating the TLR4/NF-κBp56 signaling pathway.

Biochemical, hydrological and mechanical behaviors of high food waste content MSW landfill: Liquid-gas interactions observed from a large-scale experiment.

The high food waste content (HFWC) MSW at a landfill has the characteristics of rapid hydrolysis process, large leachate production rate and fast gas generation. The liquid-gas interactions at HFWC-MSW landfills are prominent and complex, and still remain significant challenges. This paper focuses on the liquid-gas interactions of HFWC-MSW observed from a large-scale bioreactor landfill experiment (5m×5m×7.5m). Based on the connected and quantitative analyses on the experimental observations, the following findings were obtained: (1) The high leachate level observed at Chinese landfills was attributed to the combined contribution from the great quantity of self-released leachate, waste compression and gas entrapped underwater. The contribution from gas entrapped underwater was estimated to be 21-28% of the total leachate level. (2) The gas entrapped underwater resulted in a reduction of hydraulic conductivity, decreasing by one order with an increase in gas content from 13% to 21%. (3) The "breakthrough value" in the gas accumulation zone was up to 11kPa greater than the pore liquid pressure. The increase of the breakthrough value was associated with the decrease of void porosity induced by surcharge loading. (4) The self-released leachate from HFWC-MSW was estimated to contribute to over 30% of the leachate production at landfills in Southern China. The drainage of leachate with a high organic loading in the rapid hydrolysis stage would lead to a loss of landfill gas (LFG) potential of 13%. Based on the above findings, an improved method considering the quantity of self-released leachate was proposed for the prediction of leachate production at HFWC-MSW landfills. In addition, a three-dimensional drainage system was proposed to drawdown the high leachate level and hence to improve the slope stability of a landfill, reduce the hydraulic head on a bottom liner and increase the collection efficiency for LFG.

Evolution of saturated hydraulic conductivity with compression and degradation for municipal solid waste.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) specimens were created from synthetic fresh MSW degraded in a laboratory scale enhanced degradation reactor. The degree of degradation and saturated hydraulic conductivity ks were measured to study the effects of compression and degradation on ks of MSW. The degree of degradation was characterized through the ratio of cellulose content to lignin content (i.e., C/L) and the loss ratio of volatile solid (i.e., DOD). ks of MSW specimens with different degrees of degradation was measured through triaxial permeameter tests under different confining pressures. It was found that, when the degradation time increased from 0month to 18months, ks decreased less than 1 order of magnitude for specimens with the same porosity (i.e., n=0.63 or 0.69). However, for specimens with the same degradation time, the decrease of ks could reach 2 orders of magnitude with n decreasing from 0.8 to 0.6. It indicates that compression has much greater influence on the reduction of ks than that of degradation. Based on the Kozeny-Carman model and first-order kinetics, a prediction model related to n and C/L (or DOD) of MSW was proposed to analyze the evolution of ks with compression and biodegradation. The methods to determine the values of model parameters were also proposed.

Effects of ω-3 fatty acids on toll-like receptor 4 and nuclear factor-κB p56 in lungs of rats with severe acute pancreatitis.

AIM: To determine the effects of ω-3 fatty acids (ω-3FA) on the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor κB p56 (NF-κBp56) signal pathway in the lungs of rats with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). METHODS: A total of 56 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control group, SAP-saline group, SAP-soybean oil group and SAP-ω-3FA group. SAP was induced by the retrograde infusion of sodium taurocholate into the pancreatic duct. The expression of TLR4 and NF-κBp56 in the lungs was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. The levels of inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the lungs were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The expression of TLR4 and NF-κBp56 in lungs and of inflammatory cytokines in serum significantly increased in the SAP group compared with the control group (P < 0.05), but was significantly decreased in the ω-3FA group compared with the soybean oil group at 12 and 24 h (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: During the initial stage of SAP, ω-3FA can efficiently lower the inflammatory response and reduce lung injury by triggering the TLR4/NF-κBp56 signal pathway.

Poultry consumption and prostate cancer risk: a meta-analysis.

Background. Several kinds of foods are hypothesized to be potential factors contributing to the variation of prostate cancer (PCa) incidence. But the effect of poultry on PCa is still inconsistent and no quantitative assessment has been published up to date. So we conducted this meta-analysis to clarify the association between them. Materials and Methods. We conducted a literature search of PubMed and Embase for studies examining the association between poultry consumption and PCa up to June, 2015. Pooled risk ratio (RR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) of the highest versus lowest poultry consumption categories were calculated by fixed-effect model or random-effect model. Results. A total of 27 (12 cohort and 15 case-control) studies comprising 23,703 cases and 469,986 noncases were eligible for inclusion. The summary RR of total PCa incidence was 1.03 (95% CI [0.95-1.11]) for the highest versus lowest categories of poultry intake. The heterogeneity between studies was not statistically significant (P = 0.768, I (2) = 28.5%). Synthesized analysis of 11 studies on high stage PCa and 8 studies on chicken exposure also demonstrated null association. We also did not obtain significant association in the subgroup of cohort study (RR = 1.04, 95% CI [0.98-1.10]), as well as in the subgroups of population-based case-control study and hospital-based case-control study. Then the studies were divided into three geographic groups: Western countries, Asia and South America. The pooled RRs in these areas did not reveal statistically significant association between poultry and PCa. Conclusions. This meta-analysis suggests no association between poultry consumption and PCa risk. Further well-designed studies are warranted to confirm the result.

Parameter determination of a compression model for landfilled municipal solid waste: an experimental study.

The methods to determine the parameters of a one-dimensional compression model for landfilled municipal solid waste were investigated. In order to test the methods for parameter determination, long-term laboratory compression experiments were carried out under different surcharge loads (i.e. 100, 200 and 400 kPa). Based on the measured compression strain and the reported creep index, the modified primary compression indexes, pre-consolidation pressure and ultimate biodegradation-induced secondary compression strain were determined using the proposed methods. It was found that the simulated compression could not capture the measured secondary compression behavior when using a constant value of biodegradation-induced compression rate coefficient. The variation of the rate coefficient with the change of decomposition rate should be considered during modeling. Accordingly, the biodegradation-induced secondary compression strain in the compression model should be expressed in an incremental form in order to consider the variation of the rate coefficient.

Expression of claudin-3 in the esophagus and larynx of rat reflux model.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between laryngeal expression of claudin-3 and laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) in a rat reflux model. METHODS: Eight Wistar rats were divided into two groups. Four rats underwent total esophageal myectomy to induce reflux, and the remainder underwent a sham operation as a control. All animals were sacrificed 12 weeks after surgery to perform tissue histology and Western blot analysis. RESULTS: Lymphocyte infiltration increased significantly in the study group in both esophageal and laryngeal samples (P=0.001, 0.002, respectively). Both esophageal and laryngeal expressions of claudin-3 were significantly lower in the study group when compared with that in the control group (P=0.045, 0.037, respectively). CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that a decrease in claudin-3 could be a sensitive indicator of reflux laryngitis in rats.

Diagnostic and prognostic significance of lysophosphatidic acid in malignant pleural effusions.

BACKGROUND: Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is an important extracellular signal transmitter and intracellular second messenger in body fluids. It can be detected in the ascitic fluid of patients with ovarian cancer. Increasing evidence shows that LPA can stimulate cancer cell proliferation and promote tumor invasion and metastasis. Our study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of LPA in differentiating between malignant pleural effusions (MPEs) and benign pleural effusions (BPEs) and to evaluate the association between the level of LPA in MPE and the prognosis of lung cancer patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The level of LPA in the pleural effusions (PEs) of 123 patients (94 MPE, 29 BPE) with lung cancer was evaluated using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The performance of LPA was analyzed by standard Receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC) analysis methods, using the area under the curve (AUC) as a measure of accuracy. Overall survival (OS) curves and progression-free survival (PFS) curves were based on the Kaplan-Meier method, and the survival differences between subgroups were analyzed using the log-rank or Breslow test (SPSS software). A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess whether LPA independently predicted lung cancer survival. RESULTS: The levels of LPA differed significantly between MPE (22.08±8.72 µg/L) and BPE (14.61±5.12 µg/L) (P<0.05). Using a cutoff point of 18.93 µg/L, LPA had a sensitivity of 60% and a specificity of 83% to distinguish MPEs from BPEs with an AUC of 0.769±0.045 (SE) (P=0.000) (95% CI, 0.68-0.857). In the three pathological types of lung cancer patients with MPE, there were no significant associations between LPA levels and the length of PFS and OS (P=0.58 and 0.186, respectively). Interestingly, in the patients with MPE caused by lung adenocarcinoma there were significant associations between the LPA levels and the PFS and OS (P=0.018 and 0.026, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that the LPA level was an independent prognostic factor for PFS in lung adenocarcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that LPA can be used as a new biomarker for the diagnosis of MPE caused by lung cancer and that higher levels of LPA are related to shorter PFS in adenocarcinoma of the lung.

Increased expression of chymase in inflammatory polyps in elderly patients with functional bowel disorder.

Chymase, a chymotrypsin-like protease, is a non-angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) angiotensin II (Ang II)-generating enzyme. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether chymase activity was increased in inflammatory polyps of elderly patients with functional bowel disorder (FBD). This study enrolled 45 elderly patients with FBD and 44 healthy control individuals. Expression of chymase in intestinal mucosa was assessed using fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry (IHC). IHC showed an increased number of chymase-positive mast cells in inflammatory polyps than in healthy intestinal mucosa (P<0.05). Compared with healthy mucosa, expression of chymase at the mRNA and protein level was significantly higher in inflammatory polyps. The frequencies of the chymase GG genotype and the G allele type were higher in the intestinal mucosa of patients with FBD compared with healthy controls (66.67 versus 40.91%, 81.11 versus 63.63%, both P<0.05). The frequency of the G allele type in the intestinal mucosa of the C4 subgroup of FBD was higher than that in the control group. However, in other FBD subgroups, there was no difference between patients and controls. Based on the fact that enhanced chymase expression was observed in inflammatory polyps of elderly patients with FBD relative to those in healthy controls, it was concluded that chymase has a significant role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory polyps in elderly patients with FBD.

Modification of carbon nanotube transparent conducting films for electrodes in organic light-emitting diodes.

Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) transparent conducting films (TCFs) were fabricated for the electrodes of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs); three types of film were studied. The as-prepared SWCNT TCFs displayed a relatively low sheet resistance of 82.6 Ω/sq at 80.7 T% with a relatively large surface roughness of 30 nm. The TCFs were top-coated with poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) to obtain PEDOT:PSS-coated TCFs. The PEDOT:PSS cover improved the conductivity and decreased the surface roughness to 12 nm at the cost of film transmittance. The SWCNT TCFs mixed with PEDOT:PSS (PM-TCFs) exhibited a high conductivity (70.6 Ω/sq at 81 T%) and a low surface roughness (3 nm) and were thus selected as the best TCFs for OLEDs. Blue flexible OLEDs with 4,4'-bis(2,2'-diphenylvinyl)-1,1'-biphenyl (Dpvbi) as the emitting layer were fabricated on TCFs with the same structures to evaluate the performances of the different types of SWCNT films for use in OLEDs. Of these three types of OLEDs, the PM-TCF devices exhibited the optimal performance with a maximum luminance of 2587 cd m(-2) and a current efficiency of 5.44 cd A(-1). This result was explored using field-emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy to further study the mechanisms that are involved in applying SWCNT TCFs to OLEDs.

Laryngoscopy findings and histological results in a rabbit gastroesophageal reflux model.

The role of lower esophageal sphincter (LES) in laryngopharyngeal reflux is controversial. In this study, we used an animal model to investigate the association between LES dysfunction and reflux laryngitis. Twelve healthy New Zealand albino rabbits (2.5-3.5 kg) were utilized in this study. The animals were divided into two groups. Eight rabbits underwent total cardiomyectomy to induce reflux, and the remaining four rabbits underwent a control sham operation. A laryngoscopy and a 24-hour intra-esophageal pH-metry were performed prior to surgery and again 2 and 8 weeks postsurgery. After the final laryngoscopy, all animals were sacrificed to obtain histological results. Total cardiomyectomy significantly increased the reflux index, the duration of the longest reflux episode and the total number of episodes that occurred in 24 h postsurgery. No significant difference was observed in the reflux finding score (RFS) between preoperative and 2-week postoperative rabbits (P = 0.11). But there was a statistically significant change in the RFS before and 8 weeks after the induction of reflux from 4.6 ± 0.9 to 8.3 ± 3.6 (P = 0.02). Submucous gland hyperplasia and inflammation were significantly increased in the reflux group compared to the control group. The results of this study suggest that chronic lower esophageal sphincter dysfunction is associated with reflux laryngitis in rabbits.