Exploring the relationship between vitamin D and hepatic carcinoma in individuals diagnosed with hepatitis B virus infection.

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this study is to examine the distribution and prognostic implications of serum vitamin D levels among individuals diagnosed with primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC) attributable to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. METHODS: A total of 345 patients diagnosed with HBV infection were enrolled in our hospital between August 2014 and October 2020. Among these, 144 individuals were diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), 66 individuals were diagnosed with HBV-related hepatic cirrhosis (HBV cirrhosis), and 135 individuals were diagnosed with HBV-related PHC (HBV-PHC). Peripheral serum levels of vitamin D were measured. Patients with cirrhosis underwent examination using the Child-Pugh grading system, and the mortality rates at 1-year and 3-year intervals for patients with HBV-PHC were analyzed. RESULTS: Vitamin D levels in peripheral serum in the CHB group, HBV cirrhosis group, and HBV-PHC group exhibited varying degrees of reduction compared to healthy individuals. Significant differences were observed between the three groups (F = 4.02, P = 0.019). No significant difference was observed in vitamin D levels between different Child-Pugh grades within the HBV cirrhosis group (F = 0.89, P = 0.417). However, significant differences were observed in vitamin D levels between different Child-Pugh grades within the HBV-PHC group (F = 4.84, P = 0.009). There was no significant difference in 1-year and 3-year mortality rates between patients diagnosed with HBV-PHC and with varying vitamin D levels (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D levels decreased to varying degrees in patients diagnosed with CHB, HBV cirrhosis, and PHC. This decrease was well correlated with disease progression (HBV-PHC group < HBV cirrhosis group < CHB group). In cases where hepatic function was comparable, there was no discernible correlation between serum vitamin D level and mortality rates from PHC.

Exploring lemology teaching with "internet plus" flipped classroom pedagogy.

BACKGROUND: To investigate the use of flipped classroom pedagogy based on "Internet plus" in teaching viral hepatitis in the lemology course during the COVID-19 epidemic. METHODS: This study included students from the clinical medicine general practitioner class at Nanjing Medical University's Kangda College, with the observation group consisting of 67 students from the 2020-2021 school year and the control group consisting of 70 students from the 2019-2020 school year. The observation group used "Internet plus" flipped classroom pedagogy, while the control group used conventional offline instruction. The theory course and case analysis ability scores from the two groups were compared and analyzed, and questionnaire surveys were administered to the observation group. RESULT: After the flipped classroom, the observation group had significantly higher theoretical test scores (38.62 ± 4.52) and case analysis ability scores (21.08 ± 3.58) than the control group (37.37 ± 2.43) (t = 2.024, P = 0.045) and (19.16 ± 1.15) (t = 4.254, P < 0.001), respectively. The questionnaire survey in the observation group revealed that the "Internet plus" flipped classroom pedagogy approach can help enhance students' enthusiasm to learn, clinical thinking ability, practical application ability, and learning efficiency, with satisfaction rates of 81.7%, 85.0%, 83.3%, and 78.8%, respectively; 89.4% of students expressed hope that whenever physical classes resumed, the offline courses could be combined with this pedagogy approach. CONCLUSION: The use of the "Internet plus" flipped classroom pedagogy technique for teaching viral hepatitis in a lemology course boosted students' theory learning ability as well as their case analysis ability. The majority of students were pleased with this type of instruction and hoped that whenever physical classes resumed, the offline courses may be integrated with the "Internet plus" flipped classroom pedagogical approach.

Cluster of Differentiation 24 Polymorphism Has No Significant Association with Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection in the Chinese Han Population: A Family-Based Association Study.

Objective: Studies have shown that cluster of differentiation (CD) 24 gene polymorphism is associated with several diseases. Among these, chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection has not been investigated. This study aimed to assess the function of CD24 in CHB. Methods: The study included 478 cases of CHB and 318 cases without CHB from 230 families that underwent genotyping. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism was performed to assess the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) P170 of the CD24 gene. The detected genotypes were TT, CT, and CC. Then, family based-association analysis was carried out to investigate the association between CD24 gene polymorphism and susceptibility to CHB. Results: In the 478 patients with CHB, the frequencies of CD24 P170 T and C alleles were 35.5% and 64.5%, respectively, and the frequencies of CD24 P170 CC, CT, and TT genotypes were 39.3%, 50.4% and 10.3%, respectively. In a CD24 single-locus analysis by a family-based association test of P170 polymorphisms, T and C were not significantly associated with CHB in the additive (Z = 0.169, P = 0.866; Z = -0.169, P = 0.866, respectively), dominant (Z = 0.522, P = 0.602; Z = 0.428, P = 0.669, respectively), or recessive (Z = -0.428, P = 0.669; Z = -0.522, P = 0.602, respectively) models. Transmission-disequilibrium (TD) and sib-transmission disequilibrium (STD) tests revealed no excess of T or C alleles from heterozygous parents to their children with the disease or higher frequencies of these alleles in patients compared with their normal siblings (χ 2 = 0.06, P = 0.897). Conclusion: The study findings suggest that the SNP P170 of CD24 has no significant association with susceptibility to the HB virus and related phenotypes in Chinese patients.