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We report a case of fetal nasal chondromesenchymal hamartoma (NCMH) first noted on prenatal ultrasound at 34 weeks. A solid-cystic mass which predominantly hyperechoicgenic and relatively clear margin, was located on the left nasal cavity and pharynx, with anterior extension and moderate blood flow. Further follow-up ultrasound examination depicted an enlargement of the tumor. Fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed an inhomogeneous signal lesion involving the ethmoid sinuses, nasal cavity, and pharynx. The infant, delivered via cesarean section at 37 + 5 weeks, required urgent neonatology intervention due to respiratory difficulties. Neonatal MRI and computer tomography were subsequently performed at 1 day after birth. Surgical excision occurred at 7 days, confirming NCMH via histological examination. Awareness of this entity, is essential to avoid potentially harmful therapies, especially in prenatal period. Considered NCMH in diagnosis when fetal nasal masses presenting with predominantly high-level echo, well-defined margins and moderate vascularity.
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Cesárea , Hamartoma , Gravidez , Lactente , Recém-Nascido , Humanos , Feminino , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Hamartoma/diagnóstico por imagem , Hamartoma/patologia , Feto/patologia , Diagnóstico Pré-Natal , Imageamento por Ressonância MagnéticaRESUMO
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) rapidly increases in Asia, and western dietary pattern is suspected to be the major risk factor. Despite this, there has been a lack of studies analyzing the relationship between dietary patterns and IBD in Taiwan. This study examines the dietary habits of Taiwanese individuals with and without IBD to inform clinical dietary recommendations for IBD patients. METHODS: We collected baseline characteristics and dietary habits from both IBD patients and healthy controls from February and August 2022 in Chang Gung memorial hospital using a structured and validated food frequency questionnaire. The dietary habits of IBD patients in this study were focused on the six months leading up to their IBD diagnosis. RESULTS: Our study recruited 98 IBD patients and 184 healthy controls. In demographic characteristics, cigarette smoking is more common in IBD group. Besides, distinct dietary patterns were observed between groups. The healthy controls demonstrated a higher consumption of whole foods and antioxidants. By contrast, the IBD group consumed more western-style foods but the difference didn't reach statistical significance. CONCLUSION: Our study found that healthy controls in Taiwan embraced a dietary pattern rich in whole foods that may prevent IBD or reduce IBD disease activity. Nonetheless, a larger sample size is needed to further provide valuable dietary guidance for general population in Taiwan for IBD prevention or for patients with IBD for disease activity control.
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OBJECTIVES: To investigate the ultrasound (US) characteristics of metastatic malignancies (MM) in the major salivary glands and to assess the diagnostic value of the close relationship with the glandular capsule in identifying MM. METHODS: From January 2016 and April 2022, 122 patients with major salivary gland malignancies, including 20 patients with MM and 102 patients with primary malignancies (PM) confirmed by histopathological examination, were enrolled in this study. Their clinicopathologic and US data were recorded and analyzed. The diagnostic performance of the close relationship with the glandular capsule for differentiating MM from PM was analyzed. RESULTS: The mean age of MM were older than that of PM (59.50 ± 14.57 vs. 49.96 ± 15.73, p = 0.013). Compared with PM patients, MM were associated with a higher prevalence of local pain symptoms (p = 0.007) and abnormal facial nerve function (p < 0.001). MM were also more frequently characterized by unclear borders, rough margins, irregular shapes, heterogeneous internal echos, absence of cystic areas, presence of calcifications, close relationship with the glandular capsule, and US-reported positive cervical lymph nodes (all p < 0.05). The close relationship with the glandular capsule showed to be a good indicator in distinguishing between MM and PM, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.863, a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 72.5%, and an accuracy of 92.2%. Positive and negative predictive were calculated at 41.7% and 100%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The US finding of a close relationship with the glandular capsule is a highly sensitive diagnostic indicator for MM. Following this finding, US-guided needle biopsy should be recommended to further confirm the diagnosis.
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We have investigated whether inflammasomes and pyroptosis are activated in maternal nicotine exposure (MNE) offspring mice and whether they are involved in MNE-promoted metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) in adult offspring. We injected pregnant mice subcutaneously with saline vehicle or nicotine twice a day on gestational days 11-21. Offspring mice from both groups were fed with a normal diet (ND) or a high-fat diet (HFD) for 6 months at postnatal day 21 to develop the MAFLD model. Serum biochemical indices were analyzed, and liver histology was performed. The expression levels of inflammasome and pyroptosis proteins were detected by western blot. We found MNE significantly aggravated the injury of MAFLD in adult offspring mice. MNE activated inflammasomes and pyroptosis in both infant and adult offspring mice. HFD treatment activated inflammasomes but not pyroptosis at 3 months, while it showed no effect at 6 months. However, pyroptosis was more severe in MNE-HFD mice than in MNE-ND mice at 6 months. Taken together, our data suggest MNE promotes MAFLD progression in adult offspring mice. MNE also induces NLRP3 and NLRP6 inflammasome activation and pyroptosis in both infant and adult offspring mice, which may be involved in MNE-promoted progression of MAFLD.
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The standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) records the heart's electrical activity from electrodes on the skin, and is widely used in screening and diagnosis of the cardiac conditions due to its low price and non-invasive characteristics. Manual examination of ECGs requires professional medical skills, and is strenuous and time consuming. Recently, deep learning methodologies have been successfully applied in the analysis of medical images. In this paper, we present an automated system for the identification of normal and abnormal ECG signals. A multi-channel multi-scale deep neural network (DNN) model is proposed, which is an end-to-end structure to classify the ECG signals without any feature extraction. Convolutional layers are used to extract primary features, and long short-term memory (LSTM) and attention are incorporated to improve the performance of the DNN model. The system was developed with a 12-lead ECG dataset provided by the Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital (KMUH). Experimental results show that the proposed system can yield high recognition rates in classifying normal and abnormal ECG signals.
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Aprendizado Profundo , Algoritmos , Arritmias Cardíacas/diagnóstico , Eletrocardiografia , Eletrodos , Humanos , Redes Neurais de ComputaçãoRESUMO
Quercetin is a kind of polyphenolic flavonoid compounds which has perfect antioxidant properties. However, quercetin is not available in many situations due to its poor bioavailability. In this work, the QAEs with better solubility and even stronger antioxidant properties were synthesized, through the esterification between quercetin and the chlorinated cinnamic acid or its derivatives, whose chlorination were achieved by using SOCl2 . The protective effects of the QAEs were evaluated by the H2 O2 -induced apoptosis experiment in rat adrenal pheochromocytoma cells (PC12 cells) and its ability to remove ROS generated by oxidative stress. Compared with the original quercetin group, the QAEs groups showed much improved cell viability and capability of removing ROS, which means their higher bioavailability than the parent.
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Antioxidantes , Quercetina , Ratos , Animais , Quercetina/farmacologia , Antioxidantes/farmacologia , Espécies Reativas de Oxigênio , Células PC12 , Ésteres/farmacologia , Estresse OxidativoRESUMO
We report a patient with systemic sclerosis who was diagnosed with advanced-stage mucinous adenocarcinoma of the lungs. The clinical presentation, imaging findings, pathological results, and molecular diagnoses are presented. A 64-year-old woman with systemic sclerosis was administered prednisolone and hydroxychloroquine sulfate to control her disease. High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) revealed an interstitial pattern in both lungs during annual imaging. Connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD) was diagnosed using blood tests, pulmonary function tests, and imaging findings. One year later, the patient underwent follow-up chest HRCT, which showed progressive lung disease. The patient underwent endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS)-guided transbronchial lung cryobiopsy and computed tomography-guided biopsy for a pathological diagnosis. The pathology reports of bilateral lungs disclosed mucinous adenocarcinoma. After tumor staging and mutation testing, the patient received chemotherapy with pemetrexed and cisplatin. The bilateral lung lesions subsided after four cycles of first-line chemotherapy. Patients with CTD and lung involvement may be diagnosed with CTD-ILD. Although histopathological results are not mandatory for ILD diagnosis, EBUS-guided transbronchial lung biopsy or lung cryobiopsy should be considered when ILD has atypical or unexplained features.
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This paper proposes a novel method monitoring network packets to classify anomalies in industrial control systems (ICSs). The proposed method combines different mechanisms. It is flow-based as it obtains new features through aggregating packets of the same flow. It then builds a deep neural network (DNN) with multi-attention blocks for spotting core features, and with residual blocks for avoiding the gradient vanishing problem. The DNN is trained with the Ranger (RAdam + Lookahead) optimizer to prevent the training from being stuck in local minima, and with the focal loss to address the data imbalance problem. The Electra Modbus dataset is used to evaluate the performance impacts of different mechanisms on the proposed method. The proposed method is compared with related methods in terms of the precision, recall, and F1-score to show its superiority.
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Aprendizado Profundo , Indústrias , Redes Neurais de ComputaçãoRESUMO
The Fas receptor/ligand system plays a prominent role in hepatic apoptosis and hepatocyte death. Although hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface Ag (HBsAg) is the most abundant HBV protein in the liver and peripheral blood of patients with chronic HBV infection, its role in Fas-mediated hepatocyte apoptosis has not been disclosed. In this study, we report that HBsAg sensitizes HepG2 cells to agonistic anti-Fas Ab CH11-induced apoptosis through increasing the formation of SDS-stable Fas aggregation and procaspase-8 cleavage but decreasing both the expression of cellular FLIPL/S and the recruitment of FLIPL/S at the death-inducing signaling complex (DISC). Notably, HBsAg increased endoplasmic reticulum stress and consequently reduced AKT phosphorylation by deactivation of phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDPK1) and mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 2 (mTORC2), leading to enhancement of Fas-mediated apoptosis. In a mouse model, expression of HBsAg in mice injected with recombinant adenovirus-associated virus 8 aggravated Jo2-induced acute liver failure, which could be effectively attenuated by the AKT activator SC79. Based on these results, it is concluded that HBsAg predisposes hepatocytes to Fas-mediated apoptosis and mice to acute liver failure via suppression of AKT prosurviving activity, suggesting that interventions directed at enhancing the activation or functional activity of AKT may be of therapeutic value in Fas-mediated progressive liver cell injury and liver diseases.
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Antígenos de Superfície da Hepatite B/metabolismo , Vírus da Hepatite B/fisiologia , Hepatite B/metabolismo , Hepatócitos/fisiologia , Falência Hepática Aguda/metabolismo , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-akt/metabolismo , Receptor fas/metabolismo , Acetatos/administração & dosagem , Acetatos/farmacologia , Adenoviridae/genética , Animais , Anticorpos Monoclonais/metabolismo , Apoptose , Benzopiranos/administração & dosagem , Benzopiranos/farmacologia , Proteína Reguladora de Apoptosis Semelhante a CASP8 e FADD/metabolismo , Caspase 8/metabolismo , Células Cultivadas , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Células Hep G2 , Hepatite B/patologia , Hepatócitos/virologia , Humanos , Falência Hepática Aguda/patologia , Masculino , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Fosforilação , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-akt/agonistas , Receptor fas/imunologiaRESUMO
Acute liver failure is a serious clinical problem of which the underlying pathogenesis remains unclear and for which effective therapies are lacking. The Fas receptor/ligand system, which is negatively regulated by AKT, is known to play a prominent role in hepatocytic cell death. We hypothesized that AKT activation may represent a strategy to alleviate Fas-induced fulminant liver failure. We report here that a novel AKT activator, SC79, protects hepatocytes from apoptosis induced by agonistic anti-Fas antibody CH11 (for humans) or Jo2 (for mice) and significantly prolongs the survival of mice given a lethal dose of Jo2. Under Fas-signaling stimulation, SC79 inhibited Fas aggregation, prevented the recruitment of the adaptor molecule Fas-associated death domain (FADD) and procaspase-8 [or FADD-like IL-1ß-converting enzyme (FLICE)] into the death-inducing signaling complex (DISC), but SC79 enhanced the recruitment of the long and short isoforms of cellular FLICE-inhibitory protein at the DISC. All of the SC79-induced hepatoprotective and DISC-interruptive effects were confirmed to have been reversed by the Akt inhibitor LY294002. These results strongly indicate that SC79 protects hepatocytes from Fas-induced fatal hepatic apoptosis. The potent alleviation of Fas-mediated hepatotoxicity by the relatively safe drug SC79 highlights the potential of our findings for immediate hepatoprotective translation.
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Acetatos/farmacologia , Apoptose/efeitos dos fármacos , Benzopiranos/farmacologia , Hepatócitos/efeitos dos fármacos , Falência Hepática Aguda/prevenção & controle , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-akt/metabolismo , Receptor fas/metabolismo , Animais , Caspases/metabolismo , Células Hep G2 , Hepatócitos/metabolismo , Humanos , Falência Hepática Aguda/metabolismo , Masculino , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BLRESUMO
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection markedly increases the risk of development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Among the seven viral proteins that HBV encodes, HBV X protein (HBx) appears to have the most oncogenic potential. The mitochondria-associated HBx can induce oxidative stress in hepatocytes, leading to the production of abundant reactive oxygen species (ROS). High levels of ROS usually induce oxidative DNA damage and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), also known as 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG), which is one of the major products of DNA oxidation and an important biomarker for oxidative stress and carcinogenesis. Cells have evolved a mechanism to prevent oxidized nucleotides from their incorporation into DNA through nucleotide pool sanitization enzymes of MTH1 (NUDT1), MTH2 (NUDT15), MTH3 (NUDT18) and NUDT5. However, little is known as to whether HBx can regulate the expression of those enzymes and modulate the formation and accumulation of 8-oxodG in hepatocytes. METHODS: The level of 8-oxodG was assessed by ELISA in stable HBV-producing hepatoma cell lines, an HBV infectious mouse model, HBV and HBx transgenic mice and HBV-infected patients versus their respective controls. Expression of MTH1, MTH2, MTH3 and NUDT5 was determined by a real-time quantitative PCR and western blot analysis. Transcriptional regulation of MTH1 and MTH2 expression by HBx and the effect of HBx on MTH1 and MTH2 promoter hypermethylation were examined using a luciferase reporter assay and bisulfite sequencing analysis. RESULTS: In comparison with controls, significantly higher levels of 8-oxodG were detected in the genome and culture supernatant of stable HBV-producing HepG2.2.15 cells, in the sera and liver tissues of HBV infectious mice and HBV or HBx transgenic mice, and in the sera of HBV-infected patients. Expression of HBx in hepatocytes significantly increased 8-oxodG level and reduced the expression of MTH1 and MTH2 at both mRNA and protein levels. It was also demonstrated that HBx markedly attenuated the MTH1 or MTH2 promoter activities through hypermethylation. Furthermore, enhancement of 8-oxodG production by HBx was reversible by overexpression of MTH1 and MTH2. CONCLUSION: Our data show that HBx expression results in the accumulation of 8-oxodG in hepatocytes through inhibiting the expression of MTH1 and MTH2. This may implicate that HBx may act as a tumor promoter through facilitating the mutational potential of 8-oxodG thus connecting a possible link between HBV infection and liver carcinogenesis.
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Enzimas Reparadoras do DNA/metabolismo , Desoxiguanosina/análogos & derivados , Monoéster Fosfórico Hidrolases/metabolismo , Pirofosfatases/metabolismo , Transativadores/metabolismo , 8-Hidroxi-2'-Desoxiguanosina , Animais , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Dano ao DNA/efeitos dos fármacos , Metilação de DNA , Enzimas Reparadoras do DNA/genética , Desoxiguanosina/metabolismo , Hepatite B/metabolismo , Hepatite B/patologia , Hepatite B/virologia , Vírus da Hepatite B/metabolismo , Vírus da Hepatite B/patogenicidade , Hepatite B Crônica/metabolismo , Hepatite B Crônica/patologia , Hepatócitos/citologia , Hepatócitos/metabolismo , Humanos , Peróxido de Hidrogênio/toxicidade , Masculino , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Camundongos Transgênicos , Monoéster Fosfórico Hidrolases/genética , Regiões Promotoras Genéticas , Pirofosfatases/genética , Espécies Reativas de Oxigênio/metabolismo , Transativadores/genética , Proteínas Virais Reguladoras e AcessóriasRESUMO
Hepatitis B virus core protein (HBc) has been implicated in hepatocarcinogenesis through several mechanisms. Resistance of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected hepatocytes to apoptosis is considered one of the major contributors to the progression of chronic hepatitis to cirrhosis and ultimately to hepatocellular carcinoma. The Fas receptor/ligand (Fas/FasL) system plays a prominent role in hepatocyte death during HBV infection. Here we report that HBc mediates resistance of hepatoma cells to agonistic anti-Fas antibody (CH11)-induced apoptosis. When HBc was introduced into human hepatoma cells, the cells became resistant to CH11 cytotoxicity in a p53-dependent manner. HBc significantly down-regulated the expression of p53, total Fas, and membrane-bound Fas at the mRNA and protein levels and reduced FasL mRNA expression. In contrast, HBc up-regulated the expression of soluble forms of Fas by increasing Fas alternative mRNA splicing. Mechanistically, HBc-mediated Fas alternative mRNA splicing was associated with up-regulation of polypyrimidine tract-binding protein 1 and down-regulation of Fas-activated serine/threonine kinase. These results indicated that HBc may prevent hepatocytes from Fas-induced apoptosis by the dual effects of reducing the expression of the proapoptotic form of Fas and enhancing the expression of the antiapoptotic form of the receptor, which may contribute to the survival and persistence of infected hepatocytes during chronic infection.
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Apoptose , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/patologia , Proteína Ligante Fas/metabolismo , Antígenos do Núcleo do Vírus da Hepatite B/metabolismo , Hepatite B/patologia , Neoplasias Hepáticas/patologia , Receptor fas/metabolismo , Western Blotting , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/metabolismo , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/virologia , Proliferação de Células , Ensaio de Imunoadsorção Enzimática , Proteína Ligante Fas/genética , Citometria de Fluxo , Hepatite B/metabolismo , Hepatite B/virologia , Antígenos do Núcleo do Vírus da Hepatite B/genética , Vírus da Hepatite B/fisiologia , Humanos , Neoplasias Hepáticas/metabolismo , Neoplasias Hepáticas/virologia , RNA Mensageiro/genética , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase em Tempo Real , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase Via Transcriptase Reversa , Células Tumorais Cultivadas , Receptor fas/genéticaRESUMO
Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) are of considerable importance in large-scale energy storage systems due to their high efficiency, long cycle life and easy scalability. In this work, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-modified electrodes and Nafion 117 membrane are utilised for formulating a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). In a CVD chamber, the growth of CNTs is carried out on an acid-treated graphite felt surface. Cyclic voltammetry of CNT-modified electrode and acid-treated electrode revealed that CNTs presence improve the reaction kinetics of V3+/V2+ and VO2+/VO2+ redox pairs. Battery performance is recorded for analysing, the effect of modified electrodes, varying electrolyte flow rates, varying current densities and effect of removing the current collector plates. CNTs presence enhance the battery performance and offered 96.30% of Coulombic efficiency, 79.33% of voltage efficiency and 76.39% of energy efficiency. In comparison with pristine electrodes, a battery consisting CNTs grown electrodes shows a 14% and 15% increase in voltage efficiency and energy efficiency, respectively. Battery configured without current collector plates performs better as compared to with current collector plates which is possibly due to decrease in battery resistance.
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This study aims to investigate the effect of maternal nicotine exposure on the gene expression profiles in the liver of offspring mice. Pregnant mice were subcutaneously injected with either saline vehicle or nicotine twice a day on gestational days 11-21. Total RNA from the liver samples which collected from the offspring mice of postnatal day 7 and 21 was subjected to RNA sequencing. Gene Ontology (GO) functional enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) signaling pathway enrichment analysis were conducted to identify the functions of differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Four genes were selected for further validation by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). A total of 448 DEGs and 186 DEGs were identified on postnatal day 7 and 21, respectively. GO analysis revealed that the DEGs on postnatal day 7 mainly participated in the biological functions of cell growth and proliferation, and the DEGs on postnatal day 21 mainly participated in ion transport/activity. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs on postnatal day 7 were mainly enriched in the cell cycle, cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and the p53 signaling pathway, while the DEGs on postnatal day 21 were mainly enriched in neuroactive ligand-receptor interactions, the calcium signaling pathway, retinol metabolism, and axon guidance. The qRT-PCR results were consistent with the RNA sequencing data. The DEGs may affect the growth of liver in early postnatal period while may affect ion transport/activity in late postnatal period.
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Perfilação da Expressão Gênica , Transcriptoma , Animais , Camundongos , Perfilação da Expressão Gênica/métodos , Nicotina/toxicidade , Análise de Sequência de RNA , FígadoRESUMO
Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) implies high short-term mortality rates and usually requires intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Proper prognosis for these patients is crucial for early referral for liver transplantation. The superiority of CLIF-C ACLF score in Asian patients with ACLF admitted to an ICU remains inconclusive when compared to other scoring systems. The purpose of the study is (i) to compare the predictive performance of original MELD, MELD-Lactate, CLIF-C ACLF, CLIF-C ACLF-Lactate, and APACHE-II scores for short-term mortality assessment. (ii) to build and validate a novel scoring system and to compare its predictive performance to that of the original five scores. Two hundred sixty-five consecutive cirrhotic patients with ACLF who were admitted to our ICU were enrolled. The prognostic values for mortality were assessed by ROC analysis. A novel model was developed and internally validated using fivefold cross-validation. Alcohol abuse was identified as the primary etiology of cirrhosis. The AUROC of the five prognostic scores were not significantly superior to each other in predicting 1-month and 3-month mortality. The newly developed prognostic model, incorporating age, alveolar-arterial gradient (A-a gradient), BUN, total bilirubin level, INR, and HE grades, exhibited significantly improved performance in predicting 1-month and 3-month mortality with AUROC of 0.863 and 0.829, respectively, as compared to the original five prognostic scores. The novel ACLF model seems to be superior to the original five scores in predicting short-term mortality in ACLF patients admitted to an ICU. Further rigorous validation is required.
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Insuficiência Hepática Crônica Agudizada , Unidades de Terapia Intensiva , Humanos , Insuficiência Hepática Crônica Agudizada/mortalidade , Masculino , Feminino , Unidades de Terapia Intensiva/organização & administração , Unidades de Terapia Intensiva/estatística & dados numéricos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Prognóstico , Idoso , Adulto , Curva ROC , Índice de Gravidade de Doença , Valor Preditivo dos Testes , APACHERESUMO
Li3VO4 (LVO) is a highly promising anode material for lithium-ion batteries, owing to its high capacity and stable discharge plateau. However, LVO faces a significant challenge due to its poor rate capability, which is mainly attributed to its low electronic conductivity. To enhance the kinetics of lithium ion insertion and extraction in LVO anode materials, a conductive polymer called poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is applied to coat the surface of LVO. This uniform coating of PEDOT:PSS improves the electronic conductivity of LVO, thereby enhancing the corresponding electrochemical properties of the resulting PEDOT:PSS-decorated LVO (P-LVO) half-cell. The charge/discharge curves between 0.2 and 3.0 V (vs. Li+/Li) indicate that the P-LVO electrode displays a capacity of 191.9 mAh/g at 8 C, while the LVO only delivers a capacity of 111.3 mAh/g at the same current density. To evaluate the practical application of P-LVO, lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) are constructed with P-LVO composite as the negative electrode and active carbon (AC) as the positive electrode. The P-LVO//AC LIC demonstrates an energy density of 107.0 Wh/kg at a power density of 125 W/kg, along with superior cycling stability and 97.4% retention after 2000 cycles. These results highlight the great potential of P-LVO for energy storage applications.
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ABSTRACT: We aimed to plot the growth curve of the fetal clavicle, identify gestational date-independent parameters. Using 2-dimensional ultrasonography, we obtained the clavicle lengths (CLs) from 601 normal fetuses between 12 and 40 gestational age (GA). The CL/fetal growth parameters ratio was calculated. Moreover, 27 cases of fetal growth restriction (FGR) and 9 cases of small for GA (SGA) were detected. In normal fetuses, the mean CL (mm) = -68.2 + 29.80 × ln(GA) ± Z × (1.07 + 0.02 × GA). A linear relationship was detected between CL and head circumference (HC), biparietal diameter, abdominal circumference and femoral length with R2 values of 0.973, 0.970, 0.962, and 0.972, respectively. The CL/HC ratio (mean value 0.130) showed no significant correlation with GA. Clavicle lengths in the FGR group significantly decreased compared with the SGA group ( P < 0.01). This study determined a reference range of fetal CL in a Chinese population. Furthermore, the CL/HC ratio, which is independent of GA, is a novel parameter for the evaluation of the fetal clavicle.
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Clavícula , Ultrassonografia Pré-Natal , Feminino , Recém-Nascido , Gravidez , Humanos , Clavícula/diagnóstico por imagem , Ultrassonografia Pré-Natal/métodos , Recém-Nascido Pequeno para a Idade Gestacional , Cefalometria , Idade Gestacional , Retardo do Crescimento Fetal/diagnóstico por imagemRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a severe complication in cirrhosis patients with ascites, leading to high mortality rates if not promptly treated. However, specific prediction models for SBP are lacking. AIMS: This study aimed to compare commonly used cirrhotic prediction models (CTP score, MELD, MELD-Na, iMELD, and MELD 3.0) for short-term mortality prediction and develop a novel model to improve mortality prediction. METHODS: Patients with the first episode of SBP were included. Prognostic values for mortality were assessed using AUROC analysis. A novel prediction model was developed and validated. RESULTS: In total, 327 SBP patients were analyzed, with HBV infection as the main etiologies. MELD 3.0 demonstrated the highest AUROC among the traditional models. The novel model, incorporating HRS, exhibited superior predictive accuracy for in-hospital in all patients and 3-month mortality in HBV-cirrhosis, with AUROC values of 0.827 and 0.813 respectively, surpassing 0.8. CONCLUSIONS: MELD 3.0 score outperformed the CTP score and showed a non-significant improvement compared to other MELD-based scores, while the novel SBP model demonstrated impressive accuracy. Internal validation and an HBV-related cirrhosis subgroup sensitivity analysis supported these findings, highlighting the need for a specific prognostic model for SBP and the importance of preventing HRS development to improve SBP prognosis.
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is associated with high mortality, especially in Asian populations where chronic HBV infection is a major cause. Accurate prediction of mortality can assist clinical decision-making. We aim to (i) compare the predicting ability of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer classification (BCLC) stage, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and Albumin-Bilirubin (ALBI) score in predicting short-term mortality (one- and two-year) and (ii) develop a novel model with improved accuracy compared to the conventional models. This study enrolled 298 consecutive HCC patients from our hepatology department. The prognostic values for mortality were assessed by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) analysis. A novel model was established and internally validated using 5-fold cross-validation, followed by external validation in a cohort of 100 patients. The primary etiology of cirrhosis was hepatitis B virus (HBV), with 81.2% of HCC patients having preserved liver function. Significant differences were observed in hemoglobin (Hb) and serum albumin levels, which reflect patients' nutrition status, between patients who survived for one year and those who died. BCLC exhibited superior predictive accuracy compared to NLR but had borderline superiority to the ALBI score. Therefore, a novel model incorporating BCLC, Hb, and serum albumin was developed, internally and externally validated, as well as subgroup sensitivity analysis. The model exhibited significantly higher predictive accuracy for one- and two-year mortality than conventional prognostic predictors, with AUROC values of 0.841 and 0.805, respectively. The novel "BCLC-Nutrition Model", which incorporates BCLC, Hb, and serum albumin, may provide improved predictive accuracy for short-term mortality in HCC patients compared to commonly used prognostic scores. This emphasizes the importance of nutrition in the management of HCC patients.