Evaluation of thrombocytopenia in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease without cirrhosis.

Introduction And Objectives: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disorder in western countries. It is often related to metabolic syndrome, presenting an increased risk of advanced liver disease and cardiovascular-related death. In some etiologies of chronic liver disease, thrombocytopenia has been associated not only with advanced stages of fibrosis but also with autoimmune disease.

Transient hepatic elastography has the best performance to evaluate liver fibrosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Introduction And Aim: The gold-standard for fibrosis diagnosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is liver biopsy, despite its invasive approach, sampling limitations and variability among observers. The objective was to validate the performance of non-invasive methods (Fibroscan™; APRI, FIB4 and NAFLD score) comparing with liver biopsy in the evaluation of liver fibrosis in patients with NAFLD.

Material And Methods: NAFLD patients ≥18 years of age who were submitted to liver biopsy were included and evaluated at two reference tertiary hospitals in Brazil with transient hepatic elastography (THE) assessment through Fibroscan™, APRI, FIB4 and NAFLD scores were determined.

Modeling quasi-dark states with temporal coupled-mode theory.

Coupled resonators are commonly used to achieve tailored spectral responses and allow novel functionalities in a broad range of applications. The Temporal Coupled-Mode Theory (TCMT) provides a simple and general tool that is widely used to model these devices. Relying on TCMT to model coupled resonators might however be misleading in some circumstances due to the lumped-element nature of the model.

Spectral engineering with coupled microcavities: active control of resonant mode-splitting.

Optical mode-splitting is an efficient tool to shape and fine-tune the spectral response of resonant nanophotonic devices. The active control of mode-splitting, however, is either small or accompanied by undesired resonance-shifts, often much larger than the resonance splitting. We report a control mechanism that enables reconfigurable and widely tunable mode splitting while efficiently mitigating undesired resonance shifts.

Embedded coupled microrings with high-finesse and close-spaced resonances for optical signal processing.

Single microring resonators have been used in applications such as wavelength multicasting and microwave photonics, but the dependence of the free spectral range with ring radius imposes a trade-off between the required GHz optical channel spacing, footprint and power consumption. We demonstrate four-channel all-optical wavelength multicasting using only 1 mW of control power, with converted channel spacing of 40-60 GHz. Our device is based on a compact embedded microring design fabricated on a scalable SOI platform.

Histopathological stages of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in type 2 diabetes: prevalences and correlated factors.

Background/aims: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is highly prevalent in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, data regarding the prevalence and correlates of its histopathological stages are scarce. The aim was to investigate the prevalence and correlates of the more severe histopathological features of NAFLD, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and advanced fibrosis, in T2DM.

Ultrasound imaging in an experimental model of fatty liver disease and cirrhosis in rats.

Background: Domestic dogs and cats are very well known to develop chronic hepatic diseases, including hepatic lipidosis and cirrhosis. Ultrasonographic examination is extensively used to detect them. However, there are still few reports on the use of the ultrasound B-mode scan in correlation with histological findings to evaluate diffuse hepatic changes in rodents, which represent the most important animal group used in experimental models of liver diseases.

Bone marrow multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells do not reduce fibrosis or improve function in a rat model of severe chronic liver injury.

The objective of our study was to evaluate the therapeutic potential of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) in a rat model of severe chronic liver injury. Fourteen female Wistar rats were fed exclusively an alcoholic liquid diet and received intraperitoneal injections of carbon tetrachloride every other day during 15 weeks. After this period, eight animals (MSC group) had 1 x 10(7) cells injected into the portal vein while six animals (placebo group) received vehicle.