A New Assessment Method of Vitiligo by Combination of Dermoscopy and Reflectance Confocal Microscopy.

Purpose: The aim is to investigate the application value of dermoscopy combined with reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) in assessing vitiligo disease activity and treatment response.

Patients And Methods: We enrolled 279 patients with vitiligo and evaluated the disease activity by Vitiligo Disease Activity (VIDA) score, dermoscopy, RCM and dermoscopy combined with RCM respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of different assessment techniques were compared with VIDA score by the differences and consistency.

Dermoscopy and reflection confocal microscope features of pigmented prurigo.

Background: Pigmented prurigo (PP) is a chronic and recurrent inflammatory skin disease. PP is not common clinically, but it is easily misdiagnosed because of its diversified clinical manifestations in different stages.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical, histopathological, dermoscopy, and reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) features of 20 patients diagnosed as PP.

Intestinal mucosal barrier in functional constipation: Dose it change?

Background: The intestinal mucosal barrier is the first line of defense against numerous harmful substances, and it contributes to the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis. Recent studies reported that structural and functional changes in the intestinal mucosal barrier were involved in the pathogenesis of several intestinal diseases. However, no study thoroughly evaluated this barrier in patients with functional constipation (FC).

Baicalin confers hepatoprotective effect against alcohol-associated liver disease by upregulating microRNA-205.

Recently, baicalin refers to flavonoid compound extracted from Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi has been indicated to hold promising therapeutic effects in alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD). However, knowledge of the molecular mechanisms for its hepatoprotective effect is still very limited. Evidence exists suggesting potential association between miR-205 and baicalin's function.

Altered metabolism of bile acids correlates with clinical parameters and the gut microbiota in patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome.

Background: Bile acids (BAs) have attracted attention in the research of irritable bowel syndrome with predominant diarrhea (IBS-D) due to their ability to modulate bowel function and their tight connection with the gut microbiota. The composition of the fecal BA pool in IBS-D patients is reportedly different from that in healthy populations. We hypothesized that BAs may participate in the pathogenesis of IBS-D and the altered BA profile may be correlated with the gut microbiome.

Withdrawal Notice: Therapeutic Effect of Prdx1 on NAFLD Mice May be Related to the Activation of Nrf-2/HO-1 Pathway.

Unlabelled: Since the authors are not responding to the editor’s requests to fulfill the editorial requirement, therefore, the article has been withdrawn. Bentham Science apologizes to the readers of the journal for any inconvenience this may have caused. The Bentham Editorial Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at https://benthamscience.

Overexpressed sFRP3 exerts an inhibitory effect on hepatocellular carcinoma via inactivation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is recognized as the most common malignancy of the liver in adults. Many human cancers have been associated with the oncogenic activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. The secreted frizzled-related proteins (sFRPs) function as negative regulators of the Wnt signaling and have important implications in carcinogenesis.

Novel hypolipidemic conjugates of fatty acid and bile acid with lysine for linkage.

Novel fatty acid-bile acid conjugates (1a-1k) were designed and synthesized by coupling of the fatty acids to the 3-OH of bile acids using lysine for linkage. In the conjugates, the 24-COOH of the bile acids was kept intact to preserve liver-specific recognition. The ability of the newly synthesized conjugates (at 100 mg/kg dosage) to reduce total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) levels in mice fed with high-fat diet (HFD) was evaluated.

Repression of TXNIP-NLRP3 axis restores intestinal barrier function via inhibition of myeloperoxidase activity and oxidative stress in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Dysfunction of the intestinal barrier function occurs in hepatic injury, but the specific mechanisms responsible are largely unknown. Recently, NOD-like receptor 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome functions in impairing endothelial barrier function. In this study, we test the hypothesis that TXNIP-NLRP3 axis repression prevents against intestinal barrier function disruption in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Polymorphism of IFN-γ +874T/A associated with production of IFN-γ affects human papillomavirus susceptibility in rural women from Luohe, Henan, China.

Purpose: In this paper, the association between polymorphisms of IFN-γ +874T/A (rs2430561), IFN-γR1 -56 T/C (rs2234711), IFN-γR1 +95 C/T (rs7749390), and IFN-γR1 -611A/G (rs 1327474) and human papillomavirus (HPV) susceptibility was investigated in rural women from Luohe, Henan, China.

Patients And Methods: A total of 520 rural women were enrolled from Luohe, including 260 with HPV infection and mild dysplasia or less and 260 without HPV infection. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IFN-γ +874T/A, IFN-γR1 -56 T/C, IFN-γR1 +95 C/T and IFN-γR1 -611A/G were genotyped using TaqMan Pre-Designed SNP Genotyping Assays.

[Establishment of an evidence-based protocol for tracheotomy care in adult patients].

Purpose: To establish a clinical practice protocol for tracheotomy care of adult patients.

Methods: Though constructive document retrieval, personnel interview and brain-storming, protocol draft was constructed. Delphi method was used in the study, and the final protocol was based on two rounds of consultation among 15 experts from 10 tertiary general hospitals.

Time-Dependent Effects of Acute Exercise on University Students' Cognitive Performance in Temperate and Cold Environments.

Few studies have examined the acute exercise-induced changes in cognitive performance in different thermal environments and the time course effects. Investigate the time-dependent effects of acute exercise on university students' processing speed, working memory and cognitive flexibility in temperate and cold environments. Twenty male university students (age 23.

Fusaric acid (FA) protects heart failure induced by isoproterenol (ISP) in mice through fibrosis prevention via TGF-β1/SMADs and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways.

Fusaric acid (FA) is a novel compound derived from a class of nicotinic acid derivatives, exhibiting activity against cancers. However, its role in regulating cardiac injury is limited. Our study was aimed to investigate the role and the underlying molecular mechanism of FA in heart fibrosis and hypertrophy.

[Application of key contact point management in health education at ICU for oral and maxillofacial cancer patients].

Purpose: To explore the effect of key contact point management in health education at ICU for oral and maxillofacial cancer patients.

Methods: Key contact point checklist was constructed by literature review, brain storm, patients review and expert consultation. The patients in the control group accepted routine health education, while patients in the experimental group accepted health education based on key contact point theory.

Plasma exchange-centered artificial liver support system in hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure: a nationwide prospective multicenter study in China.

Background: Plasma exchange (PE)-centered artificial liver support system reduced the high mortality rate of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). But the data were diverse in different medical centers. The present prospective nationwide study was to evaluate the effects of PE on patients with HBV-ACLF at different stages.

Cytokine IL-6 is required in Citrobacter rodentium infection-induced intestinal Th17 responses and promotes IL-22 expression in inflammatory bowel disease.

Citrobacter rodentium (C. rodentium) infection is a widely used murine model to mimic human enteric bacteria infection and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In this model, interleukin (IL)‑17A plays critical roles in increasing chemokine and cytokine production in various tissues to recruit innate cells, including monocytes and neutrophils, to the local site of infection.

Results of a phase III clinical trial with an HBsAg-HBIG immunogenic complex therapeutic vaccine for chronic hepatitis B patients: experiences and findings.

Background & Aims: Even though various experimental therapeutic approaches for chronic hepatitis B infection have been reported, few of them have been verified by clinical trials. We have developed an antigen-antibody (HBsAg-HBIG) immunogenic complex therapeutic vaccine candidate with alum as adjuvant (YIC), aimed at breaking immune tolerance to HBV by modulating viral antigen processing and presentation. A double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase II B clinical trial of YIC has been reported previously, and herein we present the results of the phase III clinical trial of 450 patients.

Comparison of four prognostic models and a new Logistic regression model to predict short-term prognosis of acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure.

Background: Acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure (ACLF-HBV) is a clinically severe disease associated with major life-threatening complications including hepatic encephalopathy and hepatorenal syndrome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the short-term prognostic predictability of the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), MELD-based indices, and their dynamic changes in patients with ACLF-HBV, and to establish a new model for predicting the prognosis of ACLF-HBV.

Methods: A total of 172 patients with ACLF-HBV who stayed in the hospital for more than 2 weeks were retrospectively recruited.

Factors influencing inadequate or suboptimal response to adefovir with or without genotypic resistance.

The aim of the study was to explore the factors in inadequate-responders to treatment with adefovir (ADV) with or without genotypic resistance. The reverse-transcriptase (RT) gene of hepatitis B virus (HBV) was sequenced in 161 patients with inadequate-response to ADV and analyzed for HBV genotypes using a phylogenetic approach. Seventy-six patients (47.

[Distribution and clinical significance of HBV genotypes in patients with HBV infection in 30 regions of China].

Objective: To explore the distribution and clinical significance of HBV genotypes in patients with HBV infection in China.

Method: Serum samples were collected from 2922 patients with HBV infection. HBV genotyping was performed with type-specific primers polymerase chain reaction, and the virological and biochemical markers were detected, which differences in the genotypes distribution between various regions and liver function and virological markers between various HBV genotyping were analyzed.

[Comparison of MELD-Na versus MELDNa in the prediction of short-term prognosis for acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure].

Objective: To evaluate the short-term prognostic values for the model of end-stage liver disease-sodium (MELD-Na), end-stage liver disease sodium (MELDNa) and their dynamic changes in patients with acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure (ACLF-HBV).

Methods: A total of 172 patients diagnosed with ACLF-HBV, admitted between January 2007 to February 2009 and hospitalized for over 2 weeks, were retrospectively recruited. The predictive accuracy of MELD-Na, MELDNa and their dynamic change (Δ) was compared by the method of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve.

Plasma biomarker screening for liver fibrosis with the N-terminal isotope tagging strategy.

A non-invasive diagnostic approach is crucial for the evaluation of severity of liver disease, treatment decisions, and assessing drug efficacy. This study evaluated plasma proteomic profiling via an N-terminal isotope tagging strategy coupled with liquid chromatography/Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry measurement to detect liver fibrosis staging. Pooled plasma from different liver fibrosis stages, which were assessed in advance by the current gold-standard of liver biopsy, was quantitatively analyzed.