FibroScan Discordance With Liver Biopsy Significantly Overestimates Advanced Fibrosis and Cirrhosis in MASLD Subjects With Class 3 Obesity: Implications for Resmetirom Eligibility.

Goals: To investigate the effect of obesity on the stages of fibrosis discordance between FibroScan and liver biopsy.

Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the leading cause of liver disease worldwide. Accurate fibrosis assessment is essential in MASLD patients for prognosis and treatment.

Significant Within-Individual Variability in VCTE Liver Stiffness Measurements at Two Intercostal Spaces in Subjects with MASLD: Implications for Evaluating Improvement in Liver Fibrosis After Weight-Loss or Liver-Directed Therapy.

Introduction: Studies have compared the group-averages of liver stiffness measures (LSMs) from multiple rib spaces by vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) to stage liver fibrosis. No previous study has assessed within-individual liver stiffness variation from two rib spaces in individuals with metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).

Methods: We evaluated within-individual LSM variation according to body weight classification and its clinical implication.

VCTE Overestimates Liver Fibrosis due to Abdominal-Truncal Adiposity and Not Hepatic Steatosis: A Case Report.

Vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) is used for the noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis. We present a case of significant weight loss over 1 year, resulting in a marked improvement in liver stiffness suggesting a decrease in liver fibrosis from stage 4 (cirrhosis) to stage 2 (moderate fibrosis) notably without a change in the grade of hepatic steatosis. The improvement in two stages of fibrosis over this short time frame is due to the overestimation of liver stiffness in a subject with class 3 obesity and not due to the resolution of fibrosis.

Engineering dual-functional and thermophilic BMHETase for efficient degradation of polyethylene terephthalate.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) biodegradation is hindered by the intermediates bis (2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) and mono (2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (MHET). BMHETase, a thermophilic hydrolase identified from the UniParc database, exhibits degradation activity towards both BHET and MHET. BMHETase showed higher activity on BHET than LCCICCG and FASTPETase at temperatures ranging from 50 to 70℃.