Quantitative Ultrasound and Ultrasound-Based Elastography for Chronic Liver Disease: Practical Guidance, From the Special Series on Quantitative Imaging.

Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) and ultrasound-based elastography techniques are emerging as non-invasive effective methods for assessing chronic liver disease. They are more accurate than B-mode imaging alone and more accessible than MRI as alternatives to liver biopsy. Early detection and monitoring of diffuse liver processes such as steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis play an important role in guiding patient management.

Risk Factors for Hospitalization Duration Longer Than 24 Hours Following Percutaneous Radiofrequency Ablation of Liver Tumours.

Purpose: Prior studies have described complications of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of liver tumours. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for hospitalization duration longer than 24 hours following RFA of liver tumours.

Methods: This retrospective, single-centre study included patients with liver tumours undergoing RFA between October 2017 and July 2020.

Oxidative Damage to BV2 Cells by Trichloroacetic Acid: Protective Role of Boron the p53 Pathway.

This study aimed to investigate the neurotoxicity induced by trichloroacetic acid (TCA) and the possible protective mechanisms of boron (B). Mouse BV2 cells were treated with TCA (0, 0.39, 0.

Comparison of 18F-sodium fluoride positron emission tomography imaging and 99mTc-pyrophosphate in cardiac amyloidosis.

Background: Pyrophosphate (PYP) scintigraphy provides high diagnostic accuracy for the detection of transthyretin (ATTR) cardiac amyloidosis (CA). There has recently been emerging interest in using 18F-sodium fluoride (NaF) for this application, yet its sensitivity has never been directly compared to that of PYP, the current molecular gold standard METHODS: Twelve subjects with ATTR-CA and 5 controls referred for PYP-SPECT were prospectively enrolled. 18F-NaF PET/CT scans were performed at 1 and 3 hours.

Verification on the Developmental Toxicity of Short-term Exposure to Phenol in Rats.

Objective: To verify the health advisory for short-term exposure to phenol.

Methods: The method of this validation experiment was the same as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methodology for toxicology experiments used to determine phenol drinking water equivalent level (DWEL). Pregnant female Sprague-Dawley rats were administered phenol in distilled water by gavage at daily doses of 15, 30, 60, 120, and 240 mg/kg body weight (b.

Validation of the Chinese version of joint protection self-efficacy scale in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To develop and validate the Chinese version of the Joint Protection Self-Efficacy Scale (CJP-SES) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in China.

Method: (1) Translation of the original German/English version JP-SES and cultural adaptation into the Chinese language; (2)Validation of the CJP-SES with the Chinese versions of the Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale-8 (ASES-8), the Laffrey Health Conception Scale (LHCS), 10-item Perceived Efficacy in Patient-Physician Interactions Scale (PEPPI-10), Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS-28) and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ). Instrument measurement included reliability testing, item generation, construct validity, test-retest reliability, and correlation with other measurements.

[Avermectins, intelligently made in China].

Avermectins, are pesticides of fermentation products with high efficacy and low toxicity and play important roles in food and agricultural product safety, animal and human health. Ivermectins, the derivatives of avermectins, are used to treat Onchocerciasis, also known as River Blindness. Thanks to these discoveries, more than 200 million Africans are lucky to be exempted from blindness.

Varying 10-year off-treatment responses to nucleos(t)ide analogues in patients with chronic hepatitis B according to their pretreatment hepatitis B e antigen status.

Objective: To evaluate the long-term durability and efficacy of nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) and to determine the related factors for virological relapse in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients.

Methods: CHB patients who fulfilled the criteria for discontinuing NAs therapy in accordance with the published guidelines were included in the study from December 2001. Virological relapse was defined as serum hepatitis virus B (HBV) DNA >10 copies/mL twice at least 2 weeks apart.

[Distribution of soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and water stable aggregates of cropland with different soil textures on the Loess Plateau, Northwest China].

In this study, combined with field investigation and laboratory analyses, we assessed the distribution of soil organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous contents and their stoichiometric ratios, and the distribution of soil water stable aggregates along a soil texture gradient in the cropland of the Loess Plateau to understand the effect of soil texture and the regulation of soil aggregates on soil fertility in cropland. The results showed that, with the change from fine soils to coarse soils along the texture gradient (loam clay→ clay loam→ sandy loam), the contents of macroaggregates, organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and their stoichiometric ratios decreased, while pH value and microaggregates content showed an opposite changing pattern. The contents of macroaggregates, organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, and C/P and N/P were significantly increased, but pH value and microaggregates content were significantly decreased with increasing the soil clay content.

Potential Effects of Desalinated Seawater on Arteriosclerosis in Rats.

To evaluate the potential risk of arteriosclerosis caused by desalinated seawater, Wistar rats were provided desalinated seawater over a 1-year period, and blood samples were collected at 0, 90, 180, and 360 days. Blood calcium, magnesium, and arteriosclerosis-related indicators were investigated. Female rats treated with desalinated seawater for 180 days showed lower magnesium levels than the control rats (P < 0.

[Effects of shading in summer and autumn on physiological and biochemical characteristics of 'Huangjinya' in Shandong Province, China].

In order to ensure the suitable shade model for 'Huangjinya' tea plant in Shandong Province, black or blue shading net at 55%, 70% or 85% shading rates was selected to recover tea garden in summer and autumn, then micro-climate of tea garden, leaf color, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, growth status and biochemical composition of tea shoots were investigated.The results showed that compared with the control, light intensity and air temperature in tea garden, leaf temperature of tea plants in different shading treatments significantly decreased, while air humidity in tea garden increased. The contents of chlorophyll in the tea leaves were obviously increased with increasing the shading rate, which resulted in the leaf color becoming green.

Enhanced waveguide-type ultraviolet electroluminescence from ZnO/MgZnO core/shell nanorod array light-emitting diodes via coupling with Ag nanoparticles localized surface plasmons.

Localized surface plasmon (LSP) enhanced waveguide-type ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were fabricated by sputtering Ag nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) onto ZnO/MgZnO core/shell nanorod array (CS-NRA)/p-GaN heterostructures. A ∼9-fold enhancement of ZnO ultraviolet electroluminescence (EL) was demonstrated by the Ag-NPs decorated LED compared with the device without Ag-NPs. Angle-dependent EL measurements, as well as finite-difference time-domain simulations of the EL intensity spatial distribution, confirmed the waveguide-type EL transmission mode along the NR's axial direction.

Enhanced ultraviolet emission and improved spatial distribution uniformity of ZnO nanorod array light-emitting diodes via Ag nanoparticles decoration.

Localized surface plasmon (LSP) enhanced ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were fabricated by embedding a ZnO nanorod array/p-GaN film heterostructure into a Ag-nanoparticles/PMMA composite. By optimizing the concentration of Ag nanoparticles in PMMA, two distinct changes in electroluminescence (EL) spectra were observed: (1) the UV EL component from ZnO excitons was selectively enhanced more than 13-fold and the entire spectral lineshape was changed and (2) the spatial uniformity of the output photon intensity was improved and the linewidth of an angular distribution curve was increased by ∼2 times. These observations can be attributed to near-field optical coupling between Ag LSPs and ZnO excitons.

A phase I study of ridaforolimus in adult Chinese patients with advanced solid tumors.

Purpose: Ridaforolimus (AP23573, MK-8669 or deforolimus) is an inhibitor of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), an important regulator in the cell survival pathway. This open-label, single center phase I study aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetic (PK) and safety profiles of ridaforolimus in Chinese patients with treatment-refractory advanced or relapsed solid tumors. The PK data generated from these Chinese patients were further compared with those previously reported in Caucasian and Japanese patient populations.

A predictive Bayesian approach to the design and analysis of bridging studies.

Pharmaceutical product development culminates in confirmatory trials whose evidence for the product's efficacy and safety supports regulatory approval for marketing. Regulatory agencies in countries whose patients were not included in the confirmatory trials often require confirmation of efficacy and safety in their patient populations, which may be accomplished by carrying out bridging studies to establish consistency for local patients of the effects demonstrated by the original trials. This article describes and illustrates an approach for designing and analyzing bridging studies that fully incorporates the information provided by the original trials.

High-flux ceramic membranes with a nanomesh of metal oxide nanofibers.

Traditional ceramic separation membranes, which are fabricated by applying colloidal suspensions of metal hydroxides to porous supports, tend to suffer from pinholes and cracks that seriously affect their quality. Other intrinsic problems for these membranes include dramatic losses of flux when the pore sizes are reduced to enhance selectivity and dead-end pores that make no contribution to filtration. In this work, we propose a new strategy for addressing these problems by constructing a hierarchically structured separation layer on a porous substrate using large titanate nanofibers and smaller boehmite nanofibers.

Maternal deprivation increases cell death in the infant rat brain.

Prolonged separation from the mother can interfere with normal growth and development and is a significant risk factor for adult psychopathology. In rodents, separation of a pup from its mother increases the behavioral and endocrine responses to stress for the lifetime of the animal. Here we investigated whether maternal deprivation could affect brain development of infant rats via changes in the rate of cell death as measured by labeling the 3' end of DNA fragments using terminal transferase (ApopTag).