Aetiology of chronic liver disease is a valuable factor for stratifying adverse outcomes of acute decompensation: prospective observational study.

Background/aims: Acute decompensation (AD) is defined as the development of complications related to portal hypertension and liver dysfunction that affect the progression of chronic liver disease (CLD) or liver cirrhosis (LC). Variations exist in patient demographics and prognostic outcomes of AD based on the aetiology of CLD, encompassing LC. However, limited research has been conducted to analyse these discrepancies across aetiologies.

NKX6.3 modulation of mitotic dynamics and genomic stability in gastric carcinogenesis.

Background: Gastric cancer remains a significant global health challenge, characterized by poor prognosis and high mortality rates. Mitotic integrity and genomic stability are crucial in maintaining cellular homeostasis and preventing tumorigenesis. The transcription factor NKX6.

ARS: AI-Driven Recovery Controller for Quadruped Robot Using Single-Network Model.

Legged robots, especially quadruped robots, are widely used in various environments due to their advantage in overcoming rough terrains. However, falling is inevitable. Therefore, the ability to overcome a falling state is an essential ability for legged robots.

Synergistic Effect of Polyglycerol and DMSO for Long-Term Cryopreservation of Species.

Herein, we present a significant advancement in long-term cryopreservation techniques for microalgae species using a combination of linear polyglycerol (PG) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The technique was tested on three species: , , and , which showed long-term viability and recovery rates superior to those when treated with a traditional cryoprotectant only. While DMSO alone enabled high cell recovery rates for all species after 1 week of cryopreservation, the rates for some of them dropped below 50% after 26 weeks of cryopreservation.

Epidemiologic Trends and Socioeconomic Disparities of Ankylosing Spondylitis in South Korea: A Nationwide Population-Based Study, 2010-2021.

Purpose: To investigate the epidemiological trends and socioeconomic disparities associated with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in South Korea over a decade (2010-2021) using National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) claims data.

Materials And Methods: Employing data from the NHIS database, this study identified 31753 incident AS patients in 2010-2021. We calculated the annual age-standardized prevalence and incidence rates and analyzed crude incidence rates and diagnostic patterns across age groups.

Kinetic inductance current sensor for visible to near-infrared wavelength transition-edge sensor readout.

Single-photon detectors based on the superconducting transition-edge sensor are used in a number of visible to near-infrared applications, particularly for photon-number-resolving measurements in quantum information science. To be practical for large-scale spectroscopic imaging or photonic quantum computing applications, the size of visible to near-infrared transition-edge sensor arrays and their associated readouts must be increased from a few pixels to many thousands. In this manuscript, we introduce the kinetic inductance current sensor, a scalable readout technology that exploits the nonlinear kinetic inductance in a superconducting resonator to make sensitive current measurements.

Scalable Atomic-Layer Tailoring of Abundant Oxide Supports Unlocks Superior Interfaces for Low-Metal-Loading Dehydrogenation.

Liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) offer a promising solution for global hydrogen infrastructure, but their practical application faces two key challenges: sluggish dehydrogenation processes and the reliance on catalysts with high noble metal loadings. This study presents a scalable approach to reduce noble metal usage while maintaining high catalytic activity. We synthesized an ultralow Pt content (0.

Impact of TNF-α inhibitor therapy on cardiovascular outcomes in ankylosing spondylitis: a nationwide population-based study.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the association between tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitor (TNFi) therapy and cardiovascular (CV) outcomes, as well as all-cause mortality, in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

Patients And Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 24,986 patients newly diagnosed with AS between 2010-2019 without a history of CV diseases, using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service. CV events were observed through the end of 2021.

Development of a nomogram to assess thromboembolic risk in patients with liver abscesses.

Thromboembolism, a serious complication in patients with liver abscesses, can lead to organ deterioration if left untreated. However, factors associated with thromboembolism in these patients remain poorly understood. We aimed to identify the factors associated with liver abscess complications, with a focus on thromboembolism and metastatic infection.

Novel Roles of Catalysts in Producing High-Purity High-Pressure Hydrogen from Sodium Borohydride.

Hydrogen has received enormous attention as a clean fuel with its high specific energy (HHV=142 MJ kg). To apply hydrogen as a practically available energy vector, the direct production of high-pressure hydrogen with high purity is pivotal as it allows for circumventing the mechanical compression process. Recently, the concept of utilizing sodium borohydride (SBH) dehydrogenation as a chemical compressor that can generate high-pressure hydrogen gas was demonstrated by adopting formic acid as an acid catalyst.

Speckle reduced holographic display system with a jointly optimized rotating phase mask.

Speckle noise degrades image quality in systems with coherent light sources, which must be overcome in holographic displays. In this Letter, we introduce a holographic display system with a rotating phase mask for speckle noise reduction. The rotating phase mask works in a similar way as a conventional rotating diffuser, but its pattern is jointly optimized with the spatial light modulator to maintain the contrast of the reconstructed image.

The roles and mechanisms of coding and noncoding RNA variations in cancer.

Functional variations in coding and noncoding RNAs are crucial in tumorigenesis, with cancer-specific alterations often resulting from chemical modifications and posttranscriptional processes mediated by enzymes. These RNA variations have been linked to tumor cell proliferation, growth, metastasis, and drug resistance and are valuable for identifying diagnostic or prognostic cancer biomarkers. The diversity of posttranscriptional RNA modifications, such as splicing, polyadenylation, methylation, and editing, is particularly significant due to their prevalence and impact on cancer progression.

Analysis of Immune-Related Adverse Events of Atezolizumab and Bevacizumab in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Multicentre Cohort Study.

Introduction: Despite the emergence of atezolizumab and bevacizumab (A + B) as standard first-line systemic therapy for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a comprehensive understanding of the clinical significance of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) remains limited. We aimed to assess the impact of irAEs on patients with HCC undergoing A + B treatment.

Methods: This multicentre retrospective study included consecutive patients with HCC who were treated with the A + B regimen from September 2020 to December 2022.

Effect of Biliary Drainage on the Prognosis of Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Bile Duct Invasion.

Background/aims: Bile duct invasion (BDI) is rarely observed in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), leading to hyperbilirubinemia. However, the efficacy of pretreatment biliary drainage for HCC patients with BDI and obstructive jaundice is currently unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of biliary drainage on the prognosis of these patients.

Attention Feature Fusion Network via Knowledge Propagation for Automated Respiratory Sound Classification.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the early diagnosis of respiratory diseases has become increasingly crucial. Traditional diagnostic methods such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), while accurate, often face accessibility challenges. Lung auscultation, a simpler alternative, is subjective and highly dependent on the clinician's expertise.

Expansion of effector regulatory T cells in steroid responders of severe alcohol-associated hepatitis.

While steroid therapy is the preferred treatment for severe alcohol-associated hepatitis, the role of effector regulatory T (eTreg) cells and their association with steroid response and clinical outcomes in these patients remains to be elucidated. We prospectively enrolled 47 consecutive patients with alcohol-associated hepatitis, consisting of severe alcohol-associated hepatitis treated with steroids (n=18; steroid-treated group) and mild alcohol-associated hepatitis (n=29; nontreated group). After isolating peripheral blood mononuclear cells from the patients at enrollment and again 7 days later, the frequency of eTreg cells was examined using flow cytometry.

Effect of the alveolar recruitment maneuver during laparoscopic colorectal surgery on postoperative pulmonary complications: A randomized controlled trial.

Intraoperative lung-protective ventilation, including low tidal volume and positive end-expiratory pressure, reduces postoperative pulmonary complications. However, the effect and specific alveolar recruitment maneuver method are controversial. We investigated whether the intraoperative intermittent recruitment maneuver further reduced postoperative pulmonary complications while using a lung-protective ventilation strategy.

A 64-pixel mid-infrared single-photon imager based on superconducting nanowire detectors.

A large-format mid-infrared single-photon imager with very low dark count rates would enable a broad range of applications in fields like astronomy and chemistry. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are a mature photon-counting technology as demonstrated by their figures of merit such as high detection efficiencies and very low dark count rates. However, scaling SNSPDs to large array sizes for mid-infrared applications requires sophisticated readout architectures in addition to superconducting materials development.

Switching from tenofovir disoproxil fumarate to tenofovir alafenamide in virologically suppressed patient with chronic hepatitis B.

Background And Aim: Our study evaluated the outcomes of switching from tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) to tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). We assessed viral and biochemical responses as well as changes in the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and bone mineral density (BMD).

Methods: This retrospective multicenter study included CHB patients who achieved virologic response (VR) (HBV DNA < 20 IU/mL) while on TDF and were subsequently switched to TAF between April 2018 and October 2021.

A Machine Learning Algorithm Facilitates Prognosis Prediction and Treatment Selection for Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Stage C Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Purpose: Given its heterogeneity and diverse clinical outcomes, precise subclassification of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage C (BCLC-C) hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is required for appropriately determining patient prognosis and selecting treatment.

Experimental Design: We recruited 2,626 patients with BCLC-C HCC from multiple centers, comprising training/test (n = 1,693) and validation cohorts (n = 933). The XGBoost model was chosen for maximum performance among the machine learning (ML) models.

Monolithic Polarizing Circular Dielectric Gratings on Bulk Substrates for Improved Photon Collection from InAs Quantum Dots.

III-V semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are near-ideal and versatile single-photon sources. Because of the capacity for monolithic integration with photonic structures as well as optoelectronic and optomechanical systems, they are proving useful in an increasingly broad application space. Here, we develop monolithic circular dielectric gratings on bulk substrates - as opposed to suspended or wafer-bonded substrates - for greatly improved photon collection from InAs quantum dots.