Predicting colorectal adenomatous polyps in patients with chronic liver disease: A novel nomogram.

Background: Colorectal polyps are commonly observed in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) and pose a significant clinical concern because of their potential for malignancy.

Aim: To explore the clinical characteristics of colorectal polyps in patients with CLD, a nomogram was established to predict the presence of adenomatous polyps (AP).

Methods: Patients with CLD who underwent colonoscopy at Tianjin Second People's Hospital from January 2020 to May 2023 were evaluated.

Direct-acting antivirals failed to reduce the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma occurrence in hepatitis C virus associated cirrhosis: A real-world study.

Background: Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) revolutionized the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated disease achieving high rates of sustained virological response (SVR). However, whether DAAs can reduce the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with HCV-associated cirrhosis who are at high risk have not been concluded.

Aim: To investigate the effect of DAAs on the occurrence of HCC in patients with HCV-associated cirrhosis after achieving SVR.

Prediction of the Drug-Drug Interaction Types with the Unified Embedding Features from Drug Similarity Networks.

Drug combination therapies are a promising strategy to overcome drug resistance and improve the efficacy of monotherapy in cancer, and it has been shown to lead to a decrease in dose-related toxicities. Except the synergistic reaction between drugs, some antagonistic drug-drug interactions (DDIs) exist, which is the main cause of adverse drug events. Precisely predicting the type of DDI is important for both drug development and more effective drug combination therapy applications.

Essential Oils from Spices Inhibit Cholinesterase Activity and Improve Behavioral Disorder in AlCl Induced Dementia.

The chemical compositions of essential oils (EOs) prepared from six spices including cinnamon, amomum tsao-ko, cardamom, amomum, black pepper and white pepper were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS), which led to identify almost 200 volatile compounds. All EOs of spices showed cholinesterase inhibitory activity. Among them, pepper EO showed most potent acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity with IC values of 8.

Correlation of the retinopathy degree with the change of ocular surface and corneal nerve in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Aim: To investigate the change of ocular surface and corneal nerve and their correlation in patients suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus under different degrees of retinopathy.

Methods: Totally 129 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients (257 eyes) were included. They were divided into three groups: no diabetic retinopathy (NDR) group (33 cases, 66 eyes), non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) group (32 cases, 64 eyes), and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) group (34 cases, 67 eyes).

[Effects of butylphthalide on HS/CBS pathway in hippocampal and amygdala and learning and memory ability in chronic alcoholism rats].

To investigate the effects of butylphthalide (NBP) on learning and memory related ability, hydrogen sulfide (HS) content in hippocampus and amygdala, cystathionine-β-synthase (CBS) expression and mitochondrial ATPase activity in rats with chronic alcoholism. Ninety SD male rats were randomly divided into three groups: normal control group (NC), model group (M) and butylphthalide remedy group (BR). Except for the control group, the water solution containing 6% (v/v) alcohol was used as the sole source of drinking water in the other two groups.

Significantly enhanced conversion efficiency of high-order harmonic generation by introducing chirped laser pulses into scheme of spatially inhomogeneous field.

An effective scheme to enhance the yield of high-order harmonic generation originated from spatially inhomogeneous field through the interaction between few-cycle chirped laser pulses and a nano-tip structure is demonstrated. The conversion efficiency of harmonics from chirped laser pulses was significantly improved by nearly three more orders of magnitude than that of chirp-free pulses, and the cutoff energy of the corresponding harmonics was dramatically enhanced. By superimposing a series of properly selected orders of harmonics, isolated attosecond pulses of high intensity can be obtained.

Optimization of expression of orange carotenoid protein in Escherichia coli.

Naturally-occurring orange carotenoid protein (OCP) is synthesized in cyanobacteria and red algae for photoprotection. Holo-OCP can be produced with three plasmids in E. coli, which needs two inducers (arabinose and isopropyl β-D-thiogalactoside) to initiate two processes: one for generation of carotenoid and the other for generation of apo-OCP, so takes about two days.

Chromophorylation (in Escherichia coli) of allophycocyanin B subunits from far-red light acclimated Chroococcidiopsis thermalis sp. PCC7203.

Cyanobacterial phycobilisomes funnel the harvested light energy to the reaction centers via two terminal emitters, allophycocyanin B and the core-membrane linker. ApcD is the α-subunit of allophycocyanin B responsible for its red-shifted absorbance (λ 665 nm). Far-red photo-acclimated cyanobacteria contain certain allophycocyanins that show even further red-shifted absorbances (λ > 700 nm).

Chemical Composition and Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitory Activity of Essential Oils from Piper Species.

The essential oils (EOs) derived from aromatic plants such as Piper species are considered to play a role in alleviating neuronal ailments that are associated with inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The chemical compositions of 23 EOs prepared from 16 Piper spp. were analyzed by both gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

Far-red light photoacclimation: Chromophorylation of FR induced α- and β-subunits of allophycocyanin from Chroococcidiopsis thermalis sp. PCC7203.

Cyanobacterial light-harvesting complexes, phycobilisomes, can undergo extensive remodeling under varying light conditions. Acclimation to far-red light involves not only generation of red-shifted chlorophylls in the photosystems, but also induction of additional copies of core biliproteins that have been related to red-shifted components of the phycobilisome (Gan et al., Life 5, 4, 2015).

[Development of a model for the diagnosis and risk classification on anthrax through artificial neural network].

Objective: Based on data through clinical and epidemiological studies, a model regarding the diagnosis and risk classification on anthrax was developed by artificial neural network (ANN). The model could integrally diagnose anthrax cases, judge the risk tendency in time, and increase the ability of recognizing the anthrax accidents.

Methods: Clinical, laboratory and epidemiological data from anthrax cases was collected and analyzed.