Production of alkaline protease by Aspergillus niger in a new combinational paper waste culture medium.

Enzymes derived from microbial sources have gained increasing popularity in industrial applications over the past decades. Despite the high production cost, alkaline proteases have wide applications in industries such as tanneries, food production, and detergents. In recent years, there has been a shift towards utilizing natural carbon sources for cultivating microorganisms and extracting proteases in order to reduce production costs.

Surface area: a better predictor of disease severity than the height and volume of the barium column in patients with primary achalasia.

Objective: Subjective assessment of primary achalasia is not accurate. We aimed to study the utility of surface area of barium retention in the objective assessment of these patients.

Methods: Subjective and objective esophageal functions of 99 patients with primary achalasia were evaluated initially and 43 of them were reevaluated 1 month after balloon dilation.

Noninvasive markers of liver fibrosis and inflammation in chronic hepatitis B-virus related liver disease.

Background/aims: Noninvasive markers for predicting significant fibrosis and inflammation have not yet been validated in an unselected group of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers. The aim of this study was to create noninvasive models to predict significant fibrosis and inflammation in chronic HBV carriers.

Methods: A total of 276 (229 HBeAg negative, 47 HBeAg positive) unselected consecutive treatment naïve patients chronically infected with HBV who attended our center over a 36-month period underwent liver biopsy.

Serum hyaluronate as a non-invasive marker of hepatic fibrosis and inflammation in HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B.

Background: HBV infection is a serious global heath problem. It is crucial to monitor this disease more closely with a non-invasive marker in clinical trials. We aimed to evaluate the predictive value of serum hyaluronate for the presence of extensive liver fibrosis and inflammation.

Correlation between clinical severity score and the lower esophageal sphincter relaxation pressure in idiopathic achalasia.

Objectives: Achalasia is an esophageal motor disorder characterized by aperistalsis and incomplete relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). The meaningful correlation between LES relaxation pressure and the severity of clinical symptoms is uncertain. The aim of this study was to elucidate the correlation between the clinical scoring and the LES relaxation pressure.