Search

Fibrosis is deemed to be a pivotal determinant of the long-term prognosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We aimed to develop a novel nomogram-based non-invasive model to accurately predict significant fibrosis in patients with NAFLD. We designed a prospective cohort study including 207 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD. Detailed anthropometric and fibrosis-related laboratory parameters were collected. A nomogram was established based on variables that were independently associated with significant fibrosis identified by the logistic regression model. Then it was compared with aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS), FIB-4 and BARD score. Diagnostic accuracy was assessed according to area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUROC), sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and decision curve analysis. Variables included in the nomogram were: waist-to-height ratio, hyaluronic acid, procollagen-III-peptide, chitinase-3-like protein 1, and cytokeratine-18 neoepitope M65. The discrimination ability of the nomogram (AUROC?=?0.829, 95%CI 0.755–0.904) was significantly superior to APRI (AUROC?=?0.670, 95%CI 0.563–0.777), NFS (AUROC?=?0.601, 95%CI 0.480–0.722), FIB-4 (AUROC?=?0.624, 95%CI 0.511–0.736) and BARD (AUROC?=?0.579, 95%CI 0.459–0.699) for significant fibrosis (all p?

Background Fibrosis is deemed to be a pivotal determinant of the long-term prognosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).Objective We aimed to develop a novel nomogram-based non-invasive model to accurately predict significant fibrosis in patients with NAFLD.Methods We designed a prospective cohort study including 207 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD. Detailed anthropometric and fibrosis-related laboratory parameters were collected. A nomogram was established based on variables that were independently associated with significant fibrosis identified by the logistic regression model. Then it was compared with aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS), FIB-4 and BARD score. Diagnostic accuracy was assessed according to area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUROC), sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and decision curve analysis.Results Variables included in the nomogram were: waist-to-height ratio, hyaluronic acid, procollagen-III-peptide, chitinase-3-like protein 1, and cytokeratine-18 neoepitope M65. The discrimination ability of the nomogram (AUROC = 0.829, 95%CI 0.755–0.904) was significantly superior to APRI (AUROC = 0.670, 95%CI 0.563–0.777), NFS (AUROC = 0.601, 95%CI 0.480–0.722), FIB-4 (AUROC = 0.624, 95%CI 0.511–0.736) and BARD (AUROC = 0.579, 95%CI 0.459–0.699) for significant fibrosis (all p< 0.05). The nomogram showed a larger net benefit to aid in decision-making as to whether biopsy is required.Conclusions This novel nomogram was more accurate, and achieved higher net benefit than APRI, NFS, FIB-4 and BARD to detect significant fibrosis. It can be useful as a non-invasive method to screen ≥F2 fibrosis in the overall population with NAFLD.

A series of simple sodium and potassium phenolates can highly isoselectively catalyze the polymerization of rac-lactide (with a high Pmvalue of up to 0.89). Isotactic multi-block polymers were obtained with a longest average isotactic length of 9 (18 lactic acid units) and the highest melting point of the polymer reaching up to 187.8 °C. One highly active potassium complex can even catalyze the polymerization of 1000 equivalents of rac-lactide and afford polylactide with a desired molecular weight and narrow polydispersity index (PDI). Experimental results also demonstrate that steric hindrance and electronic effects have significant effects on the behaviors of these catalysts in the ROP of rac-lactide.