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The purpose of this retrospective study is to compare the efficacy and safety of the centrifugal separation therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) using citrate anticoagulant (cTPEc) with membrane separation TPE using heparin anticoagulant (mTPEh) in liver failure patients. The patients treated by cTPEc were defined as cTPEc group and those treated by mTPEh were defined as mTPEh group, respectively. Clinical characteristics were compared between the two groups. Survival analyses of two groups and subgroups classified by the model for end‐stage liver disease (MELD) score were performed by Kaplan–Meier method and were compared by the log‐rank test. In this study, there were 51 patients in cTPEc group and 18 patients in mTPEh group, respectively. The overall 28‐day survival rate was 76% (39/51) in cTPEc group and 61% (11/18) in mTPEh group (P >.05). The 90‐day survival rate was 69% (35/51) in cTPEc group and 50% (9/18) in mTPEh group (P >.05). MELD score = 30 was the best cut‐off value to predict the prognosis of patients with liver failure treated with TPE, in mTPEh group as well as cTPEc group. The median of total calcium/ionized calcium ratio (2.84, range from 2.20 to 3.71) after cTPEc was significantly higher than the ratio (1.97, range from 1.73 to 3.19) before cTPEc (P <.001). However, there was no significant difference between the mean concentrations of total calcium before cTPEc and at 48 h after cTPEc. Our study concludes that there was no statistically significant difference in survival rate and complications between cTPEc and mTPEh groups. The liver failure patients tolerated cTPEc treatment via peripheral vascular access with the prognosis similar to mTPEh. The prognosis in patients with MELD score < 30 was better than in patients with MELD score ≥ 30 in both groups. In this study, the patients with acute liver failure (ALF) and acute on chronic liver failure (ACLF) treated with cTPEc tolerated the TPE frequency of every other day without significant clinical adverse event of hypocalcemia with similar outcomes to the mTPEh treatment. For liver failure patients treated with cTPEc, close clinical observation and monitoring ionized calcium are necessary to ensure the patients' safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eukaryotic organisms adapt to environmental fluctuations by altering their epigenomic landscapes and transcriptional programs. Nucleosomal histones carry vital epigenetic information and regulate gene expression, yet the mechanisms underlying chromatin‐bound histone exchange remain elusive. Here, we found that histone H2Bs are globally degraded in Caenorhabditis elegans during starvation. Our genetic screens identified mutations in ubiquitin and ubiquitin‐related enzymes that block H2B degradation in starved animals, identifying lysine 31 as the crucial residue for chromatin‐bound H2B ubiquitination and elimination. Retention of aberrant nucleosomal H2B increased the association of the FOXO transcription factor DAF‐16 with chromatin, generating an ectopic gene expression profile detrimental to animal viability when insulin/IGF signaling was reduced in well‐fed animals. Furthermore, we show that the ubiquitin‐proteasome system regulates chromosomal histone turnover in human cells. During larval development, C. elegans epidermal cells undergo H2B turnover after fusing with the epithelial syncytium. Thus, histone degradation may be a widespread mechanism governing dynamic changes of the epigenome. Synopsis: The exchange of histones and their variants within nucleosomes plays a crucial role in modulating the epigenome and gene expression. This study shows that ubiquitin‐dependent histone H2B exchange and degradation are crucial in determining C. elegans diapause by regulating the transcriptional activity of DAF‐16/FoxO.Histone H2B undergoes global exchange and degradation during development and starvation in C. elegans.The components of the ubiquitin‐proteasome system (UPS), including ubiquitin/UBQ‐1, E1/UBA‐1, E2/UBC‐20, and E3/HECD‐1, regulate H2B exchange and degradation by ubiquitinating H2B at lysine 31.Disruption of H2B exchange and degradation enhances the binding of DAF‐16/FoxO to chromatin, resulting in aberrant activation or suppression of target genes, and ultimately leading to larval death.Ubiquitin‐dependent histone H2B exchange and degradation are conserved in mammalian cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection continues to be a major public health issue worldwide. HBsAg loss is associated with functional remission and improved long‐term outcome, and is considered to be a 'functional cure' (also referred to as clinical or immunologic cure) for chronic hepatitis B. This ideal goal of therapy can be achieved using optimized combination regimens with direct‐acting antivirals [eg nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs)] and immunomodulators [eg pegylated interferon alpha2a (Peg‐IFN)] in selected patients with chronic hepatitis B. Among different combination therapies currently available, those with NA lead‐in followed by Peg‐IFN in virally suppressed patients has been demonstrated to be effective. This review provides an updated overview of the evidence supporting the use of combination therapies and summarizes expert consensus on the roadmap to attain functional cure for chronic hepatitis B patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of bone marrow metagenomics next-generation sequencing to differential diagnosis among visceral leishmaniasis, histoplasmosis, and talaromycosis marneffei. It mentions that the gold standards for the diagnosis of these diseases are still direct microscopic examination and culture, microscopic examination relies on physician experience and subjective judgment, and rapid metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) offers an objective tool for diagnosis.

In this paper, the effects of inner diameters on the Z-pinch plasma of capillary discharge soft x-ray laser were investigated with the 3.2 mm and 4.0 mm inner diameter alumina capillaries. The intensities of the laser emitted from the 3.2 mm and 4.0 mm inner diameter alumina capillaries were measured under different initial pressures. To understand the underlying physics of the experimental measurements, the Z-pinch plasma simulations had been conducted with a one-dimensional cylindrical symmetry Lagrangian magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) code. The parametric studies of Z-pinch plasma, such as the electron temperature, the electron density and the Ne-like Ar ion density, were performed with the MHD code. With the experimental and the simulated results, the discussions had been conducted on the Z-pinch plasma of Ne-like Ar 46.9 nm laser with the 3.2 mm and 4.0 mm inner diameter alumina capillaries. The analysis had been made on the difference of the gain coefficients under the optimum pressures with both capillaries. Then, the effects of inner diameters on the optimum pressure and the pressure domain were analyzed. (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C(14)H(11)NO(2)·0.33H(2)O, contains three 3-hydr-oxy-3-phenyl-isoindolin-1-one (HPIO) mol-ecules and one water mol-ecule. The three independent HPIO mol-ecules differ in the orientations of hydr-oxy and phenyl groups substituted at the 3-position with respect to the planar [r.m.s. deviations of 0.0173, 0.0170 and 0.0102 Å] dihydro-isoindolin-1-one ring system. In the crystal structure, mol-ecules are linked into a three-dimensional network by O-H⋯O, N-H⋯O and C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

GMP reductase 2 from human has been expressed in Escherichia coli, purified and crystallized. The crystals belong to space group P3(2)21, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 110.6, c = 209.8 A, alpha = beta = 90, gamma = 120 degrees. Diffraction data were collected to 3.0 A with a completeness of 100% (100% for the last shell), an R(merge) value of 0.089 (0.189) and an I/sigma(I) value of 7.3 (3.2).