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When viewing omnidirectional images (ODIs), viewers can access different viewports via head movement (HM), which sequentially forms head trajectories in spatial-temporal domain. Thus, head trajectories play a key role in modeling human attention on ODIs. In this paper, we establish a large-scale dataset collecting 21,600 head trajectories on 1,080 ODIs. By mining our dataset, we find two important factors influencing head trajectories, i.e., temporal dependency and subject-specific variance. Accordingly, we propose a novel approach integrating hierarchical Bayesian inference into long short-term memory (LSTM) network for head trajectory prediction on ODIs, which is called HiBayes-LSTM. In HiBayes-LSTM, we develop a mechanism of Future Intention Estimation (FIE), which captures the temporal correlations from previous, current and estimated future information, for predicting viewport transition. Additionally, a training scheme called Hierarchical Bayesian inference (HBI) is developed for modeling inter-subject uncertainty in HiBayes-LSTM. For HBI, we introduce a joint Gaussian distribution in a hierarchy, to approximate the posterior distribution over network weights. By sampling subject-specific weights from the approximated posterior distribution, our HiBayes-LSTM approach can yield diverse viewport transition among different subjects and obtain multiple head trajectories. Extensive experiments validate that our HiBayes-LSTM approach significantly outperforms 9 state-of-the-art approaches for trajectory prediction on ODIs, and then it is successfully applied to predict saliency on ODIs.

Background. Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a clinical syndrome characterized by acute deterioration of liver function and high short-term mortality. Clusterin, with biological functions similar to small heat shock proteins, can protect cells from apoptosis induced by various stressors. The aim of this study was to detect the level of serum clusterin in hepatitis B virus- (HBV-) related ACLF and to assess the predictive value of clusterin for the short-term prognosis of HBV-ACLF. Methods. We detected serum clusterin by ELISA in 108 HBV-ACLF patients, 63 HBV-non-ACLF patients, and 44 normal controls. Results. Serum clusterin was markedly lower in HBV-ACLF patients (median, 51.09 μg/mL) than in HBV-non-ACLF patients (median, 188.56 μg/mL) and normal controls (median, 213.45 μg/mL; allP<0.05). Nonsurviving HBV-ACLF patients who died within 90 days had much lower clusterin levels than did surviving patients, especially those who died within 28 days (nonsurvival group vs. survival group:39.82±19.34vs.72.26±43.52,P<0.001; survivaltime≤28vs. survivaltime>28: median 28.39 vs. 43.22,P=0.013). The results showed that for identifying HBV-ACLF, the sensitivity of clusterin (93.7%) was similar to the sensitivities of the international normalized ratio (INR; 94.4%) and total bilirubin (TBIL; 94.8%), but its specificity (90.7%) was higher than that of prothrombin activity (PTA; 65.8%) and TBIL (69.8%) and was similar to INR (88.9%). As the concentration of clusterin increased, the mortality of HBV-ACLF patients decreased significantly from 59.3% to 7.0%. Clusterin had better ability for predicting the prognosis of HBV-ACLF patients than did the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score and the chronic liver failure consortium (CLIF-C) ACLF score (MELD vs. clusterin:P=0.012; CLIF-C ACLF vs. clusterin:P=0.031). Conclusion. Serum clusterin is a potential biomarker for HBV-ACLF which can be used to assess clinical severity and the short-term prognosis of patients with this disease and may help clinicians identify HBV-ACLF with greater specificity and improved prognostic accuracy than existing prognostic markers.

Background. To compare the efficacies of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) (TACE + RFA) and TACE alone in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and macrovascular invasion (MVI). Methods. In total, 664 patients having HCC with MVI were included. Of these patients, 141 were treated with TACE + RFA, 254 with TACE alone, and 269 with supportive therapy (control group). The overall survival (OS) was compared among these groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed for balancing the characteristics of the three groups. Results. After one-to-one PSM, the 12-month OS rates were higher in the TACE and TACE + RFA groups than in the control group (p=0.0009 and p=0.0017, respectively). Furthermore, higher 12-month OS rates were observed in the TACE + RFA group than in the TACE group (p=0.0192). The 12-month OS rates of patients were remarkably higher in α-fetoprotein (AFP) p=0.0122, p=0.0090, p=0112, and p=0.0071, respectively). Conclusions. TACE + RFA provides a superior survival outcome than TACE alone in HCC patients, especially in AFP

Background The current definitions and etiologies of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) are clearly very different between East and West. Aims This study aimed to develop an effective prognostic nomogram for acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure (ACHBLF) as defined by the Asia Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL). Methods The nomogram was based on a retrospective study of 573 patients with ACHBLF, defined according to the APASL, at the Beijing Ditan Hospital. The results were validated using a bootstrapped approach to correct for bias in two external cohorts, including an APASL ACHBLF cohort (10 hospitals, N = 329) and an EASL-CLIF ACHBLF cohort (Renji Hospital, N = 300). Results Multivariate analysis of the derivation cohort for survival analysis helped identify the independent factors as age, total bilirubin, albumin, international normalized ratio, and hepatic encephalopathy, which were included in the nomogram. The predictive value of nomogram was the strongest compared with CLIF-C ACLF, MELD and MELD-Na and similar to COSSH-ACLF in both the derivation and prospective validation cohorts with APASL ACHBLF, but the CLIF-C ACLF was better in the EASL-CLIF ACHBLF cohort. Conclusions The proposed nomogram could accurately estimate individualized risk for the short-term mortality of patients with ACHBLF as defined by APASL.

IntroductionOvarian cancer (OC) is the malignant tumor with the highest mortality among gynecological cancers. Chemotherapy resistance is a major obstacle to OC therapy. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) play crucial roles in cancer development and chemoresistance. However, the role and potential mechanism of has-circ-001567 (circ-VPS13C) in chemoresistance of OC remain unknown.Material and methodsThe levels of circ-VPS13C, miR-106b-5p and 14-3-3 zeta (YWHAZ) were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) or western blot assay. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was used to assess cell viability and calculate the half inhibition concentration (IC50) of cisplatin (DDP). The levels of autophagy-related markers were measured by western blot assay. Cell apoptosis and migration were evaluated by flow cytometry and transwell assay, respectively. The binding relationship between miR-106b-5p and circ-VPS13C or YWHAZ was confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Xenograft assay was performed to explore the role of circ-VPS13C in vivo.ResultsCirc-VPS13C and YWHAZ were up-regulated, while miR-106b-5p was down-regulated in DDP-resistant OC tissues and cells. Knockdown of circ-VPS13C enhanced DDP sensitivity by repressing autophagy in DDP-resistant cells. Circ-VPS13C increased DDP resistance via sponging miR-106b-5p. Moreover, miR-106b-5p directly targeted YWHAZ. Up-regulation of YWHAZ alleviated the decrease in DDP resistance caused by circ-VPS13C depletion. In addition, circ-VPS13C silencing decreased DDP resistance in vivo.ConclusionsCirc-VPS13C knockdown enhanced DDP sensitivity of OC through modulation of autophagy via the miR-106b-5p/YWHAZ axis, providing a new biomarker for improving the efficacy of OC chemotherapy.

Diabetic coronary heart disease (DM-CHD) poses a major threat to the world. The newly described T cell subset-Th9 cells and related cytokine interleukin (IL)-9 play important roles in the pathogenesis of diabetes and atherosclerosis. B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein 1 (Blimp-1) has been indicated to negatively regulate Th9 development in allergic asthma, but its role in DM-CHD remains unclear. Hence, this study was designed to investigate the role of Blimp-1 in DM-CHD and to elucidate whether the mechanism was associated with regulation of Th9 cell differentiation. Our results showed that serum Blimp-1 mRNA level was decreased whereas proportion of Th9 cells (IL-9+ CD4+ T cells) and serum level of Th9-related IL-9 were increased in DM-CHD patients. Furthermore, serum Blimp-1 mRNA level was negatively correlated with IL-9 level in DM-CHD patients. Importantly, administration of lentiviruses expressing Blimp-1 (LV-Blimp-1) significantly inhibited Th9 cell differentiation and alleviated the severity of atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta and coronary artery, dyslipidemia, inflammation, vascular endothelial dysfunction, and oxidative stress in DM-CHD model rats. Collectively, Blimp-1 exerts a protective effect in DM-CHD rats and the mechanism might involve inhibition of Th9 cell differentiation.

This study aimed to observe the effects of Selenium (Se) on aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-induced uterine injury in female mice and necrosis of human endometrial microvascular endothelial cells (HEMECs). Fifty female mice were randomly divided into control group; AFB1 group; Se group (0.2 mg/kg each day); AFB1 + Se group; and positive control group. After continuous treatment for 30 days, uterine tissues were harvested, which were used for hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. Necrosis-related proteins including RIPK1, RIPK3, and MLKL were examined in uterine tissues using western blot and immunohistochemistry. HEMECs were treated with different concentrations of AFB1 or Se, which were used for selecting the optimal concentrations. RIPK1, RIPK3 and MLKL expression was detected in HEMECs exposed to AFB1 and/or Se via western blot and immunofluorescence. H&E staining results showed that AFB1 induced uterine injury of female male, which was ameliorated by Se treatment. According to western blot and immunohistochemistry, RIPK1, RIPK3, and MLKL expression was distinctly increased in uterine tissues of AFB1-treated mice, which was decreased by Se treatment. Cell viability of HEMECs was gradually lowered as the concentrations of AFB1and Se increased. A 10-μM AFB1 exposure significantly increased RIPK1, RIPK3, and MLKL expression in HEMECs, which was improved following co-treatment with 5-μM Se. Thus, our findings revealed that Se may ameliorate AFB1-induced uterine injury in female mice and necrosis of HEMECs.

Mounting evidence indicates that long non-coding RNAs influence the progression of cervical cancer, but the precise function of LINC01503 in the pathogenesis of the disease remains unknown. Here, we found higher levels of LINC01503 in cervical cancer tissues. High LINC01503 expression was associated with enhanced progression of cervical cancer as indicated by advanced FIGO stage, increased metastasis of tumor cells to lymph nodes, and invasion into deeper cervical tissues. LINC01503 inhibition markedly suppressed the invasion and proliferative ability of tumor cells. Mechanistically, LINC01503 was demonstrated to negatively modulate the expression of miR-615-3p in cervical cancer. CCND1 was found to be a target of miR-615-3p. Rescue experiments indicated that LINC01503 inhibition suppressed the invasion and proliferative ability of the tumor cells, a phenomenon that was reversed following miR-615-3p inhibition or CCND1 overexpression. Collectively, these data indicate that LINC01503 enhances the progression of cervical cancer cells via interaction with miR-615-3p/CCND1 axis.

Background Probiotic therapy has been shown to be beneficial against some liver diseases. However, there is still uncertainty regarding the clinical efficacy of probiotics for the treatment of variceal rebleeding. This research explored the efficacy of probiotics in variceal rebleeding. Material/Methods This was a retrospective study of 704 consecutive patients with liver cirrhosis who recovered from esophagogastric variceal bleeding after endoscopic treatment. Patients were subdivided into a probiotics cohort (n=214) and a non-probiotics cohort (n=490) based on the cumulative defined daily dose (cDDD) of probiotics received during follow-up. Propensity score matching was utilized to obtain a relatively balanced cohort of 200 patients per group for the analysis. Patients were monitored for rebleeding during the one-year follow-up. Results Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that probiotic therapy (≥28cDDD) was an independent protector against rebleeding (AHR=0.623; 95% CI=0.488–0.795; P90 cDDD groups, respectively; P=0.011). The median rebleeding interval in the probiotics cohort (n=95) was significantly longer than that in the non-probiotics cohort (n=261) (147.0 vs. 91.0 days; P

Background Acute decompensation (AD) has been shown to be associated with a high mortality rate for cirrhosis patients. This study aimed to develop a prognostic nomogram to evaluating the individual prognosis for AD of cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Methods The nomogram was developed using data from a retrospective study on 509 patients hospitalized for AD of CHB cirrhosis from October 2008 to February 2014 at the Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University. The predictive accuracy, discriminative ability, and clinical net benefit were evaluated by concordance index (C-index), calibration curves, and decision curve analysis (DCA). The results were validated on 620 patients consecutively enrolled from January 2005 to December 2010 at the Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University,. Results On multivariate analysis of the derivation cohort, independent factors included in the nomogram were age, previous decompensation, bacterial infection, hepatic encephalopathy, and total bilirubin. The calibration curve for the probability of survival showed good agreement between the nomogram and actual observation. The nomogram had a C-index of 0.897, which was statistically higher than the C-index values of CTP (0.793), MELD (0.821), SOFA (0.868), or the Chronic Liver Failure Consortium AD (CLIF-C AD) (0.716) scores (p

Aim: This study developed and validated a non-invasive scoring model to predict 1-year hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion in response to nucleos(t)ide analog (NA) treatment in NA-naïve patients with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Methods: Baseline data from 1014 patients visiting the outpatient and inpatient clinics of Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China between October 2008 and April 2015 were included. These patients received NAs for HBeAg-positive CHB. The patients were assigned randomly to the derivation (n = 710) and validation (n = 304) cohorts in a 7:3 ratio. A prediction scoring model was established based on univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses to identify independent prediction factors. In the derivation cohort, the odds ratio of the predictors were converted to integer risk scores by rounding the quotient from dividing the odds ratio, and the final score was the sum of these values. The predictive accuracy of the scoring model was further assessed using Harrell’s concordance index (C-index). Results: The 1-year cumulative HBeAg seroconversion rates were 11.83% and 8.55% in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively. In the derivation cohort, baseline pretreatment alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), globulin (GLO), and quantitative HBeAg (qHBeAg) levels were independently associated with HBeAg seroconversion and were included in the scoring system. The model had good discrimination in the derivation and validation cohorts (C-index = 0.750, 95% confidence interval 0.694–0.806 and C-index = 0.776, 95% confidence interval 0.698–0.855, respectively). The prediction scores ranged from 0 to 4; scores of 0–1 and 2–4 identified patients with lower and higher levels of HBeAg seroconversion, respectively. Kaplan–Meier analysis was used to determine the 1-year cumulative HBeAg seroconversion rates in the two groups (scores of 0–1 and 2–4) of the primary cohort, and log-rank tests revealed a significant difference (4.87% vs. 20.9%, p

Background. Portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT) is one of the major predictive factors for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The objective of this study was to establish a prognostic nomogram for identifying individual survival outcomes in patients with HCC and PVTT on conservative treatment based on specific factors. Methods. Two hundred and ten patients with HCC and PVTT on conservative treatment in Beijing Ditan Hospital between June 2008 and May 2017 were studied retrospectively as a derivation cohort. We built a nomogram based on independent risk factors for survival prediction. The concordance index (c-index) and a calibration curve were used to evaluate the predictive accuracy. During the study, 102 patients were included at the Putuo Hospital and Third People’s Hospital of Changzhou as a validation cohort. Results. In the derivation cohort, the independent factors for overall survival were identified by multivariate analysis, namely, aspartate aminotransferase ≥119 IU/L, gamma-glutamyl transferase ≥115 IU/L, Child–Pugh class C liver function, creatinine ≥91 μmoI/L, α-fetoprotein ≥400 ng/ml, and largest tumor diameter ≥5 cm. The nomogram had a c-index of 0.737 (95% confidence interval, 0.692–0.782) and the calibration curves fitted well. The median survival time was 4.2 months in the derivation cohort, with an MST of 5 months for BCLC C stage and 1.8 months for BCLC D stage patients. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed significant statistical differences in the 6-month overall survival rates of the primary and validation cohorts after the total scores were divided into three quartiles (low risk: 0–85; intermediate risk: 86–210; high risk: ≥211; p<0.0001 in both cohorts). Conclusions. The nomogram can be a more accurate and individualized prediction for 6-month overall survival of patients with HCC and PVTT on conservative treatment, and it is possible to consider further active interventions for patients in the low-risk group (0–85 scores) to achieve the aim of prolonging survival.

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor with limited treatment options. Conventional antitumor therapy combined with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to limit tumor progression has gradually become the focus of complementary and alternative therapies for HCC treatment. The Fuzheng Jiedu Xiaoji formulation (FZJDXJ) alleviates the clinical symptoms of patients and inhibits tumor progression, but its curative effect still requires extensive clinical research and mechanistic analysis. Purpose To explore the effectiveness of FZJDXJ in HCC patients and investigate its biological function and mechanism underlying anticancer therapy. Methods This randomized controlled clinical trial enrolled 291 HCC patients receiving transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) therapy; patients received either FZJDXJ combined with standard treatment, or standard treatment alone, for 48 weeks. Statistical analyses were performed according to survival time at the end of the trial. The main constituents of the FZJDXJ extracts were identified and evaluated using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) and molecular docking. The antitumor effects of FZJDXJ and its specific biological mechanism of action were studied. Results After 48 weeks of treatment, one-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were significantly different between the two groups. Co-administration of FZJDXJ and TACE prolonged the OS of HCC patients, especially in BCLC A or B stage. FZJDXJ and TACE treatment effectively extended the PFS of patients, especially in the BCLC B stage. HPLC-MS/MS identified 1619 active constituents of FZJDXJ, including formononetin, chlorogenic acid (CGA), caffeic acid, luteolin, gallic acid, diosgenin, ergosterol endoperoxide, and lupeol, which may function through the AKT/CyclinD1/p21/p27 pathways. Through molecular docking, CGA and gallic acid could effectively combine with Thr308, an important phosphorylation site of AKT1. FZJDXJ inhibited tumor growth in nude mice. In vitro, FZJDXJ-mediated serum inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of liver cancer cells, and promoted cell apoptosis. Conclusion Clinically, FZJDXJ combined with TACE therapy significantly prolonged OS and PFS and reduced the mortality rate of HCC patients. Mechanistically, FZJDXJ effectively inhibited the proliferation and migration of liver cancer cells through the modulation of the AKT/CyclinD1/p21/p27 pathways, and may be a promising TCM drug for anti-HCC therapy.

Behavioral Economics puts forward that the weakness of human decision-making is an important cause of the vulnerability of the poor. If the external environment of decision-making is bad, it is easy to fall into the trap of “phishing for fools” set by the economic subject, which causes economic loss or psychological burden and increases the risk of returning to poverty. This paper studies whether the low-income groups are more likely to fall into the trap of “phishing for fools” and make irrational decisions based on the fact that the excessive consumption of tobacco and alcohol is harmful to their health but the consumption is increasing year by year. Based on the data on the 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this paper Constructs Logit model, linear regression model and ordered Probit model to empirically analyze the important factors influencing the smoking and drinking behavior of rural residents. The results showed that, under the control of individual characteristics and regional living habits, income level had a significant impact on low-income groups’ alcohol and tobacco consumption behavior.

Macroscopic vascular invasion cannot be properly predicted in advance in hepatocellular carcinoma patients based on clinical characteristics and imaging features. To develop a predictive scoring model of macroscopic vascular invasion in hepatocellular carcinoma patients after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization combined with radiofrequency ablation based on specific laboratory and tumor indicators. A predictive scoring model, which estimates the incidence of macroscopic vascular invasion at 1-year follow-up, was constructed based on a derivation cohort of 324 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma; a validation cohort of 120 patients was prospectively included. The prognostic value of the scoring model was determined by concordance index, time-dependent receiver operating characteristics, and calibration curves. Cox multivariate analysis of the derivation cohort identified prothrombin time, aspartate aminotransferase, and Barcelona clinic liver cancer (BCLC) staging as independent predictive factors of macroscopic vascular invasion. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of the predictive scoring model were 0.832 and 0.785 in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively, and the calibration curves fitted well. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that the incidence of macroscopic vascular invasion was significantly higher in the high-risk group (score 0–2) than in the low-risk group (score 3–4) in both the derivation and validation cohorts (P

AIMS The biochemical response after ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) treatment contributes toward predicting the prognosis for primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) patients. This study aimed to establish a score model that can be used for predicting the biochemical response. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 218 patients in the derivation group and 66 patients in the verification group were enrolled. Response endpoints were based on the Barcelona criteria combined with the Paris I criteria. We determined independent factors of the biochemical response by univariate and multivariate analyses. Then, we established a predictive score model on the basis of regression coefficients after adjusted multivariate analyses. RESULTS The median follow-up duration in the derivation and the verification group was 12.9 and 12.2 months, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis after adjusting for sex and age indicated that First-UDCA treatment [odds ratio (OR)=2.543, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.234-5.240, P=0.011], baseline alanine aminotransferase level (OR=1.265, 95% CI: 1.089-1.471, P=0.002), and baseline total bilirubin level (OR=0.571, 95% CI: 0.420-0.776, P

Nickel oxides (NiOx) thin films were magnetron sputtered in Ar/O2 mixing gases with the relative O2 concentration varied from 4.5% to 20%. Subsequently, each NiOx film was used to fabricate an all-thin-film glass/ITO/NiOx/LiTaO3/WO3/ITO electrochromic device (ECD). All the ECDs were fabricated monolithically in a same vacuum chamber layer by layer using dc reactive sputtering for NiOx, WO3 and ITO, and radio frequency (rf) sputtering for LiTaO3. Influence of oxygen concentration upon properties of NiOx as well as their corresponding ECDs was focused on and studied through grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ultraviolet–visible spectrometry. The results show that the as-prepared nickel oxide films can be represented as NiOx with 1.10 ≤ x ≤ 1.21 when O2 concentration in sputtering gas changes. With increasing x, the preferred crystalline orientation (100) of NiOx thin films vanished, and (111) and (220) plane appeared. Owing to the poor crystalline structure in favor of ion transportation in the NiOx layer and less proportion of Ni3+, the device with NiOx film deposited at 6% O2 concentration displayed high transmittance at bleached state and subsequently an excellent transmittance modulation of more than 67%. Coloring and bleaching response time of this device was 85 s and 42 s, respectively. The results confirm that the magnetron-sputtered technical parameters proposed in this work is promising for all-thin-film ECDs with excellent electrochromic performance.

Aim The CANONIC study proposed the Chronic Liver Failure Consortium acute-on-chronic liver failure (CLIF-C ACLF) prognostic model at the European Association for the Study of the Liver-CLIF diagnosis. This study aimed to develop and validate a prognostic model for predicting the short-term mortality of hepatitis B virus (HBV) ACLF as defined by the Asia-Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver. Patients and methods A retrospective cohort of 381 HBV ACLF patients and a prospective cohort of 192 patients were included in this study. Independent predictors of disease progression were determined using univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis, and a regression model for predicting prognosis was established. Patient survival was estimated by Kaplan-Meier analysis and subsequently compared by log-rank tests. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to compare the performance of various current prognostic models. Results Our model was constructed with five independent risk factors: hepatic encephalopathy, international normalized ratio, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, age, and total bilirubin, termed as the HINAT ACLF model, which showed the strongest predictive values compared with CLIF-C ACLF, CLIF-C Organ Failure, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment, CLIF-Sequential Organ Failure Assessment, Model for End-stage Liver Disease, Model for End-stage Liver Disease-sodium, and Child-Turcotte-Pugh scores; this model reduced the corresponding prediction error rates at 28 and 90 days by 16.4-54.5% after ACLF diagnosis in both the derivation cohort and the validation cohorts. Conclusion The HINAT ACLF model can accurately predict the short-term mortality of patients with HBV ACLF as defined by Asia-Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver.

Effect of solar incidence angle was analyzed in order to accurately simulate the heat flux distribution around the absorber tube outer surface. Helical screw-tape inserts was proposed to homogenize the absorber tube temperature distribution and improve the thermal efficiency. Three dimensional periodical models of flow and heat transfer were established and solved with the heat flux of different transversal angle ( β ). The results show that β affects the flux distribution more greatly than longitudinal angle ( φ ). Transversal angle ( β ) of 11.567 mrad increases the relative change of heat loss ( Q loss ) as inlet temperature rises, and also increases the maximum temperature on absorber tube ( T max ) and the maximum circumferential temperature difference (Δ T ). But its effect reduces as Reynolds number rises. Within the range of studied Re , the helical screw-tape inserts of given geometrical parameters greatly reduce the Q loss , T max and Δ T , which indicates that helical screw-tape inserts is a feasible way to enhance the heat transfer inside the receiver.

CuAlO 2 films with different thickness were prepared by the radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique. The structural, electrical and optical properties of CuAlO 2 were studied by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscope, UV–Vis double-beam spectrophotometer and Hall measurements. The results indicate that the single phase hexagonal CuAlO 2 is formed and the average grain size of CuAlO 2 films increases with increasing film thickness. The results also exhibit that the lowering of bandgap and the increase of electrical conductivity of CuAlO 2 films with the increase of their thickness, which are attributed to the improvement of the grain size and the anisotropic electrical property. According to the electrical and optical properties, the biggest figure of merit is achieved for the CuAlO 2 film with the appropriate thickness of 165 nm.

In this study, an all-thin-film inorganic electrochromic device was monolithically fabricated on a 10 cm×8 cm flexible PET/ITO substrate by magnetron sputtering process at room temperature. The device has a complementary structure and consists of five thin films. Tungsten oxide (WO 3 ) and nickel oxide (NiO x ) act individually as complementary electrochromic layers. Lithium tantalate (LiTaO 3 ) plays the role of Li + ions conductor layer and both indium tin oxides (ITO) are adopted as inter-counter transparent conductive electrodes. The complementary device with configuration ITO/NiO x /LiTaO 3 /WO 3 /ITO has high optical modulation approximating 63% in the range from 400 to 1600 nm and shows the coloration efficiency as high as 68.5 cm 2 C −1 . In addition, the response characteristic is investigated for the electrochromic process.

ZnO:Al (ZAO) thin films have been deposited on flexible PET substrates using a plasma damage-free facing target sputtering system at room temperature. The structure, surface morphology, electrical and optical properties were investigated as a function of working power. All the samples have a highly preferred orientation of the c-axis perpendicular to the PET substrate and have a high quality surface. With increased working power, the carrier concentration changes slightly, the mobility increases at the beginning and decreases after it reaches a maximum value, in line with electrical conductivity. The figure of merit has been significantly improved with increasing of the working power. Under the optimized condition, the lowest resistivity of 1.3 × 10−3 Ω cm with a sheet resistance of 29 Ω/□ and the relative visible transmittance above 93% in the visible region were obtained.

In order to optimize and prepare high performance Mo–SiO 2 cermet solar selective absorbing coating, a series of Mo–SiO 2 cermet films with different metal volume fraction were deposited on optical glass using mid-frequency (MF) and radio frequency (RF) co-sputtering. The reflectance ( R ) and transmittance ( T ) in the wavelength range of 250–2500 nm have been simulated using SCOUT software with different dielectric function models. The optical constants, film thickness, metal volume fraction and other parameters have been deduced from the modeling. The fitted optical constants were then used to simulate and optimize the Mo–SiO 2 solar selective coating and samples were prepared based on the optimized parameters. The Maxwell Garnett (MG) and Bruggeman (BR) effective-medium theory have been added in the dielectric function models to describe low metal volume fraction cermet layer (LMVF) and high metal volume fraction cermet layer (HMVF), separately. The optical spectra ( R and T ) of all single films were in a good agreement with the fitted spectra by dielectric function models. The experimental measured reflectance of the solar selective coating was also in rather good agreement with the optimized result. The solar absorptance of theoretically optimized selective coating was 0.945, while the absorptance of the experimental coating was 0.95. The thermal emittance of 0.15 (at 400 °C) was obtained.

// Xue Yang 1 , Xieqiong Ye 1 , Le Sun 2 , Fangyuan Gao 1 , Yuxin Li 1 , Xiaomin Ji 1 , Xuejiang Wang 3, 4 , Ying Feng 1 and Xianbo Wang 1 1 Center of Integrative Medicine, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China 2 Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China 3 Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China 4 Beijing Key Laboratory for Cancer Invasion and Metastasis Research, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China Correspondence to: Xianbo Wang, email: wangxb@ccmu.edu.cn Ying Feng, email: ann_fengying@sina.com Keywords: RAB27B, PI3K/AKT, p21, cell proliferation, hepatocellular carcinoma Received: November 09, 2016 Accepted: April 25, 2017 Published: May 19, 2017 ABSTRACT Previous study revealed that elevated expression of RAB27B in tissues is correlated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression; however, the mechanisms involved in promoting HCC development are still unclear. Moreover, HCC tissues are not readily obtained during routine diagnosis. Therefore, to further explore its potential value in early diagnosis, we examined RAB27B expression in patient sera. First, the correlation between serum RAB27B expression and survival, as well as TNM and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stages, were evaluated in patients with HCC. Second, lentiviral vector plasmids carrying interference sequences and plasmids harboring the complete open reading frame of RAB27B were designed to knockdown or overexpress RAB27B in BEL7402 or HuH-7 cells to determine its biological function. Compared with healthy controls and patients with chronic hepatitis B infection, serum RAB27B was significantly increased in patients with HCC. After down-regulating expression of RAB27B, the proliferation of BEL7402 cells was remarkably inhibited both in vitro and in vivo . Additionally, activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway was significantly diminished. Moreover, cell cycle progression of the knockdown cells was notably arrested in the G1/S phase, and upregulation of p21 contributed to this effect. Restoration experiments to recover RAB27B expression revealed opposing results. These findings indicated RAB27B might regulate cell cycle through the PI3K/AKT/p21 pathway by releasing cytokines via exocytosis, thereby modulating the proliferation of HCC cells. RAB27B could potentially be a valuable serum biomarker for the early diagnosis of, and a therapeutic target in, HCC.

Aim Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) has significant morbidity and mortality. There is no standard approach for the management of HBV-related ACLF with nucleos(t)ide analogs. Our objective was to compare the short-term mortality between entecavir (ETV) and lamivudine (LAM) in patients with HBV-related ACLF. Methods We recruited 311 inpatients with HBV-related ACLF from December 2002 to January 2015. The patients were treated with ETV (n=143) or LAM (n=168). The primary endpoint was mortality rate at week 8. Virological and biochemical responses were also studied. Results By week 8, 53 (37.06%) patients in the ETV group and 57 (33.93%) patients in the LAM group died, and the two groups had similar mortality (P=0.414). Multivariate analysis showed that age, total bilirubin, international normalized ratio, and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score were independent factors for mortality at week 8. The best cut-off value of the MELD score was 24.5 for 8-week mortality. Twenty-nine of the 170 (17.06%) patients with MELD score less than 24.5 died at week 8, and the ETV and LAM groups had similar mortality (P=0.743). Eighty-one of the 141 (57.45%) patients with MELD score of at least 24.5 died at week 8 and the LAM group had lower mortality than the ETV group (P=0.018 at week 4; P=0.039 at week 8). Both groups showed similar virological and biochemical responses at 4 weeks. Conclusion LAM reduces the 8-week mortality rate significantly in patients with HBV-related ACLF who had MELD score of at least 24.5.

AIM: To establish a clinical scoring model to predict risk of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of 1457 patients hospitalized for CHB between October 2008 and October 2013 at the Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China. The patients were divided into two groups: severe acute exacerbation (SAE) group (n = 382) and non-SAE group (n = 1075). The SAE group was classified as the high-risk group based on the higher incidence of ACLF in this group than in the non-SAE group (13.6% vs 0.4%). Two-thirds of SAE patients were randomly assigned to risk-model derivation and the other one-third to model validation. Univariate risk factors associated with the outcome were entered into a multivariate logistic regression model for screening independent risk factors. Each variable was assigned an integer value based on the regression coefficients, and the final score was the sum of these values in the derivation set. Model discrimination and calibration were assessed using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test. RESULTS: The risk prediction scoring model included the following four factors: age ≥ 40 years, total bilirubin ≥ 171 μmol/L, prothrombin activity 40%-60%, and hepatitis B virus DNA > 107 copies/mL. The sum risk score ranged from 0 to 7; 0-3 identified patients with lower risk of ACLF, whereas 4-7 identified patients with higher risk. The Kaplan-Meier analysis showed the cumulative risk for ACLF and ACLF-related death in the two risk groups (0-3 and 4-7 scores) of the primary cohort over 56 d, and log-rank test revealed a significant difference (2.0% vs 33.8% and 0.8% vs 9.4%, respectively; both P < 0.0001). In the derivation and validation data sets, the model had good discrimination (C index = 0.857, 95% confidence interval: 0.800-0.913 and C index = 0.889, 95% confidence interval: 0.820-0.957, respectively) and calibration demonstrated by the Hosmer-Lemeshow test (χ2 = 4.516, P = 0.808 and χ2 = 1.959, P = 0.923, respectively). CONCLUSION: Using the scoring model, clinicians can easily identify patients (total score ≥ 4) at high risk of ACLF and ACLF-related death early during SAE.

Most of the existing researches simply convert associations of nodes within the snapshot of the evolutionary social network to the weight of edges. However, because of the obvious Matthew effect existing in the interactions of nodes in the real social network, the association strength matrices extracted directly by snapshots are extremely uneven. This paper introduces a new evolutionary social network model. Firstly, we generate probabilistic snapshots of the evolutionary social network data. Afterwards, we use the probabilistic factor model to detect the variation points brought by network events. According to experimental results, our proposed probabilistic snapshot model of evolutionary social network is effective for network events detection.

The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been shown to be associated with prognosis in various types of cancer. We evaluated pretreatment NLR as a predictor of poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and we compared the prognostic value of NLR with other prognostic scores.We retrospectively analyzed 825 patients diagnosed with HCC between October 2008 and May 2012. Baseline data, including the NLR and the Child-Pugh class or Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, were recorded before treatment. The relationships between overall survival (OS) and the study variables were assessed using univariate and multivariate analyses and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The prognostic value of NLR was assessed using a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and compared with that of the Barcelona-Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) and Tumor, Node, Metastasis (TNM) staging.The NLR, γ-glutamyltranspeptidase, α-fetoprotein ≥ 400 ng/mL, tumor number ≥ 3, tumor size ≥ 5 cm, lymph node metastasis, portal vein involvement, and Child-Pugh class were significantly associated with OS. The NLR demonstrated the strongest prognostic value (area under ROC curve = 0.811). An NLR ≥ 2.7 was a significant predictor of poor OS (P < 0.0001), and the survival period of patients with an NLR ≥ 2.7 decreased with more advanced BCLC and TNM stage.Pretreatment NLR is a useful prognostic biomarker in HCC patients. The prognostic value of NLR ≥ 2.7 is superior to that of MELD stage or Child-Pugh class, and correlates with that of BCLC and TNM staging scores.

Background The purpose of this study was to develop an effective nomogram capable of estimating the individual survival outcomes of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and compare the predictive accuracy and discriminative ability with other staging systems. Methods The nomogram was established based on a retrospective study of 661 patients newly diagnosed with HCC at the Beijing Ditan Hospital (Beijing, China), Capital Medical University, between October 2008 and July 2012. The predictive accuracy and discriminative ability of the previously developed nomogram were assessed by C-index and calibration curves, and were compared to seven current commonly used staging systems. The results were validated, using a bootstrap approach to correct for bias, in a prospective study of 220 patients consecutively enrolled between August 2012 and March 2013. Results Multivariate analysis of the primary cohort for survival analysis identified the independent factors to be aspartate aminotransferase, ɣ-glutamyl transpeptidase, white blood cell count, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, prothrombin activity, α-fetoprotein, tumor number and size, lymph node metastasis, and portal vein involvement, which were all included to build the nomogram. The calibration curve for predicting the probability of survival showed consistency between the nomogram and the actual observation. The C-index of the nomogram was 0.81 (95% confidence interval, 0.79–0.82), which was statistically better than that of the Tumor, Node, Metastasis staging (0.71), Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging (0.77), Okuda (0.62), Japan Integrated Staging (0.73), Cancer of the Liver Italian Program score (0.76), Chinese University Prognostic Index (0.68), and the Groupe d’ Etude et de Traitement du Carcinome Hepatocellulaire Prognostic classification (0.65) (p