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Liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy is a very complex and well-regulated procedure. It utilizes all liver cell types, which are associated with signaling pathways involving growth factors, cytokines, and stimulatory and inhibitory feedback of several growth-related signals. Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) contribute to liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has various functions in LSECs. In this review, we summarize the relationship between VEGF and LSECs involving VEGF regulatory activity in the vascular endothelium.Maintenance of the fenestrated LSEC phenotype requires two VEGF pathways: VEGF stimulated-NO acting through the cGMP pathway and VEGF independent of nitric oxide (NO). The results suggest that VEGF is a key regenerating mediator of LSECs in the partial hepatectomy model. NO-independent pathway was also essential to the maintenance of the LSEC in liver regeneration.Liver regeneration remains a fascinating and significative research field in recent years. The liver involved of molecular pathways except for LSEC-VEGF pathways that make the field of liver further depth studies should be put into effect to elaborate the undetermined confusions, which will be better to understand liver regeneration.

Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) is a serious complication and results in prolonged hospitalization and high mortality. The present study aimed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of total closure of pancreatic section for end-to-side pancreaticojejunostomy in pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD).This was a prospective randomized clinical trial comparing the outcomes of PD between patients who underwent total closure of pancreatic section for end-to-side pancreaticojejunostomy (Group A) vs those who underwent conventional pancreaticojejunostomy (Group B). The primary endpoint was the incidence of pancreatic fistula. Secondary endpoints were morbidity and mortality rates.One hundred twenty-three patients were included in this study. The POPF rate was significantly lower in Group A than that in Group B (4.8% vs 16.7%, P0.05). About 38.3% patients in Group B developed one or more complications; this rate was 14.3% in Group A (P0.01). The wound/abdominal infection rate was also much higher in Group B than that in Group A (20.0% vs 6.3%, P0.05). Furthermore, the average hospital stays of the two groups were 18 days in Group A, and 24 days in Group B, respectively (P0.001). However, there was no difference in the probability of mortality, biliary leakage, delayed gastric emptying, and pulmonary infection between the two groups.Total closure of pancreatic section for end-to-side pancreaticojejunostomy is a safe and effective method for pancreaticojejunostomy in PD.

Liver fibrosis is the result of a sustained wound healing response to sustained chronic liver injury, which includes viral, alcoholic and autoimmune hepatitis. Hepatic regeneration is the dominant outcome of liver damage. The outcomes of successful repair are the replacement of dead epithelial cells with healthy epithelial cells, and reconstruction of the normal hepatic structure and function. Prevention of the development of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) may control and even reverse liver fibrosis. EMT is a critical process for an epithelial cell to undergo a conversion to a mesenchymal phenotype, and is believed to be an inflammation-induced response, which may have a central role in liver fibrosis. The origin of fibrogenic cells in liver fibrosis remains controversial. Numerous studies have investigated the origin of all fibrogenic cells within the liver and the mechanism of the signaling pathways that lead to the activation of EMT programs during numerous chronic liver diseases. The present study aimed to summarize the evidence to explain the possible role of EMT in liver fibrosis.

Coal-bed methane (CBM) is a new clean energy. Because of the limitation of treating technologies, most of the oxygen-bearing coal-bed methane is not used efficiently and is evacuated immediately, which causes waste of resources and severe pollution of the environment. In order to use oxygen-bearing coal-bed methane efficiently, in this paper, a new liquefaction and distillation process has been proposed. However, the existing research shows that there may be an explosion hazard in the liquefaction and distillation process. Therefore, the formulas of the methane explosion limit proposed by Li et al., which are appropriate for low temperature conditions, are adopted to analyze the security of the process. Then, in order to guarantee the security of the process, nitrogen as a dilutant is added to the distillation column to reduce the oxygen content. At the same time, the flow rate and the inlet location of nitrogen are optimized. Research results indicate that this process can remove nitrogen and oxygen thoroughly. The purity of the LNG product can reach up to 99.91%, the recovery rate of methane is 97.21%, and the energy consumption per unit of LNG production is 0.94 kW h m−3. In the stages of compression, liquefaction and cold energy recovery, no explosion hazard exists. However, an explosion hazard may occur at the top of the distillation column. When a nitrogen flow rate of 50 000 N m3 h−1 is added from the 7th plate of the distillation column, the mole fraction of oxygen in the whole column is less than 8% which is the minimum oxygen concentration. The product purity is 99.87% and the methane recovery rate is 91.35%. However, the energy consumption per unit of LNG production can increase by 38% at the same time.

A 40-year-old man presented with a 3-year duration of intermittent upper abdominal pain. Gastroscopy and endoscopic ultrasonography revealed a tumor in the bottom of the stomach with a homogenous low echogenicity that originated from the gastric serosa. An abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scan showed that a well-marginated ovoid mass was obviously enhanced homogenously in the arterial period and weakened slightly in the venous period. The diagnosis of a gastric stromal tumor was made. Laparoscopic resection of the gastric tumor was subsequently performed. Surprisingly, postoperative pathological examination of the mass showed the typical structure of a normal splenic tissue. To our knowledge, ectopic splenic tissue originating from the gastric serosa is reported for the first time, showing important clinical significance for the identification of gastric malignant tumors.

BACKGROUND The role of physical activity in preventing gallstone disease independent of its effect on the body weight has not been well established. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort and case-control studies to analyze this potential association. METHODS We searched PubMed and EMBASE to identify all published studies in English through April 2016. We pooled the relative risks (RRs) or odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from individual studies using a random-effects model to investigate associations between physical activity and the risk of gallstone disease. RESULTS A total of 16 studies comprising 19 independent reports of approximately 260,000 participants met the inclusion criteria, including 6 case-control studies and 13 cohort studies. In a pooled analysis of cohort studies, physical activity (in a comparison of the highest-level and the lowest-level groups) was associated with a reduced risk of gallstone disease (RR=0.85; 95% CI, 0.78-0.92; I=79.5%). For men, the RR was 0.76 (95% CI, 0.60-0.97), and for women, the RR was similar (RR=0.77; 95% CI, 0.66-0.91). In a dose-response analysis, the RR of gallstone disease was 0.87 (95% CI, 0.83-0.92; I=1.0%) per 20 metabolic equivalent-hours of recreational physical per week. In comparison, case-control studies yielded a stronger significant risk reduction for gallstone disease (OR=0.64; 95% CI, 0.46-0.90; I=76.6%). CONCLUSIONS This study suggests an inverse association between physical activity and gallstone disease in both men and women; however, these findings should be interpreted cautiously because of study heterogeneity.