Hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) could occur when patients get decompensated liver cirrhosis. Meanwhile, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection raises the risk of mortality of the end-stage liver diseases. As the artificial liver support system (ALSS) has been applied in liver failure, whether ALSS could benefit HBV-derived HRS remains uncertain. We retrospectively enlisted eligible HRS patients and compared the baseline characteristics and prognosis between HBV-derived HRS and non-HBV-derived HRS. Furthermore, propensity score matching (PSM) and Cox regression analyses were used to assess the beneficial effect of ALSS on HBV-derived HRS. In addition, a stratified analysis was carried out according to the degree of acute kidney injury (AKI) and the number of organ failures to observe in which populations ALSS can obtain the most excellent therapeutic effect. 669 patients were diagnosed as HRS, including 298 HBV negative and 371 HBV positive. Baseline characteristics were different between patients with HBV positive and HBV negative. HBV-derived HRS has higher 28-day mortality, though without a statistical difference. After PSM, 50 patients treated with ALSS and 150 patients treated with standard medical treatment (SMT) constituted a new cohort for the following analysis. We found that ALSS could significantly benefit HRS patients ( P = 0.025 ). Moreover, the median survival time of patients treated with ALSS was longer than those treated with SMT. INR, neutrophil percentage, and treatment with ALSS were independent predictive factors for short-term mortality in HBV-derived HRS. The stratified analysis showed that ALSS could reduce the 28-day mortality of patients with HBV-derived HRS, especially those in AKI stage 3 and with organ failure ≥ 2 . Additionally, serum bilirubin was significantly lower after ALSS, and the alteration of INR and creatinine were independent predictive elements for the mortality of HBV-derived HRS. HBV-derived HRS is more severe than non-HBV-derived HRS and has a worse prognosis. ALSS could reduce the short-term mortality of patients with HBV-derived HRS, especially those in AKI stage 3 and with organ failure ≥ 2 . INR and the change of creatinine and INR could predict the prognosis of HBV-derived HRS. ChiCTR2200060123.

This paper introduced the related concepts and evaluation tools of perceived control，and summarized the influencing factors and intervention measures of the perceived control of maintenance hemodialysis patients in young and middle⁃aged adults.It also put forward suggestions on the study of perceived control in maintenance hemodialysis patients，in order to provide reference for medical staff to carry out related psychological nursing.

The current study aims to explore the phenotype and genotype of a novel mutation (Ser951LeufsTer8) of F5 gene combined with polymorphism (R485K) in a family of hereditary coagulation factor V deficiency. The factor V activity and antigen were tested with clotting assay and ELISA. The F5 gene was amplified by PCR with direct sequencing and TA-clone-sequenced. The protein structure and harmfulness of the mutation were studied by Swiss-PdbViewer and bioinformatics software. The prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time of proband were significantly prolonged, factor V activity and factor V antigen both were reduced to less than 20%. Sequencing analysis detected proband with Ser951LeufsTer8 and R485K (Arg513Lys), four family members with novel mutation and their factor V activity and factor V antigen were all decreased about 50%. The Ser951LeufsTer8 is associated with decrease in the factor V level of the family, and it is the first mutation report in the position (Ser951LeufsTer8) with factor V deficiency.

Since December 2019, an increasing number of cases associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) have emerged in Wuhan, China, which has resulted in a rapid outbreak in China and worldwide. The present study aimed to describe the clinical, laboratory and radiological characteristics of 2019-nCoV pneumonia (NCP) in Zhejiang province, outside of Wuhan. A total of 74 patients with 2019-nCoV were continuously enrolled between January 22 and March 2, 2020 at Zhejiang Hospital. Diagnosis was confirmed at Zhejiang Hospital by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR), which was approved by the Chinese government. Subsequently, the clinical features between positive- and negative-NCP patients in Zhejiang were compared. Among the 74 hospitalized patients with suspected 2019-NCP, six patients (one male and five female patients) were confirmed to be infected with 2019-nCoV by RT-PCR. The average age of the confirmed patients was 40 +/- 13 years. There were three family clusters among the confirmed cases, one patient from each of these families had travel history or contact with patients from Wuhan within 2 weeks. Compared with non-NCP patients, the most common symptoms at onset for patients with NCP were fever (5/6; 83.3%) and cough (5/6; 83.3%), followed by dyspnea/pharyngalgia (2/6; 33.3%), whereas myalgia (1/6; 16.7%) and fatigue (1/6; 16.7%) were less common. All 74 patients with suspected NCP exhibited abnormal computerized tomography (CT) images. In total, 2/6 (33.3%) patients with confirmed NCP presented with bilateral pneumonia, and 21/68 (30.9%) non-NCP patients exhibited bilateral pneumonia, with bilateral distribution of patchy shadows or ground glass opacity. The present study revealed that epidemiological history was critical to the diagnosis of 2019-nCoV in low epidemic regions outside Hubei province. It was also identified that chest CT could not replace nucleic acid testing due to similar radiological manifestations.

BACKGROUND:The safety of nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) treatment cessation remains one of the most controversial topics in the management of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. This study investigated the efficiency of 48-week pegylated-interferon (peg-IFN) alfa-2a consolidation therapy on viral relapse after discontinued NA treatment in CHB patients who achieved hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion for > 1 year. METHODS:NA-treated HBeAg-positive patients who achieved the standard of discontinued NA treatment (i.e. time of HBeAg seroconversion > 1 year) were randomly assigned to receive peg-IFN consolidation (n = 24) treatment or continue original NA therapy (n = 24) for 48 weeks. The treatments were then discontinued, and the patients were observed up to 144 weeks. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients with viral relapse at week 144 among those who received at least one dose of study drug or had at least one study visit [modified intention-to-treat population (mITT)]. RESULTS:Of the 24 patients who received peg-IFN treatment, 6 (25%) experienced viral relapse and 8 (36.3%) showed HBsAg loss during 96 weeks of treatment-free follow-up. Of the patients who underwent NA consolidation treatment, only 1 (4.3%) of 23 patients showed HBsAg loss and 14 (58.3%) of 24 patients experienced viral relapse during follow-up. HBsAg level decline < 0.25 log10 IU/mL at week 96 was significantly associated with viral relapse. CONCLUSION:A 48-week peg-IFN alfa-2a consolidation therapy increased the rate of HBsAg loss and sustained viral replication suppression in HBeAg-positive patients who achieved HBeAg seroconversion for > 1 year after NA treatment discontinuation.

Fatigue is an important clinical finding in patients with chronic hepatitis virus infection. However, studies assessing fatigue in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) are very limited. This study aimed to quantify the severity of fatigue in patients with CHB, to determine whether perceived fatigue reflects impairment of functional ability, and to explore potential causes. A total of 133 patients with histologically proven CHB and 59 community controls were assessed using the fatigue impact scale (FIS). The degree of fatigue was significantly higher in patients with CHB than in controls (mean (range) FIS 24.9 (0–91) vs. 15.7 (0–31), p < 0.001). Fatigue experienced by patients with CHB was similar to that in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) (n = 20) (FIS 22.2 vs. 20.9, p = 0.28). No association was found between FIS and biochemistry and histological parameters of liver disease severity. Significant associations were found between fatigue severity and cognitive impairment (r = 0.39, p < 0.001), daytime somnolence (r = 0.32, p < 0.001), scores of the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (r = − 0.31, p < 0.001), and autonomic symptoms (r = 0.43, p < 0.001). The level of autonomic symptom was the only factor independently associated with the degree of fatigue. Fatigue is a significant problem of functional ability impairment in CHB and similar in degree to that in PBC patients. Fatigue in patients with CHB appears to be unrelated to the severity of liver disease but is associated with significant autonomic symptoms.

Background: Interest is growing in the use of non-invasive techniques for complementing liver biopsy for liver fibrosis assessment.We aimed to prospectively evaluate liver histology in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with e-antigen positivity, and develop and validate a novel scoring system-e-antigen-positive CHB liver fibrosis (EPLF) score-for noninvasively predicting the fibrosis stages.Methods: We identified the baseline variables associated with fibrosis stage (MATAVIR score, F0-F4) in 212 CHB patients with e-antigen positivity.These significant variables were used to develop the EPLF scoring system.The EPLF score equation was developed based on the prediction of fibrosis stages via multivariate ordered logistic regression analysis.The diagnostic powers of the EPLF score and several non-invasive markers were assessed through an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) analyses.This EPLF score model was validated in another set of 208 similar patients.Results: The natural logarithms of serum albumin, HBeAg, and HBsAg levels were selected as significant independent variables for the EPLF score equation.The EPLF score had good diagnostic power (AUROC, 0.72-0.90,p<0.001) and good diagnostic accuracy (72-85%), with a high positive predictive value (80.8-92.8%)for each fibrosis stage in the test group.Similar results were observed in the validation group (AUROC, 0.73-0.89,p<0.001).The EPLF score exhibited a strong correlation with fibrosis stage (r=0.67,p<0.001), and was the preferable non-invasive marker for staging liver fibrosis.Conclusion: In e-antigen-positive patients with CHB, the EPLF score could serve as a potential non-invasive marker of liver fibrosis stage.

Background and aim. Quantitative digital imaging analysis to evaluate liver fibrosis is accurate, but its clinical use is limited by its high cost and lack of standardization. We aimed to validate an inexpensive digital imaging analysis technique for fibrosis quantification in chronic hepatitis B patients. Material and methods. In total, 142 chronic hepatitis B patients who underwent liver biopsy and analysis of serum fibrosis markers were included. Images of Sirius red stain sections were captured and processed using Adobe Photoshop CS3 software. The percentage of fibrosis (fibrosis index) was determined by the ratio of the fibrosis area to the total sample area, expressed in pixels, and calculated automatically. Results. A strong correlation between the fibrosis index and the Ishak, Metavir, and Laennec histological staging systems were observed (r = 0.83, 0.86, and 0.84, respectively; p < 0.001). The cutoff value associated with cirrhosis was 7.7% with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.95 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92-0.99, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the fibrosis index yielded a cutoff value of 8.9% (AUROC, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.66-0.86), 12% (AUROC, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.75-0.93), and 14% (AUROC, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.92-1.0) for the diagnosis of cirrhosis 4a, 4b, and 4c, respectively. No serum markers or fibrosis models were correlated with the fibrosis index in Metavir F2-F4. Conclusions. The present digital imaging analysis technique is reproducible and available worldwide, allowing its use in clinical practice, and can be considered as a complementary tool to traditional histological methods.

Background/Aim: We aimed to evaluate the histopathologic characteristics of HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B patients with low hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels (<2000 IU/mL) and persistently normal ALT levels and to determine indicators of significant liver disease. Methods: We examined 102 consecutive subjects who underwent percutaneous liver biopsy. Significant predictors of liver disease (stage ≥2 fibrosis or stage 1 fibrosis plus grade ≥2 inflammation), including demographic, clinical, and laboratory variables, were evaluated by means of univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: Among the patients, 75.5% (77/102) had grade 0-1 inflammation and 77.5% (79/102) had stage 0-1 fibrosis. However, 38.2% (39/102) had significant liver disease. There were no statistically significant differences in clinical parameters such as age, biochemical profile, HBV DNA levels, HBsAg levels, and platelet count between patients with significant and those with nonsignificant liver disease. Patients with significant liver disease had higher values of aspartate transferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) and FIB-4 index compared with those with nonsignificant liver disease (0.35±0.21 vs. 0.27±0.12, P=0.02; 1.58±0.97 vs. 1.13±0.54, P=0.009, respectively). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve of APRI for identifying active liver histology was 0.64 (95% CI, 0.53-0.75; P=0.019); the cutoff value was 0.24 with a sensitivity of 74% and specificity of 55%. In comparison, FIB-4 had equal power (the AUROC was 0.66) in predicting active liver histology. Conclusion: Among patients presenting with low HBV DNA levels and normal ALT levels, about 38.2% had significant liver disease. Neither serum HBsAg nor HBV DNA levels correlate with liver histology. However, APRI≥0.24 might be considered an indicator of liver biopsy.

Background:Prediction of the species of pathogen among patients with sepsis within hours would be helpful in accelerating proper treatment. As a potential method of shortening the time to identification, this study considered the usefulness of measuring procalcitonin (PCT) to predict blood culture (BC) results. Methods:The authors retrospectively analyzed the data of patients with a diagnosis of sepsis in their hospital from December 2012 to December 2013. The authors analyzed all diagnostic episodes consisting of BC and PCT concentration. The diagnostic performance of PCT to predict gram-negative bacteremia was tested using a receiver operative characteristic curve. Logistic regression was constructed using the presence of gram-negative bacteria as the dependent variable. Results:A total of 262 diagnostic episodes met the inclusion criteria. According to BC classifications, a significantly higher value of PCT was observed in bloodstream infections caused by gram-negative bacteria (26.7 ng/mL, 0.09–188.3) than that in bloodstream infections caused by gram-positive bacteria (0.84 ng/mL, 0.05–18.79) or Candida spp. (1.12 ng/mL, 0.07–49.68). A cutoff value of ≥3.39 ng/mL for PCT showed a sensitivity of 80%, a specificity of 71%, a positive predictive value of 35%, a negative predictive value of 91% and an area under the curve of 0.73 for gram-negative bacteremia identification by BC. Among the 122 diagnostic episodes with positive BC results, a cutoff value of ≥6.47 ng/mL for PCT yielded a sensitivity of 74%, a specificity of 81%, a positive predictive value of 82%, a negative predictive value of 75% and an area under the curve of 0.81 for gram-negative bacteremia identification. Conclusions:PCT may represent a useful tool for differentiating gram-positive from gram-negative bloodstream infection with a significantly higher PCT level indicating gram-negative bacteremia.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) levels and liver histology in HBeAg-positive patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (CHB) infection.

SummarySignificant liver disease has been reported in chronic hepatitis B patients with normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Liver biopsy (LB) is the current gold standard for assessing hepatic inflammation and fibrosis in patients with chronic HBV. However, associated risks have led to the development of noninvasive models. Their utility in patients with normal ALT is unknown. FIB‐4 and aspartate aminotransferase (AST)‐to‐platelet ratio index (APRI) were calculated for patients with chronic HBV infection undergoing biopsy. The performance of each model and AUROC for predicting significant fibrosis (Scheuer's score ≥ S2) were determined for the entire cohort and stratified by elevated (≥50 U/L) and normal ALT. Two‐hundred and thirty‐one liver biopsies were included. The number of patient with normal ALT was 140, and 22.1% had significant fibrosis. The AUROC curve for patients with normal ALT was 0.81 for FIB‐4 and 0.80 for APRI, compared with 0.71 for FIB‐4 and 0.72 for APRI for those with mildly elevated ALT level. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of FIB‐4 were 0.63, 0.88, 0.61 and 0.93, for patients with normal ALT; the values for APRI were 0.40, 0.88, 0.33 and 0.93. Both FIB‐4 and APRI are useful for identification of those without significant fibrosis. However, because they have poor PPV, LB will continue to be used for assessment of HBV‐infected patients with normal ALT and mildly elevated ALT.

Liver disease can develop in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with normal or mildly elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) who seldom undergo liver biopsy. We aimed to determine histologic characteristics of a large cohort of Chinese CHB patients undergoing liver biopsy and to evaluate the utility of ALT and HBV DNA values at the time of biopsy in predicting liver disease in this population. This prospective study enrolled 230 treatment-naïve patients with persistently normal or mildly elevated ALT. All patients had a liver biopsy. ALT, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and HBV DNA levels were some of the other parameters measured. Using Scheuer's classification, significant histology was defined as stage ≧2 fibrosis and/or stage 1 fibrosis plus≧ grade 2 inflammation. Liver disease was observed in 34.4% and 61.8% of patients with normal ALT and mildly elevated ALT, respectively. Patients with mildly elevated ALT levels had significantly more events, including liver disease, elevated AST, and moderate to severe inflammation and liver fibrosis, than patients with normal ALT (all P≤0.005). A total of 107 patients (46.5%) had liver disease and 123 (53.5%) did not. PLT and ALT were significantly associated with liver disease (both P<0.001). Patients with elevated ALT, lower platelet count and HBV DNA < 7 log10copies/mL may have histologically significant changes associated with liver disease. Multivariate analysis showed that PLT and HBV DNA levels were significantly associated with liver disease in patients with normal ALT while gender and HBV DNA levels were significantly associated with liver disease in patients with mildly elevated ALT. Assessing liver damage via biopsy in patients with normal or mildly elevated ALT may help to identify those who would benefit from antiviral therapy.