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Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) is a common neuropsychiatric complication of liver cirrhosis. Both EncephalApp Stroop test (EncephalApp) and electronic number connection test-A (eNCT-A) are novel computerised psychometric tests for MHE screening. We aimed to compare the efficiency, convenience, accessibility, and acceptability of EncephalApp with that of eNCT-A for MHE screening in cirrhotic patients. Ninety-five patients with hepatitis B-induced liver cirrhosis were included and respectively tested by the psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score (PHES), EncephalApp, and eNCT-A. Using PHES as the gold standard for MHE diagnosis, the efficiency of EncephalApp and eNCT-A for MHE screening were respectively analysed by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and the areas under the ROC curve (AUROC) were compared. The convenience, accessibility, and acceptability of PHES, EncephalApp and eNCT-A were respectively evaluated by the 5-point Likert scale. Fifty-two (55%) of included cirrhotic patients were diagnosed with MHE. The EncephalApp had a sensitivity of 84.6%, a specificity of 74.4%, and an AUROC of 0.836. Meanwhile, the eNCT-A had a sensitivity of 78.8%, a specificity of 83.7%, and an AUROC of 0.845. No significant difference in AUROC was detected between the EncephalApp and eNCT-A (p =.453). Compared with the EncephalApp, the eNCT-A presented better convenience and higher acceptability in cirrhotic patients undergoing MHE screening (p =.019 and p <.001, respectively). As with the EncephalApp, the eNCT-A will be a potential home monitoring and point-of-care tool for cirrhotic patients at high risk of MHE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) constitutes a class of common inherited retinal dystrophies. Patients with RP and comorbid primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) have been described, but the relationship between the diseases remains unclear. This study investigated the clinical and genetic characteristics of Chinese patients with RP and comorbid PACG. Of 1356 patients with RP, we analyzed the genetic features of 39 RP patients with PACG using next-generation sequencing and reviewed their clinical characteristics. In total, 18 patients with acute PACG and 21 patients with chronic PACG were included in this study; their age at examination was 50.54 ± 12.99 years (range, 25.0–71.0 years), and their age at PACG onset was 46.04 ± 14.50 years (range, 24.9–68.0 years). Additionally, the mean lens thickness (LT) was 4.49 ± 0.44 μm, and the mean axial length (AL) was 22.63 ± 1.17 mm. Notably, the prevalence of PACG in patients with RP was 2.88%; this was higher than the prevalence in the general population. This could be explained by nanophthalmos, thickened lentis, ectopia lentis, or zonular insufficiency. Furthermore, patients with a shorter AL, a greater LT, iridociliary cysts, or nanophthalmos exhibited earlier development of PACG. Overall, 30 disease-causing variants spanning 17 genes were identified in 56.41% of the patients, and PRPH2 was the most common mutation gene. Our findings revealed that there is a strong association between RP and PACG. Furthermore, intraocular pressure (IOP) should be measured in patients with RP to protect them from the aggravated damage of an elevated IOP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charcot shoulder is occasionally seen with syringomyelia. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of brachial plexus abnormalities detected by magnetic resonance(MR) neurography in these patients. MR neurography is useful to evaluate small nerves and their disorders, and may contribute to the early diagnosis and differential diagnoses of such patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The self-heating acid-curing and normal temperature water leaching process was used to extract vanadium from vanadium-containing metallurgical waste, and the optimal process parameters and mechanism of vanadium extraction were analyzed. The research results showed that when the dosage of concentrated sulfuric acid was 70% of the raw material, the aging time was 3 h, the particle size of the raw material was −0.6 mm, the leaching liquid-solid ratio was 4:1, and the leaching time was 1.5 h, the leaching rate of vanadium in the raw material was as high as 99.1%, the grade of V2O5 in the leaching residue was only 0.09%. The results of vanadium leaching kinetics showed that the leaching process was conformed to the unreacted shrinking core model, and was controlled by solid film diffusion, the reaction activation energy was 16.9 kJ/mol. The advantage of this process was that the reaction was carried out at room temperature. The leaching solution was enriched and purified to prepare high-purity V2O5 products, and the washing solution was used to leach the slag after being cured by concentrated sulfuric acid, so as to realize the recycling of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migraine is a common disease worldwide and migraine prevention is primarily currently based on pharmaceuticals. The mechanism of Vitamin B2 may positively contribute to migraine. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the impact of Vitamin B2 supplementation on the days, duration, frequency, and pain score of the migraine attack. : The PRISMA guideline was used for the studying process. Five electronic databases, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, CINAHL, and CEPS were searched from 1990 to March 2019. The search terms were Vitamin B2, migraine, and prophylactic. A meta-analysis was performed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) version. : Nine articles were included in systemic review and finally meta-analysis. Eight randomized controlled trials and one controlled clinical trial with 673 subjects were analyzed using meta-analysis. Vitamin B2 supplementation significantly decreased migraine days (p =.005, I2 = 89%), duration (p =.003, I2 = 0), frequency (p =.001, I2 = 65%), and pain score (p =.015, I2 = 84%). A pooled analysis of available randomized controlled clinical trials demonstrated that Vitamin B2 400 mg/day for three months supplementation had significant effect on days, duration, frequency, and pain score of migraine attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]