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Background/Aims: The histological characteristics and natural history of precirrhotic primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) with portal hypertension (PH) are unclear. Our aim was to clarify the prevalence, risk factors, and histological characteristics of precirrhotic PBC patients with PH. Methods: This retrospective study compared the clinical features, histological characteristics, and response to ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) between the PH and non-PH groups of precirrhotic PBC patients. Results: Out of 165 precirrhotic PBC patients, 40 (24.2%) also had PH. According to histological stage 1, 2 and 3 disease, 5.3% (1/19), 17.3% (17/98), and 45.8% (22/48) of patients also had PH, respectively. Precirrhotic PBC with PH was significantly positively correlated with bile duct loss, degree of cytokeratin 7 positivity, and degree of fibrosis in the portal area, but significantly negatively correlated with lymphoid follicular aggregation. Compared to the non-PH group, patients in the PH group showed a higher prevalence of obliterative portal venopathy, incomplete septal fibrosis, portal tract abnormalities and non-zonal sinusoidal dilatation (p

The Yangtze River is the mother river of China. To promote the aquatic ecosystem protection of the great river, the Project of Yangtze Fisheries Resources and Environment Investigation (2017–2021) supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, P. R. China carried out by 24 institutes and universities that located in the Yangtze River basin surveys the status of (1) fish species composition and spatial distribution, (2) current fish abundance, (3) endangered fishes, (4) Yangtze finless porpoise, (5) aquatic eco-environments, (6) water-level fluctuation areas, (7) capture fisheries and recreational fisheries of the Yangtze River mainstream and 10 of its main tributaries, including Yalong River, Heng River, Min River (including Dadu River), Chishui River, Tuo River, Jialing River, Wu River, Han River, Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake. The results showed that there were 443 fish species (belonging to 163 genus, 37 families, and 18 orders) before 2017, but only 323 fish species (including 15 new recorded exotic species) were recorded in the project of 2017–2021. Among them, Cyprinus carpio, Carassius auratus, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Pelteobagrus fulvidraco, Coilia brachygnathus, Silurus asotus, Saurogobio dabryi, Ctenopharyngodon idellus, Pelteobagrus nitidus, Hemiculter leucisculus, Siniperca chuatsi, Coreius heterodon, Culter alburnus, Parabramis pekinensis, and Aristichthys nobilis were the dominant species across the whole Yangtze River system. It is estimated that there were 886 million individuals weighing 124.8 million kg, merely equivalent to 27.3% of the resources in 1950s, 30.9% of the resources in 1960s, or 58.7% of the resources in 1980s. In the new list of protected fishes that recorded in the Yangtze River system, only 15 of 29 were collected in this project of 2017–2021. Psephurus gladius has been affirmed to be Extinct by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The wild individuals of Tenualosa reevesii and Luciobrama macrocephalus have disappeared for many years and maybe have been extinct already. Acipenser dabryanus has been affirmed to be Extinct in the Wild by IUCN. The natural propagations of A. sinensis, Myxocyprinus asiaticus and Trachidermus fasciatus have been interrupted for many years. The populations of Yangtze finless porpoise in the Yangtze River mainstream, Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake have steadily rising sizes and expanding distributions in 2017–2021. Parts of them migrate from one region to another with the seasons, which would result in the fluctuation of Yangtze finless porpoise population within some regions. The conventional indicators of water quality in the Yangtze River system were good and conformed to the water quality criteria of fishery in 2017–2021. In the last 40 years, the maximum surface water area in the Yangtze River basin extended to approximately 63,360 km2, the minimum surface water area covered approximately 26,396 km2, and the seasonal water-level fluctuation areas occupied approximately 36,964 km2. Compared with 1984–2000 period, the 2001–2020 period witnessed an overall decreasing trend in the frequency of surface water occurrence within about 25,869 km2 of aquatic areas. From 1984 to 2000 period to 2001–2020 period, permanent surface water has decreased by nearly 8,750 km2. In 2017, the fishermen were mainly 40–60 years old and their educational levels were mainly lower than junior high school. In 2017, most anglers were older than 40 and used hand rod and/or sea rod. Their average catch of each time was mainly less than 1 kg. Results suggested that the fishing ban in key waters of the Yangtze River basin is not only an ecological project of aquatic ecosystem conservation, but also a livelihood project for the fisherman to embrace industrial transformation and improve their living conditions. After the implementation of the fishing ban, the fisheries resources would gradually recover, and the Yangtze finless porpoise population size would also see a steady increase. However, the endangered species would remain threatened for a long time. The degraded waterbodies and water-level fluctuation areas would be the key restrictive factors for future aquatic ecosystem recovery in the Yangtze River basin. Since this survey was carried out before the fishing ban, the current results could provide a baseline for future evaluation of the effect of the Yangtze River fishing ban.

Context: COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus pneumonia, which is related to abnormal liver function. Thus, it is important to explore the occurrences and causes of abnormal liver function with COVID-19. Methods: We chose 109 patients with COVID-19 in 2020 and studied the relationship between gender, age, basic diseases, antiviral drug treatment, disease classification, and abnormal liver function, and analyzed the causes of abnormal liver function in patients with COVID-19 Results: Among patients, 46 (42.20%) had abnormal liver function at admission; 37 (80.43%) had mild abnormal liver function; and 9 (19.57%) had severe liver function. Compared with other age groups, the abnormal rate of serum ALP in the group younger than 21 years old were the highest (P < 0.05). The abnormal rates and concentrations of serum ALT, AST and γ-GT in the male groups were higher than in female groups (P < 0.05), basic disease group were higher than those in the non-basic disease group (P < 0.05). Serum γ-GT concentration after 1 week of antiviral treatment was higher than that before treatment (P < 0.05). The abnormal rate of ALT and AST at discharge was lower than that after antiviral treatment for 1 week (P < 0.05). Serum TB and AST concentrations at discharge were lower than those before treatment (P < 0.05). Serum AST and γ-GT concentrations in severe/critical type group were higher than those in mild or ordinary type group (P < 0.05) Conclusions: In this study, we found male sex, basic diseases, antiviral drugs, and severe/critical types are related to the occurrence of abnormal liver function in COVID-19 patients.

This study explores the application of intelligent teaching in higher education, especially for the digital transformation of English learning. Relying on online English teaching resources, the article successfully constructs an innovative teaching platform for English teaching in higher education by integrating advanced tools such as deep learning technology, clustering algorithms, and Rasch models. The platform takes students’ self-management awareness as the core. It emphasizes teachers’ evidence-based teaching ability, while considering multidimensional factors such as teaching environment, emotions and characteristics to provide a comprehensive and interactive learning environment. Through in-depth analysis of the application effect of the platform, the study found that students’ agreement in all five key dimensions exceeded 0.24, especially in the teaching emotion dimension with the highest deal of 0.2970, and the results fully proved the significant role of the intelligent teaching platform in enhancing learning effect and stimulating learning interest. This study successfully realizes the efficient interaction between teachers and students. Also, it lays a solid foundation for constructing a natural, harmonious and energetic bright English teaching environment, which is of great theoretical and practical significance for promoting the modernization and transformation of the education and teaching system.

BackgroundMental health risks associated with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic are often overlooked by the public. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on depression and anxiety disorders in China.MethodsStudies were analyzed and extracted in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 flowchart. The studies were screened and extracted using electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov according to the predefined eligibility criteria. The Cochrane Review Manager software 5.3.1 was used for data analysis and the risk of bias assessment.ResultsAs of 2023, a total of 9,212,751 Chinese have been diagnosed with COVID-19 infection. A total of 913,036 participants in 44 studies were selected following the eligibility criteria, the statistical information of which was collected for meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of depression and anxiety were 0.31 (95% CI: 0.28, 0.35; I2 = 100.0%, p

Baicalin is a small molecule medication used to treat hepatitis. Our research group discovered that administering baicalin orally to mice following fecal microbiota transplantation from patients resistant to ICIs supported anti-PD-1 activity. However, the precise mechanisms behind this effect are presently unknown. In this present study, ATB-treated C57BL/6 J mice received FMT from patients with advanced NSCLC amenable to αPD-1. Additionally, subcutaneous LLC cells were injected into the mice. Baicalin oral gavage and αPD-1 injection were administered to the mice on days 3 and 9 after tumour inoculation. 16 S rRNA, metabolomics, and flow cytometry were utilized to clarify the mechanisms of baicalin's relief of immunosuppression. The results indicated that oral administration of baicalin enriched bacteria such as Akkermansia and Clostridia_UCG-014, resulted in an increase in SCFAs, which improved the ratio of PD-1+ (CD8+ T cell/Treg) and promoted the levels of IFN-γ+ CD8+ T cells and TNF-α+ CD8+ T cells within the tumour microenvironment. In conclusion, baicalin regulates the metabolites of the gut microbiota to improve the PD-1+ (CD8+ T cell/Treg) balance and circumvent anti-PD-1 resistance. This is achieved through the regulation of short-chain fatty acids.

Abstract Background Complications and diagnostic efficiency for liver biopsy are main concerns for clinicians. This study aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of transjugular liver biopsy (TJLB) compared with percutaneous liver biopsy (PLB) when patients had equal level of liver function and number of passes, using propensity score matching (PSM). Methods The clinical and pathological data of patients who received TJLB or PLB between January 2012 and October 2022 were collected. Matching factors included age, gender, cirrhosis, portal hypertension, liver function, creatinine, number of passes, hemodialysis, history of anti-coagulation and anti-platelet, and comorbidities. Coagulation indexes were not considered as matching factors due to different indications of the two techniques. Results 2711 PLBs and 30 TJLBs were evaluated. By PSM, 75 patients (50 PLBs, 25 TJLBs) were matched. The complication rates for TJLB and PLB were 4.0% (1/25) and 10.0% (5/50) (P > 0.05). Two PLBs had hepatic hemorrhage, one of which required only close monitoring (Grade 1) and the other needed hemostasis and rehydration therapy (Grade 2). The other 3 cases presented with mild abdominal pain (Grade 1). And only one TJLB presented with mild pain. The median number of complete portal tracts were 6.0 and 10.0 for TJLBs and PLBs (P 0.05). Conclusion TJLB is an effective invasive diagnostic procedure that expands indications for liver biopsy with reliable diagnostic quality.