Search

A series of dipolar-type terphenyl derivatives 1–3 featuring an electron donor (p-NMe2C6H4 group) and acceptor (p-NO2C6H4 group) unit was synthesized and their photophysical properties were investi...

Asia has an intermediate-to-high prevalence of and high morbidity and mortality from hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Optimization of diagnosis and initiation of treatment is one of the crucial strategies for lowering disease burden in this region. Therefore, a panel of 24 experts from 10 Asian countries convened, and reviewed the literature, to develop consensus guidance on diagnosis and initiation of treatment of HBV infection in resource-limited Asian settings. The panel proposed 11 recommendations related to diagnosis, pre-treatment assessment, and indications of therapy of HBV infection, and management of HBV-infected patients with co-infections. In resource-limited Asian settings, testing for hepatitis B surface antigen may be considered as the primary test for diagnosis of HBV infection. Pre-treatment assessments should include tests for complete blood count, liver and renal function, hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg), anti-HBe, HBV DNA, co-infection markers and assessment of severity of liver disease. Noninvasive tests such as AST-to-platelet ratio index, fibrosis score 4 or transient elastography may be used as alternatives to liver biopsy for assessing disease severity. Considering the high burden of HBV infection in Asia, the panel adopted an aggressive approach, and recommended initiation of antiviral therapy in all HBV-infected, compensated or decompensated cirrhotic individuals with detectable HBV DNA levels, regardless of HBeAg status or alanine transaminase levels. The panel also developed a simple algorithm for guiding the initiation of treatment in noncirrhotic, HBV-infected individuals. The recommendations proposed herein, may help guide clinicians, to optimize the diagnosis and improvise the treatment rates for HBV infection in Asia.

Mesenchymal hamartoma of the liver (MHL) is a benign tumour that most commonly occurs in children. In most cases of MHL, the α fetoprotein (AFP) level is within the normal limits, only in a few cases, increased AFP has been described which usually causes misdiagnosis of hepatoblastoma. We report a case of a 3-month-old paediatric patient who was incidentally detected with a very high level of AFP, at 6388.4 ng ml−1. Ultrasound revealed a right liver tumour, segment VI, measuring at 56 × 53 mm. According to images of ultrasound and MRI, the diagnosis was mesenchymal hepatic sarcoma. The paediatric patient had surgery to remove the entire liver segment containing the tumour. Micropathological examination showed that the tumour was a MHL. The serum AFP level fell rapidly to near normal following the surgery. The MHL benign liver tumour with an atypical presentation caused a very high AFP level. This was a rare clinical case, and it was difficult to diagnose.

Enormous amount of available data in relational database (RDB) format creates a demand for automatic transforming them into OWL ontology to reuse in the Semantic Web. Many approaches have been proposed, however, most of them simply generate output ontology as the same flat structure with the original database and result in redundancy of ontology data. As an attempt to resolve the redundant problem, we propose a novel approach to generate OWL ontology from relational database while focusing on the similarity measure of duplicate attributes in relational tables. Experimental results show that the proposed method reliably predicts semantic similarity of duplicate columns and produces a better-quality OWL ontology.

BACKGROUND: Early diagnosis is critical for successful intervention before liver disease progresses to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. AIM: To examine a novel biomarker for probing early liver disease quickly using an automated immunology system. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. 140 patients at various stages of liver disease were randomly selected. The cohort consisted of patients who were treatment naïve and currently undergoing therapy. We included patients with diverse liver disease etiologies. Mac-2 binding protein glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) levels in addition to different clinical parameters, co-morbidities and transient elastography results were collected and compared. RESULTS: M2BPGi levels were significantly correlated with transient elastography for liver fibrosis staging across all disease etiologies. Statistically significant differences were observed in patients with F0-1; F2 and > F3 liver fibrosis. Further examination showed that M2BPGi levels were two-fold higher in F4 than F3 hepatitis C (HCV) patients. M2BPGi was observed to be etiology-specific and HCV patients had higher mean M2BPGi levels. We also observed significant correlations with aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index and fibrosis-4 index as well as HBV DNA levels. Mean M2BPGi levels for HBV patients with a viral load lower than 2000 IU/mL was 1.75-fold lower than those with a viral load greater than 2000 IU/mL. CONCLUSION: M2BPGi was observed to be a good indicator of early liver disease in patients with different etiologies. Our results provide reference cut-offs for different causes of liver disease and demonstrated the utility of this marker for early disease monitoring. This is useful for remote regions in developing countries.

Near-infrared two-photon (NIR-2P) uncaging reactions are useful for precise investigations of the roles of biologically active compounds in various phenomena. In this study, we synthesized new NIR-2P-responsive chromophores with terphenyl backbones featuring an ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid (EGTA) unit as a Ca2+-selective chelator. The photolabile Ca2+ chelators were synthesized in high yields (83 % for 1a, 45 % for 1b) from commercially available starting materials. One- and two-photon photochemical excitations of the synthesized terphenyl derivatives featuring two different electron-donating groups (dimethylamino (NMe2) and methoxyl (OMe)), which were thermally stable at least 36 h at 37 C in HEPES buffer (pH 7.4), were conducted to clarify the substituent effect on the photophysical and photochemical properties. The NMe2 group, which is a stronger electron-donating group, has led to a higher two-photon cross-section (σ2 = 75 GM at 780 nm) compared to the OMe group (σ2 = 9 GM at 720 nm) in a pH = 7.4 HEPES buffer solution, although the molar extinction coefficient (e) of the NMe2-substituted one (e = 10,371 at λmax =363 nm) was lower than that of the OMe-derivative (e = 14,351 at λmax = 344 nm). The quantum yield (Φ = 0.04) for the decomposition of the NMe2-substituted caged compound was lower than that for the OMe-substituted caged compound (Φ = 0.40). One and two-photon uncaging efficiency values of the OMe substituted compound, e × Φ = 5740 and σ2 × Φ = 3.6, were higher than those of the NMe2-substituted compound, 415 and 3.0, respectively. Laser flash photolysis experiments clarified the decay rate constants (2.5 × 106 and 1.1 × 102 s−1) of aci-nitro intermediates formed during the uncaging process. A concentration jump of Ca2+ was confirmed in the photolysis of caged calcium compounds newly synthesized in this study, indicating the terphenyl derivatives can be also utilized in physiological experiments. The corresponding acetoxymethyl esters were also prepared for physiological studies.