We present quantum phase transitions and critical phenomena of three-body Coulomb systems with charges (Q , q, Q) and masses (M , m, M ). Full numerical results, using the finite-size scaling method, for an arbitrary mass ratio 0<k5(11m/M )<1 over the range 1<l5uQ/qu<1.25, show that there exists a transition curve lc(k) through which all systems undergo a first-order phase transition from stabl...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS To validate the lactate clearance (LC) at 6 h for mortality prediction in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)-admitted patients and its comparison with a pediatric index of mortality 2 (PIM 2) score. DESIGN A prospective, observational study in a tertiary care center. MATERIALS AND METHODS Children <13 years of age, admitted to PICU were included in the study. Lactate l...

AIM To provide a simple surrogate marker predictive of liver cirrhosis (LC). METHODS Specimens from 302 patients who underwent resection for hepatocellular carcinoma between January 2006 and December 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. Based on pathologic findings, patients were divided into groups based on whether or not they had LC. Parameters associated with hepatic functional reserve were...

Gut microbiota is associated with liver diseases. However, gut microbial characteristics of Budd-Chiari syndrome (B-CS) have not been reported. Here, by MiSeq sequencing, gut microbial alterations were characterized among 37 health controls, 20 liver cirrhosis (LC) patients, 31 initial B-CS patients (B-CS group), 33 stability patients after BCS treatment (stability group) and 23 recurrent patie...

Kallistatin, which protects organs and cells against inflammation, fibrosis and oxidative stress, is mainly synthesized and secreted in liver. However, its relationship to human liver disease remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between serum kallistatin and clinical evidence of both cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and to determine if serum ka...

Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LC) is a metastatic cancer invading the central nervous system (CNS). We previously reported a metabolomic diagnostic approach as tested on an animal model and compared with current modalities. Here, we provide a proof of concept by applying it to human LC originating from lung cancer, the most common cause of CNS metastasis. Cerebrospinal fluid from LC (n = 26) a...

BACKGROUND: Information on absorption and metabolism of strawberry polyphenols is limited. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to characterize and quantify plasma polyphenols/anthocyanins across 4 doses of strawberry using Q-TOF LC/MS and LC-MS/MS analysis. METHOD: Plasma was collected from 5 subjects (n= 5) every 30–60 min for 6 h after consuming beverages containing 0, 10, 20 or 40 g freeze-...

OBJECTIVE As a candidate gene association study, we investigated the genetic association of SNPs in IL-28B genes with different outcomes of HBV infection, including LC and HCC occurrence. METHODS Chinese Han subjects were categorized into two groups: 406 LC caused by CHB and 406 HCC caused by CHB. Genomic DNA was isolated from whole blood samples, SNPs were detected using high resolution melt...

A20 is an important negative immune regulator but its role in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is still unknown. This present study was to investigate the potential role of A20 gene in the progression of chronic HBV infection. A total of 236 chronic HBV patients were included and consisted of 63 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 87 liver cirrhosis (LC) and 86 chronic hepatitis B (CHB). T...