Research advances in the association between sarcopenia and hepatic encephalopathy in patients with liver cirrhosis / 临床肝胆病杂志

Sarcopenia is one of the manifestations of malnutrition in patients with liver cirrhosis. Most studies have shown that sarcopenia is associated with overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE), leading to an increased risk of events such as reduced quality of life, poor clinical prognosis, and even death in patients with liver cirrhosis, but there are few studies on the association between sarcopenia and minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE). This article reviews the research advances in sarcopenia and hepatic encephalopathy to provide a reliable basis for clinical treatment, and it is pointed out that the nutritional status of patients can be improved to prevent MHE and even reduce the onset of OHE, thereby improving patient prognosis, increasing quality of life, and reducing the risk of death.

Value of Stroop test in the diagnosis of minimal hepatic encephalopathy / 临床肝胆病杂志

Objective To investigate the value of Stroop test, a neuropsychological test, in the diagnosis of minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE). Methods A total of 96 patients with liver cirrhosis who were hospitalized in Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College, from August 2020 to March 2021 were enrolled, and the number connection test-A (NCT-A), digit symbol test (DST), animal naming test (ANT), and Stroop test were performed for all patients. Test results were recorded and related clinical data were collected. The t -test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups; the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to investigate the value of Stroop test in the diagnosis of MHE, and the Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlation of the results of Stroop test with those of NCT-A, DST, and ANT. Results For the 96 patients with liver cirrhosis, the prevalence rate of MHE was 30.21% (29/96). The Off+On time of Stroop test had a cut-off value of 212.49 s in the diagnosis of MHE, with an area under the ROC curve of 0.845, a sensitivity of 93.10%, and a specificity of 64.20%. The Pearson correlation analysis showed that the On+Off time and On time of Stroop test were moderately correlated with NCT-A( r =0.580 and 0.590, both P < 0.01), the Off time of Stroop test was strongly correlated with NCT-A( r =0.620, P < 0.01), and the On+Off time, On time, and Off time of Stroop test were strongly correlated with DST( r =-0.650, -0.650, and -0.630, all P < 0.01). Conclusion In the diagnosis of MHE, Stroop test is a highly sensitive method with easy-to-read results and a high diagnostic value and does not require professional equipment.

The design of muti-target antitumor drugs affecting on FTase and Raf-1 kinase / 药学学报

Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK singal transduction plays an important role in cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, metastasis and metabolism. This investigation focused on this signal pathway and chose farnesyl transferase (FTase) as the main target and Raf-1 kinase as the second target. A lot of compounds were selected to construct the pharmacophore models of farnesyl transferase inhibitors (FTIs) and Raf-1 kinase inhibitors by using computer-aided drug design (CADD). The pharmacophore of FTIs is constituted by a hydrogen bonding acceptor, an aromatic ring, a positive ionizable and two hydrophobic regions; the pharmacophore of Raf-1 kinase is constituted by a hydrogen donor, a hydrogen acceptor, a hydrophobic regions and an aromatic ring. There are some similarities between the two pharmacophores. After analysis of the constructions of these two pharmacophores, some new aminomethylbenzoic acid derivatives with good forecasting activity against both of FTase and Raf-1 kinase were designed with these new pharmacophore models.