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Hepatitis E is a type of viral hepatitis caused by hepatitis E virus （HEV） infection. There are four main genotypes of HEV， namely genotypes 1 — 4. Compared with hepatitis B and hepatitis C， previous research on hepatitis E has made slow progress； however， in recent years， hepatitis E has gradually attracted more attention in China， achieving the transition from behind the scenes to the front stage. First， China has a large population base， a large number of people infected with hepatitis E， and a heavy disease burden， and thus it is necessary to attach great importance to the prevention， diagnosis， and treatment of hepatitis E. Second， the World Health Organization （WHO） has put forward the ambitious goal of eliminating viral hepatitis by 2030， and China has made remarkable achievements in the prevention and treatment of hepatitis B and hepatitis C. At present， the incidence and mortality rates of hepatitis E in China have exceeded those of hepatitis A， and the prevention and treatment of hepatitis E in China is of great significance to actively respond to the call of the WHO. Finally， Chinese researchers in the field of hepatitis E have formed Chinese Consortium for the Study of Hepatitis E， formulated related expert consensus， and established international cooperation platforms， which further promotes the research on hepatitis E in China.
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Objective:To explore the impact of serum carbamoyl phosphate synthase 1 (CPS1) level on prognosis of patients with hepatitis E-related acute liver failure (HEV-ALF).Methods:This retrospective analysis included 100 HEV-ALF patients, 100 patients with acute hepatitis E (AHE) and 100 healthy controls who admitted or underwent health checkup from December 2018 to June 2019 in six hospitals, including the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine. HEV-ALF patients were divided into non-survial ( n=21) and survival ( n=79) subgroups according to results of 30-day follow-up results. HEV-ALF patients were also divided into the high ( n=50) and low ( n=50) serum CPS1 level groups. HEV-ALF patients were further divided into the improvement ( n=55), fluctuation ( n=32) and deterioration ( n=13) subgroups. The general clinical data from all participants were collected. Serum CPS1 levels were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The survival time in the high and low serum CPS1 level groups were presented in the Kaplan-Meier curve. The correlation between serum CPS1 level and HEV-ALF related conventional parameters was also analyzed by linear regression. The efficacy of serum CPS1 level on predicting the 30-day mortality of HEV-ALF patients was estimated by the receiver operating characteristic curve and area under curve (AUC). Results:Serum CPS1 level was significantly higher in HEV-ALF patients than in AHE patients [958.59 (665.52, 1 105.83) pg/ml vs 549.38 (495.02, 649.08) pg/ml, P<0.001], and serum CPS1 level was significantly higher in AHE patients than in healthy controls [549.38 (495.02, 649.08) pg/ml vs 469.89 (373.32, 564.53) pg/ml, P<0.001]. The level of serum CPS1 was significantly lower in the HEV-ALF survival group than in the HEV-ALF non-survival group [922.6 (652.7, 1, 042.3) pg/ml vs 1 252.8 (933.3, 1 555.8) pg/ml, P<0.001]. In addition, the survival time was shorter in the high serum CPS1 level group than in the low serum CPS1 level group [24.59 (22.11, 27.06) d vs 28.16 (26.25, 30.07) d, P=0.045]. Serum CPS1 levels were increased in the fluctuation and deterioration groups [Fluctuation: 1 328.3 (1 184.3, 1 964.0) pg/ml vs 1 245.7 (1 102.0, 1 937.6) pg/ml, P<0.01; Deterioration: 1 483.6 (1 275.9, 1 656.8) pg/ml vs 1 332.2 (1 197.4, 1 509.8) pg/ml, P<0.01], while decreased in the improvement group [810.3 (599.7, 904.5) pg/ml vs 922.6 (679.5, 1 039.6) pg/ml, P<0.01] over time. Besides, a linear positive correlation was found between serum CPS1 level and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and total bilirubin (TBIL) (ALT: r=0.339, P<0.001; TBIL: r=0.304, P=0.002). The AUC of serum CPS1 level to predict the 30-day mortality of HEV-ALF patients was 0.803 (95% CI 0.666-0.941), the sensitivity and specificity were 66.67% and 97.47%, respectively. Conclusion:Serum CPS1 level was significantly increased in HEV-ALF patients, and closely related to the prognosis of patients with HEV-ALF.
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Although the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic is still ongoing, vaccination rates are rising slowly and related treatments and drugs are being developed. At the same time, there is increasing evidence of preexisting immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in humans, mainly consisting of preexisting antibodies and immune cells (including T cells and B cells). The presence of these antibodies is mainly due to the seasonal prevalence of four common coronavirus types, especially OC43 and HKU1. The accumulated relevant evidence has suggested that the target of antibodies is mainly the S2 subunit of S protein, followed by evolutionary conservative regions such as the nucleocapsid (N) protein. Additionally, preexisting memory T and B cells are also present in the population. Preexisting antibodies can help the body protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection, reduce the severity of COVID-19, and rapidly increase the immune response post-infection. These multiple effects can directly affect disease progression and even the likelihood of death in certain individuals. Besides the positive effects, preexisting immunity may also have negative consequences, such as antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) and original antigenic sin (OAS), the prevalence of which needs to be further established. In the future, more research should be focused on evaluating the role of preexisting immunity in COVID-19 outcomes, adopting appropriate policies and strategies for fighting the pandemic, and vaccine development that considers preexisting immunity.
Subject(s)
Humans , COVID-19 , Pandemics , SARS-CoV-2 , Seasons , Spike Glycoprotein, CoronavirusABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the prognostic value of serum free triiodothyronine (FT3) in patients with hepatitis E-related acute liver failure (HEV-ALF).Methods:Clinical data of 88 patients with HEV-ALF and 86 patients with acute hepatitis E (AHE) were collected from the member hospitals of Chinese Consortium for the Study of Hepatitis E between January 2016 and December 2021; the data of 100 health subjects who underwent health check-up in Suzhou Municipal Hospital were also collected as healthy control (HC) group. Serum FT3 levels were analyzed in all subjects. HEV-ALF patients were divided into survival group ( n=73) and death group ( n=15) according to their 30 day survival. Correlation between serum FT3 level and prognosis of HEV-ALF patients were analyzed by Cox regression and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and decision curve analysis (DCA) were used to assess the predictive value of serum FT3 levels for predicting the prognosis of patients, and its prediction efficacy was compared with conventional Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD), King’s College Hospital criteria (KCH) and Child-Pugh models. Results:The levels of serum FT3 in HEV-ALF patients were significantly lower than those in AHE patients and HC group ( P=0.006 or <0.001). Cox regression analysis showed that international standardized ratio ( HR=17.984, 95% CI 2.804-115.362), hepatic encephalopathy ( HR=12.895, 95% CI 2.386-69.695) and total cholesterol ( HR=2.448, 95% CI 1.108-5.409) were independent risk factors for death in HEV-ALF patients, and serum FT3 level ( HR=0.323, 95% CI 0.119-0.876) was a protective factor. OPLS-DA results showed serum FT3 levels had high predictive value. ROC curve analysis results showed that the area under the curve was 0.828 (95% CI 0.733-0.900, P<0.001), the sensitivity was 80.00%, and the specificity was 78.08%. DCA showed that FT3 has good prediction ability and decision-making level serum FT3 levels in patients with improvement and fluctuation were significantly higher than those in the patients with deterioration ( P<0.05 or <0.01). Conclusion:Serum FT3 levels are closely related to the prognosis of HEV-ALF patients and it may be used as a biomarker for the prognosis of patients with HEV-ALF.
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This study investigated the correlation between periprostatic fat thickness (PPFT) measured on magnetic resonance imaging and lower urinary tract symptoms, erectile function, and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) progression. A total of 286 treatment-naive men diagnosed with BPH in our department between March 2017 and February 2019 were included. Patients were divided into two groups according to the median value of PPFT: high (PPFT >4.35 mm) PPFT group and low (PPFT <4.35 mm) PPFT group. After the initial evaluation, all patients received a combination drug treatment of tamsulosin and finasteride for 12 months. Of the 286 enrolled patients, 244 completed the drug treatment course. Patients with high PPFT had larger prostate volume (PV; P = 0.013), higher International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS; P = 0.008), and lower five-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) score (P = 0.002) than those with low PPFT. Both high and low PPFT groups showed significant improvements in PV, maximum flow rate, IPSS, and quality of life score and a decrease of IIEF-5 score after the combination drug treatment. The decrease of IIEF-5 score was more obvious in the high PPFT group than that in the low PPFT group. In addition, more patients in the high PPFT group underwent prostate surgery than those in the low PPFT group. Moreover, Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis indicated that PPFT was positively correlated with age, PV, and IPSS and negatively correlated with IIEF-5 score; however, body mass index was only negatively correlated with IIEF-5 score.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the clinical therapeutic effects and safety of Fufang Biejia Ruangan tablet (FBRt) in patients with chronic hepatitis B complicated with hepatic fibrosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 420 patients were randomly divided into two groups, FBRt group (300 cases) were treated with Fufang Biejia Ruangan tablets and control group (120 cases) were treated with He Luo Shu Gan capsule, the patients in both groups were treated for 6 months.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The cure rate and total effective rate of FBRt group were significantly higher than those of control group (55.67 percent and 81.67 percent vs. 15.8 percent and 60.00 percent, P less than 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Fufang Biejia Ruangan tablet could alleviate clinical symptoms and hepatic fibrosis. Fufang Biejia Ruangan tablet is effective and safe in treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B complicated with liver fibrosis.</p>