Activity

In the cohort study, 18 patients developed HCC during the mean follow-up period of 4.7years with an annual incidence of 0.11%. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that the FIB-4 index was an outstanding predictor of HCC development along with male sex, presence of hypertension, lower HbA1c and albumin levels, and higher BMI and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase levels. Receiver-operating characteristic analyses showed that a FIB-4 cut-off value of 3.61 could help identify high-risk patients, with a corresponding annual HCC incidence rate of 1.1%.

A simple calculation of the FIB-4 index in diabetes clinics can be the first step toward surveillance of HCC with a non-viral etiology.

A simple calculation of the FIB-4 index in diabetes clinics can be the first step toward surveillance of HCC with a non-viral etiology.

This study aimed to introduce anovel tracheostomy method, the non-guide-wire percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy (NGPDT) technique, and evaluate its effectiveness for critically ill patients undergoing neurosurgery under special conditions.

The clinical data of 48critically ill patients who underwent NGPDT under special conditions with controlled steps were analyzed retrospectively. The patients’ demographic, preoperative state of illness, and diagnosis data were collected. Moreover, their intraoperative and postoperative variables were accessed, e.g., operation times, bleeding, saturation of pulse oxygen (SPO

), and early and late complications related to NGPDT.

The mean patient age was 47.7 ± 13.7years. The mean GCS (Glasgow Coma Scale) was 8.1 ± 2.9, and the mean BMI (Body Mass Index) was 25.2 ± 5.6. There were 38patients with an endotracheal tube. The mean duration of onset to NGPDT was 4.0 ± 1.3days. The mean operation time was 4.2 ± 1.9 min. There were 41patients with mild intraoperative bleeding, 5with moderate bleeding, and 2with severe bleeding as well as 46with mild postoperative bleeding and 2with moderate bleeding. Additionally, 41patients required complete extubation after NGPDT. The mean duration of incision healing was 4.8 ± 3.1days. There was 1 patient with adecrease of SPO

≥ 10%. Three patients presented with atransient violent cough at the primary tracheostomy stage; however, no patients suffered from pneumothorax, subcutaneous emphysema, false passage, or surgery-related death during this procedure.

Overall, NGPDT with controlled steps is afast, safe, and microinvasive procedure. It mildly stimulates the trachea with alow rate of complications.

Overall, NGPDT with controlled steps is a fast, safe, and microinvasive procedure. It mildly stimulates the trachea with a low rate of complications.It is of great significance to establish sensitive and accurate pathogen detection methods, considering the continuous emergence or re-emergence of infectious diseases seriously influences the safety of human and animals. Proximity ligation assay (PLA) is developed for the sensitive protein detection and also can be used for the detection of pathogens. PLA employs aptamer or monoclonal/polyclonal antibody-nucleic acid complexes as proximity probes. When the paired proximity probes bind to the same target protein or protein complex, they will be adjacent to each other and form an amplifiable DNA sequence through ligation. Combining the specificity of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and sensitivity of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), PLA transforms the detection of protein into the detection of DNA nucleic acid sequence. Therefore, as an ultrasensitive protein assay, PLA has great potential for quantification, localization of protein, and clinical diagnostics. In this review, we summarize the basic principles of PLA and its applications in pathogen detection. KEY POINTS • Different forms of proximity ligation assay are introduced. • Applications of proximity ligation assay in pathogen detection are summarized. PP242 nmr • Proximity ligation assay is an ultrasensitive method to quantify protein and pathogen.Psychrophiles are cold-living microorganisms synthesizing enzymes that are permanently active at almost near-zero temperatures. Psychrozymes are supposed to be structurally more flexible than their homologous proteins. This structural flexibility enables these proteins to undergo conformational changes during catalysis and improve catalytic efficiency at low temperatures. The outstanding characteristics of the psychrophilic enzymes have attracted the attention of the scientific community to utilize them in a wide variety of industrial and pharmaceutical applications. In this review, we first highlight the current knowledge of the cold-adaptation mechanisms of the psychrophiles. In the sequel, we describe the potential applications of the enzymes in different biotechnological processes specifically, in the production of industrial and pharmaceutical products. KEY POINTS • Methods that organisms have evolved to survive and proliferate at cold environments. • The economic benefits due to their high activity at low and moderate temperatures. • Applications of the psychrophiles in biotechnological and pharmaceutical industry.Members of the human gut microbiota use glycoside hydrolase (GH) enzymes, such as β-galactosidases, to forage on host mucin glycans and dietary fibres. A human faecal metagenomic fosmid library was constructed and functionally screened to identify novel β-galactosidases. Out of the 16,000 clones screened, 30 β-galactosidase-positive clones were identified. The β-galactosidase gene found in the majority of the clones was BAD_1582 from Bifidobacterium adolescentis, subsequently named bgaC. This gene was cloned with a hexahistidine tag, expressed in Escherichia coli and His-tagged-BgaC was purified using Ni2+-NTA affinity chromatography and size filtration. The enzyme had optimal activity at pH 7.0 and 37 °C, with a wide range of pH (4-10) and temperature (0-40 °C) stability. It required a divalent metal ion co-factor; maximum activity was detected with Mg2+, while Cu2+ and Mn2+ were inhibitory. Kinetic parameters were determined using ortho-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactopyranoside (ONPG) and lactose substrates. BgaC had a Vmax of 107 μmol/min/mg and a Km of 2.