Nationwide retrospective study of hepatitis B virological response and liver stiffness improvement in 465 patients on nucleos(t)ide analogue

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B virus(HBV)nucleos(t)ide analog(NA)therapy reduces liver disease but requires prolonged therapy to achieve hepatitis B surface antigen(HBsAg)loss.There is limited North American real-world data using non-invasive tools for fibrosis assessment and few have compared 1st generation NA or lamivudine(LAM)to tenofovir disoproxil fumarate(TDF).AIM To assess impact of NA on virological response and fibrosis regression using liver stiffness measurement(LSM)(i.e.,FibroScan®).METHODS Retrospective,observational cohort study from the Canadian HBV Network.Data collected included demographics,NA,HBV DNA,alanine aminotransferase(ALT),and LSM.Patients were HBV monoinfected patients,treatment naïve,and received 1 NA with minimum 1 year follow-up.RESULTS In 465(median 49 years,37%female,35%hepatitis B e antigen+at baseline,84%Asian,6%White,and 9%Black).Percentage of 64(n=299)received TDF and 166 were LAM-treated with similar median duration of 3.9 and 3.7 years,respectively.The mean baseline LSM was 11.2 kPa(TDF)vs 8.3 kPa(LAM)(P=0.003).At 5-year follow-up,the mean LSM was 7.0 kPa in TDF vs 6.7 kPa in LAM(P=0.83).There was a significant difference in fibrosis regression between groups(i.e.,mean-4.2 kPa change in TDF and-1.6 kPa in LAM,P<0.05).The last available data on treatment showed that all had normal ALT,but more TDF patients were virologically suppressed(<10 IU/mL)(n=170/190,89%)vs LAM-treated(n=35/58,60%)(P<0.05).None cleared HBsAg.CONCLUSION In this real-world North American study,approximately 5 years of NA achieves liver fibrosis regression rarely leads to HBsAg loss.

Learning from a rare phenomenon — spontaneous clearance of chronic hepatitis C virus post-liver transplant: A case report

BACKGROUND Hepatitis C virus(HCV)can lead to chronic liver damage resulting in cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.Spontaneous clearance of HCV has been documented after an acute infection in 20%-45%of individuals.However,spontaneously resolved chronic hepatitis C following liver transplant(LT)is rare and has been documented only in a few case reports.The phenomenon of spontaneous clearance of chronic hepatitis C occurs together with other meaningful events,which are typically associated with significant changes in the host immunity.CASE SUMMARY We report three cases of spontaneous resolution of chronic hepatitis C following liver transplantation.These patients either failed or had no HCV treatment prior to transplant,but had spontaneous resolution of HCV post-LT as documented by undetectable polymerase chain reaction(PCR).Diagnosis of HCV was based on viremia through PCR or liver biopsy.All three patients currently undergo surveillance and have no recurrence of HCV.CONCLUSION Examining each patient’s clinical course,we learned about many viral,host and cellular-factors that may have enhanced the host’s immunity leading to spontaneous clearance of HCV.Though HCV treatment has excellent cure rates,understanding this mechanism may provide clinicians with insights regarding timing and duration of treatment.

Single-atom Zn for boosting supercapacitor performance

Single-atom metal-incorporated carbon nanomaterials(CMs)have shown great potential towards broad catalytic applications.In this work,we show that N-doped porous CMs embedded with redox-able Zn atoms exhibit superior capacitive performance.High Zn(~2.72 at.%)/N(~12.51 at.%)doping were realized by incorporating Zn2+and benzamide into the condensation and carbonization of formamide and subsequent annealing at 900℃.The Zn and N species are mutually benefited during the formation of ZnN4 motif.The as-obtained Zn1NC material affords a very large capacitance of 621 F·g^(−1)(at 0.1 A·g^(−1)),superior rate capability(~65%retention at 100 A·g^(−1)),and excellent cycling stability(0.00044%per cycle at 10 A·g^(−1)).These merits are attributed to the high Zn/N loading,atomic Zn-boosted pseudocapacitive behavior,large specific surface area(~1,085 m^(2)·g^(−1)),and rich pore hierarchy,thus ensuring both large pseudo-capacitance(e.g.,~37.9%at 10 mV·s^(−1))and double-layer capacitance.Besides of establishing a new type of high Zn/N-loading carbon materials,our work uncovers the capacitive roles of atomically dispersed metals in CMs.

超小NiFe水滑石耦合单原子FeCo-NC纳米花用于可充电锌空气电池

单原子分散的FeCo-NC材料,具有特殊的花状结构和原子级分散Fe/Co位点,适用于可控沉积超小NiFe水滑石纳米点(NiFeND),从而制备具有优异氧还原(ORR)和氧析出(OER)性能的双功能催化材料.FeCo-NC材料本身具有三维立体花状介孔结构和丰富的N/O功能位点,可以实现对NiFe-ND尺寸的有效控制(直径约4 nm),使得制备的特殊复合材料的OER和ORR活性位暴露度达最大值.电化学测试表明在0.1 mol L-1KOH电解液中NiFe-ND/FeCo-NC的ORR半波电势为0.85 V,当电流密度为10 mA cm-2时的OER电势为1.66 V.原位拉曼结果进一步证实了NiFe-ND/FeCo-NC材料优良的OER活性来源于电化学过程中产生的丰富Ni(Fe)OOH活性相.采用NiFe-ND/FeCo-NC组装的锌空气电池具有较小的充放电电压差(0.87 V,20 mA cm-2)和持久的循环稳定性.同时,NiFe-ND/FeCo-NC也可以应用于全固态锌空气电池,即使在形变的情况下仍然具有良好的循环稳定性.本工作可为单原子金属氮碳催化剂作为特殊基底材料应用于新型多功能催化剂的研发提供指导.

Hierarchical peony-like FeCo-NC with conductive network and highly active sites as efficient electrocatalyst for rechargeable Zn-air battery

Carbon materials featuring hierarchical pores and atomically dispersed metal sites are promising catalysts for energy storage and conversion applications.Herein,we developed a facile strategy to construct functional carbon materials with a fluffy peony-like structure and dense binary FeCo-Nx active sites(termed as f-FeCo-CNT).By regulating the metal content in precursors,a three-dimensional(3D)interconnected conductive carbon nanotubes network was in-situ formed throughout the atomically dispersed FeCo-NC matrix during pyrolysis.Taking advantage of rich pore hierarchy and co-existence of highly active FeCo-Nx sites and beneficial FeCo alloy nanoparticles,the f-FeCo-CNT material exhibited excellent bifunctional performance towards oxygen reduction reaction/oxygen evolution reactions(ORR/OER)with respect to the atomically dispersed FeCo-NC(SA-f-FeCo-NC)and commercial Pt/C+Ru02 mixture,surpassing the SA-f-FeCo-NC with a 20 mV higher ORR half-wave potential and a 100 mV lower OER overpotential(at 10.0 mA/cm^2).Remarkably,the f-FeCo-CNT-assembled Zn-air battery(ZAB)possessed a maximum specific power of 195.8 mW/cm^2,excellent rate capability,and very good cycling stability at large current density of 20.0 mA/cm^2.This work provides a facile and feasible synthetic strategy of constructing low-cost cathode materials with excellent comprehensive ZAB performance.