Efficacy of a Chinese herbal formula on hepatitis B e antigenpositive chronic hepatitis B patients

BACKGROUND No guideline recommends antiviral therapy for hepatitis B e antigen(HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B patients with persistently normal alanine aminotransferase levels and a high hepatitis B virus(HBV)DNA viral load.AIM To evaluate the feasibility and safety of a Chinese herbal formula as a therapeutic option for chronic HBV infection.METHODS In total,395 patients(30–65 years old)with confirmed HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B infection and persistently normal alanine aminotransferase were randomized to receive either Chinese herbal formula or placebo for 96 wk.Endpoints to evaluate therapeutic efficacy included:(1)HBV DNA levels decreased to less than 4 log10 IU/mL at weeks 48 and 96;and(2)HBeAg clearance and seroconversion rates at weeks 48 and 96.RESULTS HBV DNA levels≤4 log10 IU/mL were 10.05%at week 48 and 18.59%at week 96 in the treatment group.The HBeAg clearance and conversion rates were 8.54%and 8.04%at week 48 and 16.08%and 14.57%at week 96,respectively.However,HBV DNA levels≤4 log10 IU/mL were 2.55%and 2.55%at weeks 48 and 96,respectively,and the HBeAg clearance rates were 3.06%and 5.61%at weeks 48 and 96,respectively,in the control group.The quantitative hepatitis B surface antigen and HBeAg levels at baseline and changes during the treatment period as well as the alanine aminotransferase elevation at weeks 12 and 24 were strong predictors of HBeAg clearance.CONCLUSION High rates of HBV DNA reduction,HBeAg clearance and seroconversion could be achieved with Chinese herbal formula treatments,and the treatments were relatively safe for HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B-infected patients with persistently normal alanine aminotransferase.The ability of the compound to modulate host immune function probably contributed to this effect.

Analysis of Coronary Angiography Video Interpolation Methods to Reduce X-ray Exposure Frequency Based on Deep Learning

Cardiac coronary angiography is a major technique that assists physicians during interventional heart surgery.Under X-ray irradiation,the physician injects a contrast agent through a catheter and determines the coronary arteries’state in real time.However,to obtain a more accurate state of the coronary arteries,physicians need to increase the fre-quency and intensity of X-ray exposure,which will inevitably increase the potential for harm to both the patient and the surgeon.In the work reported here,we use advanced deep learning algorithms to fi nd a method of frame interpola-tion for coronary angiography videos that reduces the frequency of X-ray exposure by reducing the frame rate of the coronary angiography video,thereby reducing X-ray-induced damage to physicians.We established a new coronary angiography image group dataset containing 95,039 groups of images extracted from 31 videos.Each group includes three consecutive images,which are used to train the video interpolation network model.We apply six popular frame interpolation methods to this dataset to confi rm that the video frame interpolation technology can reduce the video frame rate and reduce exposure of physicians to X-rays.

Development and Validation of a Prognostic Model for One-year Survival of Cirrhosis Patients with First-ever Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis

Background and Aims: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis(SBP) is one of the leading causes of death in patients withliver cirrhosis. We aimed to establish a prognostic model toevaluate the 1-year survival of cirrhosis patients after thefirst episode of SBP. Methods: A prognostic model was developedbased on a retrospective derivation cohort of 309cirrhosis patients with first-ever SBP and was validated in aseparate validation cohort of 141 patients. We used Uno’sconcordance, calibration curve, and decision curve (DCA)analysis to evaluate the discrimination, calibration, and clinicalnet benefit of the model. Results: A total of 59 (19.1%)patients in the derivation cohort and 42 (29.8%) patientsin the validation cohort died over the course of 1 year. Aprognostic model in nomogram form was developed withpredictors including age [hazard ratio (HR): 1.25;95% confidenceinterval (CI): 0.92–1.71], total serum bilirubin (HR:1.66;95% CI: 1.28–2.14), serum sodium (HR: 0.94;95%CI: 0.90–0.98), history of hypertension (HR: 2.52;95% CI:1.44–4.41) and hepatic encephalopathy (HR: 2.06;95%CI: 1.13–3.73). The nomogram had a higher concordance(0.79) compared with the model end-stage liver disease(0.67) or Child-Turcotte-Pugh (0.71) score. The nomogramalso showed acceptable calibration (calibration slope, 1.12;Bier score, 0.15±0.21) and optimal clinical net benefit in thevalidation cohort. Conclusions: This prediction model developedbased on characteristics of first-ever SBP patientsmay benefit the prediction of patients’ 1-year survival.

直径≤3 cm的乙肝病毒相关性肝细胞癌患者术后复发的独立危险因素

背景:乙型肝炎病毒(HBV)相关性肝细胞癌(HCC)术后复发率较高。本研究旨在探讨HBV相关性单发小HCC(肿瘤直径≤3 cm)术后1年内复发的影响因素。方法:本回顾性研究的对象是只有单个小原发肿瘤的HBV相关性HCC患者,包括203例训练队列和64例验证队列。所有入组病例均完成了术后1年随访。通过Cox回归分析筛选出与肿瘤复发相关的潜在因素,基于这些因素构建预测模型,然后通过受试者工作特征(ROC)曲线分析该预测模型的预后价值,并计算其ROC曲线下面积(AUC)。结果:酗酒史、血清甲胎蛋白、总蛋白和谷氨酰转肽酶水平可独立预测术后1年复发率。基于上述4个因素的预测模型的AUC值,在训练队列中为0.711(95%CI:0.634-0.772),在验证队列中为0.727(95%CI:0.601-0.831)。基于该预测模型的复发评分可将患者分为低危复发组和高危复发组,其在训练队列中的1年复发率分别为17.0%和49.5%(P<0.001),在验证队列中的1年复发率分别为43.2%和74.1%(P=0.031),差异均有统计学意义。结论:酗酒史、血清甲胎蛋白、总蛋白和谷氨酰转肽酶水平是HBV相关性单发小HCC(肿瘤直径≤3 cm)患者术后1年内复发的独立预测因素。