Background and Objectives: The indication for treatment in HBsAg-positive patients with low viral load and normal transaminases requires an assessment of fibrosis. In resource-limited settings, free hepatic fibrosis e...Background and Objectives: The indication for treatment in HBsAg-positive patients with low viral load and normal transaminases requires an assessment of fibrosis. In resource-limited settings, free hepatic fibrosis evaluation tests can aid in therapeutic decision-making. Our study aims to demonstrate the utility of assessing hepatic fibrosis using non-invasive markers (APRI and FIB-4) in patients with chronic B viral hepatitis without cytolytic activity and low viral replication in our context. Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study conducted between January 2018 and December 2021 at the University Hospital Center of Bouaké. Included were all patients aged ≥18 with normal transaminases (Results: Our study included 241 patients, with a mean age of 36.19 years (±10.52 years) and a male predominance of 52%. The mean FibroScan<sup>®</sup> value was 6.44 ± 2.3 kPa, and 68 patients (28.22%) had fibrosis >7 kPa. To exclude significant fibrosis (FS Conclusion: A significant proportion of HBV-infected patients with normal ALT and low viral load have active liver disease. Both FIB-4 and APRI biological scores are useful in identifying individuals without significant fibrosis with a good negative predictive value (>50%).展开更多
Uniaxial pressure or strain can introduce a symmetry-breaking distortion on the lattice and may alter the ground states of a material. Compared to hydrostatic pressure, a unique feature of the uniaxial-pressure measur...Uniaxial pressure or strain can introduce a symmetry-breaking distortion on the lattice and may alter the ground states of a material. Compared to hydrostatic pressure, a unique feature of the uniaxial-pressure measurements is that a tensile force can be applied and thus a “negative” pressure can be achieved. In doing so, both ends of the sample are usually glued on the frame of the uniaxial-pressure device. The maximum force that can be applied onto the sample is sometimes limited by the shear strength of the glue, the quality of the interface between the sample and the glue, etc. Here we use focused ion beam to reduce the width of the middle part of the sample, which can significantly increase the effective pressure applied on the sample. By applying this technique to a home-made piezobender-based uniaxial-pressure device, we can easily increase the effective pressure by one or two orders of magnitude as shown by the change of the superconducting transition temperature of an iron-based superconductor. Our method thus provides a possible way to increase the upper limit of the pressure for the uniaxial-pressure devices.展开更多
文摘Background and Objectives: The indication for treatment in HBsAg-positive patients with low viral load and normal transaminases requires an assessment of fibrosis. In resource-limited settings, free hepatic fibrosis evaluation tests can aid in therapeutic decision-making. Our study aims to demonstrate the utility of assessing hepatic fibrosis using non-invasive markers (APRI and FIB-4) in patients with chronic B viral hepatitis without cytolytic activity and low viral replication in our context. Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study conducted between January 2018 and December 2021 at the University Hospital Center of Bouaké. Included were all patients aged ≥18 with normal transaminases (Results: Our study included 241 patients, with a mean age of 36.19 years (±10.52 years) and a male predominance of 52%. The mean FibroScan<sup>®</sup> value was 6.44 ± 2.3 kPa, and 68 patients (28.22%) had fibrosis >7 kPa. To exclude significant fibrosis (FS Conclusion: A significant proportion of HBV-infected patients with normal ALT and low viral load have active liver disease. Both FIB-4 and APRI biological scores are useful in identifying individuals without significant fibrosis with a good negative predictive value (>50%).
基金Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2022YFA1403402,2021YFA1400401, 2020YFA0406003, and 2017YFA0302903)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11961160699 and 11874401)the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Nos. XDB33000000 and GJTD-2020-01)。
文摘Uniaxial pressure or strain can introduce a symmetry-breaking distortion on the lattice and may alter the ground states of a material. Compared to hydrostatic pressure, a unique feature of the uniaxial-pressure measurements is that a tensile force can be applied and thus a “negative” pressure can be achieved. In doing so, both ends of the sample are usually glued on the frame of the uniaxial-pressure device. The maximum force that can be applied onto the sample is sometimes limited by the shear strength of the glue, the quality of the interface between the sample and the glue, etc. Here we use focused ion beam to reduce the width of the middle part of the sample, which can significantly increase the effective pressure applied on the sample. By applying this technique to a home-made piezobender-based uniaxial-pressure device, we can easily increase the effective pressure by one or two orders of magnitude as shown by the change of the superconducting transition temperature of an iron-based superconductor. Our method thus provides a possible way to increase the upper limit of the pressure for the uniaxial-pressure devices.
