Metabolic abnormalities in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with immune response to SARS-CoV-2

Background. It is known that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can directly infect hepatocytes. At the same time, overweight and obesity are surrogate markers of the adverse effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The purpose of the study: to evaluate changes in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism and their indices in the serum of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with an immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Materials and methods. We studied 37 patients with NAFLD who had IgG to SARS-CoV-2. All patients were divided into two groups: group I consisted of 19 participants who were PCR-negative for SARS-CoV-2, group II included 18 patients who had COVID-19, as confirmed by PCR testing. The content of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), glucose, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), atherogenicity coefficient, insulin resistance indices (HOMA-IR), TG to glucose (TG/Gly) and TG to HDL-C (TG/HDL-C) ratio were assessed in all patients. Results. Among patients with NAFLD with an immune response to SARS-CoV-2, dyslipidemia manifested by a probable increase in the median TG content in groups I and II by 2.5 and 3.4 times (р = 0.0001), respectively; TC — by 1.2 times (р = 0.0425) in both groups, with a tendency to increase; VLDL-C — by 1.8 (р = 0.010) and 2.5 times (р = 0.0022), respectively, and a decrease in the median content of HDL-C by 1.7 (р = 0.0016) and 1.9 times (р = 0.0008), respectively, in blood serum. The identified changes led to a statistically significant increase in the median atherogenicity coefficient in groups I and II — by 2.2 (р = 0.0036) and 2.5 times (р = 0.007). An increase in the HOMA-IR did not have a statistically significant difference between the groups: in group I, this index increased by 3.1 times (p < 0.05) compared with the controls, in group II — by 3 times (p < 0.05). In addition, patients in both groups had a statistically significant increase in TG/Gly and TG/HDL-C ratio compared to controls. However, the detected changes were more pronounced in group II, where TG/Gly and TG/HDL-C levels were 1.5 (р = 0.038) and 1.9 times (р = 0.035), respectively, higher than in group I. Conclusions. Patients with an immune response to SARS-CoV-2 with NAFLD have disorders of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. At the same time, the signs of dyslipidemia were more pronounced in participants with a history of SARS-CoV-2. TG/Gly and TG/HDL-C ratio should be included in the diagnostic algorithm for assessing insulin resistance in patients with COVID-19 who are overweight or obese

Improvement of liver fibrosis verification using new minimally invasive markers in patients with chronic diffuse liver diseases

The aim of our research was to obtain new minimally invasive serum markers of fibrotic changes of liver in patients with chronic diffuse liver diseases of different etiology and compare them with traditional markers. 364 patients aged 30 to 66 years were examined: 221 women (60.7%) and 143 men (39.3%). Depending on the etiological factors, all patients were divided into 4 groups: group I consisted of 108 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), group II – 143 patients with chronic hepatitis associated with virus C (CHC), group III – 56 patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD), group IV – 57 patients with toxic drug-induced hepatitis (TH). The control group consisted of 30 practically healthy people. Using correlation and ROC-analyzes, we obtained minimally invasive diagnostics markers that show the risk of developing liver fibrosis. For patients with NAFLD these were the levels of HOMA-IR, TNFα/IL-10 and α1-acid glycopeptide content, which are better in quality of the diagnostic model than the traditional Forns index, APRI, FIB-4, AAR. For patients with CHC, these were the protein-bound hydroxyproline (HPp/b) /HPf ratio, phospholipids content, and IL-6, CD4+ levels, which are better diagnostic models than the traditional Forns index, APRI, FIB-4, AAR. The following markers were obtained for patients with ALD – TNFα levels, HPp/b and glycosaminoglycans content, which are better diagnostic models than the traditional Forns index, APRI, FIB-4, AAR. For patients with TH, these were medium molecular weight peptides content, IL-6/IL-10 ratio and CD4+/CD8+, which are better diagnostic models than the traditional Forns index, APRI, FIB-4, AAR. Thus, new minimally invasive markers of fibrosis in patients with chronic diffuse liver diseases have been obtained

Levels of isoforms of fibronectin and α5/CD49e integrin on lymphocytes and in blood plasma in the conditions of chronic diffuse liver diseases

Chronic diffuse liver diseases are characterized by accumulation of complex inflammatory infiltrate in the liver tissues, blood, and lympha, and activation of the immune system. Leukocytes become involved in the area of inflammation after the activation of receptors of blood adhesia, particularly integrins and their ligands. Plasma lymphocytes quickly activate the function of integrins by changing their conformation, leading to high affinity and underlying the formation of strong stable connection between the components of extracellular matrix. A vitally important role in the process of liver fibrogenesis is performed by a pro-fibrogenicic protein fibronectin which induces the expresson of collagen genes and precedes the deposition of other components of matrix. The studies were conducted in the group of patients suffering from chronic diffuse liver diseases of non-viral etiology aged 28–60 years, n = 36 and in the group of 15 practically healthy volunteer donors aged 25 to 52 years without a history of liver diseases using the methods of flow cytofluorometry, immunoenzymatic analysis, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The patients of the group with chronic diffuse liver diseases were observed to have statistically significant decrease in the concentration of plasmatic form of fibronectin measuring 27.6% compared with the control group. We determined increase in the concentration of cellular fibronectin in blood plasma of patients with the diseases on average accounting for 63.8% compared with the norm, and the highest increase in this parameter equaling 77.2% was seen in patients suffering from drug-induced hepatitis. Significant increase in the level of exposure of cellular FN on blood lymphocytes was determined in patients with chronic diffuse liver diseases, measuring 231.8%, whereas the level of plasmatic form of fibronectin in these cells was decreased (statistically unreliable). For α5-integrin subunit, we determined a 390.8% increase in the level of its exposure in blood lymphocytes in the surveyed groups compared with the control. Level of blood lymphocytes that express the cellular fibronectin significantly decreased by 140.1%. Statistical characteristics of diagnostic possibility of the parameters of the level of plasmatic and cellular fibronectin in blood, determined over the analysis of ROC-curves, demonstrated excellent informativeness of these tests. Analysis of the possibility of predicting the presence of pathology using the model of logistic regression revealed zero error of prediction and maximum efficiency of the tests: intensity of exposure of α5-integrin receptor on the surface of lymphocytes, intensity of exposure of plasmatic fibronectin on the surface of lymphocytes, intensity of exposure of cellular fibronectin on the surface of lymphocytes, concentration of plasmatic fibronectin in blood, concentration of cellular fibronectin in blood plasma. These parameters may be proposed for further surveys for developing serologic biomarkers based on the parameters for diagnostics of chronic diffuse liver diseases

Higher Spins from Tensorial Charges and OSp(N|2n) Symmetry

It is shown that the quantization of a superparticle propagating in an N=1, D=4 superspace extended with tensorial coordinates results in an infinite tower of massless spin states satisfying the Vasiliev unfolded equations for free higher spin fields in flat and AdS_4 N=1 superspace. The tensorial extension of the AdS_4 superspace is proved to be a supergroup manifold OSp(1|4). The model is manifestly invariant under an OSp(N|8) (N=1,2) superconformal symmetry. As a byproduct, we find that the Cartan forms of arbitrary Sp(2n) and OSp(1|2n) groups are GL(2n) flat, i.e. they are equivalent to flat Cartan forms up to a GL(2n) rotation. This property is crucial for carrying out the quantization of the particle model on OSp(1|4) and getting the higher spin field dynamics in super AdS_4, which can be performed in a way analogous to the flat case.Comment: LaTeX, 21 page (JHEP style), misprints corrected, added comments on the relation of results of hep-th/0106149 with hep-th/9904109 and hep-th/9907113, references adde

Supersymmetric string model with 30 kappa--symmetries in an extended D=11 superspace and 30/ 32 BPS states

A supersymmetric string model in the D=11 superspace maximally extended by antisymmetric tensor bosonic coordinates, $\Sigma^{(528|32)}$, is proposed. It possesses 30 $\kappa$-symmetries and 32 target space supersymmetries. The usual preserved supersymmetry-$\kappa$-symmetry correspondence suggests that it describes the excitations of a BPS state preserving all but two supersymmetries. The model can also be formulated in any $\Sigma^{({n(n+1)\over 2}|n)}$ superspace, n=32 corresponding to D=11. It may also be treated as a `higher--spin generalization' of the usual Green--Schwarz superstring. Although the global symmetry of the model is a generalization of the super--Poincar\'e group, ${\Sigma}^{({n(n+1)\over 2}|n)}\times\supset Sp(n)$, it may be formulated in terms of constrained OSp(2n|1) orthosymplectic supertwistors. We work out this supertwistor realization and its Hamiltonian dynamics. We also give the supersymmetric p-brane generalization of the model. In particular, the $\Sigma^{(528|32)}$ supersymmetric membrane model describes excitations of a 30/32 BPS state, as the $\Sigma^{(528|32)}$ supersymmetric string does, while the supersymmetric 3-brane and 5-brane correspond, respectively, to 28/32 and 24/32 BPS states.Comment: 23 pages, RevTex4. V2: minor corrections in title and terminology, some references and comments adde

Partonic flow and ϕ\phi-meson production in Au+Au collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

We present first measurements of the $\phi$-meson elliptic flow ($v_{2}(p_{T})$) and high statistics $p_{T}$ distributions for different centralities from $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC. In minimum bias collisions the $v_{2}$ of the $\phi$ meson is consistent with the trend observed for mesons. The ratio of the yields of the $\Omega$ to those of the $\phi$ as a function of transverse momentum is consistent with a model based on the recombination of thermal $s$ quarks up to $p_{T}\sim 4$ GeV/$c$, but disagrees at higher momenta. The nuclear modification factor ($R_{CP}$) of $\phi$ follows the trend observed in the $K^{0}_{S}$ mesons rather than in $\Lambda$ baryons, supporting baryon-meson scaling. Since $\phi$-mesons are made via coalescence of seemingly thermalized $s$ quarks in central Au+Au collisions, the observations imply hot and dense matter with partonic collectivity has been formed at RHIC.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submit to PR

Measurement of Transverse Single-Spin Asymmetries for Di-Jet Production in Proton-Proton Collisions at s=200\sqrt{s} = 200 GeV

We report the first measurement of the opening angle distribution between pairs of jets produced in high-energy collisions of transversely polarized protons. The measurement probes (Sivers) correlations between the transverse spin orientation of a proton and the transverse momentum directions of its partons. With both beams polarized, the wide pseudorapidity ($-1 \leq \eta \leq +2$) coverage for jets permits separation of Sivers functions for the valence and sea regions. The resulting asymmetries are all consistent with zero and considerably smaller than Sivers effects observed in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS). We discuss theoretical attempts to reconcile the new results with the sizable transverse spin effects seen in SIDIS and forward hadron production in pp collisions.Comment: 6 pages total, 1 Latex file, 3 PS files with figure

Energy dependence of charged pion, proton and anti-proton transverse momentum spectra for Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 and 200 GeV

We study the energy dependence of the transverse momentum (pT) spectra for charged pions, protons and anti-protons for Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 and 200 GeV. Data are presented at mid-rapidity (|y| < 0.5) for 0.2 < pT < 12 GeV/c. In the intermediate pT region (2 < pT < 6 GeV/c), the nuclear modification factor is higher at 62.4 GeV than at 200 GeV, while at higher pT (pT >7 GeV/c) the modification is similar for both energies. The p/pi+ and pbar/pi- ratios for central collisions at \sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 GeV peak at pT ~ 2 GeV/c. In the pT range where recombination is expected to dominate, the p/pi+ ratios at 62.4 GeV are larger than at 200 GeV, while the pbar/pi- ratios are smaller. For pT > 2 GeV/c, the pbar/pi- ratios at the two beam energies are independent of pT and centrality indicating that the dependence of the pbar/pi- ratio on pT does not change between 62.4 and 200 GeV. These findings challenge various models incorporating jet quenching and/or constituent quark coalescence.Comment: 19 pages and 6 figure

Study of the lineshape of the chi(c1) (3872) state

A study of the lineshape of the chi(c1) (3872) state is made using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1) collected in pp collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV with the LHCb detector. Candidate chi(c1)(3872) and psi(2S) mesons from b-hadron decays are selected in the J/psi pi(+)pi(-) decay mode. Describing the lineshape with a Breit-Wigner function, the mass splitting between the chi(c1 )(3872) and psi(2S) states, Delta m, and the width of the chi(c1 )(3872) state, Gamma(Bw), are determined to be (Delta m=185.598 +/- 0.067 +/- 0.068 Mev,)(Gamma BW=1.39 +/- 0.24 +/- 0.10 Mev,) where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. Using a Flatte-inspired model, the mode and full width at half maximum of the lineshape are determined to be (mode=3871.69+0.00+0.05 MeV.)(FWHM=0.22-0.04+0.13+0.07+0.11-0.06-0.13 MeV, ) An investigation of the analytic structure of the Flatte amplitude reveals a pole structure, which is compatible with a quasibound D-0(D) over bar*(0) state but a quasivirtual state is still allowed at the level of 2 standard deviations

Search for single vector-like B quark production and decay via B → bH(b¯b) in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for single production of a vector-like B quark decaying into a Standard Model b-quark and a Standard Model Higgs boson, which decays into a b¯b pair. The search is carried out in 139 fb−1 of √s = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC between 2015 and 2018. No significant deviation from the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and mass-dependent exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are set on the resonance production cross-section in several theoretical scenarios determined by the couplings cW, cZ and cH between the B quark and the Standard Model W, Z and Higgs bosons, respectively. For a vector-like B occurring as an isospin singlet, the search excludes values of cW greater than 0.45 for a B resonance mass (mB) between 1.0 and 1.2 TeV. For 1.2 TeV < mB < 2.0 TeV, cW values larger than 0.50–0.65 are excluded. If the B occurs as part of a (B, Y) doublet, the smallest excluded cZ coupling values range between 0.3 and 0.5 across the investigated resonance mass range 1.0 TeV < mB < 2.0 TeV