Clinical Impact of Viral Load on the Development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Liver-Related Mortality in Patients with Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Aim. This study aimed to assess clinical impact of hepatitis C viral load on the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver-related mortality in HCV-infected patients. Methods. A total of 111 subjects with chronic HCV infection who were available for serum quantitation of HCV RNA were recruited in this retrospective cohort. Cox-proportional hazards models were used to calculate hazard ratio (HR) of developing HCC and liver-related mortality according to serum HCV RNA titers. Results. HCC was developed in 14 patients during follow-up period. The cumulative risk of HCC development was higher in subjects with high HCV RNA titer (log HCV RNA IU/mL > 6) than subjects with low titer (log HCV RNA IU/mL ≦ 6) (HR = 4.63, P=0.032), giving an incidence rate of 474.1 and 111.5 per 10,000 person-years, respectively. Old age (HR = 9.71, P=0.014), accompanying cirrhosis (HR = 19.34, P=0.004), and low platelet count (HR = 13.97, P=0.009) were other independent risk factors for the development of HCC. Liver-related death occurred in 7 patients. Accompanying cirrhosis (HR = 6.13, P=0.012) and low albumin level (HR = 9.17, P=0.002), but not HCV RNA titer, were significant risk factors related to liver-related mortality. Conclusion. Serum HCV RNA titer may be considered an independent risk factor for the development of HCC but not liver-related mortality

Anti-urease immunoglobulin (IgY) from egg yolk prevents Helicobacter pylori infection in a mouse model

Helicobacter pylori (H. Pylori) is a potential pathogen found in approximately 50% of the human population, although many infected by it remain asymptomatic. The current treatment regime of it has become less effective because of antibiotic resistance. Accordingly, an alternative treatment with reasonable cost is essential. Urease is an important enzyme that enables the acclimation to harsh acidic conditions in the stomach. IgY implemented therapy is an attractive approach to preventing infection of H. pylori. The present study evaluated the anti-urease IgY effect on the prevention of H. pylori infection. To generate IgY, a 100 ng/ml mixture of purified urease A and B used to immunize Hyline brown hens. Anti-urease IgY was purified from egg yolks and orally administered to SPF C57BL/6 female mice that had been infected with H. pylori. The results demonstrated that anti-urease IgY has greater potential to prevent infection in mice, suggesting a rational therapeutic approach to H. pylori

Durable Sulfonated Poly(benzothiazole-<i>co</i>-benzimidazole) Proton Exchange Membranes

Two series of random sulfonated poly­(benzothiazole-<i>co</i>-benzimidazole) polymers (sPBT-BI) with 70% and 60% degree of sulfonation were evaluated as proton exchange membranes. sPBT was also prepared for a comparative study. The mechanical properties of sPBT-BI were greatly enhanced by incorporation of benzimidazole (BI); sPBT-BI70-10 showed a tensile strength of 125 MPa and elongation at break of 38.9%, an increase of 56.5% and 145%, respectively, compared with sPBT. The solubility, dimensional stability, thermal properties, and oxidative stability of sPBT-BI were also improved. The ionic clusters of sPBT-BI membranes in both AFM phase images and TEM images became narrower with increasing amounts of BI while containing the same molar amount of sulfonic acid groups. This resulted in lower dimensional swelling and higher mechanical strength, but the proton conductivity decreased. However, high proton conductivity was achieved by incorporating an appropriate content of BI. PEMFC H₂/air single cell performances and durabilities were improved by incorporation of 5% of BI units in sPBT

Utilization of Multifunctional Environment-Friendly Organic Dopants Inspired from Nature for Carbon Nanotube-Based Planar Heterojunction Silicon Solar Cells

Herein, eco-friendly natural acids inspired by nature, namely, acetic acid, formic acid, lactic acid, and citric acid on their capability of functioning as a p-dopant for the carbon nanotube transparent electrode in silicon-based planar heterojunction solar cells, are tested. From the result, lactic acid shows the multifunctional effect of p-doping with excellent doping stability as well as antireflection. The doping effect and its stability are investigated by diverse methods, such as van der Pauw four-probe measurement as well as Raman, photoelectron yield, and absorption spectroscopy. The sheet resistance decreases by 22.1% when carbon nanotube films are doped by lactic acid and the doped films are stable for more than 20 days. The antireflection effect of lactic acid coating is confirmed by atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry, computational analyses, and reflectance spectroscopy. The power conversion efficiency of carbon nanotube-laminated silicon solar cells improves from 8.2% to 10.3% by using nature-inspired lactic acid. Such a great improvement is ascribed to not only the p-doping and antireflection effects but also the passivation effect of lactic acid on the Si surface defect sites as evidenced by both the Fourier-transform infrared and the Quasi-steady-state photoconductance lifetime measurements.Peer reviewe

Large-scale clinical validation of biomarkers for pancreatic cancer using a mass spectrometry-based proteomics approach

We performed an integrated analysis of proteomic and transcriptomic datasets to develop potential diagnostic markers for early pancreatic cancer. In the discovery phase, a multiple reaction monitoring assay of 90 proteins identified by either gene expression analysis or global serum proteome profiling was established and applied to 182 clinical specimens. Nine proteins (P < 0.05) were selected for the independent validation phase and quantified using stable isotope dilution-multiple reaction monitoring-mass spectrometry in 456 specimens. Of these proteins, four proteins (apolipoprotein A-IV, apolipoprotein CIII, insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1) were significantly altered in pancreatic cancer in both the discovery and validation phase (P < 0.01). Moreover, a panel including carbohydrate antigen 19-9, apolipoprotein A-IV and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 showed better performance for distinguishing early pancreatic cancer from pancreatitis (Area under the curve = 0.934, 86% sensitivity at fixed 90% specificity) than carbohydrate antigen 19-9 alone (71% sensitivity). Overall, we present the panel of robust biomarkers for early pancreatic cancer diagnosis through bioinformatics analysis that combined transcriptomic and proteomic data as well as rigorous validation on a large number of independent clinical samples

Genotypic Diversity of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolates in Korean Hospitals

Ninety-six methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates from eight Korean hospitals were analyzed by multilocus sequence typing, SCCmec typing, and spa typing. The predominant genotype was ST5-MRSA-II of clonal complex 5, which was found in 36 isolates from six hospitals, but ST239-MRSA-III was also common. Overall, results showed a notable genotypic diversity of MRSA strains circulating in Korean hospitals