Serum hyaluronate as a non-invasive marker of hepatic fibrosis and inflammation in HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B

Background: HBV infection is a serious global heath problem. It is crucial to monitor this disease more closely with a non-invasive marker in clinical trials. We aimed to evaluate the predictive value of serum hyaluronate for the presence of extensive liver fibrosis and inflammation. Methods: 28 healthy volunteers and 65 patients with HBeAg negative chronic hepatitis B were enrolled. Liver biopsies scored according to Ishak system. Association of serum hyaloronate with liver fibrosis and inflammation were assessed, and cut off points for serum hyaluronate levels were identified by receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves and their values for prediction of fibrosis and inflammation were assessed. Results: In patients with CHB serum hyaluronate had the most significant correlation and predictive values for the liver fibrosis and inflammation comparing to the other variables. At the cut off point of 126.4 ngm/ml it could discriminate extensive fibrosis from milder ones with sensitivity of 90.9% and specificity of 98.1%. With the same value it could discriminate extensive inflammation from their milder counterparts with sensitivity of 63.6% and specificity of 92.6%. Conclusion: Serum hyaluronate was the best predictor of extensive liver fibrosis and inflammation and it could discriminate subgroups of patients with chronic hepatitis B. It could be used as a non-invasive test to monitor these patients more closely with developing anti viral agents in clinical trials

Lower oesophageal sphincter pressure and timed barium oesophagogram: two objective parameters in the non-invasive assessment of primary achalasia

Background:  The non-invasive assessment of primary achalasia is not precise. Aim:  To compare investigations before and 1 month after balloon dilation in achalasia. Methods:  Fifty-two patients with primary achalasia were enrolled. Subjective and objective variables of oesophageal functions were analysed before and 1 month after balloon dilation. Results:  The mean predilation symptom score, lower oesophageal sphincter pressure, height and volume of barium at 5 min were 7.7 ± 2.6, 62.0 ± 25.1 mmHg, 9.2 ± 6.1 cm and 53.2 ± 49.8 mL respectively; the mean postdilation values were 3.0 ± 3.0, 34.1 ± 12.5 mmHg, 7.9 ± 5.1 cm and 28.0 ± 30.1 mL respectively. The before dilation volume of barium at 5 min correlates significantly with lower oesophageal sphincter pressure (P < 0.01). The mean symptom scores, lower oesophageal sphincter pressure and volume of barium at 5 min dropped significantly after intervention (P < 0.01), but the reduction in barium height at 5 min was not significant. The percentage changes in volume at 5 min significantly predicted the percentage changes in lower oesophageal sphincter pressure (P < 0.01). Conclusions:  The volume of barium retention at 5 min can predict the lower oesophageal sphincter pressure before and after balloon dilation in primary achalasia. This could be used as a non-invasive objective tool for initial and post-dilation assessment

Laboratory Tests for the Characterization of Cold Asphalt Patching Mixtures

Cold asphalt patching mixtures are widely employed in pavement maintenance op-erations due to their technical and economical effectiveness. However, their selec-tion is seldom based on the results of laboratory characterization tests, since there are no standard procedures which are recognized by the international community for such a purpose. The investigation described in this paper focused on the evalua-tion of the strength and stiffness properties of several cold asphalt patching products which were subjected to analysis in two characteristic compaction states: low com-paction, as achieved after placement in the field, and high compaction, as reached under the action of traffic loads. Mechanical characteristics evaluated in the labora-tory included indirect tensile strength, California Bearing Ratio, resilient modulus and quick shear strength. Analysis of the obtained results highlighted the existence of significant differences between the various products which were explained by re-ferring to their composition and curing behavio

Angular‐Adaptive Spin‐Locked Retroreflector Based on Reconfigurable Magnetic Metagrating

Retroreflectors made of gradient metasurfaces have recently attracted intense interests due to their ability in reflecting incident light back to its source. So far, the current retroreflectors can only flip the transverse momenta of incident photons in specific incidence angles and thus have limitations in wide‐angle applications. Here, a switchable metagrating based retroreflector is proposed for high‐efficient spin‐locked retroreflection and suppression of undesired diffractions. Upon reflection, the handedness of the waves is kept the same as the incidence. Furthermore, by mechanically altering the folding state of the reconfigurable retroreflector, adaptive tangential momenta could be imparted to the incidence photons, providing a high‐performance retroreflection over a continuous range of incidence angles from 27.3° to 52.5°. As a proof of concept, a magnetic metagrating based retroreflector is fabricated at microwave frequencies and experimental measurements show consistent behaviors at various incidence angles. The proposed retroreflector is compact (overall thickness of 0.204 of the wavelength) and inherently insensitive to the illumination angle. As the design concept introduced in the paper could be extended to terahertz and optical frequencies, the design may serve as a promising platform toward reconfigurable spin‐based retroreflection devices for not only interface electromagnetics but also ultraflat photonics.Accepted versionThe work at Zhejiang University was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 61625502, 61574127, 61601408, and 61801426, the Top-Notch Young Talents Program of China, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Innovation Joint Research Center for Cyber-Physical-Society System. The work at Shandong University was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 61801268, and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province under Grant No. ZR2018QF001