Fatty liver index vs waist circumference for predicting non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

AIM: To determine the discriminatory performance of fatty liver index (FLI) for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS: The data of 5052 subjects aged over 18 years were analyzed. FLI was calculated from body mass index, waist circumference (WC), triglyceride, and gamma glutamyl transferase data. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the association between FLI and NAFLD. The discriminatory performance of FLI in the diagnosis of NAFLD was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic analysis. Area under the curves (AUCs) and related confidence intervals were estimated. Optimal cutoff points of FLI in the diagnosis of NAFLD were determined based on the maximum values of Youden's index. RESULTS: The mean age of men and women in the study population were 44.8 ± 16.8 and 43.78 ± 15.43, respectively (P = 0.0216). The prevalence of NAFLD was 40.1 in men and 44.2 in women (P < 0.0017). FLI was strongly associated with NAFLD, so that even a one unit increase in FLI increased the chance of developing NAFLD by 5.8 (OR = 1.058, 95CI: 1.054-1.063, P < 0.0001). Although FLI showed good performance in the diagnosis of NAFLD (AUC = 0.8656 (95CI: 0.8548-0.8764), there was no significant difference with regards to WC (AUC = 0.8533, 95CI: 0.8419-0.8646). The performance of FLI was not significantly different between men (AUC = 0.8648, 95CI: 0.8505-0.8791) and women (AUC = 0.8682, 95CI: 0.8513-0.8851). The highest performance with regards to age was related to the 18-39 age group (AUC = 0.8930, 95CI: 0.8766-0.9093). The optimal cutoff points of FLI were 46.9 in men (sensitivity = 0.8242, specificity = 0.7687, Youden's index = 0.5929) and 53.8 in women (sensitivity = 0.8233, specificity = 0.7655, Youden's index = 0.5888). CONCLUSION: Although FLI had acceptable discriminatory power in the diagnosis of NAFLD, WC was a simpler and more accessible index with a similar performance. © 2016 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved

Cell therapy for ischemic stroke : are differences in preclinical and clinical study design responsible for the translational loss of efficacy?

Cell therapy is an attractive strategy for enhancing post‐stroke recovery. Different cell types and several treatment strategies have been successfully applied in animal models, but efficacy in stroke patients has not yet been confirmed. We hypothesize that the significant design differences between preclinical and clinical trials may account for this situation. Using a meta‐analysis approach and comparing preclinical with clinical trials, we reveal and discuss preliminary evidence for such design differences. While available datasets are not yet numerous enough to draw definitive conclusions, these findings may represent signposts on the route to efficacy by harmonizing preclinical and clinical study designs

Growth and development dynamics in agronomic crops under environmental stress

Plants are exposed to different kinds of adverse environmental conditions during their life cycle that ablate their productivity. These environmental fluctuations have detrimental effects on the crops in terms of growth and development. Plants are highly susceptible to abiotic stresses including drought, salinity, high temperature, and increasing heavy metal concentration. The changing events related to climatic conditions are the signs of consternation for crops to maintain their productivity. Due to global warming, drought and high temperature are serious concerns regarding effective crop production. Salinity also adversely affects growth and productivity by disrupting normal physiology and biochemistry of plants. It causes osmotic disturbance, nutritional imbalance, malfunction of photosynthetic machinery, and oxidative stress. Rapid urbanization and industrialization are polluting the arable lands with heavy metals which not only affects crop productivity but also interferes with human health. In the modern era, heavy metals, like lead, cadmium, chromium, mercury, and copper are main environmental hazards, especially in regions of higher anthropogenic activity. Contamination of agricultural soils with heavy metals is a serious concern owing to its deleterious effects on agricultural productivity, phytotoxicity, food safety, and quality of the environment with ultimate impact on human health. All these abiotic stresses negatively affect several growth and developmental processes of plants which reduce the productivity of agronomic crop and also deteriorate the quality of produce. To cope with the situation, it is inevitable to understand the adverse effects of these abiotic factors on crop plants. This chapter provides comprehensive information on the impacts of abiotic stresses on crop plants