Clinical and Virological Characteristics of Chronic Hepatitis B Patients with Hepatic Steatosis

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to explore clinical and virological characteristics of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with hepatic steatosis in order to provide a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of hepatic steatosis. Methods: A total of 360 CHB inpatients were recruited from Affiliated Dongnan Hospital of Xiamen University and divided into hepatic steatosis group and non-hepatic steatosis group. The body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), fasting blood glucose (FBG), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg), hepatitis B virus DNA (HBV DNA) and hepatic histological changes were detected and compared between the two groups. The association of these factors with hepatic steatosis was evaluated in CHB patients. Results: BMI, FPG, TG, TC, GGT, AST and HBV DNA showed statistically significant differences between two groups (P<0.01). The patients with hepatic steatosis had markedly higher BMI, FBG, TG and TC than those without steatosis did. No significant differences were found in ALT and HBeAg between two groups (P>0.05). In male patients, there was marked difference in the WHR between two groups (P < 0.01), which was not found in female patients (P > 0.05). The severity of hepatic steatosis increased in patients with hepatic steatosis, compared to those without steatosis (P < 0. 01), but the severities of inflammation and fibrosis in the non-hepatic steatosis group were dramatically higher than those in the hepatic steatosis group (P < 0. 01). Conclusions: BMI, WHR, FBG, TG and TC appeared to be influencing factors of CHB combined with hepatic steatosis. Hepatic steatosis in CHB patients was closely related to changes in anthropometric indices and metabolic factors but not HBV. It is necessary to improve these factors to effectively prevent hepatic steatosis in CHB patients

Potential of Core-Collapse Supernova Neutrino Detection at JUNO

JUNO is an underground neutrino observatory under construction in Jiangmen, China. It uses 20kton liquid scintillator as target, which enables it to detect supernova burst neutrinos of a large statistics for the next galactic core-collapse supernova (CCSN) and also pre-supernova neutrinos from the nearby CCSN progenitors. All flavors of supernova burst neutrinos can be detected by JUNO via several interaction channels, including inverse beta decay, elastic scattering on electron and proton, interactions on C12 nuclei, etc. This retains the possibility for JUNO to reconstruct the energy spectra of supernova burst neutrinos of all flavors. The real time monitoring systems based on FPGA and DAQ are under development in JUNO, which allow prompt alert and trigger-less data acquisition of CCSN events. The alert performances of both monitoring systems have been thoroughly studied using simulations. Moreover, once a CCSN is tagged, the system can give fast characterizations, such as directionality and light curve

Detection of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background with JUNO

As an underground multi-purpose neutrino detector with 20 kton liquid scintillator, Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is competitive with and complementary to the water-Cherenkov detectors on the search for the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB). Typical supernova models predict 2-4 events per year within the optimal observation window in the JUNO detector. The dominant background is from the neutral-current (NC) interaction of atmospheric neutrinos with 12C nuclei, which surpasses the DSNB by more than one order of magnitude. We evaluated the systematic uncertainty of NC background from the spread of a variety of data-driven models and further developed a method to determine NC background within 15\% with {\it{in}} {\it{situ}} measurements after ten years of running. Besides, the NC-like backgrounds can be effectively suppressed by the intrinsic pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities of liquid scintillators. In this talk, I will present in detail the improvements on NC background uncertainty evaluation, PSD discriminator development, and finally, the potential of DSNB sensitivity in JUNO

Real-time Monitoring for the Next Core-Collapse Supernova in JUNO

Core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the SN burst is a unique opportunity to realize the multi-messenger observation of the CCSN events. In this work, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to the pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction in South China. The real-time monitoring system is designed with both the prompt monitors on the electronic board and online monitors at the data acquisition stage, in order to ensure both the alert speed and alert coverage of progenitor stars. By assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system can be sensitive to the pre-SN neutrinos up to the distance of about 1.6 (0.9) kpc and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kpc for a progenitor mass of 30$M_{\odot}$ for the case of normal (inverted) mass ordering. The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by using the accumulated event anisotropy of the inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos, which, along with the early alert, can play important roles for the followup multi-messenger observations of the next Galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Development of an assessment and intervention protocol for postpartum hemorrhage in the mainland of China: an evidence-based method and Delphi consult

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is a leading cause of maternal death. Although guidelines have been updated, those with detailed protocols are limited for nursing practice. This study aims at establishing an early assessment and intervention protocol as a toolkit for PPH for midwives and obstetrical nurses

Clinical and Virological Characteristics of Chronic Hepatitis B Patients with Hepatic Steatosis

Zhangzhou Technology Project [Z04094]; Tianqing Hepatic Disease Fund of Chinese Foundation of Hepatitis Prevention and Control [TQGB2011018]Objective: This study aimed to explore clinical and virological characteristics of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with hepatic steatosis in order to provide a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of hepatic steatosis. Methods: A total of 360 CHB inpatients were recruited from Affiliated Dongnan Hospital of Xiamen University and divided into hepatic steatosis group and non-hepatic steatosis group. The body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), fasting blood glucose (FBG), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg), hepatitis B virus DNA (HBV DNA) and hepatic histological changes were detected and compared between the two groups. The association of these factors with hepatic steatosis was evaluated in CHB patients. Results: BMI, FPG, TG, TC, GGT, AST and HBV DNA showed statistically significant differences between two groups (P0.05). In male patients, there was marked difference in the WHR between two groups (P 0.05). The severity of hepatic steatosis increased in patients with hepatic steatosis, compared to those without steatosis (P < 0.01), but the severities of inflammation and fibrosis in the non-hepatic steatosis group were dramatically higher than those in the hepatic steatosis group (P < 0.01). Conclusions: BMI, WHR, FBG, TG and TC appeared to be influencing factors of CHB combined with hepatic steatosis. Hepatic steatosis in CHB patients was closely related to changes in anthropometric indices and metabolic factors but not HBV. It is necessary to improve these factors to effectively prevent hepatic steatosis in CHB patients