Controversies and Opportunities in the Use of Inflammatory Markers for Diagnosis or Risk Prediction in Fatty Liver Disease

In the Western society, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), characterized by the excessive accumulation of fat in the liver, represents the most common cause of chronic liver disease. If left untreated, approximately 15%-20% of patients with NAFLD will progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), in which lobular inflammation, hepatocyte ballooning and fibrogenesis further contribute to a distorted liver architecture and function. NASH initiation has significant effects on liver-related mortality, as even the presence of early stage fibrosis increases the chances of adverse patient outcome. Therefore, adequate diagnostic tools for NASH are needed, to ensure that relevant therapeutic actions can be taken as soon as necessary. To date, the diagnostic gold standard remains the invasive liver biopsy, which is associated with several drawbacks such as high financial costs, procedural risks, and inter/intra-observer variability in histology analysis. As liver inflammation is a major hallmark of disease progression, inflammation-related circulating markers may represent an interesting source of non-invasive biomarkers for NAFLD/NASH. Examples for such markers include cytokines, chemokines or shed receptors from immune cells, circulating exosomes related to inflammation, and changing proportions of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) subtypes. This review aims at documenting and critically discussing the utility of such novel inflammatory markers for NAFLD/NASH-diagnosis, patient stratification and risk prediction

The Potential Role of Cellular Senescence in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) represents an increasing global health burden. Cellular senescence develops in response to cellular injury, leading not only to cell cycle arrest but also to alterations of the cellular phenotype and metabolic functions. In this review, we critically discuss the currently existing evidence for the involvement of cellular senescence in NAFLD in order to identify areas requiring further exploration. Hepatocyte senescence can be a central pathomechanism as it may foster intracellular fat accumulation, fibrosis and inflammation, also due to secretion of senescence-associated inflammatory mediators. However, in some non-parenchymal liver cell types, such as hepatic stellate cells, senescence may be beneficial by reducing the extracellular matrix deposition and thereby reducing fibrosis. Deciphering the detailed interaction between NAFLD and cellular senescence will be essential to discover novel therapeutic targets halting disease progression

Разработка системы управления процессом приготовления топлива в форме органоводоугольных суспензий

Разработана система управления процессом приготовления топлива в форме органоводоугольных суспензий для сжигания в котельном агрегате. Автоматизированная система подготавливает необходимое топливо путем регулирования расходов компонентов, входящих в состав топлива. В данной работе проведены экспериментальные исследования по определению стабильности органоводоугольных топлив, а также минимальных температур зажигания и максимальных температур горения суспензий.A control system for preparing fuel in the form of organic coal-water slurry for combustion in a boiler unit has been developed. Automated system preparing necessary fuel by control of component consumption. In this work experimental research have been carried out to define the stability of organic coal-water fuels, as well as minimum ignition temperatures and maximum combustion temperatures of slurries