Serum fibrosis index-based risk score predicts hepatocellular carcinoma in untreated patients with chronic hepatitis B

( Lilian Yan Liang ),( Hye Won Lee ),( Vincent Wai-sun Wong ),( Terry Cheuk-fung Yip ),( Yee-kit Tse ),( Vicki Wing-ki Hui ),( Grace Chung-yan Lui ),( Henry Lik-yuen Chan ),( Grace Lai-hung Wong ) 대한간학회 2021 Clinical and Molecular Hepatology(대한간학회지) Vol.27 No.3

Background/Aims: Serum fibrosis scores comprised of common laboratory tests have high utility to assess severity of liver fibrosis. We aimed to derive and validate a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk score based on serum fibrosis scores to predict HCC in treatment-naive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. Methods: Fifteen thousand one hundred eighty-seven treatment-naive adult CHB patients were identified to form the training cohort in this retrospective study. Individual fibrosis score was included to construct a new HCC prediction score. The score was externally validated in an independent treatment-naive Korean CHB cohort. Results: 180/15,187 patients (1.2%) in training cohort and 47/4,286 patients (1.1%) in validation cohort developed HCC during a mean follow-up of 52 and 50 months, respectively. The newly developed HCC risk score, Liang score, is composed of gender, age, hepatitis B virus DNA, fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index, and ranges from 0 to 22. Area under the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve of Liang score was 0.79 (95% confidence interval, 0.70-0.89). A cutoff value of nine provided an extremely high negative predictive value of 99.9% and high sensitivity of 90.0% at 5 years in the validation cohort. Patients with Liang score ≤9 had HCC incidence <0.2% per year in both training and validation cohorts, in whom HCC surveillance might be exempted. Conclusion: A novel HCC risk score, Liang score, based on FIB-4 index, is applicable and accurate to identify treatment-naive CHB patients with very low risk of HCC to be exempted from HCC surveillance. (Clin Mol Hepatol 2021;27:499-509)

Roles of Immunohistochemical Staining in Diagnosing Pulmonary Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Yan, Yue,Zhang, Ya-Xiong,Fang, Wen-Feng,Kang, Shi-Yang,Zhan, Jian-Hua,Chen, Nan,Hong, Shao-Dong,Liang, Wen-Hua,Tang, Yan-Na,He, Da-Cheng,Wu, Xuan,Zhang, Li Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.2

Background: Differentiating morphologic features based on hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining is the most common method to classify pathological subtypes of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, its accuracy and inter-observer reproducibility in pathological diagnosis of poorly differentiated NSCLC remained to be improved. Materials and Methods: We attempted to explore the role of immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining in diagnosing pulmonary squamous cell carcinoma (SQCC) with poorly differentiated features by HE staining or with elevated serum adenocarcinoma-specific tumor markers (AD-TMs). We also compared the difference of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation rate between patients with confirmed SQCC and those with revised pathological subtype. Logistic regression analyses were used to test the association between different factors and diagnostic accuracy. Results: A total of 132 patients who met the eligible criteria and had adequate specimens for IHC confirmation were included. Pathological revised cases in poor differentiated subgroup, biopsy samples and high-level AD-TMs cases were more than those with high/moderate differentiation, surgical specimens and normal-level AD-TMs. Moreover, biopsy sample was a significant factor decreasing diagnostic accuracy of pathological subtype (OR, 4.037; 95% CI 1.446-11.267, p=0.008). Additionally, EGFR mutation rate was higher in patients with pathological diagnostic changes than those with confirmed SQCC (16.7% vs 4.4%, p=0.157). Conclusions: Diagnosis based on HE staining only might cause pathological misinterpretation in NSCLC patients with poor differentiation or high-level AD-TMs, especially those with biopsy samples. HE staining and IHC should be combined as pathological diagnostic standard. The occurrence of EGFR mutations in pulmonary SQCC might be overestimated.

Strengthen RFID Tags Security Using New Data Structure

Yan Liang,Chunming Rong 보안공학연구지원센터 2008 International Journal of Control and Automation Vol.1 No.1

Compound glycyrrhizin injection for improving liver function in children with acute icteric hepatitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Liang Shi-Bing,Hou Wen-Bin,Zheng Ruo-Xiang,Liang Chang-Hao,Yan Li-Jiao,Wang Hao-Nan,Cao Hui-Juan,Han Mei,Robinson Nicola,Liu Jian-Ping 한국한의학연구원 2022 Integrative Medicine Research Vol.11 No.1

Background: Compound glycyrrhizin injection (CGI) is a preparation with glycyrrhizin as the main active ingredient extracted from licorice. As clinical trials suggest that CGI is effective in improving liver function for acute icteric hepatitis in children (AIHC), this systematic review aimed to evaluate and verify its therapeutic effects and safety. Methods: Six electronic databases were searched from their inception to 15 May 2021. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing therapeutic effects and safety of CGI for AIHC were included. The risk of bias for each trial was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool 2.0. Primary outcomes were indexes related to liver function, including total bilirubin (TBiL), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST). RevMan 5.4 software was used for data analyses. The certainty of the evidence was assessed using the online GRADEpro tool. Results: Six RCTs involving 608 children were included. The overall bias was assessed as having “high risk of bias” in all trials. All trials compared the combination of CGI and conventional western medicine (CWM) with CWM alone. Regarding the effects of CGI for AIHC, results showed that CGI plus CWM was superior to CWM alone in reducing the levels of TBiL (mean difference (MD) = -8.19 mmol/L, 95% CI -9.86 to -6.53), ALT (MD = -24.09 U/L, 95% CI -30.83 to -17.34) and AST (MD = -18.67 U/L, 95% CI -21.88 to -15.45). No trial reported adverse events. The certainty of the evidence for outcomes were all evaluated as low or very low. Conclusion: CGI may have adjuvant therapeutic effects on improving the liver function of children with AIHC. There is no evidence to determine the safety of CGI for AIHC. As current evidence is weak, further well-designed RCTs are required for verification of the therapeutic effects of CGI. Background: Compound glycyrrhizin injection (CGI) is a preparation with glycyrrhizin as the main active ingredient extracted from licorice. As clinical trials suggest that CGI is effective in improving liver function for acute icteric hepatitis in children (AIHC), this systematic review aimed to evaluate and verify its therapeutic effects and safety. Methods: Six electronic databases were searched from their inception to 15 May 2021. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing therapeutic effects and safety of CGI for AIHC were included. The risk of bias for each trial was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool 2.0. Primary outcomes were indexes related to liver function, including total bilirubin (TBiL), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST). RevMan 5.4 software was used for data analyses. The certainty of the evidence was assessed using the online GRADEpro tool. Results: Six RCTs involving 608 children were included. The overall bias was assessed as having “high risk of bias” in all trials. All trials compared the combination of CGI and conventional western medicine (CWM) with CWM alone. Regarding the effects of CGI for AIHC, results showed that CGI plus CWM was superior to CWM alone in reducing the levels of TBiL (mean difference (MD) = -8.19 mmol/L, 95% CI -9.86 to -6.53), ALT (MD = -24.09 U/L, 95% CI -30.83 to -17.34) and AST (MD = -18.67 U/L, 95% CI -21.88 to -15.45). No trial reported adverse events. The certainty of the evidence for outcomes were all evaluated as low or very low. Conclusion: CGI may have adjuvant therapeutic effects on improving the liver function of children with AIHC. There is no evidence to determine the safety of CGI for AIHC. As current evidence is weak, further well-designed RCTs are required for verification of the therapeutic effects of CGI.

Reduction of fatty acid flux at low temperature led to enhancement of β-carotene biosynthesis in recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Liang Sun,Fei Shang,Chang-Qing Duan,Guo-liang Yan 한국화학공학회 2015 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.32 No.7

Transferring the recombinant S. cerevisiae T73-63 from 30 oC to 4 oC resulted in 41.4% increment of β-carotene concentration (3.96mg/g dry cell weight) relative to that of 30 oC, which was accompanied with the accumulation of fatty acid and ergosterol. The comparisons of the transcriptional levels of mevalonate pathway genes indicated that the expressions of HMG1, ERG9, ERG19, ERG20 and IDI1 at 4 oC were all higher than those of 30 oC, respectively. This suggested that increased transcriptions of mevalonate pathway genes contribute to the improvement of β-carotene production at low temperature. We also found that supplementation of 30mg/L triclosan, an inhibitor of fatty acid synthesis, led to further 28.3% enhancement of β-carotene concentration (4.94mg/g DCW), which was 18.8% higher than that of 30 oC with the same concentration of triclosan. The higher expressional levels of HMG, ERG19 and ERG20 and the simultaneous increment of ergosterol content (17.8%) suggested that more carbon source was transferred from fatty acid synthesis to mevalonate pathway under the circumstance of appropriately blocking fatty acid synthesis at low temperature (4 oC), which resulted in a higher increment of β-carotene production compared to that of 30 oC. The results of this study collectively suggest that the combination of reducing temperature and adding fatty acid synthesis inhibitors is a potential approach to improve the production of desirable isoprenoid compounds such as carotenoids.

ASYMPTOTIC NORMALITY OF WAVELET ESTIMATOR OF REGRESSION FUNCTION UNDER NA ASSUMPTIONS

Liang, Han-Ying,Qi, Yan-Yan Korean Mathematical Society 2007 대한수학회보 Vol.44 No.2

Consider the heteroscedastic regression model $Y_i=g(x_i)+{\sigma}_i\;{\epsilon}_i=(1{\leq}i{\leq}n)$, where ${\sigma}^2_i=f(u_i)$, the design points $(x_i,\;u_i)$ are known and nonrandom, and g and f are unknown functions defined on closed interval [0, 1]. Under the random errors $\epsilon_i$ form a sequence of NA random variables, we study the asymptotic normality of wavelet estimators of g when f is a known or unknown function.

Rehmannioside D mitigates disease progression in rats with experimental-induced diminished ovarian reserve via Forkhead Box O1/KLOTHO axis

Yan Liang,Huimin Wang,Jin Chen,Lingyan Chen,Xiaoyong Chen 대한약리학회 2023 The Korean Journal of Physiology & Pharmacology Vol.27 No.2

This study aims to explore the impact of Rehmannioside D (RD) on ovarian functions of rats with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) and its underlying mechanisms of action. A single injection of cyclophosphamide was performed to establish a DOR rat model, and fourteen days after the injection, the rats were intragastrically administrated with RD for two weeks. Rat estrus cycles were tested using vaginal smears. Ovarian tissues were histologically evaluated, the number of primordial, mature, and atretic follicles was calculated, and the apoptotic rate of granulosa cells. Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and estradiol (E2) levels were determined by ELISA assays. Protein levels of Forkhead Box O1 (FOXO1), KLOTHO, Bcl-2, and Bax were investigated in ovarian tissues of DOR rats. The binding between FOXO1 and KLOTHO was verified by ChIP assay. High-dose administration of RD into DOR rats improved their estrus cycles, increased ovarian index, enhanced the number of primordial and mature follicles, reduced the number of atretic follicle number, and ovarian granulosa cell apoptosis in addition to inhibiting FSH and LH levels and upregulating E2 expression. FOXO1 and KLOTHO were significantly suppressed in DOR rats. FOXO1 knockdown partially suppressed the protective effects of RD on DOR rats, and KLOTHO overexpression could restore RD-induced blockade of DOR development despite knocking down FOXO1. FOXO1 antibody enriched KLOTHO promoter, and the binding between them was reduced in DOR group compared to that in sham group. RD improved ovarian functions in DOR rats and diminished granulosa cell apoptosis via the FOXO1/KLOTHO axis

Study of Automatic Piano Transcription Algorithms based on the Polyphonic Properties of Piano Audio

Yan Liang,Feng Pan 대한전자공학회 2023 IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing & Computing Vol.12 No.5

The polyphonic characteristics of piano audio make automatic transcription particularly challenging. This study briefly analyzed the polyphonic characteristics of piano audio and introduced three piano audio features: short-time Fourier transform (STFT), constant-Q transform (CQT), and variable-Q transform (VQT). An algorithm integrating a convolutional neural network (CNN) with a bidirectional gated recurrent unit (BiGRU) was developed and tested on the MAPS dataset to detect the note start and end points and fundamental tones of polyphone. The results showed that the combined algorithm performed better than STFT and CQT when VQT was used as input, and CNN-BiGRU outperformed CNN and CNN-GRU in terms of the P value, R-value, and F1-measure in the fundamental tone detection of 97.16%, 97.34%, and 97.25%, respectively. The experimental results of this paper confirmed that the designed automatic piano transcription algorithm is reliable and can be further adopted in the practical music field.

Direct Electrodeposition to Fabricate a Graphene Nanosheet-Modified Electrode for Imidacloprid Determination

Liang Yan,Zhicheng Li,Shaojun Zhang 성균관대학교(자연과학캠퍼스) 성균나노과학기술원 2016 NANO Vol.11 No.7

In this study, a film of electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ERGO) deposited onto a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was prepared through the pulse potential method (PPM). The asprepared film was characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The ERGO film was applied for the first time to develop a highly sensitive electrochemical sensor for imidacloprid determination. Results revealed that the ERGO film can effectively increase response towards imidacloprid reduction by significantly enhancing the reduction peak currents and decreasing the over potential of imidacloprid. Under optimum conditions, the modified electrode showed a linear voltammetric response to imidacloprid at concentrations ranging from 3.0 x 10-8 mol L-1 to 1.1 x 10-6 mol L-1, with a detection limit of 1.0 x 10-8 mol L-1. The developed electrode is potentially a good candidate for imidacloprid determination. The proposed method provides a good recovery rate of imidacloprid in spiked practical samples, such as lake water and tap water.

A New Approach to Proposition Set Reduction Based on the Minimal Transversal of Waned Values Hypergraph

Liang Yan,Wu Jie,Ma Yuan 보안공학연구지원센터 2016 International Journal of Hybrid Information Techno Vol.9 No.7

It is an important foundation for the in-depth application of the propositional logic to compute all reductions, and this is a hot subject at present. This paper defines the identity element concept and the zero element concept in concept lattice. It proves that the minimal transversal of waned values hypergraph of zero element concept is a reduction in inducible context, and it also proves that the minimal transversal set is a full reduction set. Furthermore, the paper presents a new method based on intent waned values and hypergraph minimal transversal of concept lattice. By this method, all reductions can be quickly computed all at once. It develops the reducing algorithm. Compared with the original algorithm, which compute a reduction every time in first and gradually aggregate all reductions, the operating number of the improved algorithm is remarkably reduced. The approach has the remarkable advantages and good results.