Objective To observe the clinical effect of combination of Tongxiening granule and Mesalazine on treating mild and moderate ulcerative colitis(UC) .Methods Totally 380 patients with mild‐to‐moderate UC diagnosed through endoscopy were allocated to the control group (n=190) and observation group(n=190) .For the observation group ,patients were remedied with the combination of Tongxiening Granules and the Mesalazine by oral administration for eight weeks ,meanwhile the control group only received the Mesalazine for eight weeks .The total effective rate of the two groups were statistically analyzed ,and the levels of ser‐um MMP‐2 and MMP‐9 before and after treatment in the two groups were measured .The expression of S100A12 and RAGE were detected by immunohistochemistry SP method .Results The total effective rate of the observation group and the control group was 94 .74% and 89 .47% respectively ,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0 .01) .After treatment ,the expression levels of MMP‐2 and MMP‐9 in the two groups were decreased ,additionally the expression levels in the observation group was lower than those in the control group ,and the difference was statistically significant (P< 0 .01) .After treatment ,the expression levels of RAGE and S100A12 in the observation group were decreased ,and there was a significant difference when compared with the control group(P<0 .01) .Conclusion Combined application of Tongxiening Granules and Mesalazine in treating patients with mild‐to‐mod‐erate UC could better improve clinical symptoms and bring better therapeutic effect than single use of Mesalazine .

Objective: To explore the efficacy of glucocorticoid (GC) therapy on hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), and the effectiveness and safety of voriconazole (VCZ) in preventing pulmonary Aspergillus infection in HBV-ACLF patients treated with GC. Methods: Two hundred and thirty-two patients with HBV-ACLF were enrolled from January 2016 to December 2018 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University. They were divided into non-GC group (104 cases), GC group (74 cases), and GC+ VCZ group (54 cases). The observation period was four months. The baseline liver function, the incidence of pulmonary Aspergillus infection, the survival rate during observation period, and the incidence of complications were compared among the three groups. The adverse reactions of VCZ were observed to identify the best dose for prevention. Quantitative data were analyzed by analysis of variance or rank sum test. Count data were analyzed by chi-square test or Fisher exact test. Results: The baseline liver functions were not significantly different among the three groups (all P>0.05). The incidence of pulmonary Aspergillus infection in the GC group (22.97%(17/74)) was both higher than that in the non-GC group (5.77%(6/104)) and GC+ VCZ group (1.85%(1/54)), the differences were both statistically signifrcant (χ²=11.373 and 9.843, respectively, both P<0.01). The overall mortality rate of HBV-ACLF patients with pulmonary Aspergillus infection was 79.2%(19/24). The survival rate in non-GC group (37.5%(39/104)) showed no statistical difference with that in GC group (39.19%(29/74), χ²=0.052, P=0.819). The survival rate of GC+ VCZ group (66.67%(36/54)) was significantly higher than that in GC group and non-GC group (χ² =12.126 and 9.431, respectively, both P<0.01). The blood concentrations of VCZ were randomly measured in 16 patients from the GC+ VCZ group, and the range was 0.82-5.38 mg/L, with no evident adverse reactions. Conclusions The GC treatment is effective in HBV-ACLF patients in early stage. The VCZ treatment effectively reduces the incidence of pulmonary Aspergillus infection in HBV-ACLF patients receiving GC treatment and increases the survival rate. Oral VCZ (200 mg/d) treatment has a stable blood concentration in HBV-ACLF patients, with rare adverse reactions and good safety.

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of ritonavir-boosted danoprevir (DNVr) combined with daclatasvir (DCV) in the treatment of patients with genotype 1b chronic hepatitis C (CHC).Methods Thirty-three patients with genotype 1b CHC admitted in the Department of Infectious Diseases of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from August 2018 to February 2019 were enrolled.All the patients received DNVr +DCV antiviral treatment.HCV RNA levels were detected before and 2, 4, 12 weeks after treatment, and after drug withdrawal , respectively.Indicators of liver and kidney function and adverse events were observed.ANOVAV of repeated measurement was used to analyze the data. Results The baseline viral loads of 33 patients ranged from 1.12×104 to 1.76×107 IU／mL.Two weeks after treatment the viral loads of all patients were down to the lowest limit of detection (＜500 IU／mL). Serum ALT, AST and TBil levels returned to norml ( F＝58.26, 14.49 and 20.16, all P＜0.05) and sustained virologic response reached 100%12 weeks after drug withdrawal.Three cases had minor adverse reactions during the treatment.Conclusion DNVr combined with DCV can achieve a rapid and strong virological response in the treatment of patients with genotype 1b CHC with good safety.

Objective:To investigate the relationship between the expression of hepatocyte nuclear factor-1 α (HNF-1α) and the occurrence and development of liver inflammation and fibrosis in liver tissues of patients with chronic hepatitis B.Methods:Sixty-four patients with chronic hepatitis B who were diagnosed and treated in our hospital from 2011 to 2018 were selected. All patients underwent ultrasound-guided aspiration liver biopsy. The pathological results of liver biopsy were collected for inflammation grading and fibrosis staging. The liver puncture biopsies was collected by paraffin sectioning. The expression of HNF1α in the liver tissue was detected by immunohistochemical staining. Mantel-Haenszel χ2 test was used for bidirectional ordered grouping data, and Spearman’s rank-correlation test was used for rank correlation analysis. Results:There were varying degrees of inflammatory necrosis and fibrosis in the liver tissues of patients with chronic hepatitis B. There was a linear relationship between the expression of HNF1α and the level of inflammation in liver tissues ( χ2MH = 40.70, P < 0.05). The expression of HNF1α in liver tissues of patients with chronic hepatitis B was decreased with the increase of liver inflammation. The expression intensity of HNF1α was negatively correlated with the inflammation grade ( rs = -0.815, P < 0.05). There was a linear relationship between the expressions of HNF1α and the degree and stage of liver fibrosis ( χ2MH = 31.95, P < 0.05). The expression level of HNF1α in liver tissue was gradually decreased with the aggravation of liver fibrosis. The expression intensity of HNF1α was negatively correlated with fibrosis stage ( rs = -0.713, P < 0.05). Conclusion:HNF1α is closely related to the occurrence and development of liver tissue inflammation and fibrosis, and is expected to be a sensitive indicator for evaluating the level of liver tissue inflammation and fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B. In addition, its down-regulation may be involved in the process of occurrence and development of liver inflammation and liver fibrosis, and may become a new target for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B.

OBJECTIVE: To study the difference in age estimation based on quantitative analysis of DNA methylation by MassARRAY and pyrosequencing techniques. METHODS: The methylation levels of 9 CpG sites from two independent whole blood sample sets (containing 65 and 62 samples) were detected using MassARRAY and pyrosequencing techniques. Z-score transformation was used to remove the batch effects of different techniques, and a linear regression model was used for age prediction. RESULTS: For age prediction using the MassARRAY system, the 65 samples showed a mean absolute difference (MAD) of 2.49 years before Z-score transformation of the data and 2.44 years after the transformation, similar to the results in the 62 samples (MAD of 3.36 years before and 3.42 years after Z-score transformation). For data typed from pyrosequencing, the 65 samples showed a MAD of 4.20 years before and 2.76 years after data Z-score transformation, also similar to the results in the 62 samples (MAD of 3.92 years before and 3.63 years after data transformation). CONCLUSIONS Z-score transformation can effectively reduce the system batch effect between MassARRAY and pyrosequencing. Data from the MassARRAY system allows direct age estimation without further data processing, while the pyrosequencing data may increase the error in age estimation, which can be corrected by Z-score transformation of the data.
CpG Islands/genetics* ; DNA Methylation ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Linear Models ; Sequence Analysis, DNA