Objective:This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of serum Golgi protein 73(GP73) alone and GP73 combined with liver stiffness measurement (LSM), aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio index (APRI), and 4-factor-based fibrosis index (FIB4) in diagnosing liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease of different etiologies.Methods:A diagnostic test. A total of 68 patients who underwent liver biopsy in the Department of Traditional and Western Medical Hepatology of the Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University from October 2019 to December 2020 were selected to detect serum GP73 levels. iLivTouch was used to assess liver stiffness measurement (LSM). In addition, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), total bilirubin (TBil), direct bilirubin (DBil), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels, and peripheral platelet (PLT) counts were assayed. The correlation between GP73 and the above indexes was assessed, and APRI and FIB-4 were calculated. SPSS 21.0 statistical software was used for statistical analysis. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was calculated to evaluate diagnostic efficacy of GP73 in identifying hepatic fibrosis stages. Furthermore, the difference between GP73 and liver stiffness, as well as APRI and FIB4 in diagnosing significant fibrosis was assessed.Results:Based on liver biopsy, 13, 18, 17, and 20 cases were diagnosed as stages S0-1, S2, S3, and S4, respectively. The AUC of GP73 diagnosing hepatic fibrosis stage S≥3 and S=4 were 0.806 and 0.844 at cut-off points of 2.06 and 3.27 μg/L, and the sensitivity and specificity were 93.5%, 61.5%, 90.0%, 70.3%, respectively. In addition, GP73 levels were positively correlated with the degree of liver fibrosis ( r=0.547, P<0.001). Conclusions:The efficacy of serum GP73 level in diagnosing the degree of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease from different causes was significantly higher than that of APRI, FIB4, and LSM. The combination of GP73 and FIB4 can further improve the accuracy of diagnosis of liver fibrosis staging S≥3 and S=4, which is a reliable serological marker for the diagnosis of fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease.

Objective:To investigate the efficacy and diagnostic accuracy of changes in cytokine levels before and after non-biological artificial liver (referred to as ABL) treatment in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) in order to establish a basis for treatment timing selection and short-term (28d) prognosis.Methods:90 cases diagnosed with ACLF were selected and divided into a group receiving artificial liver treatment (45 cases) and a group not receiving artificial liver treatment (45 cases). Age, gender, first routine blood test after admission, liver and kidney function, and procalcitonin (PCT) of the two groups were collected. The 28-day survival of the two groups was followed-up for survival analysis. The 45 cases who received artificial liver therapy were further divided into an improvement group and a deterioration group according to the clinical manifestations before discharge and the last laboratory examination results as the efficacy evaluation indicators. Routine blood test, coagulation function, liver and kidney function, PCT, alpha fetoprotein (AFP), β-defensin-1 (HBD-1), 12 cytokines and other indicators were analyzed and compared. A receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) was used to analyze the diagnostic efficacy of the short-term (28 d) prognosis and an independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of ACLF patients. According to different data, Kaplan-Meier method, log-rant test, t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon rank-sum test, χ2 test, Spearman rank correlation analysis and logistic regression analysis were used for statistical analysis. Results:The 28-day survival rate was significantly higher in ACLF patients who received artificial liver therapy than that of those who did not receive artificial liver therapy (82.2% vs. 61.0%, P<0.05). The levels of serum HBD-1, alpha interferon (IFN-α) and interleukin-5 (IL-5) after artificial liver treatment were significantly lower in ACLF patients than those before treatment ( P<0.05), while liver and coagulation function were significantly improved compared with those before treatment ( P<0.05), and there was no statistically significant difference in other serological indexes before and after treatment ( P＞0.05). Before artificial liver treatment, serum HBD-1 and INF-α levels were significantly lower in the ACLF improvement group than in the deterioration group ( P<0.05) and were positively correlated with the patients' prognosis (deteriorating) ( r=0.591, 0.427, P<0.001, 0.008). The level of AFP was significantly higher in the improved ACLF group than that in the deterioration group ( P<0.05), and was negatively correlated with the prognosis (deteriorating) of the patients ( r=-0.557, P<0.001). Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that HBD-1, IFN-α and AFP were independent risk factors for the prognosis of ACLF patients ( P=0.001, 0.043, and 0.036, respectively), and that higher HBD-1 and IFN-α levels were associated with lower AFP level and a deteriorating prognosis. The area under the curve (AUC) of HBD-1, IFN-α, and AFP for short-term (28d) prognostic and diagnostic efficacy of ACLF patients was 0.883, 0.763, and 0.843, respectively, and the sensitivity and specificty was 0.75, 0.75, and 0.72, and 0.84, 0.80, and 0.83, respectively. The combination of HBD-1 and AFP had further improved the diagnostic efficiency of short-term prognosis of ACLF patients (AUC=0.960, sensitivity and specificity: 0.909 and 0.880 respectively). The combination of HBD-1+IFN-α+AFP had the highest diagnostic performance, with an AUC of 0.989, sensitivity of 0.900, and specificity of 0.947. Conclusion:Artificial liver therapy can effectively improve the clinical symptoms and liver and coagulation function of patients with ACLF; remove cytokines such as HBD-1, IFN-α, and IL-5 in patients with liver failure; delay or reverse the progression of the disease; and improve the survival rate of patients. HBD-1, IFN-α, and AFP are independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of ACLF patients, which can be used as biological indicators for evaluating the short-term prognosis of ACLF patients. The higher the level of HBD-1 and/or IFN-α, the higher the risk of disease deterioration. Therefore, artificial liver therapy should be started as soon as possible after the exclusion of infection. In diagnosing the prognosis of ACLF, HBD-1 has higher sensitivity and specificity than IFN-α and AFP, and its diagnostic efficiency is greatest when combined with IFN-α and AFP.

Cholecystic adenomyosis is a common benign lesion of the biliary system. Recently, cholecystic adenomyosis has been diagnosed to harbour an incidental gallbladder cancer (IGBC) on intraoperative or postoperative pathological examinations. In this article, we reviewed 586 patients who were treated at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University with a preoperative diagnosis of cholecystic adenomyosis, and found 5 patients with IGBC diagnosed by pathological examinations. We described the clinical characteristics, imaging features and pathological findings of these 5 cases. We further reviewed the relevant medical literatures to provide a comprehensive view on IGBC of adenomyosis origin.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has become the second leading cause of hepatitis and can further progress to liver fibrosis, liver cirrhosis, and even liver cancer; however, the detailed pathogenesis of NASH remains unclear, and there is still a lack of effective therapeutic drugs. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding, post-transcriptionally regulated, and highly conserved small RNAs in the body and play an important role in a variety of liver diseases. This article mainly reviews the role of miRNAs in the development and progression of NASH.

OBJECTIVE： To evaluate the clinical efficacy and economics of α-lipoic acid injection alone or combined with Mecobalamin injection versus Mecobalamin injection in the adjunctive treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy （DPN）. METHODS： Retrieved from PubMed， Cochrane Library， Embase， CNKI， VIP， CBM and Wanfang database， using “mecobalamin” “α-lipoic acid” and“diabetic peripheral neuropathy”as Chinese retrieval words， “Thioctic acid” “α-lipoic acid” “Methylcobal” “Mecobalamin” “Diabetic peripheral neuropathy” as English retrieval words， relevant randomized controlled trials （RCTs） were collected during the date of database establishment to Aug. 30th， 2018. Meta-analysis was conducted for total response rate. From the perspective of health care providers， cost-effectiveness analysis was used for economic evaluation and sensitivity analysis was conducted by a 15％ fluctuation of cost and total response rate. RESULTS： Totally 13 RCTs were included， involving 1 131 patients. The results of Meta-analysis showed that the total response rate of two-drug combination therapy in the treatment of DPN was higher than that of mecobalamin alone [RR＝1.41， 95％CI（1.28， 1.55）， P＜0.000 01]； that of α-lipoic acid injection alone in the treatment of DPN was higher than that of mecobalamin injection alone [RR＝1.35， 95％CI（1.25，1.47）， P＜0.000 01]， with statistical significance. Results of cost-effectiveness analysis showed that the cost-effectiveness ratio （CER） of Mecobalamin injection was 211.38 yuan， and CER of two-drug combination and α-lipoic acid injection alone were 1 484.42 and    1 383.49 yuan， respectively. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio （ICER） were 4 589.52 and 4 638.82 yuan， which were all lower than per capita GDP in 2017. Sensitivity analysis showed that the cost-effectiveness analysis results kept stable. CONCLUSIONS： Compared with Mecobalamin injection， α-lipoic acid injection combined with Mecobalamin injection in the adjunctive treatment of DPN show high total response rate and economics.