Although there is unequivocal evidence for progression of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) to cirrhosis, there is uncertainty with regard to the progression to nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) and ...NASH.
We investigated the rate of progression to NASH and advanced fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and assessed the factors associated with such progression.
Histological assessment was performed in 36 patients with NAFLD with paired liver biopsies (≥1 year apart; median, 3.8 years; range, 1–10.33 years). NASH Clinical Research Network (NASH CRN) criteria were used to assess NAFLD Activity Score (NAS).
At baseline, 26 (72%) patients had NAFL and 10 (28%) patients had NASH. At follow-up, 27% NAFL progressed to NASH (NAS score ≥5), and 50% of patients with NASH no longer met the criteria of NASH. Fibrosis progressed in 15 (42%), regressed in 9 (25%), and remained stable in 12 (33%) patients overall. Thirty-five percent of patients with NAFL had fibrosis progression. The incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was higher in patients with NASH versus NAFL (40% vs. 27%). Both at the time of baseline and follow-up, liver biopsies, composite models of noninvasive scores such as Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) score and NAFLD fibrosis score, and ratio of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were all significantly higher in progressors than in nonprogressors.
NAFLD is a dynamic liver disease with varying degrees of progression and regression. T2DM was strongly associated with fibrosis progression. Noninvasive fibrosis scores such as AST/ALT ratio, FIB-4 score, and NAFLD fibrosis score can identify those at risk of fibrosis progression.
During the summer of 2018, a widespread drought developed over Northern and Central Europe. The increase in temperature and the reduction of soil moisture have influenced carbon dioxide (CO 2) ...exchange between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems in various ways, such as a reduction of photosynthesis, changes in ecosystem respiration, or allowing more frequent fires. In this study, we characterize the resulting perturbation of the atmospheric CO 2 seasonal cycles. 2018 has a good coverage of European regions affected by drought, allowing the investigation of how ecosystem flux anomalies impacted spatial CO 2 gradients between stations. This density of stations is unprecedented compared to previous drought events in 2003 and 2015, particularly thanks to the deployment of the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) network of atmospheric greenhouse gas monitoring stations in recent years. Seasonal CO 2 cycles from 48 European stations were available for 2017 and 2018. Earlier data were retrieved for comparison from international databases or national networks. Here, we show that the usual summer minimum in CO 2 due to the surface carbon uptake was reduced by 1.4 ppm in 2018 for the 10 stations located in the area most affected by the temperature anomaly, mostly in Northern Europe. Notwithstanding, the CO 2 transition phases before and after July were slower in 2018 compared to 2017, suggesting an extension of the growing season, with either continued CO 2 uptake by photosynthesis and/or a reduction in respiration driven by the depletion of substrate for respiration inherited from the previous months due to the drought. For stations with sufficiently long time series, the CO 2 anomaly observed in 2018 was compared to previous European droughts in 2003 and 2015. Considering the areas most affected by the temperature anomalies, we found a higher CO 2 anomaly in 2003 (+3 ppm averaged over 4 sites), and a smaller anomaly in 2015 (+1 ppm averaged over 11 sites) compared to 2018. This article is part of the theme issue 'Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale'.
During the summer of 2018, a widespread drought developed over Northern and Central Europe. The increase in temperature and the reduction of soil moisture have influenced carbon dioxide (CO
2
) ...exchange between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems in various ways, such as a reduction of photosynthesis, changes in ecosystem respiration, or allowing more frequent fires. In this study, we characterize the resulting perturbation of the atmospheric CO
2
seasonal cycles. 2018 has a good coverage of European regions affected by drought, allowing the investigation of how ecosystem flux anomalies impacted spatial CO
2
gradients between stations. This density of stations is unprecedented compared to previous drought events in 2003 and 2015, particularly thanks to the deployment of the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) network of atmospheric greenhouse gas monitoring stations in recent years. Seasonal CO
2
cycles from 48 European stations were available for 2017 and 2018. Earlier data were retrieved for comparison from international databases or national networks. Here, we show that the usual summer minimum in CO
2
due to the surface carbon uptake was reduced by 1.4 ppm in 2018 for the 10 stations located in the area most affected by the temperature anomaly, mostly in Northern Europe. Notwithstanding, the CO
2
transition phases before and after July were slower in 2018 compared to 2017, suggesting an extension of the growing season, with either continued CO
2
uptake by photosynthesis and/or a reduction in respiration driven by the depletion of substrate for respiration inherited from the previous months due to the drought. For stations with sufficiently long time series, the CO
2
anomaly observed in 2018 was compared to previous European droughts in 2003 and 2015. Considering the areas most affected by the temperature anomalies, we found a higher CO
2
anomaly in 2003 (+3 ppm averaged over 4 sites), and a smaller anomaly in 2015 (+1 ppm averaged over 11 sites) compared to 2018.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale'.
During the summer of 2018, a widespread drought developed over Northern and Central Europe. The increase in temperature and the reduction of soil moisture have influenced carbon dioxide (CO
) ...exchange between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems in various ways, such as a reduction of photosynthesis, changes in ecosystem respiration, or allowing more frequent fires. In this study, we characterize the resulting perturbation of the atmospheric CO
seasonal cycles. 2018 has a good coverage of European regions affected by drought, allowing the investigation of how ecosystem flux anomalies impacted spatial CO
gradients between stations. This density of stations is unprecedented compared to previous drought events in 2003 and 2015, particularly thanks to the deployment of the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) network of atmospheric greenhouse gas monitoring stations in recent years. Seasonal CO
cycles from 48 European stations were available for 2017 and 2018. Earlier data were retrieved for comparison from international databases or national networks. Here, we show that the usual summer minimum in CO
due to the surface carbon uptake was reduced by 1.4 ppm in 2018 for the 10 stations located in the area most affected by the temperature anomaly, mostly in Northern Europe. Notwithstanding, the CO
transition phases before and after July were slower in 2018 compared to 2017, suggesting an extension of the growing season, with either continued CO
uptake by photosynthesis and/or a reduction in respiration driven by the depletion of substrate for respiration inherited from the previous months due to the drought. For stations with sufficiently long time series, the CO
anomaly observed in 2018 was compared to previous European droughts in 2003 and 2015. Considering the areas most affected by the temperature anomalies, we found a higher CO
anomaly in 2003 (+3 ppm averaged over 4 sites), and a smaller anomaly in 2015 (+1 ppm averaged over 11 sites) compared to 2018. This article is part of the theme issue 'Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale'.
Screening programs must balance the benefit of early detection with the cost of overscreening. Here, we introduce a novel reinforcement learning-based framework for personalized screening, Tempo, and ...demonstrate its efficacy in the context of breast cancer. We trained our risk-based screening policies on a large screening mammography dataset from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH; USA) and validated this dataset in held-out patients from MGH and external datasets from Emory University (Emory; USA), Karolinska Institute (Karolinska; Sweden) and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH; Taiwan). Across all test sets, we find that the Tempo policy combined with an image-based artificial intelligence (AI) risk model is significantly more efficient than current regimens used in clinical practice in terms of simulated early detection per screen frequency. Moreover, we show that the same Tempo policy can be easily adapted to a wide range of possible screening preferences, allowing clinicians to select their desired trade-off between early detection and screening costs without training new policies. Finally, we demonstrate that Tempo policies based on AI-based risk models outperform Tempo policies based on less accurate clinical risk models. Altogether, our results show that pairing AI-based risk models with agile AI-designed screening policies has the potential to improve screening programs by advancing early detection while reducing overscreening.
Abstract An antibacterial peptide, Magainin I, was covalently bound to a mixed 11-mercaptoundecanoïc acid (MUA) and 6-mercaptohexanol (C6OH) (ratio 1:3) Self-Assembled Monolayer (SAM) on gold ...surfaces. Each step of the surface functionalization was characterized by Polarization Modulation Reflection Absorption InfraRed Spectroscopy (PM-RAIRS) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The antibacterial activity of the anchored Magainin was tested against three Gram-positive bacteria ( Listeria ivanovii , Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus ), and the results revealed that the adsorbed Magainin I reduced by more than 50% the adhesion of bacteria at the surface, together with the killing of the bacteria that nonetheless adhered to the surface. No release of the peptide was observed upon contact with the bacterial suspension; the activity has proven to be persistent overtime, up to six months after the first use.
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