Serum adenosine deaminase, 5′ nucleotidase and malondialdehyde in acute infective hepatitis

Serum adenosine deaminase (ADA), 5′ nucleotidase (5′NT) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were estimated in patients with acute infective hepatitis (AIH) along with the routine parameters of liver disease. Present study is done to evaluate these special parameters in patients with clinical history of AIH and to assess the utility of these parameters as diagnostic/ prognostic indices of liver function and to correlate special parameters with routine live function tests (LFT). ADA, 5′NT and MDA along with routine LFT was estimated in 25 patients with AIH and 25 samples from healthy voluntary blood donars served as the control group. Routine LFT was estimated by standard clinical chemistry procedures on dade behring analyser and ADA, 5′NT and MDA were estimated by berthlot reaction, fiske and subbarao method and thiobarbituric acid method respectively. Statistical analysis showed that serum ADA, 5′NT and MDA were significantly higher in patients as compared with the controls. There was a significant positive correlation between ADA and total bilirubin and MDA and total bilirubin. Hence we can conclude that these tests would be more sensitive to diagnose the patients with AIH and that the raised bilirubin levels could be looked upon, as a protective mechanism which the liver has evolved in order to combat oxidative stress.     

A Single Centre Prospective Study of Liver Function Tests in Post Liver Transplant Patients

Liver transplantation means surgical replacement of a diseased liver with a healthy liver. The survival rate used to be 30 % after 1 year and LTx was considered to be the last procedure when all medical or surgical intervention failed. Advances in donor organ preservation, surgical techniques, patient selection, immunosuppressive regimens and treatments for opportunistic infections all have contributed to substantially improve the survival rates. Despite substantial technological, medical and surgical advances, liver transplantation remains a complex procedure that is accompanied by significant morbidity and mortality. The post-operative outcome of each patient varies greatly depending on the patient’s pre- operative state, quality of the donated organ and the complexity of the surgery. Complications occur both immediately post transplant and in the long term. Most of the problems can be satisfactorily assessed with a panel of routine LFTs results of which are generated quickly, cheaply on the analyzer which operates 24 h. Liver Function Test identifies the presence of problem but not problem itself. Abnormal results can be meaningful only when used with clinical data, radiological findings. The study includes 75 post LTx patients in three groups adults (non ACR), Pediatrics and ACR. All recipients were on immunosuppressive therapy (tacrolimus, mycophenolate and methylprednisolone), antiviral (ganciclovir), antiprotozoal, antibacterial and antifungal (fluconazole). 5 mL of blood was drawn in plain vacutainer from the post LTx patients every day for 15 days and LFT and GGT was done. Routinely performed liver function tests correlates well with clinical complications involving liver in the transplant patients. Instead of daily testing, may be alternate day analysis of LFT should be sufficient for effective monitoring of patients. The total protein and albumin and the transaminases offer little help in monitoring LFT post LTx. The elevated levels of serum GGT and ALP may be related to chronic immune damage to the transplanted liver. Serum GGT and ALP can be used as early markers for diagnosing biliary complications and can be used to asses adequacy of endoscopic treatment in the group of patients presenting early. Thus, most of the problems can be satisfactorily assed with a panel of routine LFTs generated quickly, cheaply on analyzer which operates 24 h each day. However, it must be emphasized that LFTs may identify the presence of problems but not the problem itself and the abnormal results are meaningful only when correlated with other clinical information.     

The new oral anticoagulants and the future of haemostasis laboratory testing

The tests currently employed within most haemostasis laboratories to monitor anticoagulant therapy largely comprise the prothrombin time (PT)/ International Normalised Ratio (INR) and the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT). These are respectively used to monitor Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) such as warfarin, and unfractionated heparin. Additional tests that laboratories may also employ for assessing or monitoring unfractionated heparin include thrombin time (TT) and the anti-Xa assay, which can also be used to monitor low molecular weight heparin. Several new anti-thrombotic agents have recently emerged, or are in the final process of clinical evaluation. These novel drugs that include Dabigatran etexilate and Rivaroxaban would not theoretically require monitoring; however, testing is useful in specific situations. The tests currently used to monitor VKAs and heparin are typically either too sensitive or too insensitive to the new drugs to be used as ‘typically performed in laboratories’, and may thus require some methodological adjustments to increase or decrease their sensitivity. Alternately, different tests may be better employed in these assessments. Whatever the case, laboratories may soon be performing a reduced or possibly increased number of tests, the same kind of tests but perhaps differently, or conceivably different assay panels. Specific laboratory guidance on the choice of the appropriate test to be ordered according to the drug being administered, as well as on appropriate interpretation of test results, will also be necessary. The current report reviews the current state of play and provides a glimpse to the possible future of the coagulation laboratory.     

Separation of sperm and epithelial cells based on the hydrodynamic effect for forensic analysis

In sexual assault cases, forensic samples are a mixture of sperm from the perpetrator and epithelial cells from the victim. To obtain an independent short tandem repeat (STR) profile of the perpetrator, sperm cells must be separated from the mixture of cells. However, the current method used in crime laboratories, namely, differential extraction, is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. To achieve a rapid and automated sample pretreatment process, we fabricated a microdevice for hydrodynamic and size-based separation of sperm and epithelial cells. When cells in suspension were introduced into the device''s microfluidic channels, they were forced to flow along different streamlines and into different outlets due to their different diameters. With the proposed microdevice, sperm can be separated within a short period of time (0.5 h for a 50-μl mock sample). The STR profiles of the products in the sperm outlet reservoir demonstrated that a highly purified male DNA fraction could be obtained (94.0% male fraction). This microdevice is of low-cost and can be easily integrated with other subsequent analysis units, providing great potential in the process of analyzing sexual assault evidence as well as in other areas requiring cell sorting.     

Integration of user profiles: models and experiments in information retrieval

One difficult problem in information retrieval (IR) is the proper interpretation of user queries. It is extremely hard for users to express their information needs in a specific yet exhaustive way. In an effort to alleviate this problem, two theoretical models have been proposed to utilize user characteristics maintained in the form of a user profile. Although the idea of integrating user profiles into an IR system is intuitively appealing, and the models seem viable, no research to date has established a foundation for the roles of user profiles in such a system. Aiming at the investigation of the roles of user profiles, therefore, this study first identifies and extends various query/profile interaction models to provide a ground upon which the investigation can be undertaken. From a continuum of models characterized on the basis of interaction types, metrics, and parameters, nearly 400 models are chosen to investigate the “model space.” New measures are developed based on the notion of user satisfaction/frustration. In addition, three different criteria are used to guide users in making judgments on the quality of retrieved items. Analysis of the data obtained from the experiments shows that, for a wide variety of criteria and metrics, there are always some query/profile interaction models that outperform the query alone model. In addition, preferable characteristics for different criteria are identified in terms of interaction types, parameters, and metrics.     

Establishment of gender- and age-specific reference intervals for serum liver function tests among the elderly population in northeast China: a retrospective study

IntroductionReference intervals (RIs) for younger population may not apply to the elderly population. The aim of this study was to establish gender- and age-specific RIs for serum liver function tests among the elderly population and to compare with younger population RIs currently used in China and other countries.Materials and methodsThis was a retrospective study, and subjects (≥ 18 year-old) were recruited from the laboratory information system (LIS) at the First Hospital of Jilin University between April 2020 and April 2021. The following parameters were collected: aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), total bilirubin (TBIL), and direct bilirubin (DBIL). The Tukey method was used to eliminate outliers. Reference intervals were established by the nonparametric method.ResultsA total of 23,597 healthy individuals were enrolled in the study. From all parameters AST, ALT, TP and ALB required no gender partition, while ALT, GGT, TP, ALB and DBIL required different partitions for age. Activities and concentrations of ALT, ALB, and TP showed a downward trend in the elderly aged 60-89. In contrast, DBIL showed a gradual upward trend.ConclusionThe RIs for liver function tests among healthy elderly population were different from those among young population in China. There were apparent gender and age differences in the RIs of liver function for elderly and significant differences compared with national standards and RIs in other countries. Therefore, it is necessary to establish gender- and age-specific RIs for serum liver function tests among the elderly population.     

Choronic effects of Lamotrigine on liver function in adult male rats

A number of newly developed antiepileptic drugs are currently in use, among them Lamotrigine (LTG) is more common. Despite the extensive use of this drug, it has not been possible to predict the side effects especially the hepatotoxic reactions after long-term treatment. The present study was designed to find out alterations in the activities of liver enzymes after chronic exposure of rats to different dose of LTG. Adults male (Wistar) rats were treated orally with LTG [5 mg/kg body weight or 25 mg/kg body wt.] for 60 days. After the experimental period, auto analyzer carried out liver function tests. The liver histopathology was obtained after scarifying the rats. There was a significant increase in the level of ALP, AST, ALT and bilirubin at therapeutic dose of LTG. The increase level of these enzymes and bilirubin at toxic dose were much higher and significant. However, the total protein and albumin significantly decreased at toxic dose of LTG. Elevation of liver enzymes and bilirubin after chronic exposure of rats to high dose of LTG reflects hepatocellular damage that may lead to hepatitis. It is concluded that regular liver function and drug monitoring should follow the treatment with LTG.     

Biochemical diagnosis of liver disease

It is important that clinicians and laboratorians, including clinical chemists and pathologists, recognize and understand the clinical significance of abnormal liver function tests. The liver regulates many important metabolic functions. Hepatic injury is associated with distortion of these metabolic functions. Hepatic disease can be evaluated and diagnosed by determining serum concentrations of a number of serum analytes. Many serum analytes exist to assist in the biochemical diagnosis of liver disease. The focus of this paper is on the analytes which are associated with hepatic necrosis, cholestasis, defects in excretion and end stage hepatic disease which results in decreased synthetic function. The abnormalities of these serum analytes will be correlated with the important types of liver disease.     

Efficacy of Tumor Necrosis Factor and Interleukin-10 Analysis in the Follow-up of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Progression

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) is a cytokine involved in systemic inflammation during acute phase reactions. The current study was designed to investigate the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine (TNF-α) along with the anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10) during progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) from simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and fibrosis in diabetic patients, and correlate the levels of cytokines with the progression of NAFLD. Fifty-two diabetic patients compared to 18 healthy controls were participated in this study. Based on clinical diagnosis, patients were divided into three groups: simple steatosis, NASH and fibrosis. Serum liver function tests, fasting blood glucose, bilirubin, ALT, AST, TNF-α, IL-10 and lipid profile were measured. TNF-α levels were significantly higher in NAFLD patients compared to control subjects with a significant positive correlation with body mass index and fasting blood glucose (FBG) but with negative correlation with IL-10. Serum IL-10 levels were significantly lower in NAFLD patients compared with controls. A positive correlation between IL-10 and HDL-C with concomitant negative correlation between IL-10 and FBG and triacylglycerides was found. Cytokine analyses showed that there was a prominent imbalance between TNF-α and IL-10 in patients with NAFLD, and this imbalance increase by increasing the progression of NAFLD especially in obese diabetic patients. TNF-α and IL-10 could be used in diagnosis and follow-up of NAFLD stages in a way to avoid liver biopsies in greater proportion of patients.     

基于MODIS LST修正NDVI时序数列的土地覆盖分类

MODIS以其时间分辨率、光谱分辨率的优势成为全球及区域土地覆盖研究的主要数据源。但如何快速准确的提取所需土地覆盖信息一直是科学界研究的焦点问题。对于NDVI时序数列分类方面的研究很多，其中影响分类精度的一个重要因素就是NDVI的数据质量问题。本文通过试验发现经过SavizkyGolay滤波处理的NDVI时序数列能够反映植被季相变化特征，与传统的滤波效果相比有明显改善，更符合实际情况。通过分析数据的波谱曲线，滤波后的时序数列能较好的区分植被与非植被、草本（一年生）与木本（多年生）覆盖类型。但研究区内一年一熟的农作物与高盖度草地、落叶针叶林与落叶阔叶林具有相似的物候特征，仅通过NDVI序列很难区分。为解决这一问题，本研究利用MODIS地表温度（land surface temperature,LST）产品对NDVI时序数列修正，利用前5个主成分进行分类。所得分类结果用363个野外调查样区进行验证，总分类精度达到了69.15％，kappa系数为0.6499。结果表明添加LST的时序数列比单纯的NDVI夸大了覆盖类型的差异，提高了分类结果的精度。为充分发挥MODIS高时间分辨率的优势，下一步应对多源数据进行定量分析，结合植被的物候关键期识别土地覆盖类型，必将进一步提高分类精度。     

National survey on intra-laboratory turnaround time for some most common routine and stat laboratory analyses in 479 laboratories in China

Introduction

To investigate the state of the art of intra-laboratory turnaround time (intra-TAT), provide suggestions and find out whether laboratories accredited by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15189 or College of American Pathologists (CAP) will show better performance on intra-TAT than non-accredited ones.

Materials and methods

479 Chinese clinical laboratories participating in the external quality assessment programs of chemistry, blood gas, and haematology tests organized by the National Centre for Clinical Laboratories in China were included in our study. General information and the median of intra-TAT of routine and stat tests in last one week were asked in the questionnaires.

Results

The response rate of clinical biochemistry, blood gas, and haematology testing were 36% (479 / 1307), 38% (228 / 598), and 36% (449 / 1250), respectively. More than 50% of laboratories indicated that they had set up intra-TAT median goals and almost 60% of laboratories declared they had monitored intra-TAT generally for every analyte they performed. Among all analytes we investigated, the intra-TAT of haematology analytes was shorter than biochemistry while the intra-TAT of blood gas analytes was the shortest. There were significant differences between median intra-TAT on different days of the week for routine tests. However, there were no significant differences in median intra-TAT reported by accredited laboratories and non-accredited laboratories.

Conclusions

Many laboratories in China are aware of intra-TAT control and are making effort to reach the target. There is still space for improvement. Accredited laboratories have better status on intra-TAT monitoring and target setting than the non-accredited, but there are no significant differences in median intra-TAT reported by them.Key words: quality indicators, quality control, clinical laboratory services     

An experiment in building profiles in information filtering: the role of context of user relevance feedback

An experiment was conducted to see how relevance feedback could be used to build and adjust profiles to improve the performance of filtering systems. Data was collected during the system interaction of 18 graduate students with SIFTER (Smart Information Filtering Technology for Electronic Resources), a filtering system that ranks incoming information based on users' profiles. The data set came from a collection of 6000 records concerning consumer health. In the first phase of the study, three different modes of profile acquisition were compared. The explicit mode allowed users to directly specify the profile; the implicit mode utilized relevance feedback to create and refine the profile; and the combined mode allowed users to initialize the profile and to continuously refine it using relevance feedback. Filtering performance, measured in terms of Normalized Precision, showed that the three approaches were significantly different (α=0.05 and p=0.012). The explicit mode of profile acquisition consistently produced superior results. Exclusive reliance on relevance feedback in the implicit mode resulted in inferior performance. The low performance obtained by the implicit acquisition mode motivated the second phase of the study, which aimed to clarify the role of context in relevance feedback judgments. An inductive content analysis of thinking aloud protocols showed dimensions that were highly situational, establishing the importance context plays in feedback relevance assessments. Results suggest the need for better representation of documents, profiles, and relevance feedback mechanisms that incorporate dimensions identified in this research.     

国家实验室技术转移模式与影响因素的研究进展综述

在发达国家特别是在美国,国家实验室以及类似的公共创新平台经历了长期的发展,在整个科技创新体系和创新生态中一直扮演着十分重要的角色。本文以技术转移效率理论作为分析框架,分析了当前国家实验室技术转移研究的进展,对国家实验室技术转移的各个模式进行了分类及评价。另外,在现有文献综述的基础上,本文还梳理总结了可能影响国家实验室技术转移的因素,并归纳梳理了国家实验室技术转移的影响因素与不同转移模式之间存在的关联,从而为指导下一步研究奠定了基础。最后,本文总结我国需要推进国家实验室技术转移的实证研究,并且指出价值网络扩散会是国家实验室技术转移模式的未来发展方向,需要进一步关注。     

Smartphone use while driving: A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of personality profiles influencing frequent high-risk smartphone use while driving in Germany

Smartphone use while driving causes car crashes, injuries and high death rates. To date, there is little research into what motivates frequent smartphone use while driving. In this study, we draw on psychological research indicating that personality profiles defined as constellations of multiple personality traits, influence individual beliefs and behaviors. We apply fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to survey data to derive profiles of drivers who use their smartphone frequently while driving. Our results indicate that personality profiles affect smartphone use behavior while driving and that three equifinal profiles, i.e. distinct constellations of the big five personality traits, influence frequent smartphone use while driving. Interestingly, a single trait can be low in one profile and high in another profile and, depending on the other traits, both profiles might reflect drivers using their smartphone frequently. We contribute to the literature that frequent smartphone use while driving is, to some degree, grounded in personality and that just looking at singular traits can yield misleading results. Complementing these theoretical insights by post-survey interviews, we can reveal distinct measures that reduce frequent smartphone use for each of the three profiles.     

制造业"解锁"能力的时序演化分析

通过构建"经济推动-技术投入-能源节控-环境规制-社会保障"制造业"解锁"能力测度体系,利用正态云模型与关联函数对其"解锁"能力进行测度.结果表明,制造业"解锁"能力于2004~2014年期间呈总体上升态势,但仍具有较大提升潜力;制造业各细分行业的"解锁"能力存在较大差异,对国家政策的"敏感性"不同,资本密集型制造行业对政策"敏感性"最高;制造业总体"解锁"能力进一步提高,但还存在局部短板指标的制约,如平均劳动生产率偏低、科技成果转化效率不足等.     

美国能源部国家实验室基础研究特征及启示

国家实验室是面向世界科技前沿和国家战略需求开展高水平基础和应用基础研究的战略科技力量和重大原始创新的平台。如何强化目标导向的国家实验室战略性基础研究,并与产学研开展关键技术协同攻关,提高我国前沿技术和战略领域的原始创新能力,是我国国家实验室建设中亟待解决的关键问题。美国能源部国家实验室是美国开展战略性基础研究和前沿技术探索的核心力量,在世界同类机构中处于领先地位。基于基础研究投入-产出分析框架,对美国能源部国家实验室战略性基础研究组织运行模式及产出特征进行系统调研和分析,研究发现,美国能源部国家实验室基于明确的战略定位和研究方向,组织开展战略性基础研究,在经费投入结构和研发团队结构、基础研究产出水平、学科领域布局等方面各具特点;国家实验室通过与政府、非营利机构、大学和企业以及国家实验室之间的合作开展协同研究与创新,同时开展差异化的国际合作研究,形成以发达国家为主、并不断加强与中国合作的国际合作模式。研究结果对我国布局建设国家实验室、开展战略性基础研究具有重要的参鉴价值。     

Profiting from innovation in the digital economy: Enabling technologies,standards, and licensing models in the wireless world

The value-capture problem for innovators in the digital economy involves some different challenges from those in the industrial economy. It inevitably requires understanding the dynamics of platforms and ecosystems. These challenges are amplified for enabling technologies, which are the central focus of this article. The innovator of an enabling technology has a special business model challenge because the applicability to many downstream verticals forecloses, as a practical matter, ownership of all the relevant complements. Complementary assets (vertical and lateral) in the digital context are no longer just potential value-capture mechanisms (through asset price appreciation or through preventing exposure to monopolistic bottleneck pricing by others); they may well be needed simply for the technology to function. Technological and innovational complementors present both coordination and market design challenges to the innovator that generally lead to market failure in the form of an excess of social over private returns. The low private return leads to socially sub-optimal underinvestment in future R&D that can be addressed to some extent by better strategic decision-making by the innovator and/or by far-sighted policies from government and the judiciary.The default value-capture mechanism for many enabling technologies is the licensing of trade secrets and/or patents. Licensing is shown to be a difficult business model to implement from a value-capture perspective. When injunctions for intellectual property infringement are hard to win, or even to be considered, the incentives for free riding by potential licensees are considerable. Licensing is further complicated if it involves standard essential patents, as both courts and policy makers may fail to understand that development of a standard involves components of both interoperability and technology development. If a technology standard is not treated as the embodiment of significant R&D efforts enabling substantial new downstream economic activity, then rewards are likely to be calibrated too low to support appropriate levels of future innovation.     

Experimental Validation of Antidiabetic Potential of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cayratia trifolia</Emphasis> (L.) Domin: An Indigenous Medicinal Plant

The present study was undertaken to evaluate antidiabetic and antioxidant activities of Cayratia trifolia root extract against streptozotocin induced diabetes in experimental rats to scientifically validate its use against diabetes in some parts of India. Ethanolic extract, showing the highest activity in in vitro experiments, was prepared in saline and administered orally to streptozotocin induced albino Wistar diabetic rats for 21 days. Biochemical parameters liver and muscles glycogen and in vivo antioxidant activity in normal, diabetic control, standard (metformin) and treated animals were determined and compared. Attempt was made to isolate, purify and characterize one of the major secondary metabolites in extract by range of chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. Treatment of streptozotocin induced diabetic rats with ethanolic root extract (500 mg/kg) caused significant (P < 0.01) reduction in blood glucose (312–178 mg/dL), increase in body weight (181–219 g) and serum insulin (1.28–2.26 IU/dL). It also maintained lipid profile and tests of liver and kidney functions within normal range as compared to diabetic control rats and almost at par with standard drug metformin. The oxidative stress induced decline in glutathione and catalase in liver and kidney tissues showed recovery nearly to normal level as a function of treatment. The GC–MS profile of the extract showed relatively high concentration of β-sitosterol which was characterized by different spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques. The result scientifically and comprehensively validate the reported use of roots of this indigenous plant against diabetes. A strong antioxidant activity of the ethanolic root extract suitably compliments the antidiabetic effect.     

Diagnostic Laboratories in India: Investigating Quality Characteristics,Productivity and Time of Reporting

This is the result of a Survey of diagnostics laboratories in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region with perspectives on India, investigating the three key aspects that are central to the success of a laboratory: quality, cost and speed. This Survey provides a comparison in selected performance indicators in a large number of diagnostic laboratories in a broad range of countries in the APAC region. The Survey provides data on some key performance characteristics such as quality improvement activities, staff productivity and Turnaround Time (TAT). This Survey also demonstrates in India the common issues facing all the laboratories surveyed but also common solutions using a Quality Systems approach which involves Accreditation, customer responsiveness, greater use of IT, automation and Lean principles. Indian laboratories reported less automation and fewer laboratories have Laboratory Information Systems. The productivity by various measures in Indian laboratories was less than in other APAC laboratories. TAT was more commonly monitored in the Indian specimens though there were fewer laboratories compared with the APAC specimens where there were separate TATs for Short Turnaround Time and Routine specimens.