To study the relationship between the activity of endogenous β-glucuronidase (β-G) in hepatic tissue and the formation of bilirubin stone. We assessed the β-G activity in hepatic tissue of 44 cases of bilirubin stone, 8 cases of cholesterol stone and 25 cases of liver injury by using immunohistochemistry. Results: The cell percentage of β-G positive reaction in bilirubin stone group (49.2%±4.6%) was significantly higher than those in cholesterol stone group (32.5%±3.8%) and liver injury group (27.8%±4.2%), Ｐ＜0.05. There was no relationship between cell percentage of β-G positive reaction and age, patient history, size of stone. Conclusions: The activity of endogenous β-G is closely related to the formation of bilirubin stone. The difference of activity between individuals is possibly the intrinsic factor which may influence the formation of bilirubin stone.
Objective To study the relationship between the levels of plasma fibrinogen, serum bilirubin, uric acid and mild stenosis of coronary artery. Methods Patients with suspected myocardial ischemia who underwent coronary angiography in our hospital were divided into the coronary artery mild stenosis group and the normal control group according to the result of coronary arteriongraphy between April 2007 to May 2009. Logistic regression was used to identify the risk factor of mild stenosis of coronary artery. Results Two-hundred and seventy-nine patients involving 191 patients with mild stenosis of coronary artery and 88 patients with normal coronary artery were included. The factors of gender, age, history of hypertension or diabetes mellitus, smoking history, systolic blood pressure, levels of plasma fibrinogen and serum creatinin were significantly different between the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression models found that the factors of age (OR=1.084, 95%CI 1.040 to 1.129, Plt;0.001), hypertension (OR=3.025, 95%CI 1.462 to 6.261, P=0.003), diabetes mellitus (OR=2.519, 95%CI 1.066 to 5.951, P=0.035), smoking history (OR=5.412, 95%CI 2.186 to 13.401, Plt;0.001), plasma fibrinogen (OR=1.748, 95%CI 1.059 to 2.885, P=0.029), serum bilirubin (OR=0.599, 95%CI 0.418 to 0.858, P=0.005), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (OR=0.219, 95%CI 0.049 to 0.985, P=0.048) were independently associated with mild stenosis of coronary artery. By contrast, the level of serum uric acid was not associated with mild stenosis of coronary artery. Conclusion Except for traditional risk factors, levels of fibrinogen and bilirubin are independent risk factors of mild stenosis of coronary artery.
ObjectiveTo investigate the factors related to recurrent coronary events in patients after coronary artery stent implantation. MethodsWe retrospectively studied the patients performing coronary angiography (CAG) who were admitted to the Department of Cardiology of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University between January 2012 and June 2013. All of the enrolled patients had received CAG in our hospital, with complete coronary angiogram and clinical data. The patients were divided into two groups according to the coronary angiogram and clinical data: coronary event group and non-coronary event group. SPSS 16.0 software was employed for statistical analysis, and multivariate analysis was performed using binary logistic regression model to analyze the risk factors. ResultsA total of 115 patients were included, of which 50 patients had recurrent coronary events. Both the serum total bilirubin and unconjugated bilirubin in patients with coronary events were significantly lower compared with the patients without coronary events at baseline and at the time of CAG reexamination (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The serum total bilirubin at baseline and the serum total bilirubin and unconjugated bilirubin at the time of CAG reexamination were significantly lower in patients with revasculization due to the progression of coronary artery lesions compared with the patients without coronary events (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The serum unconjugated bilirubin in patients with in-stent restenosis were significantly lower compared with the patients without coronary events at baseline and at the time of CAG reexamination (P < 0.05). The results of logistic regression analysis showed that multi-vessel coronary artery disease (two-vessel coronary artery disease: OR=10.094, 95%CI 2.498 to 40.798, P=0.001; three-vessel coronary artery disease: OR=16.047, 95%CI 4.121 to 62.481, P=0.000) and low serum unconjugated bilirubin (OR=0.873, 95%CI 0.773 to 0.987, P=0.03) were independent risk factors of recurrent coronary events. ConclusionMulti-vessel coronary artery disease and low serum unconjugated bilirubin are independent risk factors of recurrent coronary events in patients after coronary artery stent implantation.
The current quantitative methods of bilirubin have disadvantages such as high cost and low sensitivity. Due to the negative correlation between the level of serum bilirubin and the risk of cardiovascular diseases, a fluorescent ratiometric film sensor was developed aiming at bilirubin detection at low level concentration. Blue-emitting and red-emitting gold nanoclusters were assembled into the same film using layer-by-layer self-assembly technology. Detection of bilirubin was achieved based on the intensity ratio of the two nanoclusters. Bilirubin exposure causes fluorescent quenching of the film. The fluorescence intensity ratio of the two cluster probes had quantitative relationship versus bilirubin concentration. Based on this film sensor, a portable fluorescence detection system was designed for the ratiometric sensing of bilirubin. The hardware of the system was mainly composed of main control chip STM32F407, TSL237 and TSL238T optical frequency sensor. A light-avoiding dark room and detection light path were designed through three-dimensional printing to reduce the interference from ambient light and improve detection accuracy. Experimental results showed that the proposed detection system had strong anti-interference, good stability and accuracy. The linear coefficient of bilirubin detected by this system was 0.987. The system presented good results in reproducible experiments and possessed a good linear relationship with the data obtained by standard spectrofluorometer. The portable system is expected to detect serum bilirubin at low levels.
Understanding the mass transfer behaviors in hollow fiber membrane module of artificial liver is important for improving toxin removal efficiency. A three-dimensional numerical model was established to study the mass transfer of small molecule bilirubin and macromolecule bovine serum albumin (BSA) in the hollow fiber membrane module. Effects of tube-side flow rate, shell-side flow rate, and hollow fiber length on the mass transfer of bilirubin and BSA were discussed. The simulation results showed that the clearance of bilirubin was significantly affected by both convective and diffusive solute transport, while the clearance of macromolecule BSA was dominated by convective solute transport. The clearance rates of bilirubin and BSA increasd with the increase of tube-side flow rate and hollow fiber length. With the increase of shell-side flow rate, the clearance rate of bilirubin first rose rapidly, then slowly rose to an asymptotic value, while the clearance rate of BSA gradually decreased. The results can provide help for designing structures of hollow fiber membrane module and operation parameters of clinical treatment.