Surrogate markers of liver fibrosis are needed as an alternative to liver biopsy, which is invasive and life-threatening. Peripheral blood fibrocytes (PBF) are considered to be involved in systemic fibrogenic processes. We measured the level of PBF in patients with chronic hepatitis C by enrolling 70 patients affected with chronic hepatitis C, 20 patients with HCV-positive decompensated cirrhos...

Increased pulmonary blood flow (PBF) is widely thought to provoke pulmonary vascular obstructive disease (PVO), but the impact of wall shear stress in the lung is actually poorly defined. We examined information from patients having cardiac lesions which impact the pulmonary circulation in distinct ways, as well as experimental studies, asking how altered hemodynamics impact the risk of develop...

Our objective was to validate the use of an ultrasonic transit-time flowmeter for the measurement of portal blood flow (PBF) in sheep. Data recorded with this technique were compared with those obtained with an indicator dilution method, and probes were calibrated in vivo. Wethers were fitted with catheters in the portal, jejunal, and ruminal veins and in a mesenteric artery. Ultrasonic flow pr...

Catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) is often the main piece of information used in fisheries stock assessment; however, the catch and effort data that are traditionally compiled from commercial logbooks can be incomplete or unreliable due to many reasons. Pacific bluefin tuna (PBF) is a seasonal target species in the Taiwanese longline fishery. Since 2010, detailed catch information for each PBF has b...

Environmental protection firms need to improve their ability to access financing while maintaining good economic performance under mounting environmental pressures. After the integration of trade-off and stakeholder theories, we have constructed a number of mathematical models to investigate the relationship among financing decisions, environmental performance (EP), and economic performance. Un...

This study was undertaken to assess the influence of gravity on the distribution of pulmonary blood flow (PBF) using increased inertial force as a perturbation. PBF was studied in unanesthetized swine exposed to -Gx (dorsal-to-ventral direction, prone position), where G is the magnitude of the force of gravity at the surface of the Earth, on the Armstrong Laboratory Centrifuge at Brooks Air For...

Palatinose is a disaccharide present in honey, which has the characteristics of delayed digestion and absorption. We developed a palatinose-based balanced formula (PBF) and reported its beneficial effects on metabolic syndrome-related parameters in rats. To examine the effects of PBF in humans, we here conducted a crossover study using twenty-three subjects with impaired glucose tolerance. The ...

The methods of reconstruction of perception based functions (PBF) given by the set of rules like “If X is SMALL then Y is VERY QUICKLY INCREASING”, “If X is BETWEEN A and B then Y is SLOWLY DECREASING” are considered. Such set of rules may be considered as a linguistic description of derivative. Fuzzy functions reconstructed from such description may be considered as solutions of correspondent ...

BACKGROUND Aspiration-induced lung injury can decrease gas exchange and increase mortality. Acute lung injury following acid aspiration is characterized by elevated pulmonary blood flow (PBF) in damaged lung areas in the early inflammation stage. Knowledge of PBF patterns after acid aspiration is important for targeting intravenous treatments. We examined PBF in an experimental model at a later...