Regardless of the presence of cirrhosis, patients with CHB, TB ≥12 mg/dL and INR ≥1.5 should be diagnosed with ACLF. The new criteria diagnosed nearly 20% more patients with an HBV aetiology with ACLF, thus increasing their opportunity to receive timely intensive management.

Typical 18-electron half-Heusler compounds, ZrNiSn and NbFeSb, have been identified as promising high temperature thermoelectric materials. NbCoSb with nominal 19 valence electrons, which is supposed to be metallic, has recently been reported to also exhibit thermoelectric properties of a heavily doped n-type semiconductor. Here we experimentally demonstrate, for the first time, that This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 2 the nominal 19-electron NbCoSb is actually the composite of 18-electron Nb 0.8+ CoSb (0 ≤ < 0.05) and impurity phases. Single phase Nb 0.8+ CoSb with intrinsic Nb vacancies, following the 18-electron rule, possesses improved thermoelectric performance, and the slight change in the content of Nb vacancies has a profound effect on the thermoelectric properties. The carrier concentration can be controlled by varying the Nb deficiency, and the optimization of the thermoelectric properties can be realized within the narrow pure phase region. Benefiting from the elimination of impurity phases and the optimization of carrier concentration, thermoelectric performance is remarkably enhanced by ~100% and a maximum zT of 0.9 is achieved in Nb 0.83 CoSb at 1123 K. This work expands the family of half-Heusler thermoelectric materials and opens a new avenue for searching for nominal 19electron half-Heusler compounds with intrinsic vacancies as promising thermoelectric materials.

The effectiveness of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (hBMSC) transplantation to treat acute and chronic liver injury has been demonstrated in animal models and in a few nonrandomized clinical trials. However, no studies have investigated hBMSC transplantation in the treatment of fulminant hepatic failure (FHF), especially in large animal (pig) models. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the safety, effectiveness, and underlying mechanism of hBMSC transplantation for treating FHF in pigs through the intraportal route. Human BMSCs (3 3 10 7 ) were transplanted into pigs with FHF via the intraportal route or peripheral vein immediately after D-galactosamine injection, and a sham group underwent intraportal transplantation (IPT) without cells (IPT, peripheral vein transplantation [PVT], and control groups, respectively, n 5 15 per group). All of the animals in the PVT and control groups died of FHF within 96 hours. In contrast, 13 of 15 animals in the IPT group achieved long-term survival (>6 months). Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that transplanted hBMSC-derived hepatocytes in surviving animals were widely distributed in the hepatic lobules and the liver parenchyma from weeks 2 to 10. Thirty percent of the hepatocytes were hBMSC-derived. However, the number of transplanted cells decreased significantly at week 15. Only a few single cells were scattered in the regenerated liver lobules at week 20, and the liver tissues exhibited a nearly normal structure. Conclusion: Immediate IPT of hBMSCs is a safe and effective treatment for FHF. The transplanted hBMSCs may quickly participate in liver regeneration via proliferation and transdifferentiation into hepatocytes during the initial stage of FHF. This method can possibly be used in future clinical therapy. (HEPATOLOGY 2012;56:1044-1052 E nd-stage hepatic failure is a potentially lifethreatening condition for which orthotopic liver transplantation is the only effective treatment. 1,2 However, a shortage of available donor organs for transplantation results in the death of many patients awaiting liver transplantation. Hepatocyte transplantation provides a promising alternative, and numerous experiments have demonstrated that hepatocyte transplantation improves liver function in animals with hepatic failure and innate liver-based metabolic disorders. 3,4 However, hepatocyte transplantation has rarely produced therapeutic effects, because mature hepatocytes cannot be effectively expanded in vitro and the availability of hepatocytes is often limited by shortages of donor organs. 5,6 Thus, previous studies have focused on the development of various stem cells that could be readily isolated using noninvasive procedures to yield hepatocytes in vitro and in vivo.Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) can differentiate into osteoblasts, adipocytes, and other mesenchymal cell lineages. 7-10 The hepatocyte differentiation capacity of human BMSCs (hBMSCs) has been Abbreviations: ALB, albumin; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; BMSC, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell;...

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