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Table 2 Psychometric and biochemical characteristics of responding and non-responding MHE patients before and after rifaximin treatment

From: Improved cognition after rifaximin treatment is associated with changes in intra- and inter-brain network functional connectivity

 

General

Responder

Non-responder

Before treatment

After treatment

Before treatment

After treatment

Before treatment

After treatment

PHES global score‡

− 7.3 ± 0.85

− 4.6 ± 0.76**

− 6.7 ± 0.94

− 3.2 ± 0.66**

− 8.8 ± 1.8

− 8.4 ± 0.68

 DST (items completed)†

21 ± 2

27 ± 1.9*

22 ± 2.5

30 ± 2*

16 ± 2.8

19 ± 1.9

 NCT-A (seconds)‡

74 ± 11

57 ± 7*

67 ± 12

50 ± 8.2

93 ± 26

73 ± 11

 NCT-B (seconds)‡

228 ± 39

159 ± 23

212 ± 44

127 ± 21*

271 ± 85

238 ± 49

 SD (seconds)‡

119 ± 8.2

107 ± 9.3*

116 ± 11

92 ± 6.5*

127 ± 12

147 ± 21

 LTT (seconds + errors)‡

210 ± 14

178 ± 16

196 ± 13

155 ± 13*

247 ± 37

237 ± 35

Stroop-congruent task‡

76 ± 4.2

82 ± 4.2

80 ± 4.9

86 ± 4.8

67 ± 6.9

69 ± 5

Stroop-neutral task‡

56 ± 2.3

62 ± 2.6*

58 ± 2.4

64 ± 3.1*

50 ± 4.7

56 ± 2.8

Stroop-incongruent task†

28 ± 2.1

35 ± 2.2*

29 ± 2.1

35 ± 2.1*

24 ± 5

37 ± 7.1

Bimanual coordination (min)‡

3.3 ± 0.37

3 ± 0.2

2.8 ± 0.18

2.7 ± 0.13

4.5 ± 1.1α

3.8 ± 0.49

Visuo-motor coordination (min)‡

3.8 ± 0.21

3.6 ± 0.27

3.5 ± 0.24

3.3 ± 0.31

4.4 ± 0.3α

4.4 ± 0.41

d2 test

 TR Values†

279 ± 19

290 ± 20

288 ± 23

308 ± 23

246 ± 23

233 ± 32

 TA Values†

97 ± 7.9

105 ± 9.5

97 ± 10

113 ± 11

96 ± 5.8

80 ± 16

 O Values‡

23 ± 6.8

16 ± 5

27 ± 8.3

15 ± 6.5

10 ± 3.8

18 ± 3.4

 C Values‡

11 ± 4.1

6.8 ± 2.8

13 ± 5

5.5 ± 3.3

4.7 ± 2.2

11 ± 5.1

 O + C Values‡

35 ± 9.7

23 ± 8.1

40 ± 12

21 ± 11

15 ± 5.7

29 ± 8.2

 TOT Values†

247 ± 18

268 ± 21

249 ± 22

287 ± 23

240 ± 25

204 ± 39

 CON Values†

85 ± 11

99 ± 11

84 ± 14

108 ± 12

92 ± 4.1

70 ± 22

 VAR Values‡

14 ± 2

12 ± 0.82

15 ± 2.3

12 ± 1.1

12 ± 4.5

12 ± 0.63

Oral SDMT-correct pairings†

25 ± 2.9

32 ± 2.6***

29 ± 3.3

35 ± 2.9**

17 ± 4.2

25 ± 4.8*

Oral SDMT-incorrect pairings‡

1.5 ± 0.36

1.1 ± 0.31

1.5 ± 0.31

1.1 ± 0.38

1.6 ± 1.1

1 ± 0.55

Oral SDMT-total pairings†

27 ± 2.9

34 ± 2.6**

30 ± 3.3

36 ± 2.7*

18 ± 4.2

26 ± 4.8

Digit span-forward†

6.8 ± 0.3

7.4 ± 0.56

7 ± 0.34

7.8 ± 0.62

6.2 ± 0.58

6.6 ± 1.2

Digit span-backward†

4.1 ± 0.43

4.9 ± 0.58

4.2 ± 0.59

4.9 ± 0.74

4 ± 0.32

4.8 ± 0.97

Digit span-total score†

11 ± 0.62

12 ± 1.1

11 ± 0.8

13 ± 1.3

10 ± 0.86

11 ± 2.2

Letter-number sequencing test†

5.4 ± 0.72

5.7 ± 0.82

5.7 ± 0.9

6.5 ± 0.96

4.6 ± 1.2

3.8 ± 1.4

Biochemical measurements

 Ammonia‡

39 ± 6.8

55 ± 9.8

40 ± 7.8

57 ± 13

38 ± 15

49 ± 13

 IL6‡

3.7 ± 0.45

2.3 ± 0.24**

3.8 ± 0.54

2.2 ± 0.31**

3.7 ± 0.88

2.3 ± 0.41

 IL18†

410 ± 39

268 ± 29**

450 ± 41

233 ± 29 ***

307 ± 80

359 ± 56

 CCL20‡

80 ± 14

44 ± 6.3**

86 ± 15

41 ± 6.9**

66 ± 33

51 ± 15

 CXCL13†

168 ± 15

145 ± 18

170 ± 18

123 ± 16**

164 ± 31

204 ± 41

 IL22‡

70 ± 12

47 ± 7.5***

73 ± 15

48 ± 9.6**

63 ± 17

46 ± 12

 IL15†

5.2 ± 0.48

3.2 ± 0.27**

5.6 ± 0.61

3.1 ± 0.36**

4.3 ± 0.64

3.4 ± 0.26

 Fractalkine/CX3CL1†

728 ± 82

624 ± 75*

727 ± 73

663 ± 81

731 ± 249

523 ± 178

  1. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM
  2. PHES, Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score; DST, Digit Symbol Test; NCT-A, NCT-B: Number Connection Test A and B; SD, Serial Dotting Test; LTT, Line Tracing Test; TR, Total number of characters processed; TA, Total right answers; O, Total omission errors; C, Total commission errors; TOT, Total correctly processed; CON, Concentration performance; VAR, difference between maximum and minimum score. All biochemical parameters are in pg/mL, except ammonia levels, which are in µM. Stroop test: Congruent task: number of words read in 45 s; Neutral task: number of colours read in 45 s; Incongruent task: number of items completed in 45 s. Digit span and Letter-number sequencing: measured as number of right answers
  3. †Parametric measurements. ‡ Non-parametric measurements. Differences between pre- and post- treatment were analysed using paired T-test for parametric measurements or paired Wilcoxon test for non-parametric measurements
  4. Differences between responders and non-responders before treatment were analysed using: T-test if measurements were parametric or Wilcoxon test if measurements were not parametric
  5. Resulting levels of significance were corrected using False Discovery Rate (FDR) method, and values of p < 0.05 after FDR correction were considered significant
  6. Significant pre- and post-treatment differences are indicated by *: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001
  7. Significant differences between response groups before treatment are indicated by α: αp < 0.05
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Journal of Translational Medicine

ISSN: 1479-5876

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