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Objective. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between T-lymphocyte subsets, regulatory T cells (Treg), and hepatic fibrosis in patients with a nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods. A retrospective analysis was conducted on 64 NAFLD patients (research group) and 73 healthy subjects (control group) in our hospital from January 2020 to December 2021. T-lymphocyte subsets (Th17) and Treg, liver function (alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST)), hepatic fibrosis indexes (type III procollagen (PCIII), type IV collagen (CIV), laminin (LN), hyaluronic acid (HA)), inflammatory factors (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8)), and oxidative stress (OS) response ((superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), malondialdehyde (MDA)) were tested. The relationship between Th17/Treg and the abovementioned indexes in NAFLD patients was analyzed. Results. In comparison to the control group, Th17 and Th17/Treg were higher in the research group ( P < 0.05 ). In addition, liver function, liver fibrosis markers, inflammatory factors, and MDA were elevated, while SOD and GSH-PX decreased ( P < 0.05 ). Subsequently, NAFLD patients were divided into groups A (Th17/Treg <1.15, n = 33) and B (Th17/Treg ≥1.15, n = 31) based on their median Th17/Treg levels. It was seen that liver injury, hepatic fibrosis, inflammation, and OS in group A were more severe ( P < 0.05 ). The Pearson correlation coefficient revealed that Th17/Treg was positively correlated with AST, ALT, PCIII, MDA, and inflammatory factors but negatively correlated with SOD and GSH-PX ( P < 0.05 ).

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to improve the hydraulic efficiency without changing the overall dimension. The blade profile optimization design of the aero-centrifugal pump based on the biharmonic equation surrogate model has been studied. Design/methodology/approach First of all, Bezier curves and linear function are used to control the annular angle distribution and the stacking angle of blade profile under the MATLAB platform. Grid independence analysis has been studied to find the finest mesh scheme. After the precision comparison of test data and computation fluid dynamics 15 sets of design parameters are carried out as the boundary condition of the biharmonic equation. The efficiency surrogate model of the biharmonic equation is constructed via iteratively solving of a discrete difference equation. The other two surrogate models of response surface model (RSM) and radial basis function neural network surrogate model (RBFNNSM) are compared with the biharmonic equation surrogate model by the standard of modified complex correlation coefficient R2 and root mean square deviation (RSME). Finally, the artificial fish swarm algorithm has been used to find the global optimal design parameters with the objective function of highest efficiency. Findings The results show that the design parameters code conversion method can reduce the number of optimization parameters from five to three, makes the design space become a cube, and compared with RSM and RBFNNSM, the biharmonic equation surrogate model has higher precision with R2 is 0.8958, RSME is 0.1382. The final optimum result of AFSA is at the point of [1 −1 −1]. The internal flow field analysis shows that after optimization the outlet relative velocity becomes more uniform and the wake effect has been significantly decreased. The hydraulic efficiency of the optimized pump is about 59.45 per cent increasing 5.4 per cent compared with a prototype pump. Originality/value This study developed a new method to optimize the design parameters of aero-centrifugal pump impeller based on biharmonic equation surrogate model, which had a good agreement with experimental values within just 15 sets of the original design. The optimization results shows that the method can improve the hydraulic efficiency significantly.