Clinical Application of Biparametric MRI Texture Analysis for Detection and Evaluation of High-Grade Prostate Cancer in Zone-Specific Regions.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of biparametric MRI texture analysis (TA) in detecting and evaluating high-grade prostate cancer in zone-specific regions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study included 184 consecutively registered biopsy-naive patients in whom prostate cancer was suspected who were undergoing multiparametric prostate MRI. MR images were scored and evaluated by two readers using the Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2 (PI-RADSv2) and biparametric MRI TA in separate sessions. Interobserver agreement on PI-RADSv2 score and textural parameters of biparametric MRI was evaluated. The logistic regression model based on TA was built for different zones of the prostate. ROC analysis was used to compare the TA-based model with other parameters alone. The correlation of each parameter with Gleason score of high-grade prostate cancer was also assessed. RESULTS: Reader reliability ranged from moderate to good for PI-RADSv2 (Cohen κ = 0.525-0.616) and from good to excellent for textural metrics (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.745-0.925). Diagnostic performance was significantly improved by use of the TA-based model (transition zone AUC, 0.87; peripheral zone AUC, 0.89) in comparison with PI-RADSv2 and other texture parameters alone. For the transition zone, entropy had moderate to good correlation with the Gleason score of high-grade prostate cancer (r = 0.562, p = 0.004). In the peripheral zone, entropy (r = 0.614, p = 0.003) and inertia (r = 0.663, p = 0.002) had moderate to good correlations with Gleason score. CONCLUSION: The results of this clinical study indicate that a TA-based model that includes biparametric MRI can be used for identifying high-grade prostate cancer and that specific parameters extracted from TA may be additional tools for assessing tumor aggressiveness.

Diagnostic Performance of Biparametric MRI for Detection of Prostate Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the diagnostic performance of biparametric MRI (bpMRI) for detection of prostate cancer (PCa). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two independent reviewers performed a systematic review of the literature published from January 2000 to July 2017 by using predefined search terms. The standard of pathologic reference was established at prostatectomy or prostate biopsy. The numbers of true- and false-positive and true- and false-negative results were extracted. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies tool was used to assess the quality of the selected studies. Statistical analysis included pooling of diagnostic accuracy, meta-regression, subgroup analysis, head-to-head comparison, and identification of publication bias. RESULTS: Thirty-three studies were used for general data pooling. The overall sensitivity was 0.81 (95% CI, 0.76-0.85), and overall specificity was 0.77 (95% CI, 0.69-0.84). As for clinically relevant PCa, bpMRI maintained high diagnostic value (AUC, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.82-0.88). There was no evidence of publication bias (p = 0.67). From head-to-head comparison for detection of PCa, multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) had significantly higher pooled sensitivity (0.85; 95% CI, 0.78-0.93) than did bpMRI (0.80; 95% CI, 0.71-0.90) (p = 0.01). However, the pooled specificity values were not significantly different (mpMRI, 0.77 [95% CI, 0.58-0.95]; bpMRI, 0.80 [95% CI, 0.64-0.96]; p = 0.82). CONCLUSION: The results of this meta-analysis suggest that bpMRI has high diagnostic accuracy in the detection of PCa and maintains a high detection rate for clinically relevant PCa. However, owing to high heterogeneity among the included studies, caution is needed in applying the results of the meta-analysis.

Comparative study of heavy metals in "soil-wheat" systems between sewage-irrigated areas and clean-water-irrigated areas in suburban Beijing.

After years of irrigating farmland with wastewater, concern is increasing about health risks from heavy metals contaminating wheat grown in sewage-irrigated soils in suburban areas of Beijing, China. The study discussed in this article aimed to compare the characteristics of heavy metal distribution in a sewage-irrigated "soil-wheat" system with those from a clean-water-irrigated area by collecting and analyzing samples from both areas. The results indicated that the average concentrations of copper, chromium, lead, and zinc in sewage-irrigated soil were higher than the values in the clean-water-irrigated region. Irrigation with wastewater could lead to increased bioconcentration factors. Therefore, issues of food contamination caused by sewage irrigation deserve more attention.

The natural product trienomycin A is a STAT3 pathway inhibitor that exhibits potent in vitro and in vivo efficacy against pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Pancreatic cancer is an exceptionally fatal disease. However, therapeutic drugs for pancreatic cancer have presented a serious shortage over the past few decades. Signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3) is persistently activated in many human cancers where it promotes tumour development and progression. Natural products serve as an inexhaustible source of anticancer drugs. Here, we identified the natural product trienomycin A (TA), an ansamycin antibiotic, as a potential inhibitor of the STAT3 pathway with potent activity against pancreatic cancer. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Effects of trienomycin A on transcriptional activity of STAT3 were assessed by the STAT3-luciferase (STAT3-luc) reporter system. In vitro and in vivo inhibitory activity of TA against pancreatic cancer made use of molecular docking, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay, MTS assay, colony formation assay, transwell migration/invasion assay, flow cytometric analysis, immunofluorescence staining, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), western blotting, tumour xenograft model, haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and immunohistochemistry. KEY RESULTS: Trienomycin A directly bound to STAT3 and inhibited STAT3 (Tyr705) phosphorylation, thus inhibiting the STAT3 pathway. Trienomycin A also inhibited colony formation, proliferation, migration and invasion of pancreatic cancer cell lines. Trienomycin A also markedly blocked pancreatic tumour growth in vivo. More importantly, trienomycin A did not show obvious toxicity at the effective dose in mice. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Trienomycin A exerted anti-neoplastic activity by suppressing STAT3 activation in pancreatic cancer. This natural product could be a novel therapeutic candidate for pancreatic cancer.

Health risks of heavy metals in sewage-irrigated soils and edible seeds in Langfang of Hebei province, China.

BACKGROUND: Human exposure to heavy metals is attributed to consumption of food crops grown in polluted soil environment. The objective of our study was to assess the health risks of heavy metals in edible seeds of crops grown in sewage-irrigated soils located in the Langfang of Hebei province, China. Here, heavy metal contents in soils and plants were determined using an internal standard and high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. RESULTS: There was a relative buildup of heavy metals in sewage-irrigated soils in the study area; in particular, all Cr and partial Zn and Cu showed higher concentrations than the limits proposed by the World Health Organization, European Union (EU) and UK. Heavy metal concentrations in edible seeds of plants grown in sewage-irrigated soils partly exceeded the permissible limits set by the EU, UK and the State Environmental Protection Administration in China. With the exception of Cu, health risk index values of each heavy metal investigated by intake of the edible seeds were less than 1. Here, a health risk index of < 1 is considered safe for human consumption. CONCLUSION: The study indicated that there was a relative absence of health risks associated with the ingestion of sewage-irrigated edible seeds.

[Total contents of heavy metals and their chemical fractionation in agricultural soils at different locations of Beijing City].

In this study, 23 groups of suited typical soil-wheat grain samples were collected from different locations of Beijing city (central city, suburban plain and exurban plain), the accumulation, chemical forms and bioavailability of heavy metals in arable soils under different human activity intensity were analyzed, and their source identifications and health risk were discussed. The results showed that (1) Urban soils exhibited Pb contamination with an average concentration (35.59 mg x kg(-1)) above the WHO limit, probably due to the emission of traffic activities and industrial processes. In addition, long-term sewage irrigation and other agricultural activities led to local metal contamination in the suburban agricultural soils. (2) Cu, Zn and Pb were predominantly associated with the residual (35%-75%) and organic (23%-53%) fractions, followed by Fe/Mn oxide (1%-19%), and very small proportion of carbonate (n. d.-5%) and exchangeable (n. d.-2%) fraction. Furthermore, compared with the suburban agricultural soils, Pb, Zn and Cu in the urban agricultural soils showed higher mobility, whereas the exurban agricultural soils presented the lowest mobility. For Cd, the order was contrary. Besides, Cd showed the highest bioavailability among the four metals in suburban and exurban arable soils due to its considerable proportion of exchangeable (13% -31%) and carbonate fractions (11%-27%). (3) Cd and Zn contents in wheat grains were largely dependent on the Fe/Mn ox. fractions in the studied soils (P < 0.05, r were 0.43-0.7). (4) Pb and Zn concentrations in wheat grains in some of the urban and suburban agricultural soils were above the standard limit, which might bring potential risk for the health of the local residents.

Retrospection of recent 30-year changes in the process of soil wind erosion in the Luanhe River Source Area of North China using Cesium-137.

The Luanhe River Source Area belongs to typical semi-arid, agro-pastoral ecotone of North China. It is very important for the prevention and treatment of soil erosion in North China to analyze and evaluate quantitatively the recent 30-year changes in the process of soil wind erosion in this area. Based on long field observations, soil samples from different depths in a representative wind-deposited soil profile in the Luanhe River Source Area were collected. Then the (137)Cs activity of soil samples from different depths in the soil profile was determined using a GEM series HPGe (high-purity germanium) coaxial detector system (ADCAM-100), and their soil properties, such as the soil particle fraction and so on, were analyzed. According to the detected (137)Cs activity of different depths, a continuous time sequence of the wind-deposited soil profile in the study area was established. Furthermore, through assumption on a soil relative wind erosion intensity index (SWEI), recent 30-year changes in the process of soil wind erosion in the Luanhe River Source Area were retrospected . The analysis results revealed that weaker soil wind erosion occurred in the study area from the 1970s to the early 1980s and from the late 1980s to the mid to late 1990s. Conversely, intense periods of soil wind erosion occurred in the mid-1980s and from the late 1990s to 2002.