Reconsidering N component of cancer staging for T1-2N0-2M0 small-cell lung cancer: a retrospective study based on multicenter cohort.

BACKGROUND: The current nodal (pN) classification still has limitations in stratifying the prognosis of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients with pathological classifications T1-2N0-2M0. Thus. This study aimed to develop and validate a modified nodal classification based on a multicenter cohort. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We collected 1156 SCLC patients with pathological classifications T1-2N0-2M0 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database and a multicenter database in China. The X-tile software was conducted to determine the optimal cutoff points of the number of examined lymph nodes (ELNs) and lymph node ratio (LNR). The Kaplan-Meier method, the Log-rank test, and the Cox regression method were used in this study. We classified patients into three pathological N modification categories, new pN#1 (pN0-#ELNs > 3), new pN#2 (pN0-#ELNs ≤ 3 or pN1-2-#LNR ≤ 0.14), and new pN#3 (N1-2-#LNR > 0.14). The Akaike information criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion, and Concordance index (C-index) were used to compare the prognostic, predictive ability between the current pN classification and the new pN component. RESULTS: The new pN classification had a satisfactory effect on survival curves (Log-rank P < 0.001). After adjusting for other confounders, the new pN classification could be an independent prognostic indicator. Besides, the new pN component had a much more accurate predictive ability in the prognostic assessment for SCLC patients of pathological classifications T1-2N0-2M0 compared with the current pN classification in the SEER database (AIC: 4705.544 vs. 4731.775; C-index: 0.654 vs. 0.617, P < 0.001). Those results were validated in the MCDB from China. CONCLUSIONS: The multicenter cohort developed and validated a modified nodal classification for SCLC patients with pathological category T1-2N0-2M0 after surgery. Besides, we propose that an adequate lymph node dissection is essential; surgeons should perform and consider the situation of ELNs and LNR when they evaluate postoperative prognoses of SCLC patients.

Isolation of exosome from the culture medium of Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) C666-1 cells using inertial based Microfluidic channel.

Isolation of exosome from culture medium in an effective way is desired for a less time consuming, cost saving technology in running the diagnostic test on cancer. In this study, we aim to develop an inertial microfluidic channel to separate the nano-size exosome from C666-1 cell culture medium as a selective sample. Simulation was carried out to obtain the optimum flow rate for determining the dimension of the channels for the exosome separation from the medium. The optimal dimension was then brought forward for the actual microfluidic channel fabrication, which consisted of the stages of mask printing, SU8 mould fabrication and ended with PDMS microchannel curing process. The prototype was then used to verify the optimum flow rate with polystyrene particles for its capabilities in actual task on particle separation as a control outcome. Next, the microchip was employed to separate the selected samples, exosome from the culture medium and compared the outcome from the conventional exosome extraction kit to study the level of effectiveness of the prototype. The exosome outcome from both the prototype and extraction kits were characterized through zetasizer, western blot and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The microfluidic chip designed in this study obtained a successful separation of exosome from the culture medium. Besides, the extra benefit from this microfluidic channels in particle separation brought an evenly distributed exosome upon collection while the exosomes separated through extraction kit was found clustered together. Therefore, this work has shown the microfluidic channel is suitable for continuous separation of exosome from the culture medium for a clinical study in the future.

Incidence and survival analyses for occult lung cancer between 2004 and 2015: a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the incidence and long-term survival outcomes of occult lung cancer between 2004 and 2015. METHODS: A total of 2958 patients were diagnosed with occult lung cancer in the 305,054 patients with lung cancer. The entire cohort was used to calculate the crude incidence rate. Eligible 52,472 patients (T1-xN0M0, including 2353 occult lung cancers) were selected from the entire cohort to perform survival analyses after translating T classification according to the 8th TNM staging system. Cancer-specific survival curves for different T classifications were presented. RESULTS: The crude incidence rate of occult lung cancer was 1.00 per 100 patients, and it was reduced between 2004 and 2015 [1.4 per 100 persons in 2004; 0.6 per 100 persons in 2015; adjusted risk ratio = 0.437, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.363-0.527]. In the survival analysis, there were 2206 death events in the 2353 occult lung cancers. The results of the multivariable analysis revealed that the prognoses with occult lung cancer were similar to patients with stage T3N0M0 (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.054, 95% CI 0.986-1.127, p = 0.121). Adjusted survival curves presented the same results. In addition, adjusted for other confounders, female, age ≤ 72 years, surgical treatment, radiotherapy, adenocarcinoma, and non-squamous and non-adenocarcinoma non-small cell carcinoma were independent protective prognostic factors (all p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Occult lung cancer was uncommon. However, the cancer-specific survival of occult lung cancer was poor, therefore, we should put the assessment of its prognoses on the agenda. Timely surgical treatment and radiotherapy could improve survival outcomes for those patients. Besides, we still need more research to confirm those findings.

Down-regulation of FOXR2 inhibits hypoxia-driven ROS-induced migration and invasion of thyroid cancer cells via regulation of the hedgehog pathway.

Forkhead box R2 (FOXR2), a new member of the FOX family, is involved in a wide range of biological processes such as embryogenesis, differentiation, transformation and metabolic homeostasis. Recently, FOXR2 has been reported to be aberrantly expressed in a variety of cancers and correlated with cancer development. However, the specific role of FOXR2 in thyroid cancer (TC) remains unclear. In this study, we showed that FOXR2 was highly expressed in TC tissues and cell lines. Moreover, down-regulation of FOXR2 inhibited hypoxia-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and migration/invasion of TC cells. We also found that the hedgehog pathway was responsible for the partial mechanisms underlying the inhibitory effect. Taken together, these findings indicated that down-regulation of FOXR2 inhibits hypoxia-driven ROS-induced migration and invasion of TC cells via regulation of the hedgehog pathway. Thus, FOXR2 may hold great potential for TC treatment.

[Personality and psychological characteristics of premature ejaculation patients].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the personality and psychological characteristics of premature ejaculation (PE) patients and the correlation between them two. METHODS: Using Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), we conducted an investigation among 94 PE patients seeking medical advice in Drum Tower Hospital from October 2018 to February 2019. RESULTS: The neuroticism score of the PE patients on EPQ was significantly higher than the national norm of adult males (t = 12.010, P < 0.01), and so was their introversion-extroversion score (t = 2.557, P < 0.05), while their concealment score was markedly lower (t = －8.736, P < 0.01). The coercion score of the patients on SCL-90 was remarkably higher than the national norm of adult males (t = 2.787, P < 0.01), and so were their psychosis score (t = 3.944, P < 0.01) and anxiety score (t = 2.512, P < 0.05). There was a significant correlation between the EPQ and SCL-90 scores of the patients. Psychoticism was found highly positively correlated with terror (r = 0.455, P < 0.01), interpersonal relationship (r = 0.295, P < 0.01), hostility (r = 0.375, P < 0.01), psychosis (r = 0.363, P < 0.01), compulsion (r = 0.284, P < 0.01), depression (r = 0.294, P < 0.01), paranoia (r = 0.336, P < 0.01), somatization (r = 0.400, P < 0.01) and anxiety (r = 0.358, P < 0.01), and so was neuroticism with terror (r = 0.466, P < 0.01), interpersonal relationship (r = 0.611, P < 0.01), hostility (r = 0.509, P < 0.01), psychosis (r = 0.593, P < 0.01), compulsion (r = 0.573, P < 0.01), depression (r = 0.560, P < 0.01), paranoia (r = 0.550, P < 0.01), somatization (r = 0.465, P < 0.01) and anxiety (r = 0.572, P < 0.01). Introversion-extroversion, however, was highly negatively correlated with interpersonal relationship (r = －0.226, P < 0.05) and depression (r = －0.228, P < 0.05), and so was concealment with terror (r= － 0.351, P < 0.01), interpersonal relationship (r = －0.433, P < 0.01), hostility (r = －0.347, P < 0.01), psychosis (r = －0.427, P < 0.01), compulsion (r = －0.345, P < 0.01), depression (r = －0.379, P < 0.01) , paranoia (r = －0.393, P < 0.01), somatization (r = －0.204, P < 0.05) and anxiety (r =－0.237, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The personality and psychological status of PE patients are different from those of normal males, and some personality characteristics of the patients are correlated with their psychological status, especially with high neuroticism.

Surfactant-Free Direct Access to Porphyrin-Cross-Linked Nanogels for Photodynamic and Photothermal Therapy.

Photosensitizing nanogels were obtained through a surfactant-free single-step protocol by using a porphyrin-based cross-linker for stabilizing self-assembled nanosized aggregates of thermoresponsive copolymers. Nanogels with varying amounts of porphyrin retained the singlet oxygen generation ability of the porphyrin core and were also capable of inducing temperature increase upon irradiation at 635 nm. Photoinduced killing efficiency was tested against three cell lines: human breast adenocarcinoma (MDA-MB-231 and MCF7) and pancreatic adenocarcinoma (AsPC-1) cells, and a predominant photodynamic mechanism at 450 nm and a mixed photodynamic and photothermal effect at 635 nm was observed. This innovative access to photosensitizing nanogels is a proof of concept, and opens new perspectives toward the preparation of optimized nanophotosensitizers.

[Surgical plane positioning with a disposable circumcision suture device for the treatment of phimosis and redundant prepuce].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical effects of circumcision by surgical plane positioning with a disposable circumcision suture device in the treatment of phimosis and redundant prepuce. METHODS: From September 2016 to June 2017, we treated 250 patients with phimosis or redundant prepuce, 127 by conventional circumcision (the control group) and the other 123 by surgical plane positioning with a disposable circumcision suture device (the observation group). We compared the operation time, intra-operative bleeding, preputial frenulum alignment, postoperative ecchymosis, and postoperative penile appearance between the two groups of patients. RESULTS: Compared with the controls, the patients in the observation group showed significantly longer operation time (ï¼»4.48 ± 1.18ï¼½ vs ï¼»7.17 ± 1.42ï¼½ min, P<0.05), lower rates of intra-operative frenulum bleeding (15.0% ï¼»19/127ï¼½ vs 4.1% ï¼»5/123ï¼½, P<0.05) and frenulum misalignment (26.8% ï¼»34/127ï¼½ vs 0.8% ï¼»1/123ï¼½, P<0.05), higher incidence of postoperative ecchymosis (41.7% ï¼»53/127ï¼½ vs 21.1% ï¼»26/123ï¼½, P<0.05), and higher satisfaction of the patients with the postoperative penile appearance (92.9% ï¼»18/127ï¼½ vs 98.4% ï¼»121/123ï¼½, P<0.05). However, no statistically significant difference was found between the control and observation groups in intra-operative non-frenulum bleeding (4.7% ï¼»6/127ï¼½ vs 1.6% ï¼»2/123ï¼½, P = 0.164). CONCLUSIONS: Circumcision by surgical plane positioning with a disposable circumcision suture device can effectively avoid preputial frenulum misalignment, reduce intra-operative bleeding, and improve postoperative penile appearance.

Metallic Ni3 P/Ni Co-Catalyst To Enhance Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.

Metallic Ni3 P/Ni can be used as a co-catalyst to replace noble metal Pt for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution, due to its excellent trapping-electron ability. The applications of metallic Ni3 P/Ni co-catalyst on CdS, Zn0.5 Cd0.5 S, TiO2 (Degussa P25) and g-C3 N4 are further confirmed, indicating its versatile applicability nature like Pt.

Engineered Hematite Mesoporous Single Crystals Drive Drastic Enhancement in Solar Water Splitting.

Mesoporous single crystals (MSCs) rendering highly accessible surface area and long-range electron conductivity are extremely significant in many fields, including catalyst, solar fuel, and electrical energy storage technologies. Hematite semiconductor, whose performance has been crucially limited by its pristine poor charge separation efficiency in solar water splitting, should benefit from this strategy. Despite successful synthesis of many metal oxide MSCs, the fabrication of hematite MSCs remains to be a great challenge due to its quite slow hydrolysis rate in water. Herein, for the first time, we have developed a synthetic strategy to prepare hematite MSCs and systematically investigated their growth mechanism. The electrode fabricated with these crystals is able to achieve a photocurrent density of 0.61 mA/cm(2) at 1.23 V vs RHE under AM 1.5G simulated sunlight, which is 20 times higher than that of electrodes made of solid single crystals. The enhancement is ascribed to the superior light absorption and enhanced charges separation. Our results demonstrate the advantage of incorporation of nanopores into the large-sized hematite single crystals and provide a valuable insight for the development of high performance photoelectrodes in PEC application.

[Application of fast-track surgery concept in the perioperative nursing care of andrological patients: A randomized controlled study].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the application of the fast-track surgery (FTS) concept in the nursing care of andrological patients during the perioperative period. METHODS: A total of 200 males to be treated by andrological surgery were included in a control group and another 200 in an observation group, the former received conventional perioperative nursing care, while the latter underwent an FTS nursing care procedure including a variety of proven effective methods to reduce surgical stress and achieve a quick recovery during the perioperative period. Comparisons were made between the two groups of patients in the postoperative enterokinesia time, anal exhaust time, eating time, off-bed time, defecating time, bowel preparation complications, and degree of comfort and satisfaction. RESULTS: Compared with the controls, the patients in the observation group showed significantly earlier postoperative enterokinesia time (ï¼»5.8±0.9ï¼½ vs ï¼»4.4±1.4ï¼½ h, P<0.01), anal exhaust time (ï¼»10.8±1.8ï¼½ vs ï¼»7.7±2.0ï¼½ h, P<0.01), eating time (ï¼»12.9±0.7ï¼½ vs ï¼»6.3±0.7ï¼½ h, P<0.01), off-bed time ï¼»14.3±2.7ï¼½ vs ï¼»8.2±1.4ï¼½ h, P<0.01), and defecating time (ï¼»49.2±2.6ï¼½ vs ï¼»39.6±2.5ï¼½ h, P<0.01), a lower incidence of bowel preparation complications (P<0.01), and a higher degree of comfort (P<0.01) and satisfaction (ï¼»97.5±0.7ï¼½% vs ï¼»99.4±+0.3ï¼½ %, P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The FTS concept can be safely and effectively applied to the perioperative nursing care of andrological patients to achieve a faster recovery and higher degree of comfort and satisfaction postoperatively.

Thermal stress modification in regenerated fiber Bragg grating via manipulation of glass transition temperature based on CO2-laser annealing.

In this work, we have demonstrated thermal stress relaxation in regenerated fiber Bragg gratings (RFBGs) by using direct CO2-laser annealing technique. After the isothermal annealing and slow cooling process, the Bragg wavelength of the RFBG has been red-shifted. This modification is reversible by re-annealing and rapid cooling. It is repeatable with different cooling process in the subsequent annealing treatments. This phenomenon can be attributed to the thermal stress modification in the fiber core by means of manipulation of glass transition temperature with different cooling rates. This finding in this investigation is important for accurate temperature measurement of RFBG in dynamic environment.

Chemical Vapor Deposition of FeOCl Nanosheet Arrays and Their Conversion to Porous α-Fe2 O3 Photoanodes for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting.

FeOCl nanosheet arrays were deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass substrates through a chemical vapor deposition method and further converted to hematite porous nanosheet arrays. A much enhanced photocurrent was obtained for such hematite films, which was three times higher than that of a planar hematite film at 1.23 V versus a reversible hydrogen reference electrode.

Nano-Anatase TiO2 for High Performance Optical Humidity Sensing on Chip.

An on-chip optical humidity sensor using Nano-anatase TiO2 coating is presented here. The coating material was prepared so that the result is in solution form, making the fabrication process quick and simple. Then, the solution was effortlessly spin-coated on an SU8 straight channel waveguide. Investigating the sensitivity and performance (response time) of the device revealed a great linearity in the wide range (35% to 98%) of relative humidity (RH). In addition, a variation of more than 14 dB in transmitted optical power was observed, with a response time of only ~0.7 s. The effect of coating concentration and UV treatment was examined on the performance and repeatability of the sensor. Interesting observations were found, and the attributed mechanisms were described. In addition, the proposed sensor was extensively compared with other state-of-the-art proposed counterparts from the literature and remarkable advantages were found. Since a high sensitivity of ~0.21 dB/%RH and high dynamic performances were demonstrated, this sensor is proposed for use in biomedical applications.

All-optical graphene oxide humidity sensors.

The optical characteristics of graphene oxide (GO) were explored to design and fabricate a GO-based optical humidity sensor. GO film was coated onto a SU8 polymer channel waveguide using the drop-casting technique. The proposed sensor shows a high TE-mode absorption at 1550 nm. Due to the dependence of the dielectric properties of the GO film on water content, this high TE-mode absorption decreases when the ambient relative humidity increases. The proposed sensor shows a rapid response (<1 s) to periodically interrupted humid air flow. The transmission of the proposed sensor shows a linear response of 0.553 dB/% RH in the range of 60% to 100% RH.

Extending the detection limit: innovations in infrared quantum dot photodetectors reaching up to 18 µm.

A regrowth method was used to synthesize large-sized colloidal quantum dots (CQDs). With the assistance of doping engineering, the synthesized CQD detectors demonstrate exceptional long-wavelength infrared detection performance, reaching up to 18 µm, significantly extending the spectral response limit for CQD-based infrared detectors. These detectors also achieve a reasonably high detectivity of 6.6 × 108 Jones.

Axial contraction in etched optical fiber due to internal stress reduction.

When an optical fiber is dipped in an etching solution, the internal stress profile in the fiber varies with the fiber diameter. We observed a physical contraction as much as 0.2% in the fiber axial dimension when the fiber was reduced from its original diameter to ~6 µm through analysis using high resolution microscope images of the grating period of an etched FBG at different fiber diameters. This axial contraction is related to the varying axial stress profile in the fiber when the fiber diameter is reduced. On top of that, the refractive index of fiber core increases with reducing fiber diameter due to stress-optic effect. The calculated index increment is as much as 1.8 × 10(-3) at the center of fiber core after the diameter is reduced down to ~6 µm. In comparison with the conventional model that assumes constant grating period and neglects the variation in stress-induced index change in fiber core, our proposed model indicates a discrepancy as much as 3nm in Bragg wavelength at a fiber diameter of ~6 µm.

Reflection spectra of etched FBGs under the influence of axial contraction and stress-induced index change.

We present a new theoretical model for the broadband reflection spectra of etched FBGs which includes the effects of axial contraction and stress-induced index change. The reflection spectra of the etched FBGs with several different taper profiles are simulated based on the proposed model. In our observation, decaying exponential profile produces a broadband reflection spectrum with good uniformity over the range of 1540-1560 nm. An etched FBG with similar taper profile is fabricated and the experimental result shows good agreement with the theoretical model.

The postoperative prognosis of skip-N2 metastasis is favorable in small-cell lung carcinoma patients with pathological N2 classification: a propensity-score-adjusted retrospective multicenter study.

Background: The study on skip-N2 metastasis in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the prognostic significance of skip-N2 metastasis based on a multicenter cohort. Methods: We collected 176 SCLC patients with pathological categories T1-4N1-2M0 from four hospitals in China. Survival curves were drawn through the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the log-rank test. The Cox regression method was used to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval of the characteristics for cancer-specific survival (CSS). Two propensity-score methods were used to reduce the bias, including the inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) and propensity-score matching (PSM). Results: This multicenter database included 64 pN1 patients, 63 non-skip-N2 cases, and 49 skip-N2 cases. Skip-N2 and the non-skip-N2 patients had gap CSS rates (skip-N2 no versus yes: 41.0% versus 62.0% for 1-year CSS, 32.0% versus 46.0% for 2-year CSS, and 20.0% versus 32.0% for 3-year CSS). After PSM, there were 32 pairs of patients to compare survival differences between N2 and skip-N2 diseases, and 34 pairs of patients to compare prognostic gaps between N1 and skip-N2 diseases, respectively. The results of IPTW and PSM both suggested that skip-N2 cases had better survival outcomes than the non-skip-N2 cases (IPTW-adjusted HR = 0.578; PSM-adjusted HR = 0.510; all log-rank p < 0.05). Besides, the above two analytic methods showed no difference in prognoses between pN1 and skip-N2 diseases (all log-rank p > 0.05). Conclusions: Skip-N2 patients were confirmed to have a better prognosis than non-skip-N2 patients. Besides, there was no survival difference between pN1 and skip-N2 cases. Therefore, we propose that the next tumor-node-metastasis staging system needs to consider the situation of skip metastasis with lymph nodes in SCLC.

Entropy fluctuation and correlation transfer in tunable discrete-time quantum walk with fractional Gaussian noise.

We study the time correlation in the von Neumann entropy fluctuation of the tunable discrete-time quantum walk in one dimension, induced by the coin disorder arising from the temporal fractional Gaussian noise (fGn). The fGn is characterized by the Hurst exponent H, which provides three different correlation scenarios, namely antipersistent (0

The Effect of Empowering Education Combined With Mindfulness Meditation Training on Negative Emotion and Quality of Life in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Objective: To investigate the effect of empowerment education combined with mindfulness meditation training on negative emotions and quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods: A total of 40 patients with IBD were selected and divided into experimental group and control group according to the random number table method, 20 cases in each group. The patients in the control group were treated with conventional nursing methods. The patients in the experimental group used empowerment education combined with mindfulness meditation training. Changes in mood and quality of life were compared between the two groups at admission and 3 months after discharge. Results: There was no significant difference in SAS score and quality of life score between the two groups. After authorization education combined with mindfulness meditation training, the SAS score of the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P < 0.01). The score of quality of life in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Empowerment education combined with mindfulness meditation can effectively improve the negative emotions and quality of life of patients with inflammatory bowel disease, and benefit the patients in many aspects.