Reduced CPU Workload for Human Pose Detection with the Aid of a Low-Resolution Infrared Array Sensor on Embedded Systems.

Modern embedded systems have achieved relatively high processing power. They can be used for edge computing and computer vision, where data are collected and processed locally, without the need for network communication for decision-making and data analysis purposes. Face detection, face recognition, and pose detection algorithms can be executed with acceptable performance on embedded systems and are used for home security and monitoring. However, popular machine learning frameworks, such as MediaPipe, require relatively high usage of CPU while running, even when idle with no subject in the scene. Combined with the still present false detections, this wastes CPU time, elevates the power consumption and overall system temperature, and generates unnecessary data. In this study, a low-cost low-resolution infrared thermal sensor array was used to control the execution of MediaPipe's pose detection algorithm using single-board computers, which only runs when the thermal camera detects a possible subject in its field of view. A lightweight algorithm with several filtering layers was developed, which allowed the effective detection and isolation of a person in the thermal image. The resulting hybrid computer vision proved effective in reducing the average CPU workload, especially in environments with low activity, almost eliminating MediaPipe's false detections, and reaching up to 30% power saving in the best-case scenario.

Melatonin regulation as a possible mechanism for probiotic (VSL#3) in irritable bowel syndrome: a randomized double-blinded placebo study.

BACKGROUND: Probiotics have treatment efficacy in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but the exact mechanism remains obscure. One hypothesis is the mediation of melatonin levels, leading to changes in IBS symptoms. AIM: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a probiotic, VSL#3, on symptoms, psychological and sleep parameters, and pain sensitivity in IBS, and relate these parameters to in vivo melatonin levels. METHODS: Forty-two IBS patients were randomly assigned to receive VSL#3 or placebo for 6 weeks. Subjects completed bowel and psychological questionnaires, underwent rectal sensitivity testing and saliva melatonin assays. RESULTS: Abdominal pain duration and distension intensity decreased significantly in the probiotic group, along with an increase in rectal distension pain thresholds. A correlation between increase in pain tolerance and improvement in abdominal pain scores (r = 0.51, p = 0.02) was seen with probiotic. There was an increase in salivary morning melatonin levels in males treated with VSL#3, which correlated (r = 0.61) with improved satisfaction in bowel habits. When grouped based on baseline diurnal melatonin levels, patients with normal diurnal fluctuations showed an increase in morning melatonin levels with VSL#3 treatment, which significantly correlated with improved satisfaction in bowel habits (r = 0.68). They also had reduced symptom severity scores and abdominal pain duration when treated with VSL#3, as well as satisfaction with bowel movements and quality-of-life. CONCLUSIONS: VSL#3 improved symptoms and increased rectal pain thresholds. Symptom improvement correlated with a rise in morning melatonin, significant in males and subjects with normal circadian rhythm. This suggests that probiotics may act by influencing melatonin production, hence modulating IBS symptoms, in individuals with a normal circadian rhythm.

Application of Hashin-Shtrikman bounds homogenization model for frequency analysis of imperfect FG bio-composite plates.

Despite abundant theoretical investigations on the dynamic behavior of functionally graded (FG) structures, the study on frequency analysis of FG bio-composite structures is limited. FG bio-composite materials due to their biocompatibility potentials and good material properties can be applied in biomedical applications, especially dental implants. In this investigation, a natural frequency response of the FG bio-composite plate is analyzed within the framework of the newly developed refined higher-order shear deformation plate theory. Additionally, the imperfection impact on frequency behavior is evaluated while three imperfection distribution patterns are taken into account. The constitutive materials of FG bio-composite plate are Hydroxyapatite and Titanium. The effective material properties of the structure are determined with the help of the upper Hashin-Shtrikman bounds homogenization model. In continuation, to solve the derived governing equations of imperfect FG bio-composite plate, Galerkin's analytical method is employed. Also, the precision of the used theory is validated, the obtained outcomes are compared and an acceptable matching is found. Later, the sensitivity of different considerable variables is comprehensively assessed and discussed.

The coexistence of myosteatosis and the creatinine/cystatin C ratio are determinants of outcomes in cholangiocarcinoma patients undergoing curative surgery.

Background: Myosteatosis is a well-established predictor of poor prognosis in many types of cancer, and a decreased Creatinine/Cystatin C ratio (CCR) is a known indicator of unfavorable outcomes in patients with metabolic disorders and cancer. Despite this knowledge, the significance of concurrent CCR and myosteatosis in predicting the prognosis of patients with cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) who undergo radical surgery remains uncertain. Method: Data from 757 patients with cholangiocarcinoma who underwent the first radical resection in the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from January 2017 to March 2022 were collected. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 149 patients were finally included in the retrospective study cohort. Various clinicopathological, serological, and radiological data were collected at admission. Myosteatosis was evaluated using sliceOmatic software on computed tomography (CT) images. The study used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to determine the critical value of CCR, which predicts overall survival (OS) based on the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were employed to identify the risk factors associated with OS and RFS confidently. Results: The group identified as the myosteatosis cohort consisted of 79 patients with an average age of 64.3 ± 7.8 years. The ROC curve analysis revealed an optimal critical CCR value of 10.834. A low CCR ≤ 10.834 and myosteatosis were found to be associated with poor OS and RFS outcomes (P = 0.022; P = 0.017; P = 0.038; P = 0.030 respectively). Moreover, patients with myosteatosis and a CCR ≤ 10.834 had the worst OS and RFS outcomes (P = 0.035; P = 0.027). Conclusion: After radical excision in CCA patients, the presence of myosteatosis and CCR had a negative correlation with prognosis. A more accurate prediction of OS and RFS was possible by combining CCR and myosteatosis, compared to CCR alone.

Analysis of ventricular-vascular properties during preeclampsia: an echocardiography study.

The aim of the study is to analyze ventricular-vascular properties with different ventricular-arterial coupling (VAC) ratio in the preeclamptic women. Seventy-seven pregnant women with preeclampsia and eighty-nine with normal pregnancy were performed echocardiography. VAC was defined as the ratio between aortic elastance (Ea) and left ventricular (LV) end-systolic elastance (Ees). Using the VAC value of 0.8 as the cut-off near uncoupling, the preeclampsia cases were divided into two subgroups: VAC ratio ≥ 0.8 and <0.8. Cardiac structure and function, VAC properties, as well as four components of the LV pressure-strain loop, including global myocardial work index (GWI), constructive work (GCW), wasted work (GWW), and work efficiency (GWE) were determined. The preeclampsia with VAC ≥ 0.8 had an enlarger indexed ventricular volume and a thicker relative ventricular wall than the VAC < 0.8. The Ees significantly increased in the subgroup with VAC < 0.8 and decreased in the VAC ≥ 0.8, while the Ea increased in both of them. The preeclampsia with VAC ≥ 0.8 showed an obvious augmentation in GWI, GCW and GWE, along with a similar GWW compared to those with VAC < 0.8. There were variable relationships between the LV pressure-strain components and VAC properties. Thus, the preeclampsia with VAC ≥ 0.8 undergoes a more adverse remodeling and a greater impact on cardiac contractility. The increased stiffness of the heart and arterial system, and increased resistance of peripheral vessels net lead to the deteriorative ventricular efficiency with elevated myocardial oxygen consumption during a preeclampsia pregnancy.

Conductive/Insulating Bioinks with Multitechnology Compatibility and Adjustable Performance.

Conducting/insulating inks have received significant attention for the fabrication of a wide range of additive manufacturing technology. However, current inks often demonstrate poor biocompatibility and face trade-offs between conductivity and mechanical stiffness under physiological conditions. Here, conductive/insulating bioinks based on two-dimensional materials are proposed. The conductive bioink, graphene (GR)-poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), is prepared by introducing conductive GR into a degradable polymer matrix, PLGA, while the insulating bioink, boron nitride (BN)-PLGA, is synthesized by adding insulating BN. By optimizing the material ratios, this work achieves precise control of the electromechanical properties of the bioinks, thereby enabling the flexible construction of conductive networks according to specific requirements. Furthermore, these bioinks are compatible with a variety of manufacturing technologies such as 3D printing, electrospinning, spin coating, and injection molding, expanding their application range in the biomedical field. Overall, the results suggest that these conducting/insulating bioinks offer improved mechanical, electronic, and biological properties for various emerging biomedical applications.

[Influencing factors of reproduction status of patients undergoing laparoscopic myomectomy].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the influencing factors of reproduction status in women undergoing laparoscopic myomectomy (LM). METHODS: A total of 278 LM patients were recruited.We retrospectively reviewed the reproduction status of 87 pregnant cases after LM. The correlations of their pregnancy outcomes and such clinical profiles as age, operative techniques, biological characteristics of fibroids (number, type, size and location) were analyzed.No uterine rupture occurred during the gestation period. RESULTS: None of them switched to open surgery due to laparoscopic difficulties. However, one patient had a laparoscopic suture for secondary bleeding of uterine incision. At 3 months post-operation, sonography showed no heterogeneous echo, effusion and hematoma in uterine incision.Incision through uterine cavity occurred intraoperatively in 8 cases, but no intrauterine adhesion was found on hysteroscopy 3 months later. And 87 women became pregnant and the postoperative fertilization time was from 2 months to 5 years. Age influenced the postoperative pregnancy rate.Other factors such as location, number and size of fibroid had no impact on fertility. CONCLUSION: For achieving a high conception rate and guaranteeing the safety of pregnant women, a clinician should select reasonable surgical approaches, perform accurate anatomical restoration, apply strict hemostasis and choose a right time of conception.

Differential Diagnosis of Benign and Malignant Pulmonary Nodules in CT Images Based on Multitask Learning.

BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence-based aided diagnostic systems for pulmonary nodules can be divided into subtasks such as nodule detection, segmentation, and benign and malignant differentiation. Most current studies are limited to single-target tasks. However, aided diagnosis aims to distinguish benign from malignant pulmonary nodules, which requires the fusion of multiple-scale features and comprehensive discrimination based on the results of multiple learning tasks. OBJECTIVE: This study focuses on the aspects of model design, network structure, and constraints and proposes a novel model that integrates the learning tasks of pulmonary nodule detection, segmentation, and classification under weakly supervised conditions. METHODS: The main innovations include the following three aspects: (1) a two-dimensional sequence detection model based on a ConvLSTM (Convolutional Long Short-Term Memory) network and U-shaped structure network is proposed to obtain the context space features of image slices fully; (2) a differential diagnosis of benign and malignant pulmonary nodules based on multitask learning is proposed, which uses the annotated data of different types of tasks to mine the potential common features among tasks; and (3) an optimization strategy incorporating prior knowledge of computed tomography images and dynamic weight adjustment of multiple tasks is proposed to ensure that each task can efficiently complete training and learning. RESULTS: Experiments on the LIDC-IDRI and LUNA16 datasets showed that our proposed method achieved a final competition performance metric score of 87.80% for nodule detection and a Dice similarity coefficient score of 83.95% for pulmonary nodule segmentation. CONCLUSION: The cross-validation results of the LIDC-IDRI and LUNA16 datasets show that our model achieved 87.80% of the final competition performance metric score for nodule detection and 83.95% of the DSC score for pulmonary nodule segmentation, representing the optimal result for that dataset.

Noninvasive grading of glioma brain tumors using magnetic resonance imaging and deep learning methods.

PURPOSE: Convolutional Neural Networks (ConvNets) have quickly become popular machine learning techniques in recent years, particularly in the classification and segmentation of medical images. One of the most prevalent types of brain cancers is glioma, and early, accurate diagnosis is essential for both treatment and survival. In this study, MRI scans were examined utilizing deep learning techniques to examine glioma diagnosis studies. METHODS: In this systematic review, keywords were used to obtain English-language studies from the Arxiv, IEEE, Springer, ScienceDirect, and PubMed databases for the years 2010-2022. The material needed for review was then collected from the articles once they had been chosen based on the entry and exit criteria and in accordance with the research's goal. RESULTS: Finally, 77 different academic articles were chosen. According to a study of published articles, glioma brain tumors were discovered, categorized, and segmented utilizing a coordinated approach that included image collecting, pre-processing, model design and execution, and model output evaluation. The majority of investigations have used publicly accessible photo databases and already-trained algorithms. The bulk of studies have employed Dice's classification accuracy and similarity coefficient metrics to assess model performance. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that glioma segmentation has received more attention from researchers than glioma detection and classification. It is advised that more research be done in the areas of glioma detection and, particularly, grading in order to be included in systems that support medical diagnosis.

Quantification of Myocardial Work by 2-D Echocardiography during a Normal Pregnancy: A Preliminary Study.

This study was aimed at investigating the adaptive changes in myocardial work (MyW) during normal pregnancy. Sequential 2D standard and speckle-tracking echocardiography was performed on 41 pregnant women in each gestational trimester and 4 to 11 mo after delivery. Thirty-eight age-matched, healthy, non-pregnant women served as controls. Four components of MyW-global myocardial work index (GWI), constructive work (GCW), wasted work (GWW) and work efficiency (GWE)-were calculated. GWI began to decline early in the first trimester and remained at a low level until delivery; GCW gradually decreased with gestational progression and reached its lowest level in the third trimester. When compared with the values for non-pregnant women and those postpartum, GWE and GWW remained unchanged in gestation. This study provides normal ranges of MyW during pregnancy. Despite the adapted decrease in GWI and GCW, the myocardium manages to work efficiently in the healthy pregnancy with drastic hemodynamic alternations.

Evaluating the characteristics of myocardial work by two-dimensional echocardiography during pre-eclampsia pregnancy.

This study aimed to analyze the changes in myocardial work (MyW) properties and the correlation of MyW with cardiovascular and clinical indices during the pre-eclampsia (PE) pregnancy. Standard two-dimensional and speckle-tracking echocardiography were sequentially performed on 77 women with PE and 89 with normal pregnancy. Four components of MyW: global myocardial work index (GWI), constructive work (GCW), wasted work (GWW), and work efficiency (GWE) were measured. The significant increased GWI, GCW and GWW were observed, while GWW elevated more than GCW with consequently resulting the decline in GWE among PE cases. Although there was a diverse relationship between MyW components and LV morphological as well as functional indices, MyW parameters were significantly correlated with the grades of arterial hypertension and the incidence of adverse outcome of PE. With the hypertension stages, GWI, GCW and GWW gradually increased but GWE decreased. Meanwhile, the higher GWI and GCW and the lower GWE, the more adverse events occurred in PE group. In conclusion, during the PE pregnancy, GWI, GCW and GWW increase, while GWW elevates more than GCW, which leads to the decrease in GWE. Moreover, the changes in MyW are associated with the hypertension grades and the poor prognosis in PE. The non-invasive manner for MyW assessment provides a new perspective on the myocardial biomechanics, cardio-metabolic conditions and pathophysiological changes in the condition of PE.

ADSC-derived exosomes-coupled decellularized matrix for endometrial regeneration and fertility restoration.

Endometrium is suspectable to severe injury due to recurrent abortion, curettage or intrauterine infection which could lead to pathological conditions and sabotage women's fertility. Promoting endometrium regeneration is the core of the treatments to uterine related infertility. Patients who received traditional treatments can only expect limited effects, thereby novel therapies are badly in need to promote endometrium regeneration. Here we generated a decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM) from porcine dermis, and composited adipose stem cell derived exosomes (ADSC-exos) on it (ECM@ADSC-exos). In vitro experiments proved that ECM@ADSC-exos exhibited good cytocompatibility and could improve cell proliferation, migration and angiogenesis. We also observed that, when implanted in the uterine cavity of a rat model of endometrium injury, ECM@ADSC-exos improved endometrium regeneration, enhanced local angiogenesis, promoted myometrium repair and finally preserved fertility. Our results proved that ECM@ADSC-exos could be a novel option for endometrium regeneration.

Fabrication of silica/PDMS hybrid nanoparticles by a novel solvent adjustment route.

The silica/polydimethylsilane (PDMS) hybrid nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by a novel solvent adjustment route. The as-prepared hybrid nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, UV-vis spectra, and IR spectra. The possible mechanism for the formation of silica/PDMS nanoparticles was discussed. The adjustment of solvents is a very important factor since it could tune the surface ligands and improve the coordination ability. On the other hand, it could also tune the interaction between precursors, intermediate or the target hybrid materials and guarantee the monodispersion of prepared nanoparticles. With the merits of PDMS and silica, the as-prepared SiO2-PDMS hybrid nanoparticles have a good application in hard coating material.

A Multimodel Fusion Method for Cardiovascular Disease Detection Using ECG.

Objective. Electrocardiogram (ECG) is an important diagnostic tool that has been the subject of much research in recent years. Owing to a lack of well-labeled ECG record databases, most of this work has focused on heartbeat arrhythmia detection based on ECG signal quality. Approach. A record quality filter was designed to judge ECG signal quality, and a random forest method, a multilayer perceptron, and a residual neural network (RESNET)-based convolutional neural network were implemented to provide baselines for ECG record classification according to three different principles. A new multimodel method was constructed by fusing the random forest and RESNET approaches. Main Results. Owing to its ability to combine discriminative human-crafted features with RESNET deep features, the proposed new method showed over 88% classification accuracy and yielded the best results in comparison with alternative methods. Significance. A new multimodel fusion method was presented for abnormal cardiovascular detection based on ECG data. The experimental results show that separable convolution and multiscale convolution are vital for ECG record classification and are effective for use with one-dimensional ECG sequences.

Molecular classification of human papillomavirus-positive cervical cancers based on immune signature enrichment.

Background: Human papillomavirus-positive (HPV+) cervical cancers are highly heterogeneous in clinical and molecular characteristics. Thus, an investigation into their heterogeneous immunological profiles is meaningful in providing both biological and clinical insights into this disease. Methods: Based on the enrichment of 29 immune signatures, we discovered immune subtypes of HPV+ cervical cancers by hierarchical clustering. To explore whether this subtyping method is reproducible, we analyzed three bulk and one single cell transcriptomic datasets. We also compared clinical and molecular characteristics between the immune subtypes. Results: Clustering analysis identified two immune subtypes of HPV+ cervical cancers: Immunity-H and Immunity-L, consistent in the four datasets. In comparisons with Immunity-L, Immunity-H displayed stronger immunity, more stromal contents, lower tumor purity, proliferation potential, intratumor heterogeneity and stemness, higher tumor mutation burden, more neoantigens, lower levels of copy number alterations, lower DNA repair activity, as well as better overall survival prognosis. Certain genes, such as MUC17, PCLO, and GOLGB1, showed significantly higher mutation rates in Immunity-L than in Immunity-H. 16 proteins were significantly upregulated in Immunity-H vs. Immunity-L, including Caspase-7, PREX1, Lck, C-Raf, PI3K-p85, Syk, 14-3-3_epsilon, STAT5-α, GATA3, Src_pY416, NDRG1_pT346, Notch1, PDK1_pS241, Bim, NF-kB-p65_pS536, and p53. Pathway analysis identified numerous immune-related pathways more highly enriched in Immunity-H vs. Immunity-L, including cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity, antigen processing and presentation, T/B cell receptor signaling, chemokine signaling, supporting the stronger antitumor immunity in Immunity-H vs. Immunity-L. Conclusion: HPV+ cervical cancers are divided into two subgroups based on their immune signatures' enrichment. Both subgroups have markedly different tumor immunity, progression phenotypes, genomic features, and clinical outcomes. Our data offer novel perception in the tumor biology as well as clinical implications for HPV+ cervical cancer.

Human cytomegalovirus infection and its association with gestational diabetes mellitus during pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: Infection is an important risk factor for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), while infection of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) with GDM remains unclear and rarely reported. This study aimed to investigate the association of HCMV infection and serum inflammatory factor levels in pregnancy with GDM. METHODS: This prospective study included pregnant women who attended at Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao Hospital and Zibo Maternal and Child Health Hospital between December 2018 and August 2020. HCMV specific IgM and serum levels of inflammatory factors, including TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1ß, were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 5,316 pregnant women were included (415 with GDM (107 with HCMV+GDM+ and 308 with HCMV-GDM+) and 4901 GDM-free (759 with HCMV+GDM- and 4142 with HCMV-GDM-)). The prevalence of GDM was 7.81%. The rate of activation of HCMV was 16.29%. Specifically, 107 and 759 women in the GDM and control group exhibited HCMV infection, with positive rates of25.78% and 15.48%, respectively (P < 0.01). TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1ß at 24-28 weeks of gestation were significantly higher in women with GDM and HCMV infection than inthe other groups (all P < 0.01). Multivariable analysis showed that HCMV positive (OR = 1.851; 95% CI [1.425-2.403]; P < 0.001), IL-6 (OR = 1.010; 95% CI [1.002-1.018]; P = 0.013), and IL-1ß (OR = 1.410; 95% CI [1.348-1.474]; P < 0.001) were all significantly correlated with GDM. CONCLUSION: This study suggests HCMV infection during pregnancy is an independent risk factor of GDM and could significantly increase its incidence. Further studies are needed to elucidate possible mechanisms underlying associations between HCMV infection and GDM.

Identification of Differentially Expressed Plasma lncRNAs As Potential Biomarkers for Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor in women and is not easy to diagnose. Increasing evidence has underscored that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important regulatory roles in the occurrence and progression of many cancers, including breast cancer. We aimed to identify lncRNAs in plasma as potential biomarkers for breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets GSE22820, GSE42568, and GSE65194 to identify the common differential genes between cancer tissues and adjacent tissues. Then 14 lncRNAs were identified among the common differential genes and validated by using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 92 patients with breast cancer and 100 healthy controls. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to evaluate their diagnostic value for breast cancer. RESULTS: Integrated analysis of the GEO datasets identified three significantly upregulated and 11 downregulated lncRNAs in breast cancer tissues. Compared with healthy controls, MIAT was significantly upregulated in breast cancer patient plasma, and LINC00968 and LINC01140 were significantly downregulated. ROC curve analysis suggested that these three lncRNAs can discriminate breast cancer from healthy individual with high specificity and sensitivity. CONCLUSION: This research identified three differentially expressed lncRNAs in breast cancer patient plasma. Our data suggest that these three lncRNAs can be used as potential diagnostic biomarkers of breast cancer.

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) of Alumina over Activated Carbon Electrodes Enabling a Stable 4†V Supercapacitor Operation.

Designing high voltage (>3 V) and stable electrochemical supercapacitors with low self-discharge is desirable for the applications in modern electronic devices. This work demonstrates a 4 V symmetric supercapacitor with stabilized cycling performance through atomic layer deposition (ALD) of alumina (Al2 O3 ) on the surface of activated carbon (AC). The 20-cycle ALD Al2 O3 coated AC delivers 84 % capacitance retention after 1000 charge/discharge cycles under 4 V, contrary to the bare AC cells having only 48 % retention. The extended cycling life is associated with the thickened Stern layer and suppressed oxygen functional group. The self-discharge data also show that the Al2 O3 coating enables AC cells to maintain 53 % of charge retention after 12 h, which is more than twice higher than that of bare AC cells under the same test protocol of 4 V charging. The curve fitting analysis reveals that ALD coating induced slow self-discharge dominated by ion diffusion mechanism, thus enhancing the AC surface energy.

Left Atrial Strain and Compliance Correlate with Diastolic Dysfunction Grades and Complications during Pre-eclampsia: A Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography Study.

This study aimed to investigate left atrium (LA) strain components in the assessment of cardiac function and its clinical correlates in pre-eclampsia (PE). With the use of speckle tracking echocardiography, phasic LA strain and (LASr)/(E/e'), the surrogate of LA compliance, were compared between healthy pregnant women (n = 70) and those with PE (n = 146) and among different diastolic dysfunction (DD) grades in PE. Receiver operating characteristic curves and logistic regression analysis were used to identify the role of strain components in distinguishing DD grades and predicting cardiac complications. LA reservoir strain, conduit strain and LA compliance reduced significantly in PE (p < 0.01). LASr/(E/e') gradually decreased with worsening DD and LASr/(E/e') <3.40 was the independent risk factor for cardiac events in PE (p < 0.01). This study observed significantly decreased LA strain and compliance in PE. Notably, LA compliance decreased progressively with the severity of DD, and LASr/(E/e') <3.40 is the independent risk factor for cardiac complications during PE pregnancy.

Elevated RUNX1 is a prognostic biomarker for human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Runt-related transcription factors regulate many developmental processes such as proliferation and differentiation. In this study, the function of the runt-related transcription factor 1 (RUNX1) was investigated in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Our results show that RUNX1 expression was elevated in HNSCC patients, which was greatly correlated with the N stage, tumor size, and American Joint Committee on Cancer stage. Cox proportional hazard models showed that RUNX1 could be used as a prognostic indicator for the overall survival of HNSCC patients (hazard ratio, 5.572; 95% confidence interval, 1.860-9.963; P < 0.001). Moreover, suppression of RUNX1 inhibited HNSCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Using the HNSCC xenograft nude mouse model, we found that the shRUNX1-transfected tumor (sh-RUNX1) was significantly smaller both in size and weight than the control vector-transfected tumor (sh-Control). In conclusion, our results show that the elevated RUNX1 expression was correlated with tumor growth and metastasis in HNSCC, indicating that RUNX1 could be used as a biomarker for tumor recurrence and prognosis.