Utilizing a novel model of PANoptosis-related genes for enhanced prognosis and immune status prediction in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma.

Kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) is the most common histopathologic type of renal cell carcinoma. PANoptosis, a cell death pathway that involves an interplay between pyroptosis, apoptosis and necroptosis, is associated with cancer immunity and development. However, the prognostic significance of PANoptosis in KIRC remains unclear. RNA-sequencing expression and mutational profiles from 532 KIRC samples and 72 normal samples with sufficient clinical data were retrieved from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. A prognostic model was constructed using differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to PANoptosis in the TCGA cohort and was validated in a Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) cohorts. Incorporating various clinical features, the risk model remained an independent prognostic factor in multivariate analysis, and it demonstrated superior performance compared to unsupervised clustering of the 21 PANoptosis-related genes alone. Further mutational analysis showed fewer VHL and more BAP1 alterations in the high-risk group, with alterations in both genes also associated with patient prognosis. The high-risk group was characterized by an unfavorable immune microenvironment, marked by reduced levels of CD4 + T cells and natural killer cells, but increased M2 macrophages and regulatory T cells. Finally, the risk model was predictive of response to immune checkpoint blockade, as well as sensitivity to sunitinib and paclitaxel. The PANoptosis-related risk model developed in this study enables accurate prognostic prediction in KIRC patients. Its associations with the tumor immune microenvironment and drug efficacy may offer potential therapeutic targets and inform clinical decisions.

Identification of HK3 as a promising immunomodulatory and prognostic target in sepsis-induced acute lung injury.

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a life-threatening global disease with a significant impact on human health. Acute lung injury (ALI) has been identified as one of the primary causes of mortality in septic patients. This study aimed to identify candidate genes involved in sepsis-induced ALI through a comprehensive approach combining bioinformatics analysis and experimental validation. METHODS: The datasets GSE65682 and GSE32707 obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database were merged to screen for sepsis-induced ALI related differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Functional enrichment and immune infiltration analyses were conducted on DGEs, with the construction of protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks to identify hub genes. In vitro and in vivo models of sepsis-induced ALI were used to study the expression and function of hexokinase 3 (HK3) using various techniques including Western blot, real-time PCR, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, Cell Counting Kit-8, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and flow cytometry. RESULTS: The results of bioinformatics analysis have identified HK3, MMP9, and S100A8 as hub genes with diagnostic and prognostic significance for sepsis-induced ALI. The HK3 has profound effects on sepsis-induced ALI and exhibits a correlation with immune regulation. Experimental results showed increased HK3 expression in lung tissue of septic mice, particularly in bronchial and alveolar epithelial cells. In vitro studies demonstrated upregulation of HK3 in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated lung epithelial cells, with cytoplasmic localization around the nucleus. Interestingly, following the knockdown of HK3 expression, lung epithelial cells exhibited a significant decrease in proliferation activity and glycolytic flux, accompanied by an increase in cellular inflammatory response, oxidative stress, and cell apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: It was observed for the first time that HK3 plays a crucial role in the progression of sepsis-induced ALI and may be a valuable target for immunomodulation and therapy.Bioinformatics analysis identified HK3, MMP9, and S100A8 as hub genes with diagnostic and prognostic relevance in sepsis-induced ALI. Experimental findings showed increased HK3 expression in the lung tissue of septic mice, particularly in bronchial and alveolar epithelial cells. In vitro experiments demonstrated increased HK3 levels in lung epithelial cells stimulated with LPS, with cytoplasmic localization near the nucleus. Knockdown of HK3 expression resulted in decreased proliferation activity and glycolytic flux, increased inflammatory response, oxidative stress, and cell apoptosis in lung epithelial cells.

Video snapshot compressive imaging using adaptive progressive coding for high-quality reconstruction under different illumination circumstances.

We consider capturing high-speed color video under different illumination conditions using a video snapshot compressive imaging system (video SCI). An adaptive progressive coding method is proposed, and we conduct an integrated design of the imaging system in terms of optics, mechanics, and control. Compared to previous video SCI systems, this adaptive progressive coding method mitigates the image stability issues in various illumination conditions, ensuring high-quality imaging while greatly improving the light throughput of the system. Based on the analysis of both simulation and real experimental results, we found that this imaging system can achieve color video shooting under an illumination range of 2 lux to 60 lux.

Antitumor immunity and prognosis value elicited by FAT3 and LRP1B co-mutation in endometrial cancer.

OBJECTIVE: FAT3 and LRP1B are two tumor suppressor genes with high mutation frequency in multiple cancer types, we sought to investigate the prognostic and immunological significance of these two genes in EC. METHODS: Based on a cohort of 502 EC samples, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of its multidimensional data types including genomic, transcriptomic, and clinical information, the potential impact of FAT3 and LRP1B co-mutation on antitumor immune response and prognosis were systematically discussed. RESULTS: We observed that FAT3 and LRP1B co-mutation was not only defined a dataset with prominently increased TMB, decreased tumor aneuploidy, and specially enriched in MSI-H subtype, but also manifested increased expression of immune-related markers, especially exclusive upregulation of PD-L1 levels and higher PD-L1+/CD8A+ proportion. Further analysis focused on lymphocyte infiltration and pathway enrichment explored the immune cell composition of the microenvironment and underlying molecular mechanisms affecting tumor development. Furthermore, EC patients with FAT3 and LRP1B co-mutation possessed significantly prolonged PFS and OS, and the co-mutation status was proved to be an independent prognostic factor. And a nomogram with high predictive performance was constructed by incorporating co-mutation with clinical features. More strikingly, the prognosis of MSI-H patients in EC with co-mutation was significantly improved, and their survival reached a level consistent with the POLE subtype. CONCLUSIONS: In endometrial cancer, co-mutation of FAT3 and LRP1B not only leads to activation of the immune state, but also represents a subgroup with an improved prognosis, particularly in the MSI-H subtype.

[Investigation on the recommended dose of prebiotic in health food in China in 1996-2022].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the recommended dose distribution of prebiotic-containing health food in China. METHODS: The overall recommended dose of prebiotic health food was available from the label information of approved prebiotic health food from 1996 to 2022; the recommended dose distribution of prebiotic-containing health food was analyzed from different healthy functions and different ways of addition. RESULTS: There were 174 prebiotic-containing health food products with clear dose information, respectively, involving 5 prebiotics including Fructooligosaccharides, Galactooligosaccharides, Isomaltooligosaccharides, Xylo-oligosaccharides and Polydextrose, and the majority of prebiotics were added in combination, with 159 products. The recommended dose range of prebiotic-containing health food products was wide, and in general, the dose of prebiotic-containing health food products used alone was higher than the dose used in combination. The recommended daily intake range of health food containing Fructooligosaccharides was 5.28-17 500 mg/d, the recommended daily intake range of health food containing Isomaltooligosaccharides was 220-28 000 mg/d, the dose range of health food containing Xylo-oligosaccharides was 8.4-2 800 mg/d, the dose range of health food containing Polydextrose was 4-12 120 mg/d, the number of Galacto-Oligosaccharides products Only two kinds of products were included, with doses of 259.8 mg/d and 3500 mg/d, respectively. The claimed functions of prebiotic health food products were focused on laxative function, immunity enhancement, and regulation of intestinal flora. The application dose of prebiotic health food with different functional compounding additions was close to the overall dose. CONCLUSION: The recommended dosage range of prebiotics in health food containing prebiotics in China is large, and prebiotics in products are mainly added by compounding.

Ultra-broadband dual-polarization and arbitrary ratio power splitters based on Bezier curve optimized multimode interference.

We propose and demonstrate two types of 1 × 2 power splitters based on multimode interference (MMI), which are ultra-compact, fabrication friendly, and low loss. The contours of MMI and output tapers are optimized with Bezier curves, which can implement arbitrary ratio power splitters (ARPSs) and ultra-broadband dual-polarization power splitters (UDPSs). For ARPSs, the experimental results show that arbitrary power splitting ratios can be obtained with an average excess loss (EL) of 0.17 dB at 1550 nm for fundamental TE polarization. For UDPSs, the experimental results show that the ELs for fundamental TE and TM polarization are less than 0.63 dB and 0.44 dB over a large bandwidth of 415 nm (1260-1675 nm). The footprints of the proposed devices are less than 10 µm × 2.5 µm (without input straight waveguide) with large fabrication tolerance.

Ionization induced by the ponderomotive force in intense and high-frequency laser fields.

Atomic stabilization is a universal phenomenon that occurs when atoms interact with intense and high-frequency laser fields. In this work, we systematically study the influence of the ponderomotive (PM) force, present around the laser focus, on atomic stabilization. We show that the PM force could induce tunneling and even over-barrier ionization to the otherwise stabilized atoms. Such effect may overweigh the typical multiphoton ionization under moderate laser intensities. Our work highlights the importance of an improved treatment of atomic stabilization that includes the influence of the PM force.

Analytical strategies in neurotransmitter measurements: A mini literature review.

Neurotransmitters (NTs) are endogenous, polar, low-molecular-weight compounds that play multiple pivotal roles in the central nervous system. NTs are involved in communicating information, responding to stress, regulating motor coordination, and allowing interneuronal communication in living organisms. It is essential to determine the distribution of NTs in brain regions to better understand drug dependence and abuse, neurological disorders, psychological disorders, and aging. Monitoring NT levels is also important in diagnosing and avoiding serious illnesses. We here review chromatography-based analytical techniques, including pretreatment methods (e.g., microdialysis and solid-phase microextraction), as well as detection strategies (e.g., MS and electrochemistry), focusing on developments in these techniques over the past 5 years. We then highlight recent advances in electrochemical and fluorescence imaging methods in vivo and the disadvantages and advantages of such technologies, including high spatiotemporal resolution, polymer specificity, and high sensitivity. Finally, we summarize and compare the complementary advantages of chromatography-based analytical techniques and biosensors and discuss trends in the development of NT detection technologies.

Hybrid Multi-Dimensional Attention U-Net for Hyperspectral Snapshot Compressive Imaging Reconstruction.

In order to capture the spatial-spectral (x,y,λ) information of the scene, various techniques have been proposed. Different from the widely used scanning-based methods, spectral snapshot compressive imaging (SCI) utilizes the idea of compressive sensing to compressively capture the 3D spatial-spectral data-cube in a single-shot 2D measurement and thus it is efficient, enjoying the advantages of high-speed and low bandwidth. However, the reconstruction process, i.e., to retrieve the 3D cube from the 2D measurement, is an ill-posed problem and it is challenging to reconstruct high quality images. Previous works usually use 2D convolutions and preliminary attention to address this challenge. However, these networks and attention do not exactly extract spectral features. On the other hand, 3D convolutions can extract more features in a 3D cube, but increase computational cost significantly. To balance this trade-off, in this paper, we propose a hybrid multi-dimensional attention U-Net (HMDAU-Net) to reconstruct hyperspectral images from the 2D measurement in an end-to-end manner. HMDAU-Net integrates 3D and 2D convolutions in an encoder-decoder structure to fully utilize the abundant spectral information of hyperspectral images with a trade-off between performance and computational cost. Furthermore, attention gates are employed to highlight salient features and suppress the noise carried by the skip connections. Our proposed HMDAU-Net achieves superior performance over previous state-of-the-art reconstruction algorithms.

[Comparative study on the essential composition content of commercial follow-up formula for older infant with the requirements in the new national food safety standard in China from 2017 to 2022].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the distribution of the content range of essential ingredients in commercial follow-up formula for older infants in China, analyze the differences between the content of essential ingredients in commercial older infant formula milk powder in China and the requirements of the new national standard(GB 10766-2021). METHODS: The label information of 478 commercial follow-up formula for older infant registered and approved from January 2017 to June 2022 were collected and entered. The distribution of essential ingredients was statistically analyzed, which was compared with the requirements of the new national food safety standard. RESULTS: The new national standard has 31 essential components. Compared with the old national standard(GB 10767-2010), five indicators of carbohydrate, α-linolenic acid, choline, selenium and manganese were added. The new national standard has 28 essential component requirements revised, including 13 adjusted the lower limit, 7 adjusted the upper limit, and 16 essential components added the upper limit. Among the approved 478 older infant formula milk powders, the distribution of 11 essential ingredients were all in line with the new national standard, and 14 essential ingredients were less than the lower limit of the new national standard. The essential ingredients whose minimum value was less than the lower limit of the new national standard and the proportion exceeds 50% were vitamin D, iodine and choline. with the proportions(number of cases) of 98.33%(470 cases), 74.06%(354 cases) and 72.37%(275 cases), respectively. The maximum value of essential ingredients exceeded the maximum requirements stipulated in the new national standard, and the protein in 13.18%(63 cases) of the older infant formula milk powder was higher than the maximum requirements of the new national standard. CONCLUSION: The content of essential components in most commercial products in China meets the new national standard requirements. Some essential ingredients need to be adjusted.

Exosomal MMP-1 transfers metastasis potential in triple-negative breast cancer through PAR1-mediated EMT.

PURPOSE: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer with high risk of distant metastasis, in which the intercellular communication between tumor cells also plays a role. Exosomes can be released by tumor cells and promote distant metastasis through intercellular communication or changes in tumor microenvironment, it is an optimized transportation facility for biologically active payloads. This was a hypothesis-generating research on role of exosomal payload in TNBC distant metastasis. METHODS: Exosomes isolated from supernatant of MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-231-HM (a highly pulmonary metastatic variant of parental MDA-MB-231 cells) were characterized. MMP-1 level was detected using mass spectrometry and western blot. Transwell assay, wound healing and CCK-8 assay were employed to explore the effect of exosomal MMP-1 on the metastatic capability of TNBC cells in vitro. Human breast cancer lung metastasis model in nude mice was established to observe the effect of exosomal MMP-1 in vivo. Tissue microarray and blood samples of TNBC patients were applied to analyze the relevance between MMP-1 with metastasis. RESULTS: MDA-MB-231-HM cells secrete exosomes enriched MMP-1, which can be taken up and enhance invasion and migration activities of TNBC cells, including MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468 and BT549. After ingesting exosomes enriched with MMP-1, cells secret more MMP-1, which may interact with membrane G protein receptor protease activated receptor 1 (PAR1), thereby initiating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to enhance capability of migration and invasion. The lung colonization model shows that the expressions of MMP-1 and PAR1 in the metastases of the 231-HM-exo treated mice were both upregulated. Clinically, the enrichment of MMP-1 can be detected in exosomes extracted from serum of patients with metastasis at higher concentration than that in pre-operative patients. Moreover, in patients with multiple distant metastases, the level of MMP-1 in exosomes is also higher than that in patients with single lesion. CONCLUSION: MMP-1 from TNBC cells of high metastasis potential can promote the distant metastasis of transform those with low metastasis potential through PAR1-mediated EMT and is likely to be a potential molecular marker.

High-performance lithium-niobate-on-insulator optical filter based on multimode waveguide gratings.

A high-performance optical filter is proposed and realized with multimode waveguide grating (MWG) and two-mode multiplexers on the x-cut lithium-niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) platform for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The present optical filter is designed appropriately to avoid material anisotropy as well as mode hybridness, and has a low excess loss of 0.05 dB and a high sidelobe suppression ratio (SLSR) of 32 dB in theory with Gaussian apodization. The fabricated filters show a box-like response with 1-dB bandwidth of 6-23 nm, excess loss of ∼0.15 dB, sidelobe suppression ratio of >26 dB. The device performance is further improved with a sidelobe suppression ratio as high as 48 dB and a low excess loss of ∼0.25 dB by cascading two identical MWGs.

[Effects of rice wheat intervention on intestinal microflora of rats based on metagenomics].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of rice on intestinal microflora in rats. METHODS: Thirty 4-week-old male SD rats were randomly divided into control group, rice group and wheat group according to body weight. The control group was fed with AIN-93 diet, the rice group and the wheat group was fed with the AIN-93 diet which the carbohydrate was replaced with rice and wheat, respectively, for 4 weeks. At the end of the experiment, lipid related biochemical indexes were determined, and the contents of the distal colon(feces) of rats were collected for macro factor detection. RESULTS: From the beginning to the end of feeding, there was no difference in weight gain among the groups. After the end of the experiment, there was no difference among lipid-related indicators and blood glucose. α diversity showed that there was no difference in the diversity of intestinal microbiota between the rice and wheat groups, and the gene abundance analysis of intestinal microbiota in the wheat group showed that the gene abundance of intestinal microbiota was lower. The difference analysis of intestinal microbiota result showed that compared with the rice group, the wheat group was composed of higher proportion of verrucomicrophyla and lower proportion of Bacteroidetes. Lefse analysis showed that the surface group was enriched with Akkermansia Muciniphila, Bifidobacterium animalis, and a variety of beneficial bacteria such as Faecalibaculum rodentium and Intestinimonas butyriciproducens, while Prevotella copri was rich in the rice group. Glycoside hydrolases 8, glycoside hydrolases 16, glycoside hydrolases 99 and glycosyl transferase family 56. CONCLUSION: Rice or wheat as different carbohydrate sources have different effects on the composition of intestinal microflora and carbohydrate-related active enzymes in rats.

The value of a new prognostic model developed by lymphocyte-monocyte ratio and platelet-monocyte ratio in peripheral T-cell lymphoma.

Peripheral T-cell lymphoma(PTCL) is a group of lymphoproliferative tumors originated from post-thymic T cells or mature natural killer (NK) cells. It shows highly aggressive clinical behaviour, resistance to conventional chemotherapy, and a poor prognosis. Although a few prognostic models of PTCL have been established in retrospective studies, some high-risk patients still can not be screened out. Therefor we retrospectively studied 347 newly diagnosed PTCL patients and assessed the prognostic role of lymphocyte-monocyte ratio (LMR) and platelet-monocyte ratio (PMR) in the complete response (CR) and survival of PTCL patients. Patients with LMR ≤ 1.68 and PMR ≤ 300 achieved a lower CR rate and a poor survival. In multivariate analysis, LMR ≤ 1.68 (HR = 1.751, 95% CI 1.158-2.647, p < 0.05) and PMR ≤ 300 (HR = 1.762, 95% CI 1.201-2.586, p < 0.05) were independently associated with short survival. On this basis, a new prognostic model of PTCL was established to screen out high-risk patients. In our "Peripheral Blood Score (PBS)" model, three groups were identified at low risk (178 patients, 51.3%, score 0), intermediate risk (85 patients, 24.5%, score 1), and high risk (84 patients, 24.2%, score 2), having a 1-year OS of 86%, 55.3% and 22.6% (p < 0.05), and a 3-year OS of 43.4%, 20% and 13.1% (p < 0.05), respectively. Optimal strategies for identifying high-risk patients with PTCL are urgently needed. Our new PBS model is simple, inexpensive and widely available to screen out the high risk patients.

Fatal hemorrhagic pneumonia in patients with hematologic diseases and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia bacteremia: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Fatal hemorrhagic pneumonia is one of the most severe manifestations of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (SM) infections. Here, we aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of SM bacteremia and to identify the risk factors of hemorrhagic pneumonia caused by SM in patients with hematologic diseases. METHODS: The clinical records of 55 patients diagnosed with hematologic diseases and SM bacteremia were retrospectively reviewed. We compared patients' clinical characteristics and outcomes between the hemorrhagic pneumonia group and non-hemorrhagic pneumonia group. RESULTS: Twenty-seven (49.1%) patients developed hemorrhagic pneumonia. The overall mortality rate of SM bacteremia was 67.3%. Hemorrhagic pneumonia (adjusted HR 2.316, 95% CI 1.140-4.705; P = 0.020) was an independent risk factor of 30-day mortality in hematological patients with SM bacteremia. Compared with the non-hemorrhagic pneumonia group, patients in the hemorrhagic pneumonia group were older and showed clinical manifestations as higher proportions of isolated SM in sputum culture, neutropenia and elevated procalcitonin (PCT). Multivariate analysis showed that neutropenia, high levels of PCT, prior tigecycline therapy within 1 month were independent risk factors associated with hemorrhagic pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS: Neutropenia, high level of PCT and prior tigecycline therapy within 1 month were significant independent predictors of hemorrhagic pneumonia in hematologic patients with SM bacteremia. Due to no effective antibiotics to prevent hemorrhagic pneumonia, prophylaxis of SM infection and its progression to hemorrhagic pneumonia is particularly important.

Designed Core-Shell Fe3O4@Polydopamine for Effectively Removing Uranium(VI) from Aqueous Solution.

Adsorbents with the combination of magnetic separation and removal performance are expected for reducing the adverse impact of nuclear pollution. In this study, the core-shell Fe3O4@polydopamine (Fe3O4@PDA) was successfully synthesized and used for removal of uranium (U(VI)) ion from aqueous solution. The abundant N-containing groups derived from PDA exist as the chelate sites for U(VI) and contribute greatly for U(VI) removal. Experimental results show that Fe3O4@PDA (56.39 mg g-1) exhibits greater sorption capacity for U(VI) removal compared with the pure Fe3O4 (9.17 mg g-1). The sorption isotherm can be well fitted with Freundlich model and the sorption process is endothermic and spontaneous. The removal of U(VI) can be explained by the complexation of U(VI) with -NH-, -NH2 and C-O in the surface of Fe3O4@PDA by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis.

Comparison of Serum Hepatitis B Virus RNA Levels and Quasispecies Evolution Patterns between Entecavir and Pegylated-Interferon Mono-treatment in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) RNA may independently predict virological and serological response. This study aimed to compare dynamic changes in serum HBV RNA levels and HBV quasispecies evolution patterns between entecavir and pegylated-interferon mono-treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients and to determine the clinical significance during treatment. TaqMan real-time PCR was used for quantitative analysis. HBV RNA levels were retrospectively determined in serial serum samples from 178 chronic hepatitis B patients who received either entecavir or pegylated-interferon treatment. Both serum HBV DNA and RNA quasispecies were analyzed via next-generation sequencing. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was performed to evaluate the prediction value of individual biomarkers for hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion. Patients who received pegylated-interferon treatment showed stronger declines in HBV RNA levels than did those who received entecavir treatment. Serum HBV RNA levels were lower in patients with subsequent HBeAg seroconversion. At baseline, the level of HBV RNA was better than other indicators in predicting HBeAg seroconversion. Moreover, the predictive value of serum HBV RNA levels was better in the entecavir group. Baseline HBV RNA exhibited a significantly higher genetic diversity than HBV DNA and had a significant decline after 4 weeks of entecavir treatment. Higher baseline genetic diversity may result in a better outcome in pegylated-interferon-treated patients. Serum HBV RNA levels showed different decline kinetics, and HBV RNA quasispecies showed different evolution patterns in entecavir and pegylated-interferon mono-treatment. Taken together, serum HBV RNA may serve as a promising biomarker of HBeAg seroconversion in patients during antiviral treatment.

OPN is a promising serological biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for 90% of cases of liver cancer and is one of the most common and lethal malignancies among all cancers. Current screening practices in high-risk populations using ultrasound and serological α-fetoprotein (AFP) have significantly reduced HCC mortality. However, considering the highly operative-dependent nature of ultrasound and dissatisfactory diagnostic performance of AFP, there is an unfulfilled need for a biomarker that can be used in HCC-related at-risk population screening. Here, sera from 322 patients, including 105 cases of chronic hepatitis (CH), 116 of liver cirrhosis (LC), and 101 of HCC, were collected. Two biomarkers, osteopontin (OPN) and dickkopf WNT signaling pathway inhibitor 1 (DKK1), were evaluated and compared with AFP alone and in combination. In our data, the serum OPN level increased significantly in HCC even in tumors of less than 2 cm. The area under the curve (AUC) reached 0.851, much higher than AFP and DKK1, with 79.21% sensitivity and 79.64% specificity at optimal cutoff in all of the samples. In AFP-negative samples, serum OPN also performed well with an AUC of 0.838. The combination of AFP and OPN improved diagnosis performance significantly when compared with AFP alone. However, the DKK1 level showed an increase in HCC only compared with the LC group. The AUC does not improve significantly when added into the binary logistic model. We conclude that OPN, but not DKK1, is a promising biomarker for HCC diagnosis.

Effect of Intensive and Standard Lipid-Lowering Therapy on the Progression of Stroke in Patients With Coronary Artery Syndromes: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

This meta-analysis demonstrated the effect of intensive versus standard statins on the risk of stroke in patients with coronary artery syndromes (CAS). PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane library, and clinicaltrials.gov were searched, and the retrieved studies were undertaken for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) throughout September 2018. Studies that were designed as RCTs and recruited at least 1000 CAS patients followed up greater than 1 year were eligible for this study. The summary relative risk with the 95% confidence interval was used as an effect estimate and calculated using the random-effects model. Five RCTs comprising a total of 39,612 coronary syndrome patients with reported 1236 stroke events were included in this meta-analysis. The summary result indicated a 14% reduction in the risk of stroke in CAS patients receiving intensive statin therapy as compared to standard statin therapy. The significant differences mainly occurred in mean age ≥60 years (P = 0.007), percentage of males ≥80% (P = 0.011), percentage diabetes mellitus ≥ 15% (P = 0.018), percentage hypertension ≥50% (P = 0.030), percentage of current smokers <30% (P = 0.011), percentage of prior myocardial infarction ≥50% (P = 0.011), percentage of peripheral arterial disease ≥10% (P = 0.030), patients with stable CAS (P = 0.011), patients using atorvastatin (P = 0.015), follow-up duration ≥3 years (P = 0.011), and study with moderate quality (P = 0.013). Intensive statin therapy should be considered for CAS patients at high risk of stroke events. Further large-scale RCT should be conducted to verify the results of stratified analysis in this study.

Impaired empathy in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy: An event-related potentials study.

PURPOSE: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder that may be complicated by neurobehavioral comorbidities. In a previous study, we identified impairment of empathy in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE). However, the temporal processing of empathy in patients with IGE is not well understood. METHODS: We investigated empathy for pain and self-reported empathy in 21 patients with IGE and 22 healthy control subjects. All study participants were required to complete a pain empathy task involving images of individuals in pain and neutral conditions during recording of event-related potentials. RESULTS: Compared with the controls, the patients with IGE showed impaired cognitive empathy but intact emotional empathy on the Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index; they also had normal N1, N2, and late positive potential (LPP) but lower P3 amplitudes evoked by depictions of pain in others when compared with neutral images during the pain judgment task; the difference in the effects of pain empathy on the pain task between the IGE group and the control group was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that later processing of pain empathy is impaired but early processing is intact in patients with IGE. The present study extends the findings of our previous behavioral study by providing solid evidence of impaired empathy in patients with IGE at the neural processing level.