Identification of ALDOB as a novel prognostic biomarker in kidney clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Kidney clear cell renal cell carcinoma (KIRC) is also the most lethal subtype among all kidney cancer subtypes, posing a severe threat to public health. Therefore, it is crucial to identify new, reliable biomarkers in KIRC. Therefore, it is crucial to identify novel, reliable biomarkers associated with KIRC. We analyzed RNA sequence results from TCGA and several GEO datasets. The commonly deregulated gene, ALDOB, was found in multiple data and confirmed its important prognostic value. Subsequently, we explored the specific mechanism by which ALDOB regulates anti-tumor immunity through in vivo and in vitro experiments. We found that ALDOB may play a role in regulating tumor growth by regulating CD8+ T cell infiltration. This is consistent with the results of our immune infiltration-related analysis. In addition, we have also discovered the effect of ALDOB in previous studies on other cancer types. Finally, we concluded that ALDOB may have potential reference value for immunotherapy and can also be used as an independent predictor of prognosis in KIRC.

Families' perception of terminal patients' prognosis awareness is associated with families' own grief: Evidence from a hospital in China.

AIM: The aim of the study was to explore how families' perceptions of dying patients' prognosis awareness influence families' grief. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design was adopted. METHOD: Data were collected from a survey of family caregivers of deceased patients through a tertiary hospital in Mainland China between October 2018 and April 2021. One question asked about families' perceptions of patients' awareness of their prognosis, and the Chinese Grief Reaction Assessment Form was used to measure grief. A multiple linear regression with control variables was run to test the link. Missing data were handled with multiple imputation. RESULTS: A total of 181 participants were involved in the analyses. After whether the patient received professional end-of-life care in the last days, the place of death and several basic information variables were controlled, families' grief was more intense when they were sure that patients were unaware of the terminal prognosis compared to when they believed that patients were aware or not sure about the patient's awareness. The latter two groups did not differ significantly in grief intensity. CONCLUSION: For Chinese family caregivers in the present study, terminal patients' awareness of their prognosis is more beneficial than harmful to their bereavement adaptation. This raises empirical concerns over the assumption that truth is harmful and the nondisclosure pattern on such a basis. IMPACT: The findings extend knowledge on the outcomes of information disclosure from the perspective of bereaved family caregivers. Meanwhile, it informs services for the dying and the bereaved: When making decisions about prognosis disclosure to terminally ill patients, potential impacts on not only patients but also families need to be fully considered. For families who are sure that the patient was never aware of the prognosis, additional support ought to be provided to address their intense grief reactions. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Several professional caregivers helped revise the questionnaire.

Information disclosure to cancer patients in Mainland China: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to systematically examine Chinese cancer patients' and families' preferences for information disclosure to the patient, patient awareness, and predictors of patient awareness. METHODS: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed. Web of Science, Scopus, Proquest, Taylor & Francis Online, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure were searched in April 2022 and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database in July 2022 for quantitative studies. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used for quality assessment. RESULTS: A total of 22 studies were included, and the average quality score was 0.65/1. Meta-analyses showed that 89.6% and 81.8% of cancer patients wanted to know their diagnosis and prognosis, respectively. Meanwhile, 50.0% and 32.4% of families prefer diagnosis disclosure and prognosis disclosure to the patient, respectively. Significantly more patients than families favored disclosure to the patient. In reality, only 59.3% of cancer patients know their diagnosis, and 19.9% know their prognosis. For predictors, while patients' gender, cancer type (breast cancer or not), treatment method (operation or other), or complications (yes or no) do not influence diagnosis awareness, being younger, being married, having higher educational attainment, having early-stage rather than late-stage cancer, and being in a higher-grade hospital all predict better chances of knowing a diagnosis. No study explored predictors of patients' prognosis awareness. The findings did not vary according to publication time or sample size. CONCLUSIONS: Chinese cancer patients are eager to know their diagnosis and prognosis, but families are hesitant about disclosure to the patient, and patients' awareness is low. While cultural, legal, and medical backgrounds lay the foundation for information disclosure in Mainland China, case-by-case practical factors also make a difference.

End-of-Life Needs of Dying Patients and Their Families in Mainland China: A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVE: To map the current research status and understand existing findings regarding end-of-life care needs in Mainland China. METHOD: First-hand, empirical studies on the needs of dying patients and/or their families in Mainland China were searched in Web of Science, Scopus, Proquest, Taylor & Francis Online and CNKI in December 2019. Findings were synthesized. RESULTS: A total of 33 (10 qualitative) studies were involved. Chinese dying patients and their families had physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs and needs for knowledge and information. Prevalent needs of dying patients were mainly symptom control and decent look, being treated kindly by professional caregivers, family accompany, dignity, and comfortable environment. Families mainly need healthcare professionals to take good care of patients and wishes for information, knowledge, and facilities to help themselves become better caregivers. CONCLUSIONS: Findings lay the foundation for effective and tailored services for Chinese clients and provided insights for future investigations.

Circulating lncRNA BC030099 Increases in Preeclampsia Patients.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have increasingly been shown to be important biological regulators involved in numerous diseases. Further, increasing evidence demonstrates that circulating lncRNAs can be used as diagnostic biomarkers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential for circulating lncRNAs as novel biomarkers for the diagnosis of preeclampsia. In the present study, we measured the expression of five lncRNAs known to be relevant to the uterus in whole blood samples from 48 preeclampsia patients and 24 non-preeclampsia healthy subjects using qRT-PCR. We found that circulating levels of lncRNA BC030099 were significantly higher in patients with preeclampsia (1.232 ± 0.4870) than in non-preeclampsia healthy subjects (0.9928 ± 0.2008, p < 0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for lncRNA BC030099 was 0.713. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified lncRNA BC030099 as an independent predictor for preeclampsia. In brief, our results suggest that increased plasma levels of lncRNA BC030099 are associated with an increased risk of preeclampsia and may be considered a novel biomarker.