The Combined Application of Augmented Reality and Guide Template Technology in the Treatment of Nasal Deformities.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to propose a surgical plan based on augmented reality (AR) and guide template technology for restoration of nasal deformities, and evaluate its feasibility and clinical efficacy. METHODS: Patients were scanned with a FaceScan to obtain the three-dimensional (3D) facial model, and computed tomography was also performed to obtain the maxillofacial computed tomography images while wearing the artificial marker. The mirroring tool and database searching and matching technology were employed to restore the nasal deformities for a normal nose (preoperative planning model). The design of guide template for deciding the incision area was based on the preoperative planning model, which was also imported into the AR image guidance system named HuaxiAR1.0 for reconstruction of the nose contour. One week after the surgery, the postoperative 3D facial model was obtained. Then, the clinical efficacy was evaluated by comparing the difference between the preoperative planning and postoperative 3D facial model. RESULTS: The patients obtained satisfactory nasal shapes after surgery. Comparison of the difference between the preoperative and postoperative 3D model revealed that the maximum error was ranging from 2.24 mm to 3.10 mm with the mean error from 0.54 mm to 0.65 mm. CONCLUSION: The combined application of AR and guide template technology provides a new approach for the treatment of nasal deformities, and has a certain significance in realizing the precise repair of other craniofacial soft tissue deformities.

Prognostic and diagnostic value of circRNA expression in colorectal carcinoma: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are research hotspots in the network of noncoding RNAs in numerous tumours. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the clinicopathological, prognostic and diagnostic value of circRNAs in colorectal cancer. METHODS: The PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science online databases were searched for relevant studies before May 15, 2019. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the association between circRNAs expression, and overall survival (OS) and clinical parameters. Pooled sensitivity, specificity, and the area under the curve (AUC) were employed to assess the diagnostic value of circRNAs. RESULTS: A total of 19 studies were enrolled in this meta-analysis, with 11 on clinicopathological parameters, 8 on prognosis and 7 on diagnosis. For clinicopathological and prognostic value, elevated expression of oncogenic circRNAs was correlated with poor clinical parameters (tumor size: OR = 1.769, 95% CI: 1.097-2.852; differentiation grade: OR = 1.743, 95% CI: 1.032-2.946; TNM stage: OR = 3.320, 95% CI: 1.529-7.207; T classification: OR = 3.410, 95% CI: 2.088-5.567; lymph node metastasis: OR = 3.357, 95% CI: 2.160-5.215; distal metastasis: OR = 4.338, 95% CI: 2.503-7.520) and worse prognosis (HR = 2.29, 95% CI: 1.50-3.52). However, elevated expression of tumor-suppressor circRNAs was correlated with better clinical parameters (differentiation grade: OR = 0.453, 95% CI: 0.261-0.787; T classification: OR = 0.553, 95% CI: 0.328-0.934; distal metastasis: OR = 0.196, 95% CI: 0.077-0.498) and favorable prognosis (HR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.22-0.64). For diagnostic value, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, and AUC were 0.82 (95% CI, 0.75-0.88), 0.72 (95% CI, 0.66-0.78), and 0.82 (95% CI, 0.78-0.85), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that circRNAs may be potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of colorectal cancer.

Diagnostic performance of circulating exosomes in human cancer: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Cancer has become a public health problem with high morbidity and mortality. Recent publications have shown that exosomes can be used as potential diagnostic biomarkers of cancer. However, the diagnostic accuracy and reliability of circulating exosomes remain unclear. The present meta-analysis was conducted to comprehensively summarize the overall diagnostic performance of circulating exosomes for cancer. METHODS: Eligible studies published up to June 27, 2019, on PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were selected for the meta-analysis. All statistical analyses were performed by STATA 15.1 statistical software and Meta-DiSc 1.4. Quality Assessment for Studies of Diagnostic Accuracy 2 tool was used to access the quality of included studies. A bivariate mixed-effects model was applied to calculate the diagnostic indexes from included studies. RESULTS: A total of 5924 participants comprising 3161 cases and 2763 controls from 42 eligible studies were analyzed. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio, and the area under the curve with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were as follows: 0.79 (0.75-0.82), 0.81 (0.78-0.84), 4.1 (3.5-4.8), 0.26 (0.22-0.31), 16 (12-21), and 0.87 (0.84-0.89), respectively. Sensitivity analysis suggested no study exclusively contributed to the heterogeneity, and Deeks' funnel plot asymmetry test indicated no potential publication bias (P = .09). CONCLUSIONS: The meta-analysis indicated that circulating exosomes could serve as effective and minimally invasive biomarkers for diagnosis of cancer, especially in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma or ovarian cancer, serum-based samples and exosomal proteins.

Differences in oncological outcomes and inflammatory biomarkers between right-sided and left-sided stage I-III colorectal adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in oncological outcome and inflammatory biomarkers between right-sided colon cancer (RCC) and left-sided colorectal cancer (LCRC). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 339 patients with stage I-III colorectal cancer, including 125 RCC patients and 214 LCRC patients, who underwent radical resection from January 2012 to January 2014. Comparison of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) between RCC and LCRC was evaluated using the Mann-Whitney U test. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier analysis and compared using the log-rank test. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to identify the prognostic value of inflammatory markers. RESULTS: Patients with RCC had higher NLR (P = .002) and PLR (P < .001) but lower LMR (P = .002) compared to LCRC. In stage I-III, RCC showed poorer OS and DFS than LCRC (61.6% vs 71.5%, P = .018; 64.8% vs 76.2%, P = .006). Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated that NLR, PLR, and LMR were independent predictors for both OS and DFS in RCC, whereas only PLR was found to be an independent prognostic predictor in LCRC. CONCLUSION: The prognosis and prognostic value of inflammatory biomarkers were significantly different between RCC and LCRC. Novel therapeutic strategies are needed, and proper prognostic predictors should be selected according to colorectal tumor location.

Arteriovenous Graft for Hemodialysis: Effect of Cryotherapy on Postoperative Pain and Edema.

BACKGROUND: Arteriovenous grafting offers an alternative for patients whose vessels are unsuitable for arteriovenous fistula. However, as a result of subcutaneous tunnel dissection, postoperative pain and edema of the operated limb present early after surgery. As a traditional therapeutic approach, cryotherapy has the ability to suppress postoperative pain and edema. AIMS: The purpose of the study was to investigate the feasibility of cryotherapy after arteriovenous graft surgery to decrease perioperative medication usage. DESIGN: This study was a randomized controlled trial. SETTING: A large integrated health care facility in South China. PARTICIPANTS/SUBJECTS: A total of 85 hemodialysis patients who received arteriovenous graft surgery from March 2011 to February 2017 were enrolled. METHODS: The participants were divided into an intervention group and a control group according to the postoperative management. Ice packs were applied covering the operative forearm for 120 minutes after wound closure in the intervention group. General information, pain score, analgesic consumption, wound inflammation, forearm edema, and participant satisfaction were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Cryotherapy-treated patients required less analgesia (26.19% vs. 48.84%, p < .05), reported lower pain score from 30 minutes to 48 hours postoperative (p < .05), less wound inflammation (11.90% vs. 25.58%, p < .05), and higher participant satisfaction (8.92 ± 0.57 vs. 6.52 ± 0.63, p < .05), whereas the incidence of forearm edema was equivalent (p > .05). No adverse events were reported in either group. CONCLUSIONS: Cryotherapy is a preferable intervention for patients after arteriovenous graft implantation as a result of its favorable cost, convenience, and fewer side effects.

Diamine oxidase as a marker for diagnosis of superior mesenteric arterial occlusion.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We investigated changes in serum diamine oxidase (DAO) activity during superior mesenteric arterial occlusion. We aimed to evaluate its value in the early diagnosis of superior mesenteric arterial occlusion. METHODOLOGY: Seventy mature male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in the study. These were divided into 7 groups of 10 rats each: 10min, 15min, 30min, 45min, 60min and 90min superior mesenteric arterial occlusion (SMA-O) groups, and a sham group. Blood samples were taken at the indicated time points for measuring serum DAO activity. Simultaneously, the small-intestinal segments were assessed histologically and graded according to Chiu's score. RESULTS: In the 15min group, SMA-O resulted in a rapid increase in DAO activity. Serum DAO activity and the mucosal injury score fitted well with the cubic model (r2=0.985, p<0.01). There was a positive correlation between ischemic duration and small-intestinal mucosal injury (r=0.909, p<0.01). Taking DAO=29.81U/L as a early diagnostic standard for superior mesenteric arterial occlusion, the sensitivity, accuracy and specificity were 94.34% (50/53), 95.71% (67/70), 100% (17/17), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Serum DAO activity is a sensitive predictor of small-intestinal injury. Our finding suggests that measurement of serum DAO levels might provide a marker for early diagnosis of superior mesenteric arterial occlusion.

Virtual reconstruction of midfacial bone defect based on generative adversarial network.

BACKGROUND: The study aims to evaluate the accuracy of the generative adversarial networks (GAN) for reconstructing bony midfacial defects. METHODS: According to anatomy, the bony midface was divided into five subunit structural regions and artificial defects are manually created on the corresponding CT images. GAN is trained to reconstruct artificial defects to their previous normal shape and tested. The clinical defects are reconstructed by the trained GAN, where the midspan defects were used for qualitative evaluation and the unilateral defects were used for quantitative evaluation. The cosine similarity and the mean error are used to evaluate the accuracy of reconstruction. The Mann-Whitney U test is used to detect whether reconstruction errors were consistent in artificial and unilateral clinical defects. RESULTS: This study included 518 normal CT data, with 415 in training set and 103 in testing set, and 17 real patient data, with 2 midspan defects and 15 unilateral defects. Reconstruction of midspan clinical defects assessed by experts is acceptable. The cosine similarity in the reconstruction of artificial defects and unilateral clinical defects is 0.97 ± 0.01 and 0.96 ± 0.01, P = 0.695. The mean error in the reconstruction of artificial defects and unilateral clinical defects is 0.59 ± 0.31 mm and 0.48 ± 0.08 mm, P = 0.09. CONCLUSION: GAN-based virtual reconstruction technology has reached a high accuracy in testing set, and statistical tests suggest that it can achieve similar results in real patient data. This study has preliminarily solved the problem of bony midfacial defect without reference.

Pre-surgical peripheral blood inflammation markers predict surgical site infection following mesh repair of groin hernia.

ABSTRACT: Surgical site infection (SSI) is a costly postoperative complication with a decrease in the quality of life. We aimed to probe the predictive role of peripheral blood inflammation markers for SSI following mesh repair of groin hernia (GH).This retrospective study assessed the data of 1177 patients undergoing elective mesh repair of GH (open/laparoscopy) in the absence of antibiotic prophylaxis. The relation between demographics, surgical factors, pre-surgical laboratory results and the occurrence of SSI were investigated by univariate and multivariate analyses. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to determine the optimal threshold of parameters and compare their veracity.The overall SSI rate was 3.2% with 1-year follow-up (38 superficial and 1 deep SSI). Patients with SSI had significant higher pre-surgical neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) than those without (P = .029 and P = .045, respectively); their NLR and PLR correlated positively with postoperative total days of antibiotic treatment for SSI (r = .689, P = .000; r = .493, P = .001; respectively). NLR and PLR had larger areas under the receiver operating characteristics curves than neutrophil (.875 vs. .601; P = .000; .726 vs. .601; P = .017). The combination of PLR and neutrophil/NLR raised the predictive sensitivity of PLR for SSI (sensitivity: PLR: 74.36%; PLR + neutrophil: 82.05%; PLR + NLR: 83.57%). On multivariate analyses, higher preoperative NLR (cut-off 2.44) and PLR (cut-off 125.42) were independent predictors for SSI.Higher pre-surgical NLR and PLR may be valuable predictors for SSI following elective mesh repair of GH.

A nomogram for predicting 5-year incidence of type 2 diabetes in a Chinese population.

PURPOSE: To develop a nomogram for predicting 5-year incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Chinese adults. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study from a prospectively collected database. We included a total 32,766 adults free of T2D at baseline with a median follow-up of 3 years. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were applied to identify independent predictors. A nomogram was constructed to predict 5-year incident rate of T2D based on the multivariate analysis results. Harrell's C-indexes and calibration plots were used to evaluate the accuracy of the nomogram in both internal and external validations. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of T2D was 2.1%. Participants were randomly divided into a training set (n = 21,844) and a validation set (n = 10,922). After multivariate analysis in the training set, age, sex, BMI, hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking status, and family history were found as risk predictors and integrated into the nomogram. Harrell's C-indexes were 0.815 (95% CI: 0.797-0.834) and 0.779 (95% CI: 0.747-0.811) in the training and validation sets, respectively. The calibration plots demonstrated good agreement between the estimated probability and the actual observation. CONCLUSION: Our nomogram could be a simple and reliable tool for predicting 5-year risk of developing T2D in high-risk Chinese. Through the model, early identifying high-risk individuals is helpful for timely intervention to reduce the incidence of T2D.

INHBB Is a Novel Prognostic Biomarker Associated with Cancer-Promoting Pathways in Colorectal Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Inhibin subunit beta B (INHBB) is a protein-coding gene that participated in the synthesis of the transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß) family members. The study is aimed at exploring the clinical significance of INHBB in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) by bioinformatics analysis. METHODS: Real-time PCR and analyses of Oncomine, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases were utilized to evaluate the INHBB gene transcription level of colorectal cancer (CRC) tissue. We evaluated the INHBB methylation level and the relationship between expression and methylation levels of CpG islands in CRC tissue. The corresponding clinical data were obtained to further explore the association of INHBB with clinical and survival features. In addition, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed to explore the gene ontology and signaling pathways of INHBB involved. RESULTS: INHBB expression was elevated in CRC tissue. Although the promoter of INHBB was hypermethylated in CRC, methylation did not ultimately correlate with the expression of INHBB. Overexpression of INHBB was significantly and positively associated with invasion depth, distant metastasis, and TNM stage. Cox regression analyses and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that high expression of INHBB was correlated with worse overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). GSEA showed that INHBB was closely correlated with 5 cancer-promoting signaling pathways including the Hedgehog signaling pathway, ECM receptor interaction, TGF-ß signaling pathway, focal adhesion, and pathway in cancer. INHBB expression significantly promoted macrophage infiltration and inhibited memory T cell, mast cell, and dendritic cell infiltration. INHBB expression was positively correlated with stromal and immune scores of CRC samples. CONCLUSION: INHBB might be a potential prognostic biomarker and a novel therapeutic target for CRC.

MicroRNA­383­5p inhibits the proliferation and promotes the apoptosis of gastric cancer cells by targeting cancerous inhibitor of PP2A.

The aberrant expression of microRNA (miRNAor miR)­383­5p has been found in numerous types of cancer. However, the function of miR­383­5p in gastric cancer (GC) remains elusive and requires further investigation. In the present study, the level of miR­383­5p and cancerous inhibitor of PP2A (CIP2A) in GC cell lines was determined by reverse transcription­quantitative PCR analysis. GC cell proliferation, apoptosis and cell cycle distribution were determined by the MTT assay and flow cytometry, respectively. The mRNA target of miR­383­5p was identified by dual luciferase activity assay. It was observed that the expression of miR­383­5p was lower and that of CIP2A was higher in GC cells compared with the GES­1 normal human gastric epithelial cell line. Transfectoin with miR­383­5p mimic significantly inhibited GC cell proliferation, while it promoted cell apoptosis and G0/G1 arrest by targeting CIP2A. Taken together, the findings of the present study demonstrate that miR­383­5p inhibits GC cell proliferation and promotes apoptosis and G0/G1 arrest by targeting CIP2A, indicating that targeting miR­383­5p may hold promise as a future therapeutic strategy for patients with GC.

The Diagnostic Value of Serum L1CAM in Patients With Colorectal Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Colorectal cancer is one of the most important malignant cancer in the world with high incidence and mortality. Some studies have found that the expression of low serum L1 cell adhesion molecule is associated with poor prognosis in some malignancies. It is suggested that L1 cell adhesion molecule is a candidate serum marker for certain tumors. However, the relationship between serum L1 cell adhesion molecule and colorectal cancer, especially about the diagnostic value, is rarely reported. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic potential of serum L1 cell adhesion molecule in patients with colorectal cancer. METHODS: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was carried out to detect L1 cell adhesion molecule level in sera of 229 patients with colorectal cancer and 145 normal controls. Receiver operating characteristic curves were employed to calculate the accuracy of diagnosis. RESULTS: The levels of serum L1 cell adhesion molecule in the colorectal cancer group were significantly lower than that in normal controls (P < .05). In the normal group, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (area under the curve) of all colorectal cancer was 0.781 (95% confidence interval: 0.734-0.828) and early-stage colorectal cancer was 0.764 (95% confidence interval: 0.705-0.823). With optimized cutoff of 17.760 ng/mL, L1 cell adhesion molecule showed certain diagnostic value with specificity of 90.3% and sensitivities of 43.2% and 36.2% in colorectal cancer and early-stage colorectal cancer, respectively. Clinical data analysis showed that the levels of L1 cell adhesion molecule were significantly correlated with gender (P < .05) and early and late stages (P < .05). Furthermore, when compared with carcinoembryonic antigen, serum L1 cell adhesion molecule had significantly improved diagnostic accuracy for both colorectal cancer and early-stage colorectal cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that serum L1 cell adhesion molecule might be served as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer.

Potential Diagnostic Value Of Combining Inflammatory Cell Ratios With Carcinoembryonic Antigen For Colorectal Cancer.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the diagnostic value of combining the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) or lymphocyte-monocyte ratio (LMR) with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The diagnostic performance of inflammatory makers and CEA was evaluated in cohort 1 (664 patients with CRC, 336 patients with colorectal polyps and 664 healthy controls) and validated in cohort 2 (87 patients with CRC and 87 healthy controls) by using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. RESULTS: In cohort 1, the NLR, PLR and CEA levels were significantly higher, while the LMR was markedly lower in patients with CRC than in healthy controls. The PLR and LMR were significantly associated with invasion depth and lymph node metastasis. Moreover, significant differences in the PLR and LMR were observed between patients with stage I/II CRC and healthy or polyp controls and those with stage III/IV CRC. Using the NLR, PLR or LMR with CEA resulted in a significantly larger area under the curve (AUC) than any of them used alone. Combining the PLR and LMR with CEA exhibited the best diagnostic value for CRC (AUC=0.892). The AUCs of this combination were 0.864 and 0.783 for distinguishing stage I/II CRC from healthy and polyp controls, respectively. When we used the same cut-off values to assess the diagnostic ability of these markers in cohort 2, similar results were observed, and the PLR, LMR and CEA combination also showed the highest accuracy (AUC=0.936). CONCLUSION: Combining inflammatory cell ratios with CEA could improve the diagnostic efficacy for CRC patients. The combination of the PLR and LMR with CEA might be a valuable indicator in the early detection and monitoring of CRC patients.

Cryotherapy Relieves Pain and Edema After Inguinal Hernioplasty in Males With End-Stage Renal Disease: A Prospective Randomized Study.

CONTEXT: Tension-free hernioplasty under local anesthetic infiltration is a reasonable choice for end-stage renal disease patients with hernia. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to investigate the feasibility of cryotherapy after hernioplasty surgery to relieve pain and scrotal edema. METHODS: This was a prospective, randomized, and controlled trial held in a large integrated health care facility in South China. One hundred sixty-nine male patients on hemodialysis and scheduled for hernioplasty were enrolled between March 2013 and February 2017. The participants were divided into an intervention group and a control group. In the intervention group, ice packs were applied after surgery. Demographic information, vital signs, pain score, opioid consumption, wound inflammation, scrotal edema, and patient satisfaction were compared between the two groups. The primary outcome was pain score. RESULTS: Cryotherapy-treated patients required less opioid consumption (5.95 vs. 15.29 mg; P < 0.05), reported lower pain scores from 30 minutes to 48 hours after operation (P < 0.05), less wound inflammation (11.90 vs. 32.94%; P < 0.05), lower incidence of scrotal edema in the first and second days (P < 0.05), and higher patient satisfaction (8.95 vs. 6.50 cm; P < 0.05), with stable vital signs throughout the monitoring period (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Owing to its favorable cost, convenience, and low frequency of adverse effects, cryotherapy is useful for end-stage renal disease populations after hernioplasty to relieve pain and scrotal edema.

Epstein-Barr virus in hepatocellular carcinogenesis.

AIM: In recent years, studies have suggested that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is associated with HCC. The present study was to determine the prevalence of EBV in HCC patients, and whether EBV acted synergistically with hepatitis viruses in HCC carcinogenesis. METHODS: Liver tissue 115 HCC patients and 26 non-carcinoma patients were studied. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to detect EBV BamHI W DNA, EBV LMP1 DNA, HBV X DNA, and HBV S DNA. Reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) was performed to detect HCV RNA and HDV RNA. Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect LMP1, HBsAg, HBcAg and HCV. The positive ratios were compared between HCC group and control group by chi2 test. RESULTS: Totally, 78 HCC samples whose beta-globulin DNA was positively detected by amplified PCR were selected. PCR was performed in all cases for EBV DNA and HBV DNA. RT-PCR was performed in 18 cases for HCV RNA and HDV RNA. EBV BamHI W and EBV LMP1 were positive in 18 and 6 cases, respectively. HBV X gene and HBV S gene were positive in 42 and 27 cases respectively. HCV was positive in one of the 18 cases, and none was positive for HDV. The positive rates were 28.2% (22 of 78) for EBV DNA (BamHI W and/or LMP1) and 56.4% (44 of 78) for HBV DNA (X gene and/or S gene) respectively. In addition, 12 cases were positive for both EBV DNA and HBV DNA. Among the 26 cases in the control group, 2 cases were positive for EBV BamHI W, 4 positive for HBV X gene and 3 positive for HBV S gene. The positive rates were 8.0% (2 of 26) and 23.1% (6 of 26), respectively, for EBV DNA and HBV DNA. The result of DNA sequencing of BamHI W was 100% homologous with the corresponding sequence of B95-8. There was significant difference in EBV infection rate between HCC patients and controls (chi2 = 4.622, P<0.05). The difference in HBV infection rate was also significant (chi2 = 8.681, P<0.05). However, there was no obvious correlation between HBV and EBV in HCC patients (chi2 = 0.835, P>0.05). LMP1, HBV (HBsAg, HBcAg) and HCV were detected positively in 25, 45 and 6 of 78 cases of HCC tissues respectively. In the 26 control cases, the corresponding positive cases were 2, 4 and 0. The difference in EBV infection rate between HCC patients and control cases was statistically significant (chi2 = 6.02, P<0.05). The difference in HBV infection rate was also statistically significant (chi2 = 10.03, P<0.05). In the 25 cases with positive LMP1 expression, 6 were in the nuclei of tumor cells, 9 in the cytoplasm of tumor cells and 10 in mesenchymal lymphocyte cytoplasm. CONCLUSION: The existence of EBV infection in HCC tissues suggests that EBV may be involved in the hepatocellular carcinogenesis in China. HBV infection may be a major cause of HCC. There is no correlation between EBV and HBV in the development of HCC. The prevalence of HCV infection is low in our area, and HDV appears not to play a direct role in hepatocellular carcinogenesis.

[cDNA microarray-based screening of differentially expressed genes in macrophages in the spleen of patients with portal hypertension and hypersplenism].

OBJECTIVE: To identify the differentially expressed genes associated with hypersplenism in patients with portal hypertension. METHODS: The total RNA were extracted from the macrophages isolated from normal spleen and the spleen of patients with portal hypertension and reversely transcribed to cDNA with the incorporation of fluorescent (cy3 and cy5)-labeled dCTP to prepare the hybridization probes. After hybridization of Biostar-H140s chip containing 14,112 spots of cDNAs with the prepared probes, the gene chip was scanned for fluorescence intensity to screen the differently expressed genes. Three gene chips were used for hybridization and only the genes with differential expression in all the three chips were considered to associate with hypersplenism in patients with portal hypertension. RESULTS: Totaling 896, 1330 and 898 genes were identified to be differentially expressed by the three chips, respectively, and 121 genes (0.86%) showed differential expression in all the three chips, including 21 up-regulated known genes and 73 down-regulated known genes. The differently expressed genes were functionally related with ion channels and transport proteins, cyclins, cytoskeleton, cell receptors, cell signal transduction, metabolism, immunity, and so forth. These genes might be involved in hypersplenism in the condition of portal hypertension. CONCLUSION: cDNA microarray-based screening of differentially expressed genes in the macrophages in the spleen may provide new insights into the pathogenesis of hypersplenism in patients with portal hypertension.

[Microscopic autofluorescence study of cardiac cancer and normal gastric tissues].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the microscopic autofluorescent characteristics of cardiac cancer and autofluorescence distribution in different layers of gastric tissues. METHODS: A double-channel laser scanning confocal microscopy with Argon ion laser (excitation wavelength 488 nm) and Helium-Neon laser (excitation wavelength 543 nm) were used to detect the autofluorescence emitted from 16 surgical specimens of cardiac cancer and corresponding normal gastric tissue. The autofluorescence image was analyzed between the cardiac cancer tissue and normal gastric tissue. RESULTS: Autofluorescence was detected successfully in cardiac carcinoma and corresponding normal gastric corpus tissues of all 16 cases. In different layers of gastric tissue, fluorescence presented the strongest signal in submucosa,the second strong in luminal propria with fluorescence mostly distributed in the glands, fluorescence signal from gastric cancer was significantly decreased compared with those in the different layers of normal tissues (P< 0.01). CONCLUSION: There are significant differences in the shape, color, distribution and fluorescence intensity of microscopic autofluorescence between cardiac cancer tissues and normal gastric corpus tissues.