Serous IFNA3 predicts unfavorable prognosis in lung cancer via abnormal activation of AKT signaling.

This study addresses the demand through datamining The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and elucidates mechanistic involvements of interferon alpha 8 (IFNA8) in lung cancer. The overall survival and disease-free survival of lung cancer patients in respect to IFNA8 expression level were analyzed. IFNA8 expression levels in both serum and tumor tissue were determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The diagnostic value of serous IFNA8 in lung cancer was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Cell viability and proliferation were measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and Cell Counting Kit-8 assays. in vivo pro-tumor effect of IFNA8 was evaluated using xenograft tumor model. The metastasis-prone behaviors were determined by Transwell chamber assay and tail vein-injection in mice. Protein levels of p-AKT, total AKT, and endogenous reference actin were analyzed by western blot. We uncovered high IFNA8 associated with unfavorable overall survival and disease-free survival in lung cancer patients from TCGA. We further characterized the aberrant over-expression of IFNA8 in both peripheral blood and solid tumor from our clinical patient panel, and ROC analysis suggested its potential diagnostic value. Ectopic over-expression of IFNA8 promoted viability and proliferation in both A549 and H1299 cells in vitro and accelerated xenograft tumor growth in vivo. Furthermore, IFNA8 facilitated migration, invasion, and metastasis of A549 cells in vivo. Mechanistically, we disclosed the over-activation of AKT signaling in IFNA8-proficient A549 cells, inhibition of which completely abolished the pro-tumor effects of IFNA8. We have identified IFNA8 as a novel biomarker for either diagnostic or prognostic purpose in lung cancer, which is mechanistically associated with abnormal activation of AKT signaling.

Ectopic TSH-secreting pituitary tumor: a case report and review of prior cases.

BACKGROUND: Ectopic TSH-secreting pituitary adenoma (TSH-oma) is a very unusual disorder. To date, there are only four cases reported. It is difficult to distinguish ectopic cases from both regular TSH-omas and resistance to thyroid hormone (RTH). CASE PRESENTATION: A newly identified case of ectopic TSH-oma arising from the nasal pharynx was described, and reports of four prior cases were reviewed. The patient was a 41-year-old male who developed what appeared to be typical hyperthyroidism and atrial fibrillation in 2009. Thyroid function tests showed elevated basal levels of free T3 (FT3, 24.08 pmol/L), free T4 (FT4, 75.73 pmol/L), and serum TSH (7.26 µIU/ml). Both TSH-oma and resistance to thyroid hormone syndrome were considered. TRH stimulating test was negative, whereas octreotide inhibition test showed a reduction in TSH by 30.8%. Furthermore, a large space-occupying lesion located at the nasopharynx was found by computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A normal pituitary was visualized. Ectopic TSH-oma was preliminarily established. Using an endoscopic endonasal approach, the tumor was resected. Histological features and immunophenotypes were consistent with those of TSH-secreting tumor. The levels of both free thyroxine and TSH returned to normal ranges the day after surgery and remained within normal range for 48 months. CONCLUSIONS: Although exceedingly rare, ectopic TSH-oma should be considered for patients with inappropriate secretion of TSH with hyperthyroidism and pituitary tumor undetectable by computed tomography and MRI. To our knowledge, this is the first case followed up more than 4 years. The characteristics and successful interventions summarized in this report provide a guideline for clinicians.

Anal swab as a potentially optimal specimen for SARS-CoV-2 detection to evaluate hospital discharge of COVID-19 patients.

Since December 2019, an outbreak of SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) began in Wuhan, and has rapidly spread worldwide. Previously, discharged patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients met the criteria of China's pneumonia diagnosis and treatment program of novel coronavirus infection (trial version 7) for cure of viral infection. Nevertheless, positive detection of SARS-CoV-2 has been found again in several cured COVID-19 patients, leading to conflicts with current criteria. Here, we report clinically cured cases with positive results only in anal swabs, and investigate the clinical value of anal swabs for SARS-CoV-2 detection.

Low-tube-voltage combined with adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction-V technique in CT venography of lower limb deep vein thrombosis.

This study contains 2 arms: (1) the ASIR-V technique combined with low-tube-voltage in lower limb deep vein thrombosis (DVT) diagnosis was investigated; and (2) CT venography and ultrasound results in DVT diagnosis were compared. For arm 1, 90 patients suspected of DVT were randomly divided into 3 groups (30/group): groups A and B were scanned under 100-kV with pre-set ASIR-V weights of 30% and 50% respectively; group C were scanned under 70-kV with a 50% weight. For arm 2, 75 patients were divided into 3 groups (25/group), each group was CT scanned as in arm 1 and then all subjects were examined by ultrasound. Groups A, B and C had 16, 14 and 17 patients diagnosed with DVTs, respectively. There was no significant difference in subjective ratings of image quality among all groups. The 70-kV protocol remarkably increased venous attenuation value while all groups had similar DVT attenuation value. Higher noise was observed in group C, the CNR however, was actually augmented due to elevated venous attenuations. More importantly, group C had significantly lower CTDIvol and DLP values. In conclusion, the 70-kV protocol is superior to the 100 kV protocols, which was supported by findings from the second arm study.

A technique for visualization and mapping of local cartilage thickness changes in MR images of osteoarthritic knee.

PURPOSE: The aim of this paper is to describe a technique for the visualization and mapping of focal, local cartilage thickness changes over time in magnetic resonance images of osteoarthritic knee. METHODS: Magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 25 fresh frozen pig knee joints and 15 knees of patients with borderline to mild osteoarthritis (51.2±6.3 years). Cartilage and corresponding bone structures were extracted by semi-automatic segmentation. Each point in the bone surface which was part of the bone-cartilage interface was assigned a cartilage thickness value. Cartilage thicknesses were computed for each point in the bone-cartilage interfaces and transferred to the bone surfaces. Moreover, we developed a three dimensional registration method for the identification of anatomically corresponding points of the bone surface to quantify local cartilage thickness changes. One of the main advantages of our method compared to other studies in the field of registration is a global optimization algorithm that does not require any initialization. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The registration accuracy was 0.93±0.05 mm (less than a voxel of magnetic resonance data). Local cartilage thickness changes were seen as having follow-up clinical study for detecting local changes in cartilage thickness. Experiment results suggest that our method was sufficiently accurate and effective for monitoring knee joint diseases.