Association of waist-calf circumference ratio, waist circumference, calf circumference, and body mass index with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in older adults: a cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Waist circumference (WC), calf circumference (CC), and body mass index (BMI) have been independently linked to mortality. However, it's not yet clear how the waist-calf circumference ratio (WCR) relates to mortality. This study aims to investigate the relationship between WCR, WC, CC, and BMI with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in older adults. METHODS: In the 2014 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, 4627 participants aged 65 years and older were included, and they were subsequently followed up in 2018. Cox proportional hazards models were utilized to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all-cause and cause-specific mortality, based on WCR, WC, CC, and BMI. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 3.4 years, 1671 deaths (36.1%) occurred. Compared to the second quartile of WCR, the highest quartile had a higher risk of mortality from all causes (HR 1.42, 95%CI 1.24-1.64), cardiovascular disease (CVD) (HR 1.88, 95%CI 1.38-2.56), and other causes (HR 1.37, 95%CI 1.15-1.63). The first and fourth quartiles of WC had HRs of 2.19 (1.00-4.79) and 2.69 (1.23-5.89), respectively, for cancer mortality. The highest quartile of CC was associated with a lower risk of all-cause and other-cause mortality, whereas the lowest quartile was associated with a higher risk of all-cause, CVD, and other-cause mortality compared to the second CC quartile. Additionally, the lowest quartile of BMI was associated with a higher risk of all-cause and respiratory disease mortality. Interaction analyses showed that the effects of CC on all-cause and CVD mortality were more pronounced in adults aged ≥ 80 years (P-interaction < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Higher WCR and lower CC increased the risk of all-cause, CVD, and other-cause mortality. Lower BMI was associated with higher all-cause and respiratory disease mortality risk, while WC only predicted cancer mortality.

Current Status and Analysis of Machine Learning in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common tumor. Although the diagnosis and treatment of HCC have made great progress, the overall prognosis remains poor. As the core component of artificial intelligence, machine learning (ML) has developed rapidly in the past decade. In particular, ML has become widely used in the medical field, and it has helped in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Different algorithms of ML have different roles in diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. This article reviews recent research, explains the application of different ML models in HCC, and provides suggestions for follow-up research.

Martynoside rescues 5-fluorouracil-impaired ribosome biogenesis by stabilizing RPL27A.

Martynoside (MAR), a bioactive component in several well-known tonic traditional Chinese herbs, exhibits pro-hematopoietic activity during 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) treatment. However, the molecular target and the mechanism of MAR are poorly understood. Here, by adopting the mRNA display with a library of even-distribution (md-LED) method, we systematically examined MAR-protein interactions in vitro and identified the ribosomal protein L27a (RPL27A) as a key cellular target of MAR. Structural and mutational analysis confirmed the specific interaction between MAR and the exon 4,5-encoded region of RPL27A. MAR attenuated 5-FU-induced cytotoxicity in bone marrow nucleated cells, increased RPL27A protein stability, and reduced the ubiquitination of RPL27A at lys92 (K92) and lys94 (K94). Disruption of MAR binding at key residues of RPL27A completely abolished the MAR-induced stabilization. Furthermore, by integrating label-free quantitative ubiquitination proteomics, transcriptomics, and ribosome function assays, we revealed that MAR restored RPL27A protein levels and thus rescued ribosome biogenesis impaired by 5-FU. Specifically, MAR increased mature ribosomal RNA (rRNA) abundance, prevented ribosomal protein degradation, facilitated ribosome assembly, and maintained nucleolar integrity. Collectively, our findings characterize the target of a component of Chinese medicine, reveal the importance of ribosome biogenesis in hematopoiesis, and open up a new direction for improving hematopoiesis by targeting RPL27A.

The mechanism of trans-δ-viniferin inhibiting the proliferation of lung cancer cells A549 by targeting the mitochondria.

Trans-δ-viniferin (TVN), as a natural extract, is a resveratrol dimer with attractive biological activities, particularly its anti-tumor character. However, the mechanism of TVN interfering with cancerous proliferation has not been fully understood. Herein in this study, we found that TVN could trigger cancerous mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) reduction, with intracellular reactive oxidative species (ROS) level increasing, leading to apoptosis, which makes TVN a promising candidate for lung cancer cells A549 treatment. Therefore, this study provides TVN as an option to meet the demand for higher antitumor availability with lower biotoxicity and other clinical applications.

Study on the Effect of Strain-Softening on Permeability and Gas Pressure in Surrounding Rocks of a Hydraulic Flushing Borehole.

Hydraulic flushing gas extraction technology is gradually being applied in coal mines because it can effectively improve the gas extraction efficiency. This study aimed to explore the effect of strain-softening on permeability and gas pressure, due to the deficiency of previous studies on hydraulic flushing that did not consider the strain-softening of surrounding rocks. First, we analyzed the essence of strain-softening based on previous studies and proved the existence of strain-softening in surrounding rocks of the hydraulic flushing borehole by a field example. Subsequently, we established gas extraction models for different borehole diameters with and without considering strain-softening through the permeability evolution equation, the gas migration equation, and the strain-softening equation. We found that strain-softening significantly effects the permeability and gas pressure of the surrounding rocks of the borehole: the larger the diameter, the greater the effect on strain-softening. Compared with strain-softening not considered, the permeability, the permeability increase range, and the gas extraction standard range in surrounding rocks of hydraulic flushing boreholes will increase under the same borehole diameter when strain-softening is considered. The borehole diameter increases from 0.113 to 0.7 m, and the increases in permeability are 592.76 × 10-12, 614.25 × 10-12, 615.13 × 10-12, and 655.29 × 10-12 m2, respectively, the increases in permeability increase radius are 0.050, 0.121, 0.193, and 0.255 m, respectively, and the increase in gas extraction standard range radius under the two indicators are 0.119, 0.124, 0.190, 0.253 m and 0.052, 0.102, 0.150, 0.191 m, respectively. The gas pressure distribution in surrounding rocks of the borehole will also be changed by considering strain-softening, resulting in a slowly increasing gas pressure zone near the borehole: the larger the diameter, the greater the zone. Our research results proved that it is necessary to consider the strain-softening of surrounding rocks when studying gas extraction through hydraulic flushing boreholes. Moreover, we provide a novel explanation for the mechanism of gas extraction through hydraulic flushing boreholes based on the study's results. The finding of this study can help better understand the mechanism of enhanced gas extraction through hydraulic flushing boreholes.

Aberrant SENP1-SUMO-Sirt3 Signaling Causes the Disturbances of Mitochondrial Deacetylation and Oxidative Phosphorylation in Prion-Infected Animal and Cell Models.

Post-translational modifications of proteins, such as acetylation and SUMOylation, play important roles in regulation of protein functions and pathophysiology of different diseases including neurodegenerative diseases. Our previous studies have identified aberrant acetylation profiles and reduced deacetylases Sirt3 and Sirt1 in the brains of prion-infected mouse models. In this study, we have found that the levels of acetylated forms of AceCS2 and LCAD, the key enzymes regulating lipid metabolism, CS and IHD2, the key enzymes regulating complete oxidative metabolism, GDH, the key enzyme regulating the oxidative decomposition of glutamate into the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and NDUFA9, the essential component in the complex I of respiratory chain activity, were significantly upregulated in the prion-infected animal and cell models, along with the decrease of Sirt3 activity and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase activity. Meanwhile, the increases of SUMO1 modifications and SUMO1-Sirt3 and decrease of SENP1 were identified in the brains and the cultured cells with prion infections. Removal of prion propagation in the cultured cells partially, but significantly, reversed the aberrant situations. Moreover, similar abnormal phenomena were also observed in the cultured 293 T cells transiently expressing cytosolic form PrP (Cyto-PrP), including decreased SENP1, increased SUMO1, decreased Sirt3 activity, increased acetylated forms of the key enzymes, and decreased cytochrome c oxidase activity. Attenuation of the accumulation of Cyto-PrP by co-expression of the p62 protein sufficiently diminished those abnormalities. The data here strongly indicate that deposits of prions in brains or accumulations of Cyto-PrP in cells trigger dysregulation of the SENP1-SUMO1-Sirt pathway and subsequently induce aberrant mitochondrial deacetylation and the mitochondrial respiratory chain.

Proteomics profiling for the global and acetylated proteins of papillary thyroid cancers.

BACKGROUND: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common endocrine malignancy cancer among the malignancies of thyroid. Despite of wide usages of proteomics in PTC, the profile of acetylated proteins in PTC remains unsettled, which is helpful for understanding the carcinogenesis mechanism and identifying useful biomarkers for PTC. METHODS: The surgically removed specimens of cancer tissues (Ca-T) and adjacent normal tissues (Ca-N) from 10 female patients pathological diagnosed as PTC (TNM stage III) were enrolled in the study. After preparing the pooled extracts of the whole proteins and the acetylated proteins from 10 cases, TMT labeling and LC/MS/MS methods were applied to the assays of global proteomics and acetylated proteomics separately. Bioinformatics analysis, including KEGG, gene ontology (GO) and hierarchical clustering were performed. Some differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) and differentially expressed acetylated proteins (DEAPs) were validated by individual Western blots. RESULTS: Controlled with the normal tissues adjacent to the lesions, 147 out of 1923 identified proteins in tumor tissues were considered as DEPs in global proteomics, including 78 up-regulated and 69 down-regulated ones, while 57 out of 311 identified acetylated proteins in tumor tissues were DEAPs in acetylated proteomics, including 32 up-regulated and 25 down-regulated, respectively. The top 3 up- and down-regulated DEPs were fibronectin 1, KRT1B protein and chitinase-3-like protein 1, as well as keratin, type I cytoskeletal 16, A-gamma globin Osilo variant and Huntingtin interacting protein-1. The top 3 up- and down-regulated DEAPs were ribosomal protein L18a-like protein, alpha-1-acid glycoprotein 2 and eukaryotic peptide chain release factor GTP-binding subunit ERF3A, as well as trefoil factor 3, thyroglobulin and histone H2B. Functional GO annotation and KEGG pathway analysis based on the DEPs and DEAPs showed completely different changing pictures. Contrary to the top 10 up- and -down regulated DEPs, most of which were addressed in PTC and other types of carcinomas, changes of the majority DEAPs were not mentioned in the literatures. CONCLUSIONS: Taken the profiling of the global and acetylated proteomics together will provide more broad view of protein alterations on the carcinogenesis and new direction for selecting biomarker for diagnosis of PTC.

Serum BLMH and CKM as Potential Biomarkers for Predicting Therapeutic Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease: A Proteomics Study.

BACKGROUND: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is recommended for the treatment of advanced Parkinson's disease (PD), though individual reactions may be different. There are currently no clinically available biomarkers for predicting the responses of PD patients to DBS before surgery. This study aimed to determine serum biomarkers to predict DBS responses in PD. METHODS: We profiled differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in serum samples and identified potential biomarkers to predict the therapeutic responses to DBS in PD patients. Ten serum samples were selected from PD patients to identify DEPs via mass spectrometry proteomics; these were then verified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in another 21 serum samples of PD patients. RESULTS: The present study identified 14 DEPs (10 downregulated and four upregulated DEPs) with significantly different levels between non-responders and responders. Most of the DEPs were related to amino acid metabolism and protein modification pathways. Bleomycin hydrolase (BLMH) and creatine kinase M-type (CKM) were found to be significantly downregulated in the responders. Additionally, subsequent logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic analyses were performed to determine the diagnostic performance of candidate proteins. CONCLUSIONS: The identified DEPs show potential as biomarkers for the accurate evaluation of DBS therapeutic responses before surgery. Furthermore, assessment of serum BLMH and CKM may be particularly useful for predicting the therapeutic responses to DBS in PD patients.

Physical activity safety in university residents during covid-19 / Segurança de atividade física em residentes universitários durante a covid-19 / Seguridad de la actividad física en residentes universitarios durante el covid-19

ABSTRACT Introduction: COVID-19 has affected physical activities. In the face of the epidemic, challenges arise, such as performing physical activities efficiently and safely, maintaining people's interest in sports, improving the safety of residents' sports activities, and increasing the number of active sportspeople. Objective: Investigate the safety of physical activities among university residents in COVID-19. Methods: This paper designed a set of questionnaires from three aspects: the distribution of residents' sports infrastructure, residents' sports skills, and the safety of residents' sports activities. A total of 3152 samples were obtained, and Excel software was used for data entry, processing, and analysis. Results: With the standardized development of the prevention and control of COVID-19, the residents' sports infrastructure was gradually improved. There has been progressed in the distribution of sports facilities, the composition of the underlying surface, the provision of services related to sports activities, and health awareness. According to the survey, the proportion of major injuries among residents was 0.190%; the proportion of moderate multiple injuries was 0.476% after preventive training. The proportion of moderate minor injuries was 3.109%. The proportion of multiple minor injuries was 26.491%; the proportion of minor injuries was 38.642%. At this time, the safety of physical activities in the study area was considered acceptable. Conclusion: Related departments should cooperate with the community to increase college residents' awareness of sports safety and the importance of training skills by optimizing infrastructure, improving volunteer services, and enhancing publicity to reduce the hidden dangers of sports safety as much as possible. Level of evidence II; Therapeutic studies - investigation of treatment outcomes.

RESUMO Introdução: A COVID-19 tem afetado as atividades físicas e diante da epidemia surgem desafios como realizar atividades físicas de forma eficiente e segura, manter o interesse das pessoas pelo esporte, melhorar a segurança das atividades esportivas dos residentes e aumentar o número de esportistas ativos. Objetivo: Investigar a segurança das atividades físicas entre os residentes universitários no contexto da COVID-19. Métodos: Este documento elaborou um conjunto de questionários a partir de três aspectos: a distribuição da infraestrutura esportiva dos residentes, as habilidades esportivas dos residentes e a segurança das atividades esportivas dos residentes. Um total de 3152 amostras foram obtidas, e o software Excel foi usado para entrada, processamento e análise de dados. Resultados: Com o desenvolvimento normalizado da prevenção e controle da COVID-19, a infraestrutura esportiva dos residentes foi gradualmente aprimorada. Houve um progresso na distribuição das instalações esportivas, composição da superfície subjacente, prestação de serviços relacionados às atividades esportivas, além da conscientização da saúde. Segundo a pesquisa, a proporção de lesões graves entre os residentes foi de 0,190%; a proporção de lesões múltiplas moderadas foi de 0,476% após o treinamento preventivo. A proporção de lesões menores moderadas foi de 3,109%. A proporção de lesões menores múltiplas foi de 26,491%; a proporção de ferimentos menores foi de 38,642%. Nesta época, a segurança das atividades físicas na área de estudo foi considerada aceitável. Conclusão: Os departamentos relacionados devem cooperar com a comunidade para aumentar a conscientização dos residentes universitários sobre a segurança esportiva e a importância das habilidades de treinamento, otimizando a infraestrutura, melhorando os serviços voluntários e reforçando a publicidade, no intuito de reduzir ao máximo os perigos ocultos da segurança esportiva. Nível de evidência II; Estudos terapêuticos - investigação dos resultados do tratamento.

Resumen Introducción: El COVID-19 ha afectado a las actividades físicas y ante la epidemia surgen retos como realizar actividades físicas de forma eficaz y segura, mantener el interés de la población por el deporte, mejorar la seguridad de las actividades deportivas de los residentes y aumentar el número de deportistas activos. Objetivo: Investigar la seguridad de las actividades físicas entre los residentes universitarios en el contexto del COVID-19. Métodos: Este trabajo diseñó un conjunto de cuestionarios desde tres aspectos: la distribución de la infraestructura deportiva de los residentes, las habilidades deportivas de los residentes y la seguridad de las actividades deportivas de los residentes. Se obtuvo un total de 3152 muestras y se utilizó el programa Excel para la introducción, el tratamiento y el análisis de los datos. Resultados: Con el desarrollo normalizado de la prevención y el control del COVID-19, mejoraron gradualmente las infraestructuras deportivas de los residentes. Hubo avances en la distribución de las instalaciones deportivas, la composición de la superficie subyacente, la prestación de servicios relacionados con las actividades deportivas y la concienciación sanitaria. Según la encuesta, la proporción de lesiones graves entre los residentes fue del 0,190%; la proporción de lesiones múltiples moderadas fue del 0,476% tras la formación preventiva. La proporción de lesiones leves moderadas fue del 3,109%. La proporción de lesiones leves múltiples fue del 26,491%; la proporción de lesiones leves fue del 38,642%. En este momento, la seguridad de las actividades físicas en la zona de estudio se considera aceptable. Conclusión: Los departamentos relacionados deben cooperar con la comunidad para aumentar la concienciación de los residentes universitarios sobre la seguridad en el deporte y la importancia de la formación de habilidades mediante la optimización de las infraestructuras, la mejora de los servicios de voluntariado y el aumento de la publicidad, con el fin de reducir al máximo los peligros ocultos de la seguridad en el deporte. Nivel de evidencia II; Estudios terapéuticos - investigación de los resultados del tratamiento.

Evolved Biosensor with High Sensitivity and Specificity for Measuring Cadmium in Actual Environmental Samples.

Bacterial biosensors have great potential in contaminant detection for sensitivity, specificity, cost-effectiveness, and easy operation. However, the existing cadmium-responsive bacterial biosensors cannot meet the real-world detection requirements due to lack of sensitivity, specificity, and anti-interference capability. This study aimed to develop a bacterial biosensor for detecting the total and extractable cadmium in actual environmental samples. We constructed the cadmium-responsive biosensor with the regulatory element (cadmium resistance transcriptional regulatory, CadR) and the reporting element (GFP) and improved its performance by directed evolution. The mutant libraries of biosensors were generated by error-prone PCR and screened by continuous five-round fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), and a bacteria variant epCadR5 with higher performance was finally isolated. Biosensor fluorescence intensity was measured by a microplate reader, and results showed that the evolved cadmium-responsive bacterial biosensor was of high sensitivity and specificity in detecting trace cadmium, with a detection limit of 0.45 µg/L, which is 6.8 times more specific to cadmium than that of the wild-type. Furthermore, microscopic qualitative analysis results showed that the bacteria could produce fluorescence response in a cadmium-contaminated soil matrix, and quantitative analysis results showed that the values of cadmium from epCadR5 bacteria were close to that from inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. These results suggest that the biosensor may have a broad application prospect in the detection of cadmium-contaminated soil and water.

Centromeric protein K (CENPK) promotes gastric cancer proliferation and migration via interacting with XRCC5.

BACKGROUND: CENPK is a novel oncogene which is aberrantly expression in some malignant tumors. However, the role and mechanisms of CENPK in gastric cancer have not been explored. METHODS: In this study, we use RT-PCR and IHC to study CENPK expression in gastric cancer cells and tissues. In addition, we constructed the two kinds of CENPK siRNA lentivirus to knock down CENPK. Then, we use High content living cell imaging System, Cell Counting Kit-8, colony formation, wound healing and Transwell assays to demonstrate the function of CENPK on gastric cancer cells AGS and MKN45. Meanwhile, we use flow cytometry assay to study CENPK function on gastric cancer cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Subcutaneous tumorigenesis in nude mice was also performed to confirm CENPK function on gastric cancer. Finally, we use Co-IP, LC-MS and function rescue assay to study the downstream interaction molecular of CENPK. RESULTS: We demonstrated that CENPK expression were up-regulated in GC cell lines. Poor differentiation and III-IV stage had more percentages of high CENPK expression. Knocking down CENPK could significantly suppress GC cells proliferation, migration and invasion, and induce GC cells apoptosis and G1/S phase transition arrest. Subcutaneous tumorigenesis confirmed the tumor-promoting effects of CENPK in vivo. Remarkably, we found for the first time that XRCC5 might be interacted with CENPK through Co-IP, LC-MS and rescue study. CONCLUSION: CENPK promotes GC cell proliferation and migration via interacting with XRCC5 and may be a novel prognostic factor or therapeutic target for CENPK.

A new model based inflammatory index and tumor burden score (TBS) to predict the recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver resection.

To establish a model based on inflammation index and tumor burden score (TBS) to predict recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver resection. A retrospective study was performed on 217 patients who diagnosed HCC underwent liver resection at Xiangya Hospital Central South University from June 1, 2017 to June 1, 2019. According to the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the optimal cut-off value of inflammatory index and the TBS was determined by the Youden index. Prediction performance was compared by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Cox regression analysis was used to determine the risk factors for the recurrence of HCC after liver resection. According to the independent risk factors of the patients, a prediction model for HCC was established based on inflammation index and tumor burden score (TBS).The prediction performance of the model was compared with single index (TBS group and NLR group) and traditional HCC stage models (TNM stage and BCLC stage). MLR = 0.39, NLR = 2.63, PLR = 134, SII = 428 and TBS = 8.06 are the optimal cut-off values. AUC of SII, PLR, NLR, MLR and TBS were 0.643, 0.642, 0.642, 0.618 and 0.724respectively. MVI (P = 0.005), satellite nodule (P = 0.017), BCLC B-C stage (P = 0.013), NLR > 2.63 (P = 0.013), TBS > 8.06 (P = 0.017) are independent risk factors for the recurrence of HCC after liver resection. According to this study, the optimal inflammatory index NLR combined with TBS was obtained. The AUC of NLR-TBS model was 0.762, not only better than NLR group (AUC = 0.630) and TBS group (AUC = 0.671), also better than traditional BCLC (AUC = 0.620) and TNM (AUC = 0.587) stage models. Interestingly, we found that NLR and TBS should be good prognostic factor for recurrence of HCC after liver resection. The NLR-TBS model based the best inflammatory index (NLR) and TBS have a better prediction performance and the prediction performance of NLR-TBS model not only better than NLR group and TBS group, but better than BCLC and TNM stage models.

Fulminant myocarditis caused by immune checkpoint inhibitor: a case report and possible treatment inspiration.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have become a new hope for many patients with advanced cancer by blocking tumour immune evasion. However, with the widespread use of ICIs, immune-related adverse events (irAEs) have also been discovered and reported increasingly. Immune-related myocarditis, the most dangerous one of irAEs, still has high mortality in the context of the current treatment. We report the case of a 60-year-old female with fulminant myocarditis induced by ICIs, which caused her to experience frequent ventricular arrhythmias such as ventricular fibrillation and heart failure. She was successfully treated with current mainstream therapies for immune-related myocarditis and additional treatment of sacubitril-valsartan and dapagliflozin. The intriguing observation that the patient condition recovered relatively rapidly in this case shows a possible treatment inspiration, which may be helpful for treating ICIs-associated myocarditis and improving cancer patients' clinical prognosis.

Downregulation of miR-485-3p promotes proliferation, migration and invasion in prostate cancer through activation of TGF-ß signaling.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death among men worldwide. Downregulation of miR-485-3p has been revealed to participate in the tumorigenesis and progression of many types of cancer. However, the clinical and biological role of miR-485-3p in PC remains largely unknown. METHODS: The expression of miR-485-3p was analyzed in the published databases and detected in our clinical samples and cell lines by RT-qPCR assay. CCK8, transwell invasion and migration, and colony formation assays were performed to investigate the biological function of miR-485-3p. Bioinformatical analysis, RIP, western blotting and luciferase reporter assays were carried out to explore the downstream mechanism of miR-485-3p. RESULTS: The level of miR-485-3p was downregulated in PC tissues, particularly in primary PC tissues with metastasis relative to normal prostate tissues. miR-485-3p downregulation was positively correlated with poor disease-free and overall survival in patients with PC. Functionally, miR-485-3p overexpression dramatically suppressed the proliferation, migration and invasion ability of PC cells in vitro. Mechanistically, miR-485-3p overexpression suppressed the activity of TGF-ß signaling by targeting TGFBR2 to play tumor-suppressive roles in PC progression. CONCLUSION: Our study reports the miR-485-3p/TGFBR2/ TGF-ß signaling axis in tumor development of PC, suggesting miR-485-3p may be a potential target to develop therapeutic strategies against PC.

Dual Convolutional Neural Networks for Breast Mass Segmentation and Diagnosis in Mammography.

Deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have emerged as a new paradigm for Mammogram diagnosis. Contemporary CNN-based computer-aided-diagnosis systems (CADs) for breast cancer directly extract latent features from input mammogram image and ignore the importance of morphological features. In this paper, we introduce a novel end-to-end deep learning framework for mammogram image processing, which computes mass segmentation and simultaneously predicts diagnosis results. Specifically, our method is constructed in a dual-path architecture that solves the mapping in a dual-problem manner, with an additional consideration of important shape and boundary knowledge. One path, called the Locality Preserving Learner (LPL), is devoted to hierarchically extracting and exploiting intrinsic features of the input. Whereas the other path, called the Conditional Graph Learner (CGL), focuses on generating geometrical features via modeling pixel-wise image to mask correlations. By integrating the two learners, both the cancer semantics and cancer representations are well learned, and the component learning paths in return complement each other, contributing an improvement to the mass segmentation and cancer classification problem at the same time. In addition, by integrating an automatic detection set-up, the DualCoreNet achieves fully automatic breast cancer diagnosis practically. Experimental results show that in benchmark DDSM dataset, DualCoreNet has outperformed other related works in both segmentation and classification tasks, achieving 92.27% DI coefficient and 0.85 AUC score. In another benchmark INbreast dataset, DualCoreNet achieves the best mammography segmentation (93.69% DI coefficient) and competitive classification performance (0.93 AUC score).

Host-guest type multiple site fluorescent probe for GSH detection in living organisms.

The host-guest type molecular size matching strategy, which embodied intramolecular hydrogen bond, aromatic nucleophilic substitution and nucleophilic addition, was utilized to develop a fluorescent probe for GSH specific detection and in situ imaging in organisms.

Effect of Marital Status on the Survival of Patients With Adenocarcinoma of the Esophagogastric Junction: A Population-Based, Propensity-Matched Study.

BACKGROUND: Marital status has been reported as an independent prognostic factor in various types of malignancies. However, the association between marital status and outcomes of patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG) has not been fully explored. To this end, we aimed to investigate the effect of marital status on survival of AGE patients. METHODS: The Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database (2010-2015) was used to extract eligible patients with Siewert type II AEG. Meanwhile, propensity score matching was performed to match 1576 unmarried patients with 1576 married patients. Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank test was used to plot survival curves, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were adopted to investigate the association of marital status with overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) in AEG patients before and after matching. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis in the unmatched cohort revealed that marital status was an independent prognostic factor in patients with Siewert type II AEG. Unmarried patients had poorer OS (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.22, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.12-1.29, P < .001) and poorer CSS (HR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.10-1.29, P < .001) than married patients before matching. Additionally, widowed patients had the poorest OS (HR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.11-1.44, P < .001) and CSS (HR: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.12-1.48, P < .001) compared with married patients. Furthermore, unmarried status remained as an independent prognostic for both OS (HR: 1.20, 95% CI: 1.10-1.31, P < .001) and CSS (HR: 1.18, 95% CI: 1.08-1.30, P < .001) in 1:1 propensity score-matched analysis. Subgroup analysis further revealed that OS and CSS rates were significantly higher in married patients than unmarried ones in most subgroups stratified by different variables. CONCLUSIONS: This population-based study identified that marital status was an independent prognostic indicator for AEG patients. Married AEG patients had better prognosis than their unmarried counterparts.

Bioinformatic Evidence Reveals that Cell Cycle Correlated Genes Drive the Communication between Tumor Cells and the Tumor Microenvironment and Impact the Outcomes of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an aggressive cancer type with poor prognosis; thus, there is especially necessary and urgent to screen potential prognostic biomarkers for early diagnosis and novel therapeutic targets. In this study, we downloaded target data sets from the GEO database, and obtained codifferentially expressed genes using the limma R package and identified key genes through the protein-protein interaction network and molecular modules, and performed GO and KEGG pathway analyses for key genes via the clusterProfiler package and further determined their correlations with clinicopathological features using the Oncomine database. Survival analysis was completed in the GEPIA and the Kaplan-Meier plotter database. Finally, correlations between key genes, cell types infiltrated in the tumor microenvironment (TME), and hypoxic signatures were explored based on the TIMER database. From the results, 11 key genes related to the cell cycle were determined, and high levels of these key genes' expression were focused on advanced and higher grade status HCC patients, as well as in samples of TP53 mutation and vascular invasion. Besides, the 11 key genes were significantly associated with poor prognosis of HCC and also were positively related to the infiltration level of MDSCs in the TME and the HIF1A and VEGFA of hypoxic signatures, but a negative correlation was found with endothelial cells (ECs) and hematopoietic stem cells. The result determined that 11 key genes (RRM2, NDC80, ECT2, CCNB1, ASPM, CDK1, PRC1, KIF20A, DTL, TOP2A, and PBK) could play a vital role in the pathogenesis of HCC, drive the communication between tumor cells and the TME, and act as probably promising diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic biomarkers in HCC patients.

[Analysis on muscle force and injured femoral reduction force based on new muscle tendon model].

Robot-assisted fracture reduction usually involves fixing the proximal end of the fracture and driving the distal end of the fracture to the proximal end in a planned reduction path. In order to improve the accuracy and safety of reduction surgery, it is necessary to know the changing rule of muscle force and reduction force during reduction. Fracture reduction force was analyzed based on the muscle force of femoral. In this paper, a femoral skeletal muscle model named as PA-MTM was presented based on the four elements of skeletal muscle model. With this, pinnate angle of the skeletal muscle was considered, which had an effect on muscle force properties. Here, the muscle force of skeletal muscles in different muscle models was compared and analyzed. The muscle force and the change of the reduction force under different reduction paths were compared and simulated. The results showed that the greater the pinnate angle was, the greater the influence of muscle strength was. The biceps femoris short head played a major role in the femoral fracture reduction; the force in the z direction contributed the majority to the resulting force with maximums of 472.18 N and 497.28 N for z and resultant, respectively, and the rationality of the new musculoskeletal model was verified.

Severe Bronchospasm During Aortic Surgery for Type A Aortic Dissection.

Severe bronchospasm during cardiopulmonary bypass is an unusual but potentially fatal event. No literature previously has reported such an event observed during surgery for type A aortic dissection. Herein, we report on a case of severe bronchospasm following cardiopulmonary bypass, during aortic surgery for type A aortic dissection. Bronchospasm did not respond to any conventional therapy, necessitating extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation thus serves as an alternative and effective therapy for refractory bronchospasm.