Antibiotic bone cement combined with vacuum sealing drainage effectively repairs sacrococcygeal pressure ulcer.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of antibiotic bone cement combined with the vacuum sealing drainage (VSD) technique for repairing sacrococcygeal pressure ulcer wounds. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on data from 136 patients treated at Yantai Affiliated Hospital of Binzhou Medical College between May 2020 and June 2022. The cases were devided into a control group and a study group according to their treatment regimen. Indicators of postoperative recovery including blood routine recovery time, hospital stay, antibiotic application time, and healing time were compared between the two groups. Before the procedure and 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours following the operation, the pain levels of patients in both groups were examined using a visual analogue scale (VAS). On the 3rd, 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th days of treatment, the pressure ulcer scale for healing (PUSH) was used to measure the pressure ulcer area between the two groups. On the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th days following treatment, the capillary density values were compared between the two groups, along with the levels of interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), interleukin-12 (IL-12), and c-reactive protein (CRP). The proportions of immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels, CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ T cell subsets, as well as CD4+/CD8+ ratio, were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The blood routine recovery time, hospital stays, antibiotic usage duration, and healing time were all significantly shorter in the study group compared to those in the control group (all P<0.05). At 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, and 48 h following surgery, the VAS score in study group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). The study group also showed a greater reduction in pressure ulcer area, with lower PUSH scores observed on days 14, 21, and 28 (P<0.05). Post-treatment levels of IL-1ß, IL-12, and CRP decreased in both groups, with significantly lower levels in the study group (P<0.05). Following therapy, both groups demonstrated significantly increased levels of CD3+, CD4+, CD4+/CD8+, IgM and IgG and reduced level of CD8+. These improvements were more pronounced in the study group (all P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The combination of antibiotic bone cement and VSD is effective in enhancing recovery, reducing pain and inflammation, and improving immune response in the treatment of sacrococcygeal pressure ulcers.

RBM12 drives PD-L1-mediated immune evasion in hepatocellular carcinoma by increasing JAK1 mRNA translation.

Immunosuppression characterizes the tumour microenvironment in HCC, and recent studies have implicated RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) in the development of HCC. Here, we conducted a screen and identified RBM12 as a key protein that increased the expression of PD-L1, thereby driving immune evasion in HCC. Furthermore, RBM12 was found to be significantly upregulated in HCC tissues and was associated with a poor prognosis for HCC patients. Through various molecular assays and high-throughput screening, we determined that RBM12 could directly bind to the JAK1 mRNA via its 4th-RRM (RNA recognition motif) domain and recruit EIF4A2 through its 2nd-RRM domain, enhancing the distribution of ribosomes on JAK1 mRNA, which promotes the translation of JAK1 and the subsequent upregulation of its expression. As a result, the activated JAK1/STAT1 pathway transcriptionally upregulates PD-L1 expression, facilitating immune evasion in HCC. In summary, our findings provide insights into the significant contribution of RBM12 to immune evasion in HCC, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic target in the future. This graphical abstract shows that elevated expression of RBM12 in HCC can augment PD-L1-mediated tumour immune evasion by increasing the efficiency of JAK1 mRNA translation.

Clinical characteristics and removal approaches of tracheal and bronchial foreign bodies in elders.

The symptoms of tracheobronchial foreign body in the elderly are not typical, so they are often missed or misdiagnosed. This study aims to depict the clinical characteristics of tracheobronchial foreign body inhalation in the elderly. We retrospectively analysed the clinical data of elder patients (age ≥ 65 years) diagnosed with tracheal and bronchial foreign bodies. The data included age, sex, clinical symptoms, type and location of foreign bodies, prehospital duration, Chest CT, bronchoscopic findings, and frequencies and tools for removing these elderly patients' tracheal and bronchial foreign bodies. All patients were followed up for a half year. Fifty-nine cases were included, of which only 32.2% had a definite aspiration history. Disease duration > 30 days accounted for 27.1% of the patients. 27.1% of the patients had a history of stroke, and 23.8% had Alzheimer's Disease. Regarding clinical symptoms, patients mainly experience cough and expectoration. The most common CT findings were abnormal density shadow (37.3%) and pulmonary infiltration (22.0%). Under bronchoscopy, purulent secretions were observed in 52.5% of patients, and granulation tissue hyperplasia was observed in 45.8%. Food (55.9%) was the most common foreign object, including seafood shells (5.1%), bones (20.3%), dentures (18.6%), and tablets (20.3%). The success rate of foreign body removal under a bronchoscope was 96.7%, 28.8% of the foreign bodies were on the left and 69.5% on the right. 5.1% of the elderly patients required rigid bronchoscopy, and 6.8% required two bronchoscopies. In elderly cohorts, tracheal foreign bodies are obscured by nonspecific clinical presentations and a paucity of aspiration history, challenging timely diagnosis. Predominantly constituted by food particles, with a notable predilection for the left bronchial tree, these cases demand skilled bronchoscopic management, occasionally requiring sophisticated approaches for successful extraction.

The influence of H2O or/and O2 introduction during the low-temperature gas-phase sulfation of organic COS + CS2 on the conversion and deposition of sulfur-containing species in the sulfated CeO2-OS catalyst for NH3-SCR.

Herein, the typical components of blast furnace gas, including H2O and O2, were introduced to improve the NH3-SCR activity of the sulfated CeO2-OS catalyst during the gas-phase sulfation of organic COS + CS2 at 50 °C. The characterization results demonstrate that the introduction of O2 or H2O during gas-phase sulfation enhances the conversion of organic COS + CS2 on a cubic fluorite CeO2 surface and reduces the formation of sulfur and sulfates in the catalyst, but decreases the BET surface area and pore volume of the sulfated CeO2-OS catalyst. However, the introduction of O2 or H2O during the gas-phase sulfation increases the molar ratios of Ce3+/(Ce3+ + Ce4+) and Oß/(Oα + Oß + Oγ) on the sulfated CeO2-OS catalyst surface, thus promoting the formation of surface oxygen vacancies and chemisorbed oxygen, and these properties of the catalyst are further enhanced by the co-existence of O2 and H2O. Furthermore, the reduction of sulfates formed under the action of O2 or H2O decreases the weak acid sites of the sulfated CeO2-OS catalyst, but the few and highly dispersive sulfates present stronger reducibility, and the proportion of medium-strong acid sites of the catalyst increases. These factors help to improve the NH3-SCR activity of the sulfated CeO2-OS catalyst. Thus, there exists a synergistic effect of H2O and O2 introduction during gas-phase sulfation on the physical-chemical properties and catalytic performance of the sulfated CeO2-OS catalyst by organic COS + CS2 at 50 °C.

SERPINE1 and SERPINB7 as potential biomarkers for intravenous vitamin C treatment in non-small-cell lung cancer.

High dose intravenous vitamin C (IVC) has been proposed as a pro-oxidant anticancer agent. However, there is a lack of biomarkers that are specific for this treatment. Here, we explored profiles of gene expression responding to IVC treatment in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells as an effort for potential biomarker discovery. Genome-wide RNA-seq was performed in human NSCLC cell lines treated with pharmacological concentrations of vitamin C(VitC) for differential expression of genes. The identified genes were analyzed for correlations with patient prognosis using data from the Kaplan-Meier Plotter and the Human Protein Atlas databases. Further, tumor samples from a retrospective study of 153 NSCLC patients were analyzed with immunohistochemistry for expression of targeted genes, and patient prognosis was correlated to these genes. Two genes, namely SERPINE1 and SERPINB7 were found to be downregulated in NSCLC cells following VitC treatment. Combined patient data from the cohort analysis and online databases revealed that these 2 genes presented an unfavorable prognostic prediction of overall survival (OS) in NSCLC patients receiving standard of care. However, high expression level of these 2 genes were associated with prolonged OS in NSCLC patients receiving IVC in addition to standard of care. These data revealed that SERPINE1 and SERPINB7 have the potential to serve as predictive factors indicating favorable responses to IVC treatment in patients with NSCLC. Further validations are warranted.

PIK3R6 Promotes Angiogenesis in Hepatocellular carcinoma by Activating STAT3 Signaling Pathway.

Objective: Abundant angiogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is critical in its malignant course; however, its mechanism is incompletely understood. Meanwhile, the corresponding roles of PIK3R6 molecules in HCC have not been investigated. This study aims to explore the intrinsic mechanism of PIK3R6 and provide theoretical reference for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: Differential expressions of PIK in ovarian cancer and normal ones were detected by Western blotting and quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). Analyze the relationship between the expression of PIK3R6 and patient prognosis through the TCGA database. Subsequently constructed corresponding stable cell lines, combined with transcriptome sequencing and several cell biology experiments, we explored the inner mechanism and clinical significance of PIK3R6. Results: By analyzing multiple cohorts, we found that high PIK3R6 expression in tumor tissues negatively correlates with patient prognosis. PIK3R6 could increase angiogenesis in HCC by boosting the activity of the STAT3 signalling pathway to hasten the malignant progression of the disease, according to corresponding cellular and molecular experimental studies. Then again, immunohistochemistry on a series of tissue chips confirmed the important clinical significance of PIK3R6-STAT3 regulatory axis. Couclusions: This study initially addressed the clinical significance of PIK3R6 and revealed its mechanism for promoting angiogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma, providing a reliable working foundation for future in-depth research and clinical translation.

Comparison of vasoactive-inotropic score, vasoactive-ventilation-renal score, and modified vasoactive-ventilation-renal score for predicting the poor prognosis after coronary artery bypass grafting.

BACKGROUND: Exploring reliable prediction scoring systems is valuable for the poor prognosis of patients after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Herein, we explored and compared the predictive performance of vasoactive-inotropic score (VIS), vasoactive-ventilation-renal (VVR) score, and modified VVR (M-VVR) score in the poor prognosis of patients undergoing CABG. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed in Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University, and data of 537 patients were collected from January 2019 to May 2021. The independent variables were VIS, VVR, and M-VVR. Study endpoint of interest was the poor prognosis. Association between VIS, VVR, M-VVR and poor prognosis was assessed using logistic regression analysis, and odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported. The performance of VIS, VVR, and M-VVR to predict the poor prognosis was assessed by calculating the area under the curve (AUC), and differences of the AUC of the three scoring systems were compared using DeLong test. RESULTS: After adjusting gender, BMI, hypertension, diabetes, surgery methods, and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), VIS (OR: 1.09, 95%CI: 1.05-1.13) and M-VVR (OR: 1.09, 95%CI: 1.06-1.12) were associated with the increased odds of poor prognosis. The AUC of M-VVR, VVR, and VIS was 0.720 (95%CI: 0.668-0.771), 0.621 (95%CI: 0.566-0.677), and 0.685 (95%CI: 0.631-0.739), respectively. DeLong test displayed that the performance of M-VVR was better than VVR (P = 0.004) and VIS (P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Our study found the good prediction performance of M-VVR for the poor prognosis of patients undergoing CABG, indicating that M-VVR may be a useful prediction index in the clinic.

RNA-binding motif 4 promotes angiogenesis in HCC by selectively activating VEGF-A expression.

Increased angiogenesis in the liver plays a critical role in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the molecular mechanism underlying increased angiogenesis in HCC is not well understood. Current study was designed to identify the potential angiogenic effect of RNA-binding motif 4 (RBM4)through a small-scale overexpression screening, followed by comparison of the expression level of RBM4 in cancer and adjacent tissues in multiple malignancies to explore the relationship between RBM4 and CD31 protein expression level and related clinical indicators, and understand the role of RBM4 in the hepatocellular carcinoma. To understand the specific mechanism of RBM4 in detail, transcriptome sequencing, mass spectrometry and multiple molecular cytological studies were performed. These cellular level results were verified by experiments in animal models of nude mice. The increased expression of RBM4 in cancer tissues, suggested its use as a prognostic biomarker. The RBM4 expression was found to be strongly correlated with tumor microvessel density. Mechanistically, RBM4 mediated its effects via interaction with HNRNP-M through the latter's WDR15 domain, which then stabilized RelA/p65 mRNA. Consequently, RBM4 induced the activation of the NF-kB signaling pathway, upregulating the expression of proangiogenic factor VEGF-A. The results confirmed the mechanism by which RBM4 promotes angiogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma suggesting RBM4 as a crucial promoter of angiogenesis in HCC, helping understand regulation of NF-kB signaling in HCC.

Eldecalcitol prevents muscle loss by suppressing PI3K/AKT/FOXOs pathway in orchiectomized mice.

Elderly male patients are susceptible to develop osteoporosis and sarcopenia, especially those with fragility fractures, hypogonadism, and prostate cancer with androgen deprivation therapy. However, at present, very few treatments are available for men with sarcopenia. Previous preclinical studies in ovariectomized rats have shown the promising effects of eldecalcitol in ameliorating the bone strength and muscle atrophy. We thus investigated the effects of eldecalcitol on androgen-deficient male mice. Six-week-old male mice underwent orchiectomy (ORX) or sham surgery. Mice were randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 12/per group), including 1) sham mice, 2) ORX group, 3) ORX eldecalcitol 30 ng/kg, and 4) ORX eldecalcitol 50 ng/kg. Eldecalcitol increased bone mass and strength of femur in ORX mice. Eldecalcitol 30 ng/kg dose completely rescued ORX-induced muscle weakness. The RT-qPCR showed that eldecalcitol enhanced the mRNA levels of type I and IIa fibers. The expression levels of MuRF1 and Atrogin-1 of gastrocnemius in the eldecalcitol groups were much lower than that of the ORX group. It is assumed that eldecalcitol potentially acts via PI3K/AKT/FOXOs signaling pathway. These findings provide evidence for evaluating eldecalcitol as an investigational treatment for male patients with sarcopenia and osteoporosis.

Risk factors of mortality and second fracture after elderly hip fracture surgery in Shanghai, China.

INTRODUCTION: Hip fracture is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the elderly. We analyzed the risk factors of mortality and second fracture within 2 years after hip fracture surgery in elderly Chinese patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 613 elderly patients after hip fracture surgery were selected, including 181 males and 432 females, and the patients were followed for at least 24 months. Information about patients and surgery was collected from medical records. Information on death, secondary fracture, and postoperative activities of daily living (ADL) was obtained by telephone follow-up. Cox regression was performed to identify risk factors associated with mortality and second fracture, measured by hazard ratio (HR). RESULTS: The 1-year and 2-year mortality rates after hip fracture were 13.4% and 20.7%, respectively. The second fracture rate within 2 years was 9.5%. Male gender (HR 1.51, P = 0.035), increased age (HR 1.07, P < 0.001), preoperative hypoalbuminemia (HR 1.79, P = 0.004), preoperative pneumonia (HR 2.60, P = 0.005) and poor ADL (P = 0.048) were independent risk factors for 2-year mortality, while high preoperative hemoglobin (HR 0.98, P = 0.002), high preoperative eGFR (HR 0.99, P = 0.031), high preoperative LVEF (HR 0.92, P = 0.048) were protective factors for 2-year mortality. Poor ADL (P = 0.002) was the independent risk factor for second fracture within 2 years. CONCLUSIONS: The 2-year mortality rate and second fracture rate after hip fracture in elderly remained high, which was related to old age and complications exists. Postoperative rehabilitation and improving ADL were very important to reduce mortality and second fracture.

DFT Modeling of CO2 Adsorption and HCOO• Group Conversion in Anatase Au-TiO2-Based Photocatalysis.

Due to the merits of carbon circulation and hydrocarbon production, solar-assisted photocatalysis has been regarded as an ideal option for securing a sustainable future of energy and environment. In the photocatalytic carbon cycle process, surface reactions including the adsorption of CO2 and the conversion of CO2 into CH4, CH3OH, etc. are crucial to be examined ascribed to their significant influence on the performance of the photocatalysis. Because the conversion reaction starts from the formation of HCOO•, the density functional theory (DFT) model was established in this study to investigate the micromechanism of CO2 adsorption and the conversion of CO2 to HCOO• group in the anatase Au-TiO2 photocatalytic system. The CO2 adsorption bonding in six configurations was simulated, on which basis the effects of the proportion of water molecules and the lattice temperature increase due to the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) on the photocatalytic CO2 adsorption and conversion were specifically analyzed. The results show that the experimental conditions that water molecules are released before CO2 are favorable for the formation of the adsorption configuration in which HCOO• tends to be produced without the need of reaction activation energy. This is reasonable since the intermediate C atoms do not participate in bonding under these conditions. Moreover, Au clusters have an insignificant influence on the adsorption behaviors of CO2 including the adsorption sites and configurations on TiO2 surfaces. As a result, the reaction rate is reduced due to the temperature increase caused by the LSPR effect. Nevertheless, the reaction maintains a very high rate. Interestingly, configurations that require activation energy are also possible to be resulted, which exerts a positive influence of temperature on the conversion rate of CO2. It is found that the rate of the reaction can be improved by approximately 1-10 times with a temperature rise of 50 K above the ambient.

A randomized phase II trial of best supportive care with or without hyperthermia and vitamin C for heavily pretreated, advanced, refractory non-small-cell lung cancer.

Our previous study indicated that intravenous vitamin C (IVC) treatment concurrent with modulated electrohyperthermia (mEHT) was safe and improved the quality of life (QoL) of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The aim of this trial was to further verify the efficacy of the above combination therapy in previously treated patients with refractory advanced (stage IIIb or IV) NSCLC. A total of 97 patients were randomized to receive IVC and mEHT plus best supportive care (BSC) (n = 49 in the active arm, receiving 1 g/kg * d IVC concurrently with mEHT, three times a week for 25 treatments in total) or BSC alone (n = 48 in the control arm). After a median follow-up of 24 months, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were significantly prolonged by combination therapy compared to BSC alone (PFS: 3 months vs 1.85 months, P < 0.05; OS: 9.4 months vs 5.6 months, P < 0.05). QoL was significantly increased in the active arm despite the advanced stage of disease. The 3-month disease control rate after treatment was 42.9% in the active arm and 16.7% in the control arm (P < 0.05). Overall, IVC and mEHT may have the ability to improve the prognosis of patients with advanced NSCLC.

A Retrospective Study of Gemcitabine and Carboplatin With or Without Intravenous Vitamin C on Patients With Advanced Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Background: This is a retrospective study to examine the effect of chemotherapy with or without intravenous vitamin C (IVC) on women with advanced triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Methods: From 2008 to 2016, a total of 113 patients with pathologically confirmed TNBC at Clifford Hospital were evaluated, and 70 patients were matched and divided into IVC (treatment group) and non-IVC groups (control group). The match was according to age, menopausal status, and metastatic sites. In the control group, 35 patients received gemcitabine and carboplatin. In the treatment group, 35 patients received the same chemotherapy plus IVC. Results: Baseline characteristics were not significantly different between the 2 groups. According to the criteria of RECIST 1.1 (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors), enhanced computed tomography scan was compared after 2 cycles of chemotherapy. In the treatment group, 2/35 cases had a complete remission (CR), 15/35 cases had partial remission (PR), and 13/35 cases had stable disease (SD). The response rate was 48.6%. In the control group, there were no CR cases, 14/35 cases had PR, 14/35 cases had SD, and the response rate was 40.0% (P > .05). The median progression-free survival time and median overall survival time was 7 months (95% confidence interval [CI] =1.5-28.5 months) and 27 months (95% CI = 4-40 months) in the treatment group compared with 4.5 months (95% CI = 1.5-8 months) and 18 months (95% CI = 3-26 months) in the control group (P < .05). All patients experienced diverse reactions in the gastrointestinal tract and myelosuppression. The incidence of adverse reactions in the treatment group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P < .05). Conclusion: IVC may have an effect on improving the prognosis of patients with advanced TNBC.

Endoscopic Vision Augmentation Using Multiscale Bilateral-Weighted Retinex for Robotic Surgery.

Endoscopic vision plays a significant role in minimally invasive surgical procedures. The visibility and maintenance of such direct in situ vision is paramount not only for safety by preventing inadvertent injury but also to improve precision and reduce operating time. Unfortunately, the endoscopic vision is unavoidably degraded due to the illumination variations during surgery. This paper aims to restore or augment such degraded visualization and quantitatively evaluate it during robotic surgery. A multiscale bilateral-weighted retinex method is proposed to remove non-uniform and highly directional illumination and enhance surgical vision, while an objective no-reference image visibility assessment method is defined in terms of sharpness, naturalness, and contrast, to quantitatively and objectively evaluate the endoscopic visualization on surgical video sequences. The methods were validated on surgical data, with the experimental results showing that our method outperforms existent retinex approaches. In particular, the combined visibility was improved from 0.81 to 1.06, while three surgeons generally agreed that the results were restored with much better visibility.

Epidemiological and clinical study of hip fracture in hospitalized elderly patients in Shanghai, China.

In this study, we attempted to determine the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of hip fracture in the elderly. We find that elderly people with hip fracture have multiple comorbidities and suffer numerous complications. INTRODUCTION: We attempted to explore the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of hip fracture in the elderly. METHODS: One thousand five hundred thirty-nine patients aged over 65 years were included in the retrospective study. From the medical records, information was gathered about pre-fracture conditions, as well as fracture type, surgical details, laboratory indicators, postoperative complications, length of stay, outcomes, and costs of hospitalization. Binary logistic regression was used to screen for potential risk factors for perioperative complications and postoperative death, and general linear models were used to determine factors that influenced the cost of surgical treatment. RESULTS: The average age of hip fracture patients in our study was 82.20 ± 6.82 years old, and the male-to-female ratio was 1:2.82. In 1356 patients who underwent hip surgery, the incidence of perioperative complications was 6.71% (91/1356), and the postoperative mortality rate was 1.11% (15/1356). Factors associated with perioperative complications were male sex, heart function class III or higher, serum albumin < 35 g/L, respiratory diseases, and perioperative blood transfusion (P < 0.05). Perioperative blood transfusion was an independent risk factor for postoperative death after hip fracture in the elderly (P < 0.05). The main factors that influenced hospitalization expenses related to elderly hip fracture patients were type of surgery, method of anesthesia, length of stay, perioperative complications, and outcomes (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Elderly people with hip fracture have multiple comorbidities and suffer numerous complications. Thus, randomized intervention studies should focus on prevention of complications that might be avoidable.

Endoscopic video defogging using luminance blending.

Endoscopic video sequences provide surgeons with direct surgical field or visualisation on anatomical targets in the patient during robotic surgery. Unfortunately, these video images are unavoidably hazy or foggy to prevent surgeons from clear surgical vision due to typical surgical operations such as ablation and cauterisation during surgery. This Letter aims at removing fog or smoke on endoscopic video sequences to enhance and maintain a direct and clear visualisation of the operating field during robotic surgery. The authors propose a new luminance blending framework that integrates contrast enhancement with visibility restoration for foggy endoscopic video processing. The proposed method was validated on clinical endoscopic videos that were collected from robotic surgery. The experimental results demonstrate that their method provides a promising means to effectively remove fog or smoke on endoscopic video images. In particular, the visual quality of defogged endoscopic images was improved from 0.5088 to 0.6475.

Construction of a versatile expression library for all human single-pass transmembrane proteins for receptor pairings by high throughput screening.

Interactions between protein ligands and receptors play crucial roles in cell-cell signalling. Most of the human cell surface receptors have been identified in the post-Human Genome Project era but many of their corresponding ligands remain unknown. To facilitate the pairing of orphan receptors, 2762 sequences encoding all human single-pass transmembrane proteins were selected for inclusion into a mammalian-cell expression library. This expression library, consisting of all the individual extracellular domains (ECDs), was constructed as a Fab fusion for each protein. In this format, individual ECD can be produced as a soluble protein or displayed on cell surface, depending on the applied heavy-chain Fab configuration. The unique design of the Fab fusion concept used in the library led to not only superior success rate of protein production, but also versatile applications in various high-throughput screening paradigms including protein-protein binding assays as well as cell binding assays, which were not possible for any other existing expression libraries. The protein library was screened against human coagulation factor VIIa (FVIIa), an approved therapeutic for the treatment of hemophilia, for binding partners by AlphaScreen and ForteBio assays. Two previously known physiological ligands of FVIIa, tissue factor (TF) and endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR) were identified by both assays. The cell surface displayed library was screened against V-domain Ig suppressor of T-cell activation (VISTA), an important immune-checkpoint regulator. Immunoglobulin superfamily member 11 (IgSF11), a potential target for cancer immunotherapy, was identified as a new and previously undescribed binding partner for VISTA. The specificity of the binding was confirmed and validated by both fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assays in different experimental setups.

Vascular endothelial growth factor levels in patients with obstructive sleep apnea: a meta-analysis.

Published articles regarding the blood levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients are contradictory. The objective of this study was to explore whether VEGF levels is high or not in OSA subjects via quantitatively statistical analysis. The electronic databases of Pubmed, Web of Science, EMBASE were systematic searched. The VEGF levels and clinical characteristics of participants between OSA group and control group were extracted for analysis. Weighted mean difference (WMD) or standard mean difference (SMD) with 95 % confidence interval (CI) was calculated by fixed effects or random effects model. Appropriate statistical software was employed for data synthesis. Totaling 15 articles with 697 participants were included in this study. Pooled meta-analysis showed that blood VEGF concentrations were significantly higher in OSA patients than in control subjects (SMD 1.89, 95 % CI 0.92-2.87, p = 0.000). Subgroup analysis demonstrated that when compared with control group, OSA patients with age ≥50 years (SMD 2.54, 95 % CI 1.28-3.80, p = 0.000), apnea hypopnea index ≥30 events/h (SMD 2.47, 95 % CI 1.20-3.73, p = 0.000) had higher VEGF levels. Compared with control subjects, OSA patients had an elevated VEGF in serum (SMD 3.55, 95 % CI 1.82-5.28, p = 0.000) rather than in plasma. High blood VEGF concentrations were observed in OSA patients, particularly in the older and more serious patients.

Obstructive sleep apnoea and the incidence and mortality of cancer: a meta-analysis.

As there are conflicting reports regarding the association between obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and cancer incidence and mortality, a meta-analysis was performed to evaluate whether OSA is independently associated with cancer incidence and mortality. Pubmed, EMBASE and Web of Science were searched up until November 2014. Studies that assessed OSA and the future risk of cancer incidence or mortality were included. Pooled hazard ratios (HR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Subgroup analysis was conducted based on the polysomnographic variable, apnoea-hypopnoea index. Six studies, which involved 114 105 participants, were pooled in this meta-analysis. Fixed-effects analysis showed the pooled adjusted HR of cancer incidence as 0.91 (95% CI, 0.74-1.13; P = 0.408) for mild OSA, 1.07 (95% CI, 0.86-1.33; P = 0.552) for moderate OSA and 1.03 (95% CI, 0.85-1.26; P = 0.743) for severe OSA. Random-effects analysis demonstrated neither mild OSA (adjusted HR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.46-1.34; P = 0.381), moderate OSA (adjusted HR, 1.92; 95% CI, 0.63-5.88; P = 0.251) nor severe OSA (adjusted HR, 2.09; 95% CI, 0.45-9.81; P = 0.349) correlated with cancer mortality. This meta-analysis indicates that OSA is not independently associated with cancer incidence and mortality according to currently available data. Additional experimental and human research is required to determine the exact association between OSA and cancer.

[Nutritional risk screening and nutrition assessment for gastrointestinal cancer patients].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the nutritional status, and provide evidence for nutritional treatment option. METHODS: A total of 452 patients with gastrointestinal cancer were selected, including 156 gastric cancer,117 colon cancer, and 180 rectal cancer. The nutritional risk screening 2002(NRS2002) was applied to grade the nutritional risk. A multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis was used to measure the patients' body composition. Albumin (Alb), prealbumin(PA), transferring(Tf), retinol binding protein(RBP), red blood cell(RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), haematocrit(Hct) were measured after fasting. RESULTS: The rate of patients with NRS2002 score more than 3 was 70.5%(110/156) for gastric cancer, 53.8%(63/117) for colon cancer, and 46.7%(86/180) for rectal cancer. The score for impaired nutritional status more than 1 for gastric cancer was higher than that for colorectal cancer(P<0.05), while patients with disease score more than 2 was less for gastric cancer(P<0.05). Body mass index(BMI), obesity degree, fat content, fat percentage, and arm circumference were lower in gastric cancer patients as compared to colorectal cancer patients(P<0.05); but protein percentage, muscle percentage, ratio of muscles of arm, and cell mass percentage were higher in gastric cancer patients(P<0.05). The proportions of patients with low Alb, PA, Tf, BC, Hb, Hct were higher for gastric cancer and colon cancer(P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Patients with gastric cancer are prone to fat loss and therefore have a higher nutritional risk and malnutrition than those with colorectal cancer. Combination of body composition analysis and laboratory examination may achieve comprehensive evaluation of the nutritional status of patients, and provide the evidence of nutritional therapy by being combined with NRS2002 score.