The effectiveness of CA125 and HE4 as clinical prognostic markers in epithelial ovarian cancer patients with BRCA mutation.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy of cancer antigen 125 (CA125) and human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) in predicting survival outcomes based on breast cancer gene (BRCA) mutational status in epithelial ovarian cancer. METHODS: Medical records of 448 patients diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer at a single tertiary institution in Korea were retrospectively analyzed. Area under the curve, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were assessed using the CA125 and HE4 values after surgery and 3 cycles of chemotherapy to predict 1-year survival based on the BRCA mutational status. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to obtain progression-free and overall survival to evaluate CA125 and HE4 effectiveness in predicting survival outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 423 patients were analyzed, including 180 (42.6%) who underwent interval debulking surgery (IDS) and 243 (57.4%) who underwent primary debulking surgery (PDS). BRCA mutations were observed in 37 (15.2%) and 44 (22.4%) patients in the PDS and IDS groups, respectively. CA125 and HE4 normalization demonstrated the highest specificity in patients with or without BRCA mutations, with specificities of 97.1% and 99.1% in the PDS group and 78.6% and 86.2% in the IDS group, respectively. Normalizing HE4 alone may be an effective prognostic marker, with an area under the curve of 0.774 and specificity of 75.0%, in patients with BRCA mutations. CONCLUSION: Normalizing both biomarkers emerged as the most effective predictive marker for the 1-year recurrence rate, regardless of BRCA mutational status. A negative HE4 value can be a useful predictor for 1-year recurrence-free survival in patients with BRCA mutations.

The Mediating Effect of Uncertainty in Illness on Cancer Coping in Patients With Primary Malignant Brain Tumors.

BACKGROUND: Patients with primary malignant brain tumors (PMBTs) experience uncertainty in illness (UI) because of the high recurrence rate and symptoms that occur during treatment. OBJECTIVE: To develop and test a model based on the Uncertainty in Illness Theory to predict the UI and cancer coping experienced by PMBT patients. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study using path analysis. The participants were adults diagnosed with PMBT who completed a questionnaire about demographic and disease-related characteristics, UI, cancer coping, brain tumor symptoms, and social support. Clinical data (eg, the diagnosis, tumor location, and grade) were obtained from electronic health records. Data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and the MVN , psych , and lavaan packages in R 4.1.0. RESULTS: This study included 203 PMBT patients. The hypothesized model satisfied all statistical criteria (comparative fit index = 0.998, root mean square error of approximation = 0.044, standardized root mean square residual = 0.016). The indirect and direct associations of UI in the path from social support to cancer coping were all significant with a 95% bootstrapping confidence interval. Although the indirect and direct associations of UI in the path of brain tumor symptoms and cancer coping did not have direct or total effects, the indirect effect was statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Uncertainty in illness mediated brain tumor symptoms and social support to predict cancer coping. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: A nurse-led intervention for cancer coping among PMBT patients can be developed by considering symptoms and social support and UI as a mediator.

What we need to know about uncertainty in illness among people with primary malignant brain tumours: A mixed-methods systematic review.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To identify the characteristics of uncertainty in illness (UI) among people with primary malignant brain tumours (PMBT). BACKGROUND: High recurrence rates and complex symptoms cause uncertainty in people with PMBT. Given the characteristics of PMBT, reviewing UI among people with PMBT will benefit future research and clinical intervention development. DESIGN: A mixed-methods systematic review. METHODS: We performed a mixed-methods systematic review (PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus and Cochrane Library), including studies on UI among people with PMBT, searched from the databases' inception to the search date. The initial search was conducted in July 2021, with an additional search in March 2022. The major search terms were PMBT and UI, and no limitations were placed on the study design. The Cochrane tool was used to evaluate the risk of bias in randomised controlled trials, and JBI checklists were used to evaluate quasi-experimental studies, survey methodology studies and a case study. This review was reported using the PRISMA 2020 checklist. Both quantitative and qualitative research data were extracted, analysed and then integrated in three stages of a mixed-methods systematic review. RESULTS: Eleven studies were included. Due to physical, psychological and social risk factors, the UI progression of people with PMBT was complex and ambiguous, although they adapted to the PMBT diagnosis and treatment process. Subsequently, we proposed a model of UI among people with PMBT. CONCLUSIONS: UI has multidimensional characteristics, and healthcare providers need to consider these aspects for people with PMBT. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The proposed model provides directions for nursing practice and future research. Nurses caring for people with PMBT should comprehend their UI and intervene accordingly. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: This review incorporated data including people with PMBT in hospitals and communities. This analysis contributes to the clinical-to-community nursing transition process for people with PMBT.

Pedobacter segetis sp. nov., a Novel Bacterium Isolated from Soil.

A Gram-negative, motile by gliding, rod-shaped, aerobic bacterium, designated SD-bT, was isolated from a soil sample collected on Dokdo Island, South Korea. A polyphasic approach based on phenotypic, phylogenetic, and genomic analyses was used to characterize the new isolate. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that strain SD-bT belonged to the family Sphingobacteriaceae and most closely related to Pedobacter psychrophilus P4487AT (95.9% similarity). The isolate contained MK-7 as the predominant respiratory quinone; its main polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine; and the major fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C16:1 ω7c/C16:1 ω6c; 32.0%), C15:0 iso (19.1%), C17:0 iso 3-OH (8.3%), and C16:0 (8.2%). The draft genome had a length of 3,842,102 bp with a G+C content of 36.0 mol%, predicting 3282 coding sequences, 3 rRNA genes, 3 ncRNAs, and 36 tRNAs genes. The digital DNA-DNA hybridization and average nucleotide identity values between strain SD-bT and P. psychrophilus LMG 29436T were 22.0% and 78.9%, respectively. The results of phenotypic properties, genotypic distinctiveness, and chemotaxonomic features support the discrimination of SD-bT from its phylogenetic relatives. Pedobacter segetis sp. nov. is therefore proposed with SD-bT (= KCTC 82351T = JCM 34283T) as the type strain.

An integrated systems biology approach identifies positive cofactor 4 as a factor that increases reprogramming efficiency.

Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) can spontaneously dedifferentiate into embryonic stem cell (ESC)-like cells, which are designated as multipotent SSCs (mSSCs), without ectopic expression of reprogramming factors. Interestingly, SSCs express key pluripotency genes such as Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and Myc. Therefore, molecular dissection of mSSC reprogramming may provide clues about novel endogenous reprogramming or pluripotency regulatory factors. Our comparative transcriptome analysis of mSSCs and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) suggests that they have similar pluripotency states but are reprogrammed via different transcriptional pathways. We identified 53 genes as putative pluripotency regulatory factors using an integrated systems biology approach. We demonstrated a selected candidate, Positive cofactor 4 (Pc4), can enhance the efficiency of somatic cell reprogramming by promoting and maintaining transcriptional activity of the key reprograming factors. These results suggest that Pc4 has an important role in inducing spontaneous somatic cell reprogramming via up-regulation of key pluripotency genes.

Cell-penetrating peptide (CPP)-conjugated proteins is an efficient tool for manipulation of human mesenchymal stromal cells.

Delivery of proteins has been regarded as the safest and most useful application in therapeutic application of stem cells, because proteins can regulate gene expression transiently without any genomic alteration. However, it is difficult to accurately measure efficiency or quantity of intracellular protein uptake. Here, we performed a comparison study of cell-penetrating peptide (CPP)-conjugated protein delivery system using seven arginine and Streptolysin O (SLO)-mediated system. To compare CPP- and SLO-mediated protein delivery systems, we used GFP and ESRRB protein, which is known to regulate pluripotency-related genes, for delivery into human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSCs) and human testicular stromal cells (hTSCs). We found that CPP-conjugated protein delivery was more efficient, lower cytotoxicity, and higher biological activity than SLO-mediated protein delivery system. These results suggest that delivery of CPP-conjugated proteins is an efficient tool for introducing biologically active proteins into cells and may have important implications in clinical cell-based therapy.