The diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and superb microvascular imaging in differentiating benign from malignant solid breast lesions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the added value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and superb microvascular imaging (SMI) to the conventional ultrasound (US) in the diagnosis of breast lesions. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Chinese national knowledge infrastructure databases, Chinese biomedical literature databases, and Wanfang were searched for relevant studies from November 2015 to November 2021. The quality of the included studies was evaluated using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Studies (QUADAS) tool. Meta-Disc version 1.4 was used to calculate sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), positive likelihood ratio (LR+), negative likelihood ratio (LR-), area under curve (AUC), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR). Meta-regression analysis was performed using STATA 16.0 software to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the two techniques. RESULTS: In the five studies included, 530 patients were eligible for this meta-analysis. For SMI, the pooled SEN and SPE were 0.75 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.69-0.91) and 0.88 (95% CI: 0.83-0.91), respectively, LR+ was 5.75 (95% CI: 4.26-7.78), LR- was 0.29 (95% CI: 0.23-0.36), DOR was 21.42 (95% CI, 13.61-33.73), and AUC was 0.8871. For CEUS, the pooled SEN and SPE were 0.87 (95% CI: 0.82-0.91) and 0.86 (95% CI: 0.82-0.89), respectively, LR+ was 5.92 (95% CI: 4.21-8.33), LR- was 0.16 (95% CI: 0.11-0.25), DOR was 38.27 (95% CI: 18.73-78.17), and AUC was 0.9210. CONCLUSIONS: Adding CEUS and (or) SMI to conventional US could improve its diagnostic performance in differentiating benign from malignant solid breast lesions.

Usefulness of New Shear Wave Elastography Technique for Noninvasive Assessment of Liver Fibrosis in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B: A Prospective Multicenter Study.

PURPOSE: To explore the usefulness of liver stiffness measurements (LSMs) by sound touch elastography (STE) and sound touch quantification (STQ) in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients for staging fibrosis. METHODS: This prospective multicenter study recruited normal volunteers and CHB patients between May 2018 and October 2019. The volunteers underwent LSM by STE and supersonic shear imaging (SSI) or by STQ and acoustic radiation force impulse imaging (ARFI). CHB patients underwent liver biopsy and LSM by both STE/STQ. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) for staging fibrosis were calculated. RESULTS: Overall, 97 volunteers and 524 CHB patients were finally eligible for the study. The successful STE and STQ measurement rates were both 100 % in volunteers and 99.4 % in CHB patients. The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for the intra-observer stability of STE and STQ (0.94; 0.90) were similar to those of SSI and ARFI (0.95; 0.87), respectively. STE and STQ showed better accuracy than the aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) and fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4) (AUC: 0.87 vs 0.86 vs 0.73 vs 0.77) in staging cirrhosis. However, both STE and STQ were not superior to APRI and FIB-4 in staging significant fibrosis (AUC: 0.76 vs 0.73 vs 0.70 vs 0.71, all P-values > 0.05). CONCLUSION: STE and STQ are convenient techniques with a reliable LSM value. They have a similar diagnostic performance and are superior to serum biomarkers in staging cirrhosis in CHB patients.

Silencing of let-7b-5p inhibits ovarian cancer cell proliferation and stemness characteristics by Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp-box helicase 19A.

The emergence and recurrence of ovarian cancer are associated with ovarian cancer stem cells. For cancer treatment, gene delivery of microbubbles (MB)-mediated microRNA (miRNA) is considered as a promising approach. In this study, our aim is to investigate the effects of MB-mediated let-7b-5p inhibitor on the proliferation and stemness characteristics of ovarian cancer (OVCA) cells. Let-7b-5p inhibitor mediated by MB was prepared (termed MB-let-7b-5p inhibitor), and the effects of MB-let-7b-5p inhibitor and let-7b-5p inhibitor on OVCA cell viability, proliferation and stemness characteristics were investigated. We found that MB-let-7b-5p inhibitor presented a higher transfection efficiency than let-7b-5p inhibitor alone. The inhibitory effect of MB-let-7b-5p inhibitor on OVCA cells was more significant than let-7b-5p inhibitor. Let-7b-5p targeted DEAD (Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp)-box helicase 19A (DDX19A), which was downregulated in OVCA cells. The downregulation of DDX19A reversed the inhibitory effects of MB-let-7b-5p inhibitor on OVCA cells. To sum up, we found that MB-let-7b-5p suppressed OVCA cell malignant behaviors by targeting DDX19A.

Transvaginal ultrasound- and laparoscopy-guided percutaneous microwave ablation for adenomyosis: preliminary results.

Purpose: Adenomyosis is a relatively common disease among women of childbearing age. A minimally invasive alternative technique with low risks, faster recovery and decreased side effects is desired. We hypothesized that percutaneous microwave ablation (PMWA) under laparoscopic guidance would substantially reduce the risk of collateral thermal damage to the intestinal tract and relieve the pelvic adhesions. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility, safety and efficacy of transvaginal ultrasound- and laparoscopy-guided PMWA for the treatment of adenomyosis.Materials and methods: From May 2015 to October 2017, a total of 70 patients with symptomatic adenomyosis who underwent transvaginal ultrasound- and laparoscopy-guided PMWA were included in this study. The technical efficacy and complications of PMWA were assessed. Meanwhile, the uterine volume, lesion volume, symptom severity score (SSS) and visual analog scale (VAS) score before PMWA and at 1, 6 and 12 months after PMWA were recorded.Results: PMWA was successfully performed with transvaginal ultrasound guidance and laparoscope assistance in all patients. No major complication was found after PMWA in any patients. The uterine volume, lesion volume, SSS and VAS were all decreased significantly at follow-up (p < .01).Conclusion: Transvaginal ultrasound- and laparoscopy-guided PMWA, which significantly decreased the uterine volume, lesion volume, SSS and VAS score, is a feasible minimally invasive technique for the treatment of adenomyosis.

Mitotically-associated long non-coding RNA promotes cancer cell proliferation in hepatocellular carcinoma by downregulating miR-122a.

Mitotically-associated long non-coding RNA (MANCR) is involved in malignant breast cancer. The present study analyzed the role of MANCR in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MANCR was found to be upregulated in HCC and high expression level of MANCR in cancer tissues predicted poor survival of HCC patients. MicroRNA (miR)-122a was downregulated HCC and was inversely correlated with MANCR only in cancer tissues. MANCR overexpression resulted in downregulation of miR-122a, while miR-122a overexpression showed no obvious effects on MANCR expression. MANCR overexpression showed no significant effects on HCC cell proliferation but led to promoted cell migration and invasion. miR-122a overexpression led to inhibited migration and invasion of HCC cells and attenuated the effects of MANCR overexpression. Therefore, lncRNA MANCR may promote cancer cell proliferation in HCC by downregulating miR-122a.

Depletion of VAX2 Restrains the Malignant Progression of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma by Modulating ERK Signaling Pathway.

OBJECTIVE: Ventral anterior homeobox 2 (VAX2) gene is a key regulating factor for the development of the ventral region of the eye, and has recently attracted much attention from the cancer treatment field. Our study aimed to explore the effect of VAX2 on papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). METHODS: We determined the expression levels of VAX2 in PTC based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. We then assessed the prognosis of patients with PTC, and analyzed the association between VAX2 expression and clinicopathological characteristics. Subsequently, we measured the biological functions of VAX2 in PTC using qRT-PCR, cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, colony formation assay, wound healing assay, transwell assays and western blot. RESULTS: VAX2 was up-regulated in PTC tissues when compared with normal thyroid tissues, and high expression level of VAX2 was positively correlated with poor prognosis. Furthermore, knockdown of VAX2 significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of PTC cells. Importantly, through western blot analysis, we found that the expression of phosphorylated-(p) ERK and p-MEK in ERK signaling pathway showed a significant decrease after knockdown of VAX2. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that VAX2 may be involved in the malignant progression of PTC, and hold significant potential as a therapeutic target for PTC.