Clinical and Genomic Analysis of Patients with Short Survival after Surgery for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the prognosis of Chinese patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) after surgery and its correlation with genomic alterations (GAs) to identify potential prognostic markers. METHODS: The clinical information, pathological specimens, and follow-up information of 50 patients with stage II and III primary ESCC who were surgically resected in the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University from January 2011 to December 2015 were collected in the present study. Based on overall survival (OS), these patients were divided into the short OS group (<3 years) and the long OS group (>4 years). GA detection was performed in patients with ESCC using next-generation sequencing. All categories of GAs were evaluated; the landscape of GAs in patients with ESCC was mapped; and the correlations between clinical characteristics, prognosis, and GAs were analyzed. RESULTS: There was no skew in the distribution of gender, smoking, and adjuvant therapy between the long OS group and the short OS group. A total of 372 GAs were detected in the 50 patients with ESCC, with 7 types of GAs, including insertions, deletions, and copy number variations, and missense mutations occurred most frequently, with a frequency of >50.0%. Tumor protein 53 (TP53; 50/50, 100%) was the most commonly mutated gene in the entire cohort followed by cyclin D1, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A), and fibroblast growth factor 19. More CDKN2A loss (p = 0.098) was detected in the short OS group than in the long OS group. The results of the multivariate analysis after adjustment for clinical factors showed a statistically significant difference in the CDKN2A loss between the two groups. Data obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas for surgical ESCC revealed that the CDKN2A loss may be responsible for the poorer prognosis in postoperative patients with ESCC. CONCLUSION: In patients with progressive primary ESCC, the poor postoperative prognosis may be epiphenomenally associated with the CDKN2A loss.

Efficacy of orchard terrace measures to minimize water erosion caused by extreme rainfall in the hilly region of China: Long-term continuous in situ observations.

Terracing and rainfall characteristics notably influence the water erosion processes. However, an extensive long term in situ quantitative evaluation of the approaches to control the water erosion in different orchard terraces has not yet been performed, especially considering the increasing frequency and severity of extreme rainfall events due to the global climate change. In this study, six types of orchard terraces, including slope land as the control (SLck), level terrace with bare (LTb) and vegetation taluses (LTv), outward (OTv) and inward terrace (ITv) with vegetation taluses and level terrace having front mounds and back ditches with vegetation taluses (MDLTv), were used to analyze the effects of extreme and ordinary rainfall events on the surface runoff and soil erosion. According to the measured data for twelve consecutive years, 356 natural rainfall events were divided into extreme and ordinary rainfall, based on the World Meteorological Organization standard. The results indicated that more severe surface runoff and sediment loss occurred under extreme rainfall: the runoff coefficient and soil loss under extreme rainfall were 2.6 and 11.5 times those under ordinary rainfall, respectively. The sediment yield (contribution rate, 42.9%) exhibited a higher sensitivity to extreme rainfall events compared to that of the surface runoff generation (contribution rate, 16.4%). Moreover, the reduction in the surface runoff and sediment in the extreme rainfall case differed for different orchard terraces. The average surface runoff coefficient and soil loss amount decreased in the following order: SLck>LTb>OTv>LTv>ITv>MDLTv. Nevertheless, the highest and lowest contributions of the extreme rainfall to the sediment yield occurred in the LTb (64.8%) and MDLTv (21.7%) plots, respectively. Therefore, severe talus erosion caused by extreme rainfall should be monitored, and a combination of vegetation taluses and front mounds and back ditches on the platforms is recommended as a sustainable strategy to prevent extreme water erosion when transforming slope land into orchard terraces.

Trade-off between surface runoff and soil erosion during the implementation of ecological restoration programs in semiarid regions: A meta-analysis.

The application of ecological restoration programs, related to water resources protection and soil erosion control, may have some undesirable outcomes. An important example is the effect that vegetation restoration may have in reducing surface water resources. After searching peer-reviewed articles, we selected 38 publications from 16 countries in comparable areas - semiarid conditions (aridity index <0.5), surface coverage >50% and fine soil texture - to evaluate the effectiveness of different types of vegetation (i.e., forestland, scrubland and grassland) in regulating runoff and sediment transport. In particular, we used three indices: the runoff reduction effect, the sediment reduction effect and the ratio between runoff and sediment reduction. These indices were calculated from measured data reported in the original articles. Results showed that scrubland had higher runoff reduction effect (59% in gentle slopes; 65% in steep slopes) than in grassland (39% on gentle slopes; 43% on steep slopes) and forestland (33% on gentle slopes; 51% on steep slopes). For the three types of vegetation, the sediment reduction effect was >70%. Concerning the ratios between runoff and sediment reduction, grassland showed the lowest ratios (56% on gentle slopes; 53% on steep slopes) compared to forestland (63% on gentle slopes; 65% on steep slopes) and scrubland (93% on gentle slopes; 81% on steep slopes). Our results indicate that low values of ratios between runoff and sediment reduction are the most suitable because they indicate an effective soil erosion and sediment delivery reduction but maintaining surface runoff. Overall, our study demonstrates that grassland may be the best choice for optimizing the trade-off between catchment water yield and soil conservation during the implementation of ecological restoration programs in semi-arid regions.

A case report of intraventricular and intrathecal tigecycline infusions for an extensively drug-resistant intracranial Acinetobacter baumannii infection.

RATIONALE: The treatment of intracranial Acinetobacter baumannii infections is made difficult by multidrug-resistance poor drug penetration through the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Although tigecycline appears to be effective against A baumannii, it is only administered intravenously because it does not readily cross the BBB. The addition of intraventricular (IVT) or intrathecal infusions of tigecycline could revolutionize clinical therapy for intracranial A baumannii infections. However, there are few reports on the successful use of such treatments. PATIENT CONCERNS: We report the case of a 17-year-old male who presented with high fever and neck rigidity after intracranial drainage. DIAGNOSIS: Intracranial infection with extensively drug-resistant A baumannii after intracranial drainage. INTERVENTIONS: On the advice of a clinical pharmacist, the patient was administered intrathecal infusions of tigecycline after treatment failure with IVT tigecycline. OUTCOMES: The patient's body temperature returned to normal. Thereafter, the patient was in good clinical condition without signs of cerebrospinal fluid infection and tuberculosis. LESSONS: However, when central nervous system infections fail IVT tigecycline, clinicians should consider changing to intrathecal tigecycline infusions rather than raising the dose of IVT tigecycline. In addition, the co-administration of tigecycline with other drugs that can penetrate the BBB should not be ruled out.

The effects of rainfall regimes and terracing on runoff and erosion in the Three Gorges area, China.

Changes in natural rainfall regimes have taken place and are expected to become more pronounced in future decades. These changes are also likely to be accompanied by changes in crop management practices. The main purpose of this study was to analyze runoff and soil loss in relation to rainfall regimes and terracing in the Three Gorges area, China. Based on 10 years of field observation and k-mean clusters, 101 rainfall events were grouped into three rainfall regimes. Rainfall regime I was the group of events with strong rainfall intensity, high frequency, and short duration. Rainfall regime III consisted of events with low intensity, long duration, and high rainfall amount. Rainfall regime II was the aggregation of events of high intensity and amount, and less frequent occurrence. The results showed that event runoff coefficients were not significantly different among rainfall regimes. However, the average soil erosion rates in rainfall regimes I and II were significantly higher than that in regime III. The average erosion rates under rainfall regimes I, II, and III were 21.6, 39.7, and 9.8 g m-2, respectively. The effect of rainfall regime on soil erosion also was changed by terracing. On unterraced cropland, soil erosion rate in rainfall regime I is significantly higher than that in regime III. However, the situation did not exist in unterraced orchard. Terracing significantly reduced runoff and soil erosion, and compensated the effects of rainfall regime on soil erosion, which indicated that runoff and erosion in terraced system may be little influenced by climate change. Based on these results, it was suggested more attention should be paid to the timing of rainfall events in relation to crop development and the high erosion on unterraced citrus orchard to control soil erosion in this area.

Prognostic significance of the location of metastatic lymph nodes in patients with adenocarcinoma of the oesophagogastric junction.

BACKGROUND: Adenocarcinoma of the oesophagogastric junction (AEG) potentially metastasizes to lymph nodes (LNs) in the abdomen and thorax. The aim of this study was to analyse the impact of metastatic LN location on prognosis in patients with AEG. METHODS: From May 2000 to March 2002, 645 patients with AEG underwent resection in our hospital. There were 525 males and 120 females, aged from 31 to 78 years (median = 60 years). Follow-up was carried out by correspondence every 6 months. N-classification according to the number (0, 1-2, 3-6, >6; N0-3), station (0, 1, 2, 3; S0-3) or field (0, 1 (abdominal or mediastinal), 2 (abdominal and mediastinal); F0-2) of LN metastasis and other prognostic factors were evaluated by univariate and multivariate survival analyses. RESULTS: Of the 645 patients, 307 (47.6%) had LN metastasis. The 5-year survival rate for patients with LN metastases was 16.0% compared to 36.8% for those without LN metastases (P = 0.000). The length of tumour, and the number, station and field of the LN metastasis were independent prognostic factors by multivariate analysis. However, when patients without LN metastasis were excluded from the survival analysis by log-rank test, there were significant differences only in patients with F1 versus F2 LN metastasis, with 5-year survival rates of 14.4% and 8.0%, respectively (P = 0.022). CONCLUSION: The presence of LN metastases concurrently in both the abdomen and mediastinum is a significant adverse prognostic factor for patients with AEG, and should be included in the future TNM staging system.

[Hydrological characteristics of calcareous soil with contrasting architecture on dolomite slope of Northwest Guangxi]. / æ¡‚è¥¿åŒ—ç™½äº‘å²©å¡åœ°å ¸åž‹åœŸä½“æž„åž‹çŸ³ç°åœŸæ°´æ–‡ç‰¹å¾.

The traditional hydrology method, stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope technology, and rainfall simulation method were combined to investigate the hydrological function of small experimental plots (2 m×1.2 m) of contrasting architecture in Northwest Guangxi dolomite area. There were four typical catenary soils along the dolomite peak-cluster slope, which were the whole-sand, up-loam and down-sand, the whole loam, up-clay and down-sand soil types, respectively. All the experimental plots generated little amounts of overland runoff and had a high surface infiltration rate, ranging from 41 to 48 mm·h-1, and the interflow and deep percolation were the dominant hydrological progress. The interflow was classified into interflow in soil clay A and C according to soil genetic layers. For interflow in soil clay A, matrix flow was generated from the whole-sand, up-loam and down-sand, up-clay and down-sand soil types, but preferential flow dominated in the whole-loam soil type. As for interflow in soil clay C, preferential flow dominated in the whole-loam, up-clay and down-sand, up-loam and down-sand soil types. The soils were shallow yet continuously distributed along the dolomite slope. The difference of hydrological characteristics in soil types with different architectures mainly existed in the runoff generation progress of each interface underground. It proved that the a 3-D perspective was needed to study the soil hydrological functions on dolomite slope of Northwest Guangxi, and a new way paying more attention on underground hydrological progress should be explored to fully reveal the near-surface hydrological processes on karst slope.

The characteristics of extreme erosion events in a small mountainous watershed.

A large amount of soil loss is caused by a small number of extreme events that are mainly responsible for the time compression of geomorphic processes. The aim of this study was to analyze suspended sediment transport during extreme erosion events in a mountainous watershed. Field measurements were conducted in Wangjiaqiao, a small agricultural watershed (16.7 km(2)) in the Three Gorges Area (TGA) of China. Continuous records were used to analyze suspended sediment transport regimes and assess the sediment loads of 205 rainfall-runoff events during a period of 16 hydrological years (1989-2004). Extreme events were defined as the largest events, ranked in order of their absolute magnitude (representing the 95(th) percentile). Ten extreme erosion events from 205 erosion events, representing 83.8% of the total suspended sediment load, were selected for study. The results of canonical discriminant analysis indicated that extreme erosion events are characterized by high maximum flood-suspended sediment concentrations, high runoff coefficients, and high flood peak discharge, which could possibly be explained by the transport of deposited sediment within the stream bed during previous events or bank collapses.

[Effect of erythromycin on electrical activity and gastric emptying of the intrathoracic stomach after esophagectomy for esophageal cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of erythromycin on electrical activity and emptying of the intrathoracic stomach after esophagectomy for esophageal cancer. METHODS: Thirty patients undergoing esophagectomy for cancer and esophagogastrostomy above the aortic arch were divided into the study group (n=15) and the control group (n=15). Electrogastrography and radionuclide gastric emptying were examined for these patients before and 1, 3, 6, 12 months after surgery. Patients in the study group received erythromycin (0.25 g tid po) for 1 week before examination. RESULTS: The wave amplitude (Uv), dominant frequency (CPM) and percentage of normal slow wave (%) of electrogastrogram decreased after surgery and returned to normal at the first postoperative month in the study group and the 12th postoperative month in the control group (P>0.05). Gastric emptying was significantly delayed after esophagectomy, and returned to normal one year after operation in the study group (P>0.05). However, gastric emptying remained abnormal in the control group (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Erythromycin improves electrical activity and emptying of the stomach after esophagectomy for cancer. Gastric emptying recovery later than the recovery of electrical activity, which may be related to gastric ischemia and edema.

[Soil seed bank and its correlations with aboveground vegetation and environmental factors in water level fluctuating zone of Danjiangkou Reservoir, Central China].

Taking the water level fluctuating zone of the Danjiangkou Reservoir as a case, and by the method of hierarchical cluster analysis, the soil seed banks at 37 sampling plots within the areas of 140-145 m elevation were divided into 6 groups, and the species composition, density, and diversity of the soil seed banks among the groups were compared. The differences between the soil seed banks and the aboveground vegetations were analyzed by S0rensen similarity coefficient, and the correlations among the soil seed banks, aboveground vegetations, and environmental factors were explored by principal component analysis (PCA) and multivariable regression analysis. At the same altitudes of the water level fluctuating zone, the species composition of the soil seed banks had obvious heterogeneity, and the density and diversity indices of the soil seed banks among different groups were great. The similarity coefficient between the soil seed banks and aboveground vegetations was low, and the species number in the soil seed banks was obviously lesser than that in the aboveground vegetations. The density of the soil seed banks was highly positively correlated with the aboveground vegetations coverage and species number and the soil texture, but highly negatively correlated with the soil water-holding capacity and soil porosity.

[Temporal variations of clay content in eroded sediment under different rainfall condition].

Erosion and sediment characteristics were measured using simulated rainfall on two cultivated soils from the Loess Plateau, China. The size distribution of eroded sediment (non-dispersed) was compared with equivalent measurements of the same samples after chemical and mechanical dispersion(dispersed) to investigate the aggregation ratio (AR) and enrichment ratio (ER). Results show that clay content is increasing with the length and rainfall intensity. The loessial soil increased by 8.77% and 2.43%, but the Lou soil increased by only 2.76% and 0.4%. With the increase of slope, the clay content of the two loess reduced by 4.91% and 3.93%, respectively. AR values were less than 1 and ER values were greater than 1. These indicated that relatively slight clay dispersion occurred and that most of the clay in the sediments was in the form of aggregates. The results will improve understanding of erosion and sedimentation processes, which in turn will improve erosion modeling. Knowledge of temporal variations of clay in sediment can also provide the basis for understanding and modeling the transfer of nutrients on hillslope.

[Spatial heterogeneity of soil moisture and its relationships with environmental factors at small catchment level].

Taking the Wulongchi catchment of Danjiangkou in central China as a case, the soil moisture regime in the observation period from April to October, 2008 was divided into different dry-wet time periods by two way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN), and the environmental factors that had significant effects on the spatial pattern of soil moisture in different dry-wet time periods were selected by forward selection and Monte Carlo tests. The redundancy analysis (RDA) was adopted to identify the relationships between the distribution pattern of soil moisture and the environmental factors in different time periods, and the partial RDA was applied to quantitatively analyze the effects of environmental factors, spatial variables, and their interactions on the variation pattern of the soil moisture. The soil moisture regime in the observation period was divided into 7 types, and grouped into 4 time periods, i. e. , dry, semi-arid, semi-humid, and humid. In dry period, land use type was the dominant factor affecting the spatial pattern of soil moisture, and the soil thickness, relative elevation, profile curvature, soil bulk density, and soil organic matter content also had significant effects. In semi-arid period, soil thickness played dominant role, and land use type, topographic wetness index, soil bulk density, and profile curvature had significant effects. In semi-humid period, topographic wetness index was the most important affecting factor, and the land use type and the sine value of aspect played significant roles. In humid period, the topographic compound index and the sine value of aspect were the dominant factors, whereas the relative elevation and catchment area were the important factors. In the four time periods, there was a better consistency between the spatial distribution pattern of soil moisture and the environmental ecological gradient. From dry period to humid period, the independent effects of environmental factors on soil moisture pattern decreased but were still in dominant, the independent effects of spatial location had less change and maintained at lower level, while the interactions between environmental factors and spatial location contributed more and more.

[Effects of land use structure on nitrogen export in Hujiashan watershed of Danjiangkou reservoir area, China].

Land use is one of the most important factors that determine the occurrence and pattern of non-point source pollution. This study selected 15 catchments of Hujiashan watershed to examine the effect of land use on non-point source pollution. Land uses of these 15 catchments were classified from Resources Satellite No.2 images. The total nitrogen and nitrate content of discharge were monitored from Jan. to Dec. of 2008. The relations between nitrogen export and land use were analyzed using the hydrological modeling and spatial analysis extensions of ArcGIS 9.2. The results showed that dry land and residential area exported significant amount of nitrogen, whilst forest and grassland could be considered as nitrogen sinks. Land use was a controlling factor that determined the amount of nitrogen export, although the effects varied with time. Annually, dry land was the top nitrogen producer. However, seasonally, top producers were dry land, residential, residential and dry land in spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively. Rainfall, temperature and human activity are also important for influencing the nitrogen export.

[Effects of soil thickness on spatiotemporal pattern of soil moisture in catchment level].

Based on the fixed-spot observation, this paper analyzed the effects of soil thicknesses on the spatiotemporal pattern of soil moisture in the Wulongchi catchment of Danjiangkou, China. The soil moisture content increased soon after precipitation events, followed by a decline as the soil dried down, whilst its spatial heterogeneity exhibited an opposite pattern. The profile-averaged soil moisture content differed significantly with soil thickness. The soil with a thickness of 20 cm had lower profile-averaged moisture content whose variation trend was similar to that of precipitation and varied obviously among seasons; medium thickness (20-40 cm) soil had medium level of profile-averaged moisture content whose seasonal variation was moderately and affected by the characteristics of precipitation; while the soil with a thicknesses of > 40 cm had higher profile-averaged moisture content whose seasonal variation was relatively small. The profile distribution pattern of soil moisture was determined by the integrated effects of precipitation, evapotranspiration, and leakage, exhibiting increasing-type at semi-humid stage, waving-type at humid stage, and both of the two types at arid stage. There was a significant positive correlation between profile-averaged soil moisture content and soil thickness, and the correlation coefficient was 0.630-0.855. The moisture content in 0-15 cm soil layer had less correlation with soil thickness, but the moisture content in 20-55 cm soil layer was significantly correlated with soil thickness.

The effects of land use change on environmental quality in the red soil hilly region, China: a case study in Xianning County.

Land use and land cover change is gaining recognition as a key driver of environmental change. Rapid change of land use has occurred in the red soil hilly region of southeast China in the past three decades due to rural land reform, population pressure and rapid economic growth. In this paper, land use change and its impacts on environmental quality of Xianning County were investigated using technologies of remote sensing (RS), geographic information systems (GIS), and spatial principal components analysis (SPCA). It was indicated that the area of paddy field and upland decline rapidly while the area of woodland, horticulture farm and residential land increased sharply between 1978 and 2002. The driving forces probably were land use policy of the State government, structural adjustment of agricultural sectors and implementation of environmental conservation measures. Based on the assessment of environmental implications of land use practices, the environmental quality of some land use types (i.e. Woodland, sparse woodland, and paddy field) tended to improve, while horticulture farms, water body, and residential land showed a deterioration trend of environmental quality during 1978-2002. Perhaps the most significant finding of this study is that environment appears a negative tendency in the study area from 1991 to 2002, because little attention has been paid to the status and management of agricultural lands, which account for a substantial proportion of total land area. Therefore, for further improving environment in red soil hilly region in China, urgent action is required to improve the advisory services support to farmers on new tillage practices, soil and water conservation practices, raising the efficiency of fertilizer and manure use.

[Dynamic changes of forest vegetation coverage in letianxi basin of Three Gorges Reservoir Area: a study based on multi-source data].

Based on the multi-temporal and multi-source sensor images of 1987-2005, the dynamic changes of forest vegetation coverage in Letianxi basin of Three Gorges Reservoir Area were investigated by the methods of color balancing, image fusion, and radiometric normalization. The results showed that in 1987-2005, the forest area in the basin increased from 265.82 km2 to 346.45 km2. Vegetation coverage also had an increasing trend, but the increment was not uniform in the whole basin. The change process of the forest vegetation could be divided into three stages, i.e., slight destroying, starting restoration, and complete restoration. The gravity center of the forests in different coverage classes changed significantly, e.g., the gravity center of the forests with vegetation coverage less than 45% transferred to the north before 1987, but moved back to the south thereafter, while that of the forests with vegetation coverage greater than 45% moved constantly from northwest to southeast. The changes of forest vegetation coverage in the study area were deeply affected by the human disturbance, regional economic development, and national comprehensive management measures. Through 10 years ecological restoration, human disturbance was decreasing, and the forest area with vegetation coverage above 60% reached 217.88 km2, occupying about 62.9% of the total forest area, which implied that the ecological environment was improved gradually.