[Research progress on robot-assisted subretinal and intravascular injection surgeries].

Various retinal diseases require subretinal and/or intravascular injections, which are precise and challenging ocular microsurgeries. Robot-assisted surgery is expected to promote surgery precision, visualization, and success rates. This review summarizes recent research progress on robot-assisted surgery for subretinal and intravascular injections, emphasizing effectiveness, safety, and intelligence, and aiming to provide valuable insights for research on the application of surgical robots in the treatment of retinal diseases.

Author Correction: Correlation between expression levels of lncRNA UCA1 and miR-18a with prognosis of hepatocellular cancer.

Correction to: European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences 2020; 24 (7): 3586-3591-DOI: 10.26355/eurrev_202004_20820-PMID: 32329833, published online on 15 April 2020. After publication, the authors noticed some mistakes in the manuscript and applied to issue the following changes: the legend of Table I, the date of enrollment of the patients in the section titled "Baseline Characteristics of HCC Patients", the date of follow-up reported in the abstract and in the section entitled "Postoperative Follow-Up". The authors also applied to modify the survival curve of Figure 3 due to misuse of data in the statistical analysis. There are amendments to this paper. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. https://www.europeanreview.org/article/20820.

Prognostic impact of anatomical extent of metastatic lymph node on gastric cancer: a propensity score matching study.

PURPOSE: Current gastric cancer staging systems overlook the anatomic extent of metastatic lymph nodes (AEMLNs). This study aimed to analyze the prognostic impact of AEMLNs on gastric cancer (GC). METHODS: GC patients with metastatic lymph nodes (MLNs) undergoing curative surgery were retrospectively reviewed and assigned to perigastric (MLNs in station 1-6, PG) and extraperigastric group (7-12, with or without MLNs in PG area, EPG). Overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) and recurrence patterns were compared before and after 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM). RESULTS: 662 patients were enrolled, 341 (51.5%) and 321 (48.5%) of whom were in the PG and EPG, respectively. After PSM (n = 195), EPG showed poorer 5-year OS (43.4% vs 54.5%, p = 0.014) and DFS (65.0% vs 73.4%, p = 0.068) than PG. EPG had higher incidence of peritoneal recurrence (PR) than PG (19.4% vs 7.4%, p = 0.002). Multivariate analysis identified AEMLNs as prognostic factor for OS [HR = 1.409, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.062-1.868), DFS (HR = 1.600, 95% CI 1.059-2.416) and PR (HR = 3.708, 95% CI 1.685-8.160). CONCLUSIONS: The anatomic extent of metastatic lymph nodes has an independent prognostic role for GC. Including this element may improve the accuracy of current staging systems.

Determination of Escitalopram in Biological Samples by Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Microextraction Combined with GC-MS/MS.

ABSTRACT: Objective To establish a method for determination of escitalopram in biological samples by ultrasound-assisted ionic liquid-dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction combined with gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry （GC-MS/MS） and provide evidences for forensic determination of cases related to escitalopram. Methods The 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate （[C6MIM][PF6]） was selected as an extract solvent to process biological samples. Ultrasound-assisted extraction was used on the samples. Then the samples were detected by GC-MS/MS. Results The linear range of escitalopram in blood and liver were 5.56-1 111.10 ng/mL and 0.025-5.00 mg/g, respectively. The correlation coefficient （r） were greater than 0.999, limit of detection （LOD） were 4.00 ng/mL and 2.00 µg/g, limit of quantitation （LOQ） were 14.00 ng/mL and 6.00 µg/g, respectively. The extraction recovery rates were all greater than 50%, the interday and intraday precision were less than 20%. Escitalopram was detected in blood and liver samples from the actual poisoning case by this method with a content of 1.26 µg/mL and 0.44 mg/g, respectively. Conclusion The ultrasound-assisted ionic liquid-dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction combined with GC-MS/MS is environment friendly, rapid, has good enriching effect and consumes less organic solvent and can be used for forensic determination of escitalopram related cases.

Correlation between expression levels of lncRNA UCA1 and miR-18a with prognosis of hepatocellular cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To uncover the prognostic potentials of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) UCA1 and miR-18a in hepatocellular cancer (HCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Expression levels of UCA1 and microRNA-18a (miR-18a) in HCC tissues and adjacent normal ones harvested from 55 HCC patients were determined by quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). Clinical data of HCC patients were recorded, including pathological grading, tumor staging, intrahepatic metastasis, serum level of α-fetoprotein (AFP), tumor size, tumor number, recurrence, etc. Based on the median levels of UCA1 and miR-18a, enrolled HCC patients were classified into high-level and low-level group. Potential correlation between expression levels of UCA1 and miR-18a with survival of HCC patients was analyzed. The 4-year follow-up data of HCC patients were collected for analyzing factors that may influence prognosis in HCC patients by the Cox regression model. RESULTS: UCA1 was upregulated and miR-18a was downregulated in HCC tissues. HCC patients with stage III-IV, tumor size ≥5 cm or multiple tumors expressed high level of UCA1. Besides, HCC patients with stage I-II, non-intrahepatic metastasis or primarily diagnosed expressed a relatively low level of miR-18a. High-level UCA1 and low-level miR-18a predicted worse prognosis in HCC patients. Cox regression analysis revealed that tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging, intrahepatic metastases, postoperative recurrences, and UCA1 were risk factors for HCC, while miR-18a was the protective factor. CONCLUSIONS: LncRNA UCA1 is upregulated and miR-18a is downregulated in HCC tissues. High-level UCA1 and low-level miR-18a are closely linked to poor prognosis in HCC.

Determination of the Content of 4-FMA in Rat Plasma Samples by HPLC-MS/MS Method.

ABSTRACT: Objective To develop a high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry （HPLC-MS/MS） method for the determination of the content of 4-fluoromethamphetamine （4-FMA） in rat plasma, and to provide a methodological basis for the study of the toxicokinetics of 4-FMA in rats. Methods Rat plasma samples were added into internal standard methamphetamine （MA）. Its proteins were precipitated with methanol and then separated with Poroshell 120 EC-C18 chromatographic column. A 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution and a 0.1% formic acid acetonitrile solution were used as the mobile phase at the flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. Electrospray ionization source was used for detection in the multiple reaction monitoring （MRM） mode. Results The linear relationship was good when the mass concentration of 4-FMA in plasma samples was in the range of 5-1 000 ng/mL （r>0.999）. The limit of detection （LOD） was 3 ng/mL and the limit of quantification （LOQ） was 5 ng/mL. The accuracy was expressed as relative error （RE）, and in the range of ±5%, the intra-day precision and inter-day precision （relative standard deviation, RSD） less than 9%, and the extraction recovery rate was more than 90%. The analysis and detection of plasma samples were completed within 2.5 min. Conclusion This study developed a HPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of 4-FMA in rat plasma samples. This method is accurate, rapid, simple and sensitive and can be applied to the study of toxicokinetics of 4-FMA.

Determination of Endosulfan Concentrations in Biological Samples by GC-MS/MS.

OBJECTIVES: To establish an analytical method of the endosulfan concentrations （α-endosulfan and ß-endosulfan） in biological samples by GC-MS/MS. To observe the distribution of endosulfan in aquatic animals and provide experimental evidence for forensic identification of relevant cases. METHODS: Acetonitrile was added to the blood and muscle samples for precipitating the protein. The endosulfan concentrations were determined by GC-MS/MS in multiple reaction monitoring mode. Qualitative analysis was performed according to the retention time and ion rate, and quantitative analysis was performed by external standard working curve method. RESULTS: In blood samples, the calibration curves of α-endosulfan and ß-endosulfan ranging from 0.062 5 to 10 µg/mL had good linear relationship, the correlation coefficients （r） of which were >0.99. The limits of detection （LOD） were 1 ng/mL and 2 ng/mL and the limits of quantification （LOQ） were 4 ng/mL and 8 ng/mL, respectively. In muscle samples, the calibration curves of α-endosulfan and ß-endosulfan ranging from 0.062 5 to 10 µg/g, the r of which were >0.98. The LOD were 1 ng/g and 4 ng/g and the LOQ were 4 ng/g and 16 ng/g, respectively. The accuracy of α-endosulfan and ß-endosulfan was 90.76%-108.91% both in blood and muscle samples, the interday and intraday precision were 2.35%-8.71% and 5.44%-10.29%, respectively. In poisoning cases, endosulfan were detected in all parts of fish and crab and the content difference was statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The endosulfan detection method based on GC-MS/MS established in the present study is rapid, sensitive and accurate, which can be applied to the endosulfan detection in traces biological samples. The distribution of endosulfan in fish and crab was different, which can provide evidence to the sample collection and analysis for toxicological analysis in relevant forensic identification.

A positive crosstalk between CXCR4 and CXCR2 promotes gastric cancer metastasis.

The molecular mechanism underlying gastric cancer (GC) invasion and metastasis is still poorly understood. In this study, we tried to investigate the roles of CXCR4 and CXCR2 signalings in gastric cancer metastasis. A highly invasive gastric cancer cell model was established. Chemokines receptors were profiled to search for the accountable ones. Then the underlying molecular mechanism was investigated using both in vitro and in vivo techniques, and the clinical relevance of CXCR4 and CXCR2 expression was studied in gastric cancer samples. CXCR4 and CXCR2 were highly expressed in a high invasive gastric cancer cell model and in gastric cancer tissues. Overexpression of CXCR4 and CXCR2 was associated with more advanced tumor stage and poorer survival for GC patients. CXCR4 and CXCR2 expression strongly correlated with each other in the way that CXCR2 expression changed accordingly with the activity of CXCR4 signaling and CXCR4 expression also changed in agreement with CXCR2 activity. Further studies demonstrated CXCR4 and CXCR2 can both activated NF-κB and STAT3 signaling, while NF-κBp65 can then transcriptionally activate CXCR4 and STAT3 can activate CXCR2 expression. This crosstalk between CXCR4 and CXCR2 contributed to EMT, migration and invasion of gastric cancer. Finally, Co-inhibition of CXCR4 and CXCR2 is more effective in reducing gastric cancer metastasis. Our results demonstrated that CXCR4 and CXCR2 cross-activate each other to promote the metastasis of gastric cancer.

Systematic review of nasogastric or nasojejunal decompression after gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the necessity of nasogastric or nasojejunal decompression after gastrectomy for gastric cancer. METHODS: Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched. Only prospective randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared subjects with and without nasogastric or nasojejunal decompression after gastrectomy were eligible in this meta-analysis. Time to flatus, time to first oral intake, length of hospital stay, reinsertion rate, anastomotic leakage, pulmonary complications, morbidity and mortality were evaluated. RESULTS: Eight studies finally fulfilled the inclusion criteria. This meta-analysis enrolled 1141 patients, 570 randomized to routine decompression and 571 randomized to no decompression. Time to first oral intake was significantly shorter in the non-decompression group (WMD = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.28 to 0.77; p < 0.001). Additionally, subjects with nasogastric or nasojejunal decompression experienced a longer hospital stay (p = 0.001). Time to flatus, anastomotic leakage, reinsertion rates, pulmonary complications, morbidity and mortality rates were similar between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Nasogastric or nasojejunal decompression does not facilitate the recovery of bowel function or reduce the risk of postoperative complications. Therefore, routine nasogastric or nasojejunal decompression is unnecessary after gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

Extraventricular neurocytoma.

Extraventricular neurocytoma is a rare neuroepithelial tumor. Its propensity to occur in cerebral hemisphere is much higher. EVN has a histological resemblance to central neurocytoma but radiologically, it is more complex. Ganglionic differentiation is more common in EVN and tends to have more of a cystic component. Calcification is frequent but hemorrhage is only an occasional finding. Although it has been reported to occur in various regions, the propensity to occur in cerebral hemisphere is much higher. Herein, we report two cases which presented as a mass in the right frontal lobe and right parietal lobe. MRI showed hypointesity on T1, hyperintesity on T2-weighted images with moderate enhancement after contast injection. In short extraventricular neurocytoma should be considered indifferential diagnosis of complex intracranial masses.