Features of ophthalmic, magnetic resonance imaging, and histopathology of a feline case of idiopathic sclerosing orbital pseudotumor.

In the present report, we describe a case of sclerosing orbital pseudotumor in an 11-year-old castrated male American Shorthair cat. Ophthalmic exam showed lagophthalmos, retracted right upper eyelid, and resistant to retropulsion in his right eye. Under magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, increased volume of the extraocular muscles (EOMs) of the right eye was prominent. Immunosuppressive dosage of prednisolone partially ameliorated the clinical signs, but some clinical signs were still gradually progressive or persistent. In the second MRI scan, decreased diameter of the thickened right extraocular muscles was found. After the third MRI scan, enucleation of the right eye was performed due to substantial adverse effects of systemic steroid therapy. Histopathological examination revealed no evidence of neoplastic transformation nor infection. Feline restrictive orbital myofibroblastic sarcoma (FROMS) was therefore excluded, suggesting unknown causes of extensive fibrotic changes in the right orbit of the affected cat.

Flexible Textile-Based Pressure Sensing System Applied in the Operating Room for Pressure Injury Monitoring of Cardiac Operation Patients.

Pressure injury is the most important issue facing paralysis patients and the elderly, especially in long-term care or nursing. A new interfacial pressure sensing system combined with a flexible textile-based pressure sensor array and a real-time readout system improved by the Kalman filter is proposed to monitor interfacial pressure progress in the cardiac operation. With the design of the Kalman filter and parameter optimization, noise immunity can be improved by approximately 72%. Additionally, cardiac operation patients were selected to test this developed system for the direct correlation between pressure injury and interfacial pressure for the first time. The pressure progress of the operation time was recorded and presented with the visible data by time- and 2-dimension-dependent characteristics. In the data for 47 cardiac operation patients, an extreme body mass index (BMI) and significantly increased pressure after 2 h are the top 2 factors associated with the occurrence of pressure injury. This methodology can be used to prevent high interfacial pressure in high-risk patients before and during operation. It can be suggested that this system, integrated with air mattresses, can improve the quality of care and reduce the burden of the workforce and medical cost, especially for pressure injury.

High cytoplasmic expression of Krüppel-like factor 4 is an independent prognostic factor of better survival in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the world. Hepatocarcinogenesis is complex, with an extraordinary molecular heterogeneity. Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) plays an important role in cell proliferation and differentiation, and it can function as a tumor suppressor or an oncoprotein, depending on tissue type. The role of KLF4 in HCC remains controversial. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical significance of KLF4 expression in HCC. The study included 205 patients with surgical resection. We performed immunostaining for KLF4 and Ki-67 to investigate the correlations of the clinicopathological parameters of HCC and to examine the proliferative index. KLF4 staining was observed in the cytoplasm of non-tumorous hepatocytes and tumor cells. We subdivided the immunohistological staining results for KLF4 into low expression (Staining 0 and 1+) and high expression (Staining 2+ and 3+) subgroups. The expression of KLF4 was significantly correlated with tumor differentiation (p = 0.001). The Ki-67 proliferative index was significantly lower in well-differentiated HCCs (0.781% ± 1.02% vs. 2.16% ± 3.14%, p = 0.012), but not significantly different between low-KLF4 expression and high-KLF4 expression (1.87% ± 2.93% vs. 2.51% ± 3.28%, p = 0.32). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that a high expression of KLF4 was significantly correlated with a longer disease-specific survival (p = 0.019). Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that high KLF4 expression was an independent predictor of a better disease-specific survival (p = 0.017; hazard ratio = 0.398; 95% confidence interval: 0.19-0.85). High cytoplasmic expression of KLF4 was associated with better disease-specific survival and was an independently favorable prognostic factor in hepatocellular carcinoma. These promising results suggest that KLF4 may play an anti-oncogenic role in hepatocarcinogenesis.