ABSTRACT
A new series of hydantoin derivative dimers as potential broad-spectrum antibiotic agents is designed and synthesized to combat ESKAPE pathogens. As membrane-active antimicrobial agents, in addition to cationic charged and hydrophobic groups that mimic AMPs (antimicrobial peptides), hydantoin backbones and aromatic linkers increased the rigidity and lipophilicity of the designed compounds, thus improving the stability and bactericidal killing rate. After whole cell phenotypic screening against eight bacterial strains, including MRSA (methicillin-resistant S. aureus), compound 18 was chosen as the lead compound with overall excellent broad-spectrum antibacterial activity (GM = 7.32 µg mL-1) and good selectivity. Kill-kinetic studies of compound 18 showed that the bacterial growth of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative was completely inhibited within one hour, which demonstrated excellent sterilization efficiency of 18. Furthermore, drug resistance and mechanism studies showed that compound 18 exhibited a steady antibacterial performance during 25 passages and could disrupt bacterial cell membrane integrity and cause cell death. Along with the facile synthesis procedures in solution, this series of hydantoin derivative dimer compounds could be an appealing next generation of antibiotic agents to combat emergent drug resistance.
ABSTRACT
Hepatic carcinoma is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among all cancers, but no effective treatment measures have been developed. Herein, polystyrene polysaccharide (PSP) extracted from Polygonatum was used to synthesize gold nanoparticles (PSP-AuNPs) by heating and reduction methods, and the characteristics of the PSP-AuNPs were detected after successful synthesis. In vitro, the immunoregulatory effects of PSP-AuNPs were studied by testing the concentrations of NO, TNF-α, and IL-12p70 in the culture media of PSP-AuNPs-treated RAW264.7 macrophages, and the effect of biocompatibility on the viability of RAW264.7 macrophages and L02 cells was studied via a CCK-8 assay. In vivo, tumor-bearing mice were established and treated with PSP-AuNPs, and the anticancer effects were studied by detecting trends in tumor volume, tumor inhibition rate, and tumor cell proliferation index. Immunoregulation was assessed by evaluating the serum levels of TNF-α and IL-10, the CD4+/CD8+ lymphocyte ratio in peripheral blood and the spleen and thymus indices; toxicity was investigated by measuring body weight, liver and renal function indices. The results showed that PSP-AuNPs could regulate immune function both in vitro and in vivo with almost no toxicity. PSP-AuNPs exhibited excellent anticancer effects on hepatic carcinoma in vivo. The anticancer effect could be strengthened, and the toxicity could be reduced by the combined use of PSP-AuNPs and ADM. In conclusion, PSP-AuNPs could be effective as a therapy and adjuvant therapy for treating hepatic carcinoma, providing potential treatment strategies for this disease.
ABSTRACT
Biodegradable porous Mg scaffolds are a promising approach to bone repair. In this work, 3D-spherical porous Mg-1.5Zn-0.2Ca (wt.%) scaffolds were prepared by vacuum infiltration casting technology, and MgF2 and fluorapatite coatings were designed to control the degradation behavior of Mg-based scaffolds. The results showed that the pores in Mg-based scaffolds were composed of the main spherical pores (450-600 µm) and interconnected pores (150-200 µm), and the porosity was up to 74.97%. Mg-based porous scaffolds exhibited sufficient mechanical properties with a compressive yield strength of about 4.04 MPa and elastic modulus of appropriately 0.23 GPa. Besides, both MgF2 coating and fluorapatite coating could effectively improve the corrosion resistance of porous Mg-based scaffolds. In conclusion, this research would provide data support and theoretical guidance for the application of biodegradable porous Mg-based scaffolds in bone tissue engineering.
Subject(s)
Plastic Surgery Procedures , Porosity , Apatites , ZincABSTRACT
The industrial sector is the main source of carbon emissions in most developing countries. Little research has been conducted on demand-side factors and how the demand side affects industrial emissions through the supply side. Therefore, this article selects 2004-2019 panel data on Zhejiang Province, and a multiple linear regression model and a multiple mediating effects model are adopted to explore the impact mechanism and relationship between demand and industrial emissions. We find the following: (i) There is a significant positive influence of demand on emissions, and (ii) demand has an indirect inhibitory effect on industrial emissions through factor market distortion and an indirect promoting effect through technological innovation and energy consumption. (iii) There are two chain intermediary paths led by factor market distortion that have a negative impact on industrial emissions and a chain path led by technological innovation that has a positive impact.
ABSTRACT
Physicians typically combine multi-modal data to make a graded diagnosis of breast tumors. However, most existing breast tumor grading methods rely solely on image information, resulting in limited accuracy in grading. This paper proposes a Multi-information Selection Aggregation Graph Convolutional Networks (MSA-GCN) for breast tumor grading. Firstly, to fully utilize phenotypic data reflecting the clinical and pathological characteristics of tumors, an automatic combination screening and weight encoder is proposed for phenotypic data, which can construct a population graph with improved structural information. Then, a graph structure is designed through similarity learning to reflect the correlation between patient image features. Finally, a multi-information selection aggregation mechanism is employed in the graph convolution model to extract the effective features of multi-modal data and enhance the classification performance of the model. The proposed method is evaluated on different clinical datasets from the Digital Database for Screening Mammography (DDSM) and INbreast. The average classification accuracies are 90.74% and 85.35%, respectively, surpassing the performance of existing methods. In conclusion, our method effectively fuses image and non-image information, leading to a significant improvement in the accuracy of breast tumor grading.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms , Mammography , Humans , Female , Breast Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Neoplasm Grading , Early Detection of Cancer , BreastABSTRACT
With the development of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS), major breakthroughs have been made in this field of study. However, the research fields still need to be continuously expanded to meet the needs of patients. The concept of precision therapy is widely applied in the field of nursing. Under the concept of ERAS, practical studies of applying precision nursing for the perioperative period have already been conducted, exploring such issues as precision nursing assessment, precision nursing intervention design, precision risk prediction model, and information technology to assist precision nursing practice. Research findings have preliminarily validated the safety and effectiveness of applying precision nursing for ERAS in the perioperative period. Herein, we reviewed the reported findings of relevant research published in recent years and identified the following problems in the implementation of precision nursing under the ERAS concept, a lack of implementation standards, challenges concerning the the role of nurses, a lack of high-quality research evidence in the existing literature, and a relevant big data processing platform that China does not have and therefore cannot carry out data sharing, integration, mining, and utilization. We also made suggestions for effective improvement and discussed research prospects. In the future, multidisciplinary collaboration, translational medical research, and the development of various innovative tools are to be strengthened to help improve the quality and effectiveness of nursing care. We hope to provide reference for improving the scientific and targeted implementation of precision nursing for ERAS in the perioperative period.
Subject(s)
Enhanced Recovery After Surgery , Humans , Length of Stay , ChinaABSTRACT
Objective: There is still a lack of highly sensitive methods for monitoring recurrence of colorectal cancer patients after liver metastasis surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of tumor-naive ctDNA detection after resection of colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). Methods: Patients with resectable CRLM were prospectively enrolled. Based on the tumor-naive strategy, NGS panels containing 15 colorectal cancer hotspot mutated genes were used to detect ctDNA 3-6 weeks after surgery. Results: A total of 67 patients were included in the study, and the positive rate of postoperative ctDNA was 77.6% (52/67). Patients with positive ctDNA had a significantly higher risk of recurrence after surgery (HR 3.596, 95% CI 1.479 to 8.744, P = 0.005), and a higher proportion relapsed within 3 months after surgery (46.7% vs 3.8%). The C-index of postoperative ctDNA in predicting recurrence was higher than that of CRS and postoperative CEA. The nomogram combining CRS and postoperative ctDNA can improve the accuracy of recurrence prediction. Conclusion: Tumor-naive ctDNA detection can detect molecular residual lesions in patients with colorectal cancer after liver metastasis, and its prognostic value is superior to conventional clinical factors.
ABSTRACT
Industry is a core area to achieve the carbon neutrality target for most developing countries including China. Hence, it is of great practical significance to study the spatio-temporal characteristics of China's industrial carbon intensity and its evolution. The exploratory spatial data analysis methods were adopted to conduct global and local spatial correlation analysis in this paper. The result shows that (1) the industrial carbon emission intensity decreases year by year, with high industrial carbon emission intensity in the West and low in the East. (2) There is a correlation in the spatial distribution of industrial carbon intensity, with the Moran index experiencing the stage of descending first and then ascending. (3) The local spatial clustering of industrial carbon intensity is obvious. (4) Half of the provinces have experienced a leap, with the majority located in the western part of China. Based on these findings, it is concluded that industrial emission reduction policy synergy between provinces is particularly important, such as low-carbon industrial production policy and green industry development policy.
Subject(s)
Carbon Footprint , Economic Development , Industry , Carbon/analysis , Carbon Dioxide/analysis , China , Spatial AnalysisABSTRACT
The detection of mutations in KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, and PIK3CA has become essential in managing the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) with the approval of new targeted therapies. We developed novel multiplex drop-off digital PCR (MDO-dPCR) assays by combining amplitude-/ratio-based multiplexing with drop-off/double drop-off strategies that allow for the detection of at least the 69 most frequent hotspot mutations in all four genes with only three reactions. The analytical performance of the assays was assessed using synthetic oligonucleotides, which were further validated on plasma cell-free DNA samples from a large cohort of CRC patients and compared with next-generation sequencing data. The MDO-dPCR assays showed a high sensitivity with a limit of detection ranging from 0.084% to 0.182% in mutant allelic frequency. The screening of plasma cell-free DNAs from 106 CRC patients identified mutations in 42.45% of them, with a sensitivity of 95.24%, a specificity of 98.53%, and an accuracy of 96.98% for mutation detection, and a strong correlation of measured mutant allelic frequencies compared with next-generation sequencing results. The high sensitivity and comprehensive mutation coverage of the MDO-dPCR assays make them suitable for rapid and cost-effective detection of KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, and PIK3CA mutations in the plasma of CRC patients, and could be useful in early response assessment and longitudinal disease monitoring.
Subject(s)
Colorectal Neoplasms , Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf , Humans , Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf/genetics , Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras)/genetics , Colorectal Neoplasms/diagnosis , Colorectal Neoplasms/genetics , Colorectal Neoplasms/pathology , Mutation , Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction , Class I Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/genetics , Membrane Proteins/genetics , GTP Phosphohydrolases/geneticsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Genetic testing for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients is in constant development. However, the status of homologous recombination repair (HRR) genes in unselected Chinese PDAC has not been fully explored. This study aims to characterize the profile of germline mutations in HRR genes in Chinese PDAC patients. METHODS: A cohort of 256 PDAC patients were enrolled at Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University between 2019 and 2021. Germline DNA was analyzed by next-generation sequencing using a multigene panel of the 21 HRR genes. RESULTS: The germline pathogenic (P)/likely pathogenic (LP) variant rates were 7.0% (18/256) in unselected patients with pancreatic cancer. Among them, 1.6% (4/256) were identified as harboring BRCA2 variants, and 5.5% (14/256) patients carried non-BRCA variants. Variants were detected in eight non-BRCA genes, including ATM (4, 1.6%), PALB2 (4, 1.6%), ATR (1, 0.4%), BRIP1 (1, 0.4%), CHEK2 (1, 0.4%), MRE11 (1, 0.4%), PTEN (1, 0.4%), and STK11 (1, 0.4%). ATM, BRCA2, and PALB2 were the most prevalent variant genes. If only BRCA1/2 was tested, 5.5% of P/LP variants would have been lost. Further, we found that the landscape of P/LP HRR variants in various population cohorts was quite different. However, no significant difference was found in clinical characteristics between germline HRR P/LP carriers and non-carriers. In our study, one case carrying a germline PALB2 variant showed a long-time response to platinum-based chemotherapy and PARP inhibitor. CONCLUSION: This study comprehensively depicts the prevalence and characteristics of germline HRR mutations in unselected Chinese PDAC patients. Our findings show the clinical utility of a multigene panel may increase the detection of P/LP HRR carriers.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal , Pancreatic Neoplasms , Humans , Germ-Line Mutation , BRCA1 Protein/genetics , BRCA2 Protein/genetics , East Asian People , Recombinational DNA Repair , Pancreatic Neoplasms/genetics , Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal/genetics , High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing , Pancreatic NeoplasmsABSTRACT
Background: Methylated SEPT9 (mSEPT9) has a role in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we studied the significance of plasma mSEPT9 for predicting prognosis-associated pathological parameters in patients with HCC. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from 205 subjects, including 111 HCC patients, 53 patients with at-risk liver disease (ARD) and 41 healthy donors (HDs). Analysis of plasma mSEPT9 was performed using methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. Levels of mSEPT9 among different groups were compared using a nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test or a one-way ANOVA test. Correlations between pretreatment plasma mSEPT9 and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed using the Chi-square. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify factors related to microvascular invasion (MVI). Performance of variables for MVI prediction was evaluated by receiver operating characteristics curve. Results: A specific increase of plasma mSEPT9 in HCC was found when compared with ARD and HDs (HCC vs ARD, P = 1.1 × 10-5 and HCC vs HDs, P = 3.7 × 10-10). Pretreatment plasma mSEPT9 was significantly correlated tumor number (P = .004), tumor size (P = 4.6 × 10-5), MVI (P = .002) and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage (P = .012). Levels of plasma mSEPT9 correlated significantly with Ki67 expression in tumor (r = 0.356, P = 1.3 × 10-4). Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that plasma mSEPT9 and serum protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) were independent predictors for MVI. A combination of these 2 markers exhibited a larger areas under the curve (areas under the curve [AUC] = 0.72) than mSEPT9 or PIVKA alone (AUC = 0.67 and 0.65), especially in early-stage HCC. Conclusions: Plasma mSEPT9 is a promising noninvasive biomarker for predicting MVI and tumor proliferation in HCC. Integration plasma mSEPT9 detection into clinical settings might facilitate the patient management.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular , Liver Neoplasms , Humans , Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/pathology , Liver Neoplasms/pathology , Retrospective Studies , Biomarkers, Tumor/metabolism , Neoplasm Invasiveness , Cell Proliferation/geneticsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The novel method, named blocker displacement amplification (BDA) Sanger, was applied to detect low variant allele frequency mutations in the circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the BDA Sanger method for the EGFR mutation detection in the ctDNA from lung cancer patients. METHODS: A total of 195 plasma samples of lung cancer patients were included. The EGFR mutation status in the ctDNA was detected by the BDA Sanger and Super-ARMS assays. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was further used to verify the mutant of EGFR with inconsistencies. RESULTS: BDA Sanger assay was capable of detecting EGFR mutations with a 0.20% VAF from plasma samples. Among treatment-naive patients with paired tissue and plasma samples, the EGFR positive percent agreement (PPA) was 79% by BDA sanger. EGFR mutation was detected in 34.4% (67/195) ctDNA samples by the Super-ARMS and in 41.0% (80/195) ctDNA samples by the BDA Sanger assay. The overall concordance rate between the BDA Sanger and Super-ARMS assays was 82% (160/195). The BDA Sanger also enabled the detection of rare EGFR mutations, which were not discovered by the Super-ARMS. CONCLUSION: The results supported the validity and efficiency of the BDA Sanger method for EGFR detection in patients with lung cancer, indicating that BDA Sanger has a great potential for application in detecting mutations in the ctDNA.
Subject(s)
Circulating Tumor DNA , Lung Neoplasms , Circulating Tumor DNA/genetics , ErbB Receptors/genetics , High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing , Humans , MutationABSTRACT
Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether pretreatment anemia was an independent risk factor for survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after adjusting for other covariates. Methods: We used propensity score matching (PSM) to minimize the influence of confounding factors and used χ2 (categorical variables), Student's t-test (normal distribution), or Mann-Whitney U test (skewed distribution) to analyze the differences among the Hb groups. Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to assess the association between anemia and survival. P values < 0.05 (two-sided) were considered statistically significant. Results: The average age of the 758 selected participants was 58.2±11 years, and 210 patients (27.7%) had anemia. In the multivariate analysis, anemia was associated with a poor prognosis in the unmatched cohort (Hazards ratio (HR)=1.3, 95% (confidence interval (CI): 1.1-1.6; p= 0.008), and the matched cohort (HR=1.7, 95% CI: 1.3-2.3; p <0.001), emerging as an independent risk and prognostic factor in advanced NSCLC patients. In the Kaplan-Meier curve, the average survival time of anemic and non-anemic patients was 9.3 months (95% CI: 7.9-11.4 months) vs. 14.1 months (95% CI: 12-16.3 months) (p=0.0073) in the unmatched cohort. After propensity score matching, the average survival time of anemic and non-anemic patients was 10.9 months (95% CI: 8.8-12.9. months) vs. 17.8 months (95% CI: 16.0-23.3 months) (p <0.001). Conclusion: Pretreatment anemia was an independent risk and prognostic factor for survival in patients with advanced NSCLC. Large-scale studies are required to confirm our findings.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to compare the different EGFR mutation status in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after first-line EGFR-TKIs therapy and analyze its relationship with efficacy and prognosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study retrospectively analyzed the data of patients with metastatic NSCLC harboring EGFR mutation in the Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from June 2016 to December 2020. Samples were collected before treatment and at the time of disease progression after first-line EGFR-TKIs therapy. Amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) PCR and next-generation sequencing (NGS) were used to detect EGFR mutation. ORR, DCR, and PFS of different EGFR mutation groups were compared. RESULTS: The EGFR mutation rate of re-biopsy was 60.23%. The inconsistency rate of EGFR mutations in the same and different simple types was 72.22% (26/36) and 92.31% (48/52), respectively. Alterations in terms of EGFR mutations were divided into four groups: Group A: EGFR-sensitive mutation negative and T790M negative (39.77%); Group B: EGFR-sensitive mutation positive and T790M negative (18.19%); Group C: EGFR-sensitive mutation negative and T790M positive (36.36%); Group D: EGFR-sensitive mutation positive and T790M positive (5.68%). The differences between the four groups in ORR and DCR were not statistically significant (P>0.05). The median PFS of all patients was 10.65 months. PFS of Group A, B, C, and D was 12.26, 7.96, 10.55, and 13.81 months, respectively, with statistical significance (Log rank P = 0.014). CONCLUSION: EGFR mutation status in metastatic NSCLC patients receiving the first- and second-generation TKIs after disease progression show diversity. Monitoring the EGFR mutation changes is of great importance for subsequent clinical decision-making and exploring the underlying mechanisms of acquired resistance.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between mSEPT9 and tumor burden as well as the role of mSEPT9 in monitoring colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. METHODS: A total of 309 patients were recruited and received mSEPT9 detection in this retrospective study. Clinicopathologic characteristics were collected, including age, gender, differentiation, gene mutation, stage, and tumor markers. The correlation between mSEPT9 and clinical tumor burden was analyzed. A relative mSEPT9 value was determined using the ΔΔCt method. RESULTS: The overall positivity rate of mSEPT9 was 39.8% in CRC patients. mSEPT9 status was significantly associated with disease status and tumor markers (CEA and CA19-9). The mSEPT9 positivity rates were 15.6%, 50.0%, 64.4%, and 70.0% for P0M0, P1M0, P0M1, and P1M1 patients, respectively (p < 0.001). Among 137 CRC patients who received mSEPT9 assay before surgery, the pre-operation mSEPT9 positivity rate increased significantly from stage I to stage IV (Stage I vs. II vs. III vs. IV 25% vs. 59.1% vs. 57.1% vs. 70.0%, respectively). Consecutive blood samples were obtained from 26 patients during therapy. The patients with increased mSEPT9 levels showed a higher progression rate. CONCLUSIONS: mSEPT9 was a biomarker reflecting tumor burden, and serial detections of mSEPT9 could be a promising strategy for disease monitoring in CRC patients.
Subject(s)
Colorectal Neoplasms , Septins/blood , Tumor Burden , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Biomarkers, Tumor/blood , Colorectal Neoplasms/blood , Colorectal Neoplasms/epidemiology , Colorectal Neoplasms/pathology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Examining tumor KRAS/NRAS/BRAF/PIK3CA status in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is essential for treatment selection and prognosis evaluation. Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in plasma is a feasible source for tumor gene analysis. METHODS: In this study, we recruited mCRC patients and analyzed their KRAS/NRAS/BRAF/PIK3CA status in cfDNA using two platforms, next-generation sequencing (NGS) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF). The performance between the two platforms and the concordance rate between cfDNA and tissue were analyzed. The relationship between cfDNA-related variables and clinical variables was also assessed. Tumor mutations in cfDNA from patients receiving continuous treatments were monitored in the follow-ups. RESULTS: Next-generation sequencing and MALDI-TOF had similar specificity (100.0% vs. 99.3%) and negative predictive value (99.9% vs. 99.4%), whereas NGS had higher sensitivity (97.1% vs. 85.3% of MALDI-TOF) and positive predictive value (100% vs. 82.9% of MALDI-TOF). The overall concordance rate of NGS and MALDI-TOF was 98.6%. For the reportable types of mutations in both cfDNA and tissue, the concordance rate was 96.1%. Among 28 tissue-positive patients, the allele frequencies of tumor mutations in cfDNA were higher in patients with primary tumor burden (p = 0.0141). Both CEA and CA 19-9 were positively correlated with cfDNA concentration (r = 0.3278 and r = 0.3992). The allele frequencies of tumor mutations changed with disease progression. CONCLUSIONS: Next-generation sequencing showed slightly better performance in detecting cfDNA mutations and was more suitable for clinical practice. cfDNA-related variables reflected the tumor status and showed a promising potential in monitoring disease progression.
Subject(s)
Cell-Free Nucleic Acids/genetics , Class I Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/genetics , Colorectal Neoplasms/pathology , GTP Phosphohydrolases/genetics , Membrane Proteins/genetics , Mutation , Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf/genetics , Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras)/genetics , Aged , Biomarkers, Tumor/genetics , Cell-Free Nucleic Acids/analysis , Colorectal Neoplasms/genetics , Female , Follow-Up Studies , High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing/methods , Humans , Liver Neoplasms/genetics , Liver Neoplasms/secondary , Lung Neoplasms/genetics , Lung Neoplasms/secondary , Male , Middle Aged , Prognosis , Prospective Studies , Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization/methodsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prognostic value of pretreatment haemoglobin-to-red cell distribution width radio (HRR) in predicting overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: This retrospective study analysed patients with advanced NSCLC. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis were conducted to evaluate the predictive value of HRR for OS. A propensity matching analysis was used to reduce the impact of other confounding factors on the results. RESULTS: A total of 448 patients were enrolled in the study. The median HRR was 0.984, which was used as the cut-off value. Regardless of matching or not, a lower HRR was correlated with an unfavourable risk of death. After propensity matching, univariate and multivariate analysis showed that HRR was an independent factor for the prognosis of NSCLC (hazard ratio [HR] 1.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17, 2.04; HR 1.57, 95% CI, 1.17, 2.10; respectively). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that low HRR was associated with shortened OS. The relationship between HRR and the risk of death was consistent across all patient subgroups after stratification by subgroup analysis. CONCLUSIONS: These findings showed that a lower pretreatment HRR could be a potentially valuable prognostic factor in patients with advanced NSCLC.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung , Erythrocyte Indices , Hemoglobins , Lung Neoplasms , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/blood , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/diagnosis , Female , Hemoglobins/analysis , Humans , Lung Neoplasms/blood , Lung Neoplasms/diagnosis , Male , Prognosis , Propensity Score , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
To cope with climate change, it is of great importance to describe the temporal and spatial evolution of climate change vulnerability and its driving factors. Therefore, this paper establishes a comprehensive index of vulnerability to climate change based on the vulnerability scoring diagram (VSD) framework. Moran's I index is used to study the spatial evolution characteristics of vulnerability, and spatial regression analysis is used to explore the factors influencing the spatial distribution of vulnerability. The results show that (1) the climate change vulnerability of China has decreased over time, and the sensitivity state is relatively stable; however, the annual change in exposure and adaptive capacity is significant. (2) The western region of China is more vulnerable than the eastern region, and the most vulnerable provinces are Guizhou and Gansu. (3) The regional vulnerability is generally in a significant spatial agglomeration state. (4) Finally, the driving factors of the spatial distribution of climate change vulnerability include forest coverage, the urban-rural income gap and information technology. These recommendations provide detailed discussions and scientific information for mitigating global warming and formulating long-term emission reduction targets, thereby optimizing resource allocation and providing spatial governance directions for the formulation of adaptation policies.
Subject(s)
Climate Change , Forests , Acclimatization , China , Spatial AnalysisABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Genotyping of plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is an increasingly important method to assess the tumor mutation status in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) releases non-tumor somatic mutations into blood, causing false positive results in cfDNA-based tumor genotyping. It is still not clear if CH should be examined in all CRC patients undergoing cfDNA analysis. METHODS: We analyzed cfDNA KRAS, NRAS and BRAF genotypes in 236 metastatic CRC patients, who had matched tissue genotyping results, by next-generation sequencing using plasma cfDNA. The cfDNA-only mutations with allele frequencies (AFs) < 5% were highly suspicious for being CH-derived mutations. The origins of cfDNA mutations were confirmed by droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) using paired peripheral blood cells (PBCs) and CH-derived mutations were finally determined. One patient with a CH-derived mutation was followed up and the subpopulation of blood cells, in which CH was present, was investigated. RESULTS: Three CH-derived mutations, KRAS Q61H, KRAS G12D and KRAS G12V, were identified in the patient cohort. All three patients harboring corresponding CH-derived mutations had a prior chemotherapy history. The CH-derived KRAS G12V mutation in a patient was found only present in lymphocytes and persisting under treatment. For all cfDNA mutations, the CH-derived ones were clustered in the patients with < 5% mutation AF and prior chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of CH in CRC patients was limited, and prior chemotherapy was a contributing factor of CH. It is recommended for patients with < 5% mutation AF and prior chemotherapy to have genotyping analysis of their PBCs following plasma cfDNA genotyping.
Subject(s)
Circulating Tumor DNA/blood , Clonal Hematopoiesis , Colorectal Neoplasms , GTP Phosphohydrolases/genetics , Membrane Proteins/genetics , Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf/genetics , Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras)/genetics , Aged , Cohort Studies , Colorectal Neoplasms/drug therapy , Colorectal Neoplasms/genetics , False Positive Reactions , Female , Genotyping Techniques , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been suggested as an independent risk factor for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). However, it is still unknown whether there is a linear relationship between the NLR and the risk of death in SCLC. The objective of this study is to provide further results. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed among a total of 251 participants with SCLC. Smooth curve fitting and piecewise Cox regression model were used to determine the linear relationship between NLR and mortality risk. A multivariable Cox regression model was used to estimate the effects of NLR on OS. Interaction and stratified analyses were conducted according to covariates. RESULTS: The analysis indicated no significant nonlinear relationship or threshold effect between NLR and hazard of death. Multivariate analysis revealed that every unit increase in NLR was associated with a 10% increase in mortality risk. High NLR (>3.5) at baseline was associated with poor OS (hazard ratio [HR]=1.97, P=0.009). The difference in median OS duration between the high and low NLR groups was statistically significant (9.1 months vs 14.6 months, P=0.0067). Furthermore, interaction analysis identified the chemotherapy regimen to play an interactive role in the association between NLR and hazard of death. CONCLUSION: NLR was identified as an independent risk factor for OS in SCLC and the linear correlation was observed between them. Administration of etoposide plus cisplatin (EP) regimen in patients with low NLR resulted in better long-term outcome than that of etoposide plus carboplatin (EC) regimen, while administration of the EC regimen conferred longer OS than that of the EP regimen in patients with high NLR.