Associations of body roundness index with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality: NHANES 2001-2018.

Body roundness index (BRI) was associated with cardiovascular diseases. But the relationship between BRI with cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality and all-cause mortality remains largely unknown in hypertensive patients. This prospective cohort study included patients with hypertension who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2001 through 2018, and aimed to evaluate the association between BRI with CVD mortality and all-cause mortality. A total of 15570 patients were included. Over a median follow-up of 8.0 years (interquartile range, 4.3-12.6 years), 3445 individuals died, including 1166 CVD deaths. Weighted restricted cubic spline regression results showed a nonlinear association between BRI and CVD mortality and all-cause mortality (both P for nonlinear trend <0.001). The weighted multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression showed the hazard ratio (HRs) for CVD mortality were 0.93 (95% CI: 0.84-1.03, P = 0.160) in the low levels of BRI (≤5.9) and 1.11 (95% CI: 1.05-1.19, P < 0.001) in the high levels of BRI (>5.9). Similar associations were observed for all-cause mortality, the HRs were 0.91 (95% CI: 0.87-0.96, P < 0.001) in the low levels of BRI (≤6.3) and 1.09 (95% CI: 1.05-1.13, P < 0.001) in the high levels of BRI (>6.3). This cohort study supported that BRI was nonlinearly associated with CVD mortality and all-cause mortality among patients with hypertension. The thresholds of 5.9 and 6.3 for CVD mortality and all-cause mortality, respectively, may represent intervention targets for lowering the risk of premature death, but this needs to be confirmed in large clinical trials.

Huanglian Jiedu plaster ameliorated X-ray-induced radiation dermatitis injury by inhibiting HMGB1-mediated macrophage-inflammatory interaction.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Huanglian Jiedu plaster (HJP) is a kind of Chinese patent medicine that contains four medicinal plants. It has been clinically proven to be beneficial for the treatment of tumor-associated radiation dermatitis. However, the underlying mechanism of HJP on radiation dermatitis remains unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aims to investigate the therapeutic effect of HJP on X-ray-induced radiation dermatitis, and how HJP improves the inflammatory response and skin damage of radiation dermatitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, We selected a case of esophageal cancer as a clinical demonstration of the efficacy of radiation dermatitis. The patient received a total radiation dose of 7000cGY, and treatment by HJP for 14 days.RD mouse models were established through continuous irradiation with X-ray (800cGY) on the right hind limb of mice for 5 days, and the treatment group mice was applied HJP to the irradiated skin for 15 days from modeling. An inflammatory cellular model was induced through irradiation with X-ray (100cGY) in JB6 cells and a co-culture system of JB6 cell and macrophage was established to examine the effect and mechanism of HJP on the inflammatory interaction of these two cells. The activation of HMGB1-TLR4-NF-κB signaling pathway, and the levels of epidermal injury related factors and inflammatory cytokins were subsequently detected. RESULTS: The results showed that HJP can significantly alleviate X-ray-induced skin injury, inhibiting skin inflammation and reducing the expression of inflammatory cytokins (IL-1ß, IL-6, TNF-α) and epidermal damage related factors (Integrin ß1, CXCL9 and Cytokeratin17), as well as significantly down-regulated the protein level of HMGB1 (a key DAMPs factor) in vivo and in vitro. Cell co-culture experiments demonstrated that HMGB1 released from X-ray-induced JB6 cells can promote inflammatory response of macrophage, which then feedback aggravate epithelial cell damage, notably, HJP can significantly improve radiation skin lesion by inhibiting HMGB1-mediated inflammatory interaction between epithelial cells and macrophages. CONCLUSION: In summary, these findings indicated the role of HJP in the treatment of RD by inhibiting the inflammatory interaction between macrophage and JB6 cells mediated by HMGB1, which may provide a reliable therapeutic method for RD. Furthermore, HMGB1 may be an effective target for HJP to inhibit inflammation and ameliorate skin damage in RD.

Prostate cancer prediction using the random forest algorithm that takes into account transrectal ultrasound findings, age, and serum levels of prostate-specific antigen.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the ability of the random forest algorithm that combines data on transrectal ultrasound findings, age, and serum levels of prostate-specific antigen to predict prostate carcinoma. Clinico-demographic data were analyzed for 941 patients with prostate diseases treated at our hospital, including age, serum prostate-specific antigen levels, transrectal ultrasound findings, and pathology diagnosis based on ultrasound-guided needle biopsy of the prostate. These data were compared between patients with and without prostate cancer using the Chi-square test, and then entered into the random forest model to predict diagnosis. Patients with and without prostate cancer differed significantly in age and serum prostate-specific antigen levels (P < 0.001), as well as in all transrectal ultrasound characteristics (P < 0.05) except uneven echo (P = 0.609). The random forest model based on age, prostate-specific antigen and ultrasound predicted prostate cancer with an accuracy of 83.10%, sensitivity of 65.64%, and specificity of 93.83%. Positive predictive value was 86.72%, and negative predictive value was 81.64%. By integrating age, prostate-specific antigen levels and transrectal ultrasound findings, the random forest algorithm shows better diagnostic performance for prostate cancer than either diagnostic indicator on its own. This algorithm may help improve diagnosis of the disease by identifying patients at high risk for biopsy.

[Diagnosis Values of Back Propagation Neural Network Integrating Age, Transrectal Ultrasound Characteristics and Serum PSA for Prostate Cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the diagnosis value of back propagation (BP) neural network integrating age, transrectal ultrasound characteristics and serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer. METHODS: The data of age, PSA, and transrectal ultrasound characteristics were collected from 941 patients who received color doppler transrectal ultrasound scan and systemic biopsies of prostates. A prostate cancer diagnosis system of BP neural network with age, transrectal ultrasound characteristics and serum PSA was developed in MATLAB software, and its diagnostic value for prostate cancer was analyzed based on the pathological results of prostatic biopsy. RESULTS: The biopsy results confirmed 358 cases of prostate cancer (38.04%) and 583 cases noncancerous prostate diseases (61.96%). The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive value and negative predictive value of BP neural networks for prostate cancer diagnosis were 78.57%, 92.94%, 87.23%, 88.00% and 86.81% respectively. CONCLUSION: Back propagation neural network with age, transrectal ultrasound characteristics and PSA shows good diagnosis value for prostate cancer.

[Tree-Augmented NaÏve Bayesian network model for predicting prostate cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the integrated performance of age, serum PSA, and transrectal ultrasound images in the prediction of prostate cancer using a Tree-Augmented NaÏve (TAN) Bayesian network model. METHODS: We collected such data as age, serum PSA, transrectal ultrasound findings, and pathological diagnoses from 941 male patients who underwent prostate biopsy from January 2008 to September 2011. Using a TAN Bayesian network model, we analyzed the data for predicting prostate cancer, and compared them with the gold standards of pathological diagnosis. RESULTS: The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive prediction rate, and negative prediction rate of the TAN Bayesian network model were 85.11%, 88.37%, 83.67%, 70.37%, and 94.25%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Based on age, serum PSA, and transrectal ultrasound images, the TAN Bayesian network model has a high value for the prediction of prostate cancer, and can help improve the clinical screening and diagnosis of the disease.

8-bromo-7-methoxychrysin inhibits properties of liver cancer stem cells via downregulation of ß-catenin.

AIM: To evaluate whether 8-bromo-7-methoxychrysin (BrMC), a synthetic analogue of chrysin, inhibits the properties of cancer stem cells derived from the human liver cancer MHCC97 cell line and to determine the potential mechanisms. METHODS: CD133(+) cells were sorted from the MHCC97 cell line by magnetic activated cell sorting, and amplified in stem cell-conditioned medium to obtain the enriched CD133(+) sphere forming cells (SFCs). The stem cell properties of CD133(+) SFCs were validated by the tumorsphere formation assay in vitro and the xenograft nude mouse model in vivo, and termed liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs). The effects of BrMC on LCSCs in vitro were evaluated by MTT assay, tumorsphere formation assay and transwell chamber assay. The effects of BrMC on LCSCs in vivo were determined using a primary and secondary xenograft model in Balb/c-nu mice. Expressions of the stem cell markers, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers and ß-catenin protein were analyzed by western blotting or immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS: CD133(+) SFCs exhibited stem-like cell properties of tumorsphere formation and tumorigenesis capacity in contrast to the parental MHCC97 cells. We found that BrMC preferentially inhibited proliferation and self-renewal of LCSCs (P < 0.05). Furthermore, BrMC significantly suppressed EMT and invasion of LCSCs. Moreover, BrMC could efficaciously eliminate LCSCs in vivo. Interestingly, we showed that BrMC decreased the expression of ß-catenin in LCSCs. Silencing of ß-catenin by small interfering RNA could synergize the inhibition of self-renewal of LCSCs induced by BrMC, while Wnt3a treatment antagonized the inhibitory effects of BrMC. CONCLUSION: BrMC can inhibit the functions and characteristics of LCSCs derived from the liver cancer MHCC97 cell line through downregulation of ß-catenin expression.

[Effects of Zn2+ doping on the structural and luminescent properties of GdTaO4 : Eu3+ phosphors].

GdTaO4 : Eu0.1 phosphors with different concentrations of Zn2+ dopant were synthesized by the solid-state reaction at high temperature. The present paper mainly focused on the effects of Zn2+ on the crystallization behavior, morphology and photoluminescence (PL) properties of GdTaO4 : Eu3+. The synthesized materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), PL excitation and emission spectra, decay time curves, etc. Results suggested that the co-doping of Zn2+ could remarkably improve the PL intensity of GdTaO4 : Eu0.1, and there were two maxima in the curve of Eu3+ PL intensity at 611 nm vs Zn2+ doping concentration x. When x = 0. 01 the intensity was improved up to 2.7 times that of pure GdTaO4 : Eu3+, which could be attributed to the creation of oxygen vacancies for the charge neutrality and the alternation of the local environment of activator Eu3+ ions resulting from the incorporation of Zn2+ ions; the other was enhanced up to 3.2 times at x = 0.13 which was due to the flux effect of Zn2+ ions. But ZnO and GdTa7O19 were observed in an excessive Zn2+ doping range (x > 0.13), which resulted in the decrease in the PL brightness and lengthening of decay time. Meanwhile, primary results indicated that the PL intensity of GdTaO4 : Eu0.1, Zn0.13 could be further strengthened by the co-doping of Li+ and K+ ions.