Analysis of factors affecting the prognosis of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prognostic factors for transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The variables that may affect overall survival (OS), such as age, gender, AFP, Child Pugh classification, body mass index, HBV-DNA, HbeAg, tumor number, tumor diameter, BCLC stage, embolization method, ablation therapy, and targeted therapy, were analyzed by single factor and many factor COX regression. In addition, predictive factors of OS were stratified and a Kaplan-Meier survival curve was drawn. RESULTS: Among the 136 patients, the median follow-up time was 14.5 months (range: 2-72 months). HCC patients with the tumor diameter <3 â€‹cm had the highest survival rate, followed by patients with a tumor diameter of 3-5 â€‹cm; the survival rate of patients with the tumor diameter (greater than 5 â€‹cm) was the lowest. Among the BCLC stages, stage A patients had the highest survival rate, followed by stage B and stage C patients, which had the lowest survival rate.The survival rate of Child Pugh grade A patients was higher than those with Child Pugh grade B. Compared with patients who did not undergo ablation treatment, the survival rate of patients with combined ablation treatment was relatively high. The survival rate of patients receiving drug-eluting beads transarterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) treatment was higher than those receiving conventional transarterial chemoembolization (cTACE) treatment. Additionally, repeated TACE treatment improved the OS rate of patients. These six factors were related to patient prognosis and the differences were statistically significant (P â€‹< â€‹0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Tumor diameter, BCLC stage, TACE repetition, and TACE combined with ablation were independent prognostic factors of OS.

[Discrimination of bamboo using FTIR spectroscopy and statistical analysis].

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were used to identify and classify bamboo leaves. FTIR spectra of fifty-four bamboo leaf samples belonging to six species were obtained. The results showed that the infrared spectra of bamboo leaves were similar, and mainly composed of the bands of polysaccharides, protein and lipids. The original spectra exhibit minor differences in the region of 1800-700cm-1. The second derivative spectra show apparent differences in the same region. Principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were performed on the second derivative infrared spectra in the range from 1800 to 700 cm-1. The leaf samples were separated into 6 groups with accuracy of 98% with the first three principal components, and with 100% accuracy according to the third and fourth principal components. Hierarchical cluster analysis can correctly cluster the bamboo leaf samples. It is proved that Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy combined with PCA and HCA could be used to discriminate bamboo at species level with only a tiny leaf sample.

[Research on rice blast, corn and broad bean rust leaves by FTIR spectroscopy].

Fourier transform infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to study healthy and diseased leaves of rice, corn, and broad bean. The results show that the infrared spectra of the leaves are mainly composed of the absorption bands of proteins and polysaccharide. The spectra are similar, but the differences were observed in the peak positions, shapes, and absorption ratios. The remarkable differences in correlation coefficients were also observed in the region of 1 800-1 000 cm(-1) of the second derivate spectra. The absorption ratio A1 056 /A1 652 of healthy rice leaves and rice blast leaves, A1 652/A2 920 of healthy broad bean leaves and leaves, A1 056/A2 920 of healthy corn and corn rust (non-lesion site), and A1 652/A2 920 of healthy corn and corn rust (lesion site) all show a decline from healthy to diseased leaves, showing that the contents of polysaccharide and the protein have some differences.

[FTIR spectroscopic study of broad bean diseased leaves].

In the present paper, broad bean rust, fusarium rhizome rot, broad bean zonate spot, yellow leaf curl virus and normal leaves were studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometrics. The results show that the spectra of samples were similar, only with minor differences in absorption intensity of several peaks. Second derivative analyses show that the significant difference of all samples was in the range of 1200-700 cm(-1). The data in the range of 1 200-700 cm(-1) were selected to evaluate correlation coefficients, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Results showed that the correlation coefficients are larger than 0.928 not only between the healthy leaves, but also between the same diseased leaves. The values between healthy and diseased leaves, and among diseased leaves, are all declined. HCA and PCA yielded about 73.3% and 82.2% accuracy, respectively. This study demonstrated that FTIR techniques might be used to detect crop diseases.