Securing Infrared Communication in Nuclear Power Plants: Advanced Encryption for Infrared Sensor Networks.

This study enhances infrared communication security in nuclear power plants' secondary systems, addressing the risk of mechanical and cyber failures. A novel random address generator, employing an innovative S-box, was developed to secure IoT sensor data transmissions to gateway nodes, mitigating eavesdropping, interference, and replay attacks. We introduced a structured IR communication protocol, generating unique, encrypted addresses to prevent unauthorized access. Key-dependent S-boxes, based on a compound chaotic map system, significantly improved encryption, increasing data transmission randomness and uniqueness. Entropy analysis and reduced duplicated addresses confirmed the effectiveness of our method, with the Hash-CCM algorithm showing the highest entropy and fewest duplicates. Integrating advanced cryptographic techniques into IR systems significantly enhances nuclear power plants' security, contributing to the protection of critical infrastructure from cyber threats and ensuring operational integrity.

Melanin Inhibitory Effect of Tuber himalayense Isolated in Incheon, Korea.

There has been a growing interest in skin beauty and antimelanogenic products. Melanogenesis is the process of melanin synthesis whereby melanocytes are activated by UV light or hormone stimulation to produce melanin. Melanogenesis is mediated by several enzymes, such as tyrosinase (TYR), microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1), and TRP-2. In this study, we investigated the effect of Tuber himalayense extract on melanin synthesis in α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH)-treated B16F10 melanoma cells. We confirmed that T. himalayense extract was not toxic to α-MSH-treated B16F10 melanoma cells and exhibited a significant inhibitory effect on melanin synthesis at concentrations of 25, 50, and 100 µg/ml. Additionally, the T. himalayense extract inhibited melanin, TRP-1, TRP-2, tyrosinase, and MITF, which are enzymes involved in melanin synthesis, in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, T. himalayense extract inhibited the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways, such as extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1/2 (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and p38. Therefore, we hypothesized that various components of T. himalayense extract affect multiple factors involved in melanogenesis in B16F10 cells. Our results indicate that T. himalayense extract could potentially be used as a new material for preparing whitening cosmetics.

HTATIP2 Overexpression was Associated With a Good Prognosis in Gastric Cancer.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to compare the transcriptomes of poorly cohesive carcinoma (PCC; diffuse-type) and well-differentiated tubular adenocarcinoma (WD; intestinal-type) using gastric cancer (GC) tissues and cell lines and to evaluate the prognostic role of HIV-1 Tat Interactive Protein 2 (HTATIP2). Materials and Methods: We performed next-generation sequencing with 8 GC surgical samples (5 WD and 3 PCC) and 3 GC cell lines (1 WD: MKN74, and 2 PCC: KATOIII and SNU601). Immunohistochemistry was used to validate HTATIP2 expression. We performed functional analysis by HTATIP2 overexpression (OE). Kaplan-Meier survival plots and the PrognoScan database were used for survival analysis. Results: The genes with significantly reduced expression in PCC versus WD (in both tissues and cell lines) were HTATIP2, ESRP1, GRHL2, ARHGEF16, CKAP2L, and ZNF724. According to immunohistochemical staining, the HTATIP2-OE group had significantly higher number of patients with early GC (EGC) (T1) (P = .024), less lymph node (LN) metastasis (P = .008), and low TNMA stage (P = .017) than HTATIP2 underexpression (UE) group. Better survival rates were confirmed in the HTATIP2 OE group by Kaplan-Meir survival and PrognoScan analysis. In vitro, HTATIP2-OE in KATO III cells caused a significant decrease in cancer cell migration and invasion. Decreased Snail and Slug expression in HTATIP2 OE cells suggested that epithelial-mesenchymal transition is involved in this process. Conclusion: HTATIP2 might be a good prognostic marker and a candidate target for GC treatment.

Cloud Digital Forensics: Beyond Tools, Techniques, and Challenges.

Cloud computing technology is rapidly becoming ubiquitous and indispensable. However, its widespread adoption also exposes organizations and individuals to a broad spectrum of potential threats. Despite the multiple advantages the cloud offers, organizations remain cautious about migrating their data and applications to the cloud due to fears of data breaches and security compromises. In light of these concerns, this study has conducted an in-depth examination of a variety of articles to enhance the comprehension of the challenges related to safeguarding and fortifying data within the cloud environment. Furthermore, the research has scrutinized several well-documented data breaches, analyzing the financial consequences they inflicted. Additionally, it scrutinizes the distinctions between conventional digital forensics and the forensic procedures specific to cloud computing. As a result of this investigation, the study has concluded by proposing potential opportunities for further research in this critical domain. By doing so, it contributes to our collective understanding of the complex panorama of cloud data protection and security, while acknowledging the evolving nature of technology and the need for ongoing exploration and innovation in this field. This study also helps in understanding the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of cloud digital forensics, which is found to be quite high at ≈16.53% from 2023 to 2031. Moreover, its market is expected to reach ≈USD 36.9 billion by the year 2031; presently, it is ≈USD 11.21 billion, which shows that there are great opportunities for investment in this area. This study also strategically addresses emerging challenges in cloud digital forensics, providing a comprehensive approach to navigating and overcoming the complexities associated with the evolving landscape of cloud computing.

Concurrent laparoscopic highly selective vagotomy with closure of duodenal ulcer perforations show good clinical results as primary repair alone.

OBJECTIVE: To compare clinical and operative results between laparoscopic primary repair (LPR) alone and LPR with highly selective vagotomy (LPR-HSV) in patients with duodenal ulcer perforation. METHODS: Clinical data from patients who underwent either LPR or LPR-HSV by resecting both sides of the neurovascular bundle using an ultrasonic or bipolar electrosurgical device for duodenal ulcer perforations, between 2010 and 2020, were retrospectively collected. Between-group differences in continuous and categorical variables were statistically analysed. RESULTS: Data from 184 patients (mean age, 49.6 years), who underwent either LPR (n = 132) or LPR-HSV (n = 52) were included. The mean operation time was significantly longer in the LPR-HSV group (116.5 ± 39.8 min) than in the LPR group (91.2 ± 33.3 min). Hospital stay was significantly shorter in the LPR-HSV group (8.6 ± 2.6 days) versus the LPR group (11.3 ± 7.1 days). The mean postoperative day of starting soft fluid diet was also significantly shorter in the LPR-HSV group (4.5 ± 1.4 days) than in the LPR group (5.6 ± 4 days). No between-group difference in morbidity rate was observed. The learning curve of the HSV procedure showed a stable procedure time after 10 operations. CONCLUSIONS: LPR with HSV may be a safe and feasible procedure for selective cases who are at high risk for ulcer recurrence.

The northernmost hyperspectral FLoX sensor dataset for monitoring of high-Arctic tundra vegetation phenology and Sun-Induced Fluorescence (SIF).

A hyperspectral field sensor (FloX) was installed in Adventdalen (Svalbard, Norway) in 2019 as part of the Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) for monitoring vegetation phenology and Sun-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence (SIF) of high-Arctic tundra. This northernmost hyperspectral sensor is located within the footprint of a tower for long-term eddy covariance flux measurements and is an integral part of an automatic environmental monitoring system on Svalbard (AsMovEn), which is also a part of SIOS. One of the measurements that this hyperspectral instrument can capture is SIF, which serves as a proxy of gross primary production (GPP) and carbon flux rates. This paper presents an overview of the data collection and processing, and the 4-year (2019-2021) datasets in processed format are available at: https://thredds.met.no/thredds/catalog/arcticdata/infranor/NINA-FLOX/raw/catalog.html associated with https://doi.org/10.21343/ZDM7-JD72 under a CC-BY-4.0 license. Results obtained from the first three years in operation showed interannual variation in SIF and other spectral vegetation indices including MERIS Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI), EVI and NDVI. Synergistic uses of the measurements from this northernmost hyperspectral FLoX sensor, in conjunction with other monitoring systems, will advance our understanding of how tundra vegetation responds to changing climate and the resulting implications on carbon and energy balance.

Structural complexity biases vegetation greenness measures.

Vegetation 'greenness' characterized by spectral vegetation indices (VIs) is an integrative measure of vegetation leaf abundance, biochemical properties and pigment composition. Surprisingly, satellite observations reveal that several major VIs over the US Corn Belt are higher than those over the Amazon rainforest, despite the forests having a greater leaf area. This contradicting pattern underscores the pressing need to understand the underlying drivers and their impacts to prevent misinterpretations. Here we show that macroscale shadows cast by complex forest structures result in lower greenness measures compared with those cast by structurally simple and homogeneous crops. The shadow-induced contradictory pattern of VIs is inevitable because most Earth-observing satellites do not view the Earth in the solar direction and thus view shadows due to the sun-sensor geometry. The shadow impacts have important implications for the interpretation of VIs and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence as measures of global vegetation changes. For instance, a land-conversion process from forests to crops over the Amazon shows notable increases in VIs despite a decrease in leaf area. Our findings highlight the importance of considering shadow impacts to accurately interpret remotely sensed VIs and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence for assessing global vegetation and its changes.

MiR­221 and miR­222 regulate cell cycle progression and affect chemosensitivity in breast cancer by targeting ANXA3.

Breast malignancy remains one of the most common causes of cancer-associated mortalities among women. MicroRNA (miR)-221 and miR-222 are homologous miRs and have a substantial impact on cancer progression. In the present study, the regulatory mechanisms of miR-221/222 and its target annexin A3 (ANXA3) in breast cancer cells were investigated. Breast tissue samples were collected to evaluate the expression patterns of miR-221/222 levels in breast cancer cell lines and cancer tissues according to clinical characteristics. The levels of miR-221/222 were increased or decreased in cancer cell lines compared with normal breast cell lines according to cell line subtype. Subsequently, the changes in the progression and invasion of breast cancer cells were investigated using cell proliferation, invasion assay, gap closure and colony formation assays. Western blotting of cell cycle proteins and flow cytometry were performed to evaluate the possible pathway of miR-221/222 and ANXA3 axis. Chemosensitivity tests were performed to explore the suitability of the miR-221/222 and ANXA3 axis as a therapeutic target in breast cancer. The expression levels of miR-221/222 were associated with aggressive characteristics of breast cancer subtypes. Cell transfection assay demonstrated the regulation of breast cancer proliferation and invasiveness by miR-221/222. MiR-221/222 directly targeted the 3'-untranslated region of ANXA3 and suppressed the expression of ANXA3 at the mRNA and protein levels. In addition, miR-221/222 negatively regulated cell proliferation and the cell cycle pathway in breast cancer cells by targeting ANXA3. In combination with adriamycin, downregulation of ANXA3 may sensitize adriamycin-induced cell death to induction of persistent G2/M and G0/G1 arrest. Decreased expression of ANXA3 through increased expression of miR-221/222 reduced breast cancer progression and increased the effectiveness of the chemotherapy drug. The present results indicated the miR-221/222 and ANXA3 axis to be a possible novel therapeutic target for the treatment of breast cancer.

Temporal and spatial distribution of microplastic in the sediment of the Han River, South Korea.

Sediments are sinks for microplastics (MPs) in freshwater environments. It is, therefore, necessary to investigate the occurrence and fate of accumulated MPs in the sediments, which pose a risk to aquatic organisms. We conducted the first comprehensive investigation of MPs in riverine sediment in South Korea to examine the temporal and spatial distribution of MPs in the sediment at the two main branches and downstream of the Han River. The average abundance of MPs over all sites was 0.494 ± 0.280 particles/g. Spatially, the MP abundance at three sites in the North Han River (0.546 ± 0.217 particles/g) was higher than those in the South Han River (0.383 ± 0.145 particles/g) and downstream of the Han River (0.417 ± 0.114 particles/g). The abundances of MPs before dams at two upstream sites were significantly higher than that at other sites because of the slow river flow velocity attributed to the artificial structure. The abundance of MPs after the mosoon season (October, 0.600 ± 0.357 particles/g) was higher than that before the mosoon season (April, 0.389 ± 0.099 particles/g). The most common polymer types observed were polyethylene (>38%) and polypropylene (>24%). Irrespective of the location and season, greater than 93% of MPs identified were fragments, and the remaining were fibers. The concentrations of TOC, TN, and TP in the sediment were positively correlated with MP abundance. MP abundance was also positively correlated with clay and silt fractions of the sediment; however, it was negatively correlated with sand fraction. This study provides a basis for the management of MP pollution by offering findings related to critical factors influencing MP abundance in sediment.

Comparison of the Estimation Methods from Acute to Chronic Biotic Ligand Model-Based Predicted No-Effect Concentrations for Nickel in Freshwater Species.

Biotic ligand models (BLMs) and the sensitivities of indigenous species are used to assess the environmental risk considering the bioavailability of metals, such as nickel. However, the BLM-based acute-to-chronic ratio (ACR) is required if the predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) cannot be derived from the chronic species sensitivity distribution (SSD). The applicability of the ACR approach for estimating BLM-based PNEC for nickel from acute toxicity data was evaluated in the present study. The BLM-based acute SSD for nickel was built using the sensitivities of 21 indigenous species and different taxon-specific BLMs for each taxonomic group. To predict the acute sensitivity of invertebrates, the chronic crustacean nickel BLM with pH effect term, which can account for nickel toxicity at high pH levels, was used. This was used instead of the existing acute BLM for crustacean, which has too narrow a pH range to cover the pH dependency of toxicity. The final BLM-based ACR of nickel, determined within a factor of 1.53 from the species-specific acute and chronic sensitivities of the six species, was more reliable than the typical ACR estimated within a factor of 1.84. A linear relationship (r2 = 0.95) was observed between the PNECs using BLM-based ACR and the PNECs derived from the BLM-based chronic SSD of the European Union Risk Assessment Reports. In conclusion, the BLM-based PNEC for nickel could be derived using the ACR approach, unlike when copper BLM was applied. The BLM-based ACR for nickel is the first result calculated by directly comparing acute and chronic species sensitivities, and will contribute to the application of BLM-based risk assessment in broader ecoregions. Environ Toxicol Chem 2023;42:914-927. © 2023 SETAC.

Advances in mining and expressing microbial biosynthetic gene clusters.

Natural products (NPs) especially the secondary metabolites originated from microbes exhibit great importance in biomedical, industrial and agricultural applications. However, mining biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) to produce novel NPs has been hindered owing that a large population of environmental microbes are unculturable. In the past decade, strategies to explore BGCs directly from (meta)genomes have been established along with the fast development of high-throughput sequencing technologies and the powerful bioinformatics data-processing tools, which greatly expedited the exploitations of novel BGCs from unculturable microbes including the extremophilic microbes. In this review, we firstly summarized the popular bioinformatics tools and databases available to mine novel BGCs from (meta)genomes based on either pure cultures or pristine environmental samples. Noticeably, approaches rooted from machine learning and deep learning with focuses on the prediction of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) were dramatically increased in recent years. Moreover, synthetic biology techniques to express the novel BGCs in culturable native microbes or heterologous hosts were introduced. This working pipeline including the discovery and biosynthesis of novel NPs will greatly advance the exploitations of the abundant but unexplored microbial BGCs.

Risk Factors for Reoperation Following Radical Gastrectomy in Gastric Cancer Patients.

BACKGROUND: Reoperation due to elective surgery complications is very mentally, physically, and economically detrimental to patients. This study investigated the potential risk factors associated with early reoperation after radical gastrectomy in gastric cancer patients and included an in-depth analysis of these risk factors. METHODS: This retrospective study reviewed 1568 patients with gastric cancer. Grade 3 or greater complications were defined as severe. Any factors related to reoperation after radical gastrectomy were analyzed in patients with severe local complications. RESULTS: Among 1537 patients undergoing radical gastrectomy, 115 (7.5%) patients had severe postoperative complications, 98 (6.38%) of whom experienced severe local complications. The most common local complication was anastomotic leakage (31, 2.02%), followed by intra-abdominal abscess (30, 1.95%), pancreatic leakage (22, 1.43%), duodenal stump leakage (18, 1.17%), intra-abdominal bleeding (12, .78%), intraluminal bleeding (8, .52%), small bowel obstruction (5, .32%), and chyle leakage (3, .19%). Of these patients, 26 (1.69%) underwent reoperation, and 6 (.39%) died. In the univariate analysis of clinical factors related to reoperation, intra-abdominal bleeding and small bowel obstruction were risk factors for reoperation, and intra-abdominal bleeding (odds ratio [OR] = 9.57, confidence interval [CI] = 2.65-40.20, P < .001) and small bowel obstruction (OR = 19.14, CI = 2.60-390.13, P = .011) were independent risk factors associated with reoperation in the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Intra-abdominal bleeding and small bowel obstruction are independent risk factors for reoperation following radical gastrectomy. Patients with postoperative intra-abdominal bleeding and small bowel obstruction need to be warned about reoperation.

Greening of human-dominated ecosystems in India.

Satellite data show the Earth has been greening and identify croplands in India as one of the most prominent greening hotspots. Though India's agriculture has been dependent on irrigation enhancement to reduce crop water stress and increase production, the spatiotemporal dynamics of how irrigation influenced the satellite observed greenness remains unclear. Here, we use satellite-derived leaf area data and survey-based agricultural statistics together with results from state-of-the-art Land Surface Models (LSM) to investigate the role of irrigation in the greening of India's croplands. We find that satellite observations provide multiple lines of evidence showing strong contributions of irrigation to significant greening during dry season and in drier environments. The national statistics support irrigation-driven yield enhancement and increased dry season cropping intensity. These suggest a continuous shift in India's agriculture toward an irrigation-driven dry season cropping system and confirm the importance of land management in the greening phenomenon. However, the LSMs identify CO2 fertilization as a primary driver of greening whereas land use and management have marginal impacts on the simulated leaf area changes. This finding urges a closer collaboration of the modeling, Earth observation, and land system science communities to improve representation of land management in the Earth system modeling.

Sharing of Antimicrobial Resistance Genes between Humans and Food Animals.

The prevalence and propagation of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are serious global public health concerns. The large and the ever-increasing use of antibiotics in livestock is also considered a great concern. The extent of the similarity of acquired antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) between humans and food animals and the driving factors underlying AMR transfer between them are not clear, although a link between ARGs in both hosts was proposed. To address this question, with swine and chicken as examples of food animals, we analyzed over 1,000 gut metagenomes of humans and food animals from over the world. A relatively high abundance and diversity of ARGs were observed in swine compared with those in humans as a whole. Commensal bacteria, particularly species from Clostridiales, contribute the most ARGs associated with mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and were found in both humans and food animals. Further studies demonstrate that overrepresented MGEs, namely, Tn4451/Tn4453 and TnAs3, are attributed mainly to the sharing between humans and food animals. A member of large resolvase family site-specific recombinases, TnpX, is found in Tn4451/Tn4453 which facilitates the insertions of the transient circular molecule. Although the variance in the transferability of ARGs in humans is higher than that in swine, a higher average transferability was observed in swine than that in humans. In conclusion, the potential antibiotic resistance hot spots with higher transferability in food animals observed in the present study emphasize the importance of surveillance for emerging resistance threats before they spread. IMPORTANCE Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has proven to be a global public health concern. To conquer this increasingly worrying trend, an overarching, One Health approach has been used that brings together different sectors, but the fundamental knowledge of the relationship between humans, food animals, and their environments is not mature yet or is lacking in some aspect. With swine and chicken as examples of food animals, a large global data set of over 1,000 human and food animal gut metagenomes was analyzed with a focus on acquired antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) associated with mobile genetic elements (MGEs) to answer this question. Outputs from this work open a new avenue to further our understanding of ARG transferability in food animals. It is a necessary milestone to better equip governmental agencies to monitor and pre-empt antibiotic resistance hot spots. This work will assist and give guidance on how to decipher other links within any One Health initiatives with expected positive feedback to human health.

Comprehensive Assessment of Acute Isolated or Prominent Dysarthria in the Emergency Department: A Neuro-Emergency Expert's Experience beyond Stroke.

We investigated the clinical characteristics, neuroimaging findings, and final diagnosis of patients with acute isolated or prominent dysarthria who visited the emergency department (ED) between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021. Of 2028 patients aged ≥ 18 years with neurologic symptoms treated by a neuro-emergency expert, 75 with acute isolated or predominant dysarthria within 1 week were enrolled. Patients were categorized as having isolated dysarthria (n = 28, 37.3%) and prominent dysarthria (n = 47, 62.7%). The causes of stroke were acute ischemic stroke (AIS) (n = 37, 49.3%), transient ischemic attack (TIA) (n = 14, 18.7%), intracerebral hemorrhage (n = 1, 1.3%), and non-stroke causes (n = 23, 30.7%). The most common additional symptoms were gait disturbance or imbalance (n = 8, 15.4%) and dizziness (n = 3, 13.0%) in the stroke and non-stroke groups, respectively. The isolated dysarthria group had a higher rate of TIA (n = 7, 38.9%), single and small lesions (n = 10, 83.3%), and small-vessel occlusion in Trial of Org 101072 in acute stroke treatment (n = 8, 66.7%). Acute isolated or prominent dysarthria in the ED mostly presented as clinical symptoms of AIS, but other non-stroke and medical causes were not uncommon. In acute dysarthria with ischemic stroke, multiple territorial and small and single lesions are considered a cause.

Executive summary of the Korean Society of Nephrology 2021 clinical practice guideline for optimal hemodialysis treatment.

The Korean Society of Nephrology (KSN) has published a clinical practice guideline (CPG) document for maintenance hemodialysis (HD). The document, 2021 Clinical Practice Guideline on Optimal HD Treatment, is based on an extensive evidence-oriented review of the benefits of preparation, initiation, and maintenance therapy for HD, with the participation of representative experts from the KSN under the methodologists' support for guideline development. It was intended to help clinicians participating in HD treatment make safer and more effective clinical decisions by providing user-friendly guidelines. We hope that this CPG will be meaningful as a recommendation in practice, but not on a regulatory rule basis, as different approaches and treatments may be used by health care providers depending on the individual patient's condition. This CPG consists of eight sections and 15 key questions. Each begins with statements that are graded by the strength of recommendations and quality of the evidence. Each statement is followed by a summary of the evidence supporting the recommendations. There are also a link to full-text documents and lists of the most important reports so that the readers can read further (most of this is available online).

Occurrence and characteristics of microplastics in fish of the Han River, South Korea: Factors affecting microplastic abundance in fish.

This study examined the abundance of microplastics (MPs) in 106 fish from 22 species inhabiting three sites of the Han River, South Korea. In total, 1753 MPs from 106 fish samples were identified with an average abundance of 15.60 ± 13.45 MPs per individual fish (MPs indiv-1) in the North Han River, 16.35 ± 12.32 MPs indiv-1 in the South Han River, and 20.14 ± 10.01 MPs indiv-1 in downstream of the Han River, indicating that the fish in the downstream of the Han River was the most contaminated by MPs. The dominant size of MPs detected in fish ranged between 0.1 and 0.2 mm, and the most common polymer types found in fish were polypropylene (PP) (≥40%) and polyethylene (PE) (≥23%), followed by polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) (≥16%) at all sampling locations. A significant correlation was observed between the log-transformed number of MPs with log-transformed fish length (p < 0.01) and with log-transformed fish weight (p < 0.01). The Kruskal-Wallis test disclosed a significant difference in the number of MPs among the feeding habits (p < 0.01), indicating that omnivorous and insectivorous fish contained more MPs than carnivorous and herbivorous fish. In addition, fish habitat result showed that pelagic fish contained a higher level of MPs than demersal fish, but no significant differences in the number of MPs among fish habitats were observed (p > 0.05).

PHLPP1 Overexpression was Associated With a Good Prognosis With Decreased AKT Activity in Gastric Cancer.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to perform a clinicopathologic analysis of PHLPP1 expression in gastric cancer patients and analyze AKT activity with chemotherapy drug treatment in cancer subtypes. Materials and Methods: Surgically resected gastric cancer tissue specimens were obtained from 309 patients who underwent gastrectomy, and PHLPP1 expression was validated by tissue microarray analysis with immunohistochemistry. We assessed whether PHLPP1 selectively dephosphorylates Ser473 of AKT in an in-vitro study. Results: We found that the PHLPP1 overexpression (OE) group showed significantly greater proportions of differentiated subtype samples and early T stage samples, lower lymph node metastasis, and lower TNM stage than the PHLPP1 underexpression (UE) group. The overall survival of the PHLPP1-OE group was significantly higher (53.39 ± 0.96 months) than that of the PHLPP1-UE group (47.82 ± 2.57 months) (P = .01). In vitro analysis, we found that the PHLPP1-OE group showed a significant decrease in relative AKT S-473 levels in both cell lines (MKN-74 and KATO-III). We found that treatment with chemotherapy drugs decreased the activity of Ser473 in the MKN-74 cell line with PHLPP1 OE, but it did not affect the activity of Ser473 in KATO-III cells. Conclusion: We found that patients who overexpressed PHLPP1 showed low recurrence and good prognosis. PHLPP1 was found to work by lowering the activity of AKT Ser473 in gastric cancer. Additionally, we found a clue regarding the mechanism of chemotherapeutic drug resistance in a cell line of signet ring cell origin and will uncover this mechanism in the future.

Ectopic cervical thymic squamous cell carcinoma misdiagnosed as thyroid cancer: a case report.

Ectopic thymic neoplasm, particularly ectopic thymic carcinoma, is a rare disease that presents as a neck mass. Here, we present a case of ectopic thymic squamous carcinoma in a 65-year-old man who presented with persistent hoarseness. After fine needle aspiration cytology, the patient underwent total thyroidectomy with lymph node dissection. The final histopathological examination revealed the ectopic thymic squamous carcinoma. The patient was discharged without any postoperative complications. The patient received adjuvant radiation therapy and did not progress during the 1-year follow-up period.

The usefulness of red blood cell distribution width and its ratio with platelet count in breast cancer after surgery and adjuvant treatment: a retrospective study.

Background: To date, red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and RDW-to-platelet count ratio (RPR) have been investigated for their association with cancer. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of RDW and RPR in breast cancer before and after treatment. Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 395 patients with breast cancer, who were diagnosed between December 2009 and December 2015 and analyzed the association between RDW, RPR, and long-term prognosis. We also compared the RDW and RPR values with the pathologic parameters of breast cancer. The cutoff values for before-treatment RDW, RPR value, after-treatment RDW, and RPR were determined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis by identifying the highest Youden index. Results: In the before-treatment state, no significant disease-free survival (DFS) or overall survival (OS) was found in the RPR and RDW values. However, we found that elevated after-treatment RPR and RDW were significant prognostic factors for DFS, with hazard ratios (HRs) of 2.233 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.073-4.649; P=0.032] and 2.067 (95% CI: 1.085-3.937; P=0.027). Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that the after-treatment RPR and RDW groups had poor OS (HR =30.461; 95% CI: 5.138-180.575; P<0.001) compared with the lower after-treatment RPR and RDW groups. In particular, when the RPR and RDW were in the lower group before the treatment and became elevated after the treatment, it showed a remarkably significant result for OS, with HR 132.6 (95% CI: 3.689-4,767.341; P=0.007) and 10.119 (95% CI: 1.853-55.249; P=0.008). Conclusions: Thus, after-treatment RPR and RDW could have prognostic value for breast cancer after surgery and adjuvant treatment.