RESUMEN
Objective: To assess prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score could predict overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with breast cancer. Methods: PubMed, Embase, ScienceDirect, CENTRAL, and Google Scholar were searched from 1st January 2000 to 10th October 2021 for studies assessing the association between PNI or CONUT and outcomes of breast cancer by following the PRISMA guidelines. Keywords used were "Prognostic nutritional index", "Controlling nutritional status", "CONUT", and "Breast cancer". Results: Nine studies were included. On pooled analysis, we noted a statistically significant improved OS in patients with high PNI as compared to low PNI. Meta-analysis revealed no significant difference in DFS between patients with high PNI and low PNI. However, on the exclusion of one study, we noted that high PNI was associated with significantly improved DFS as compared to low PNI. On pooled analysis, we also noted that a high CONUT score was associated with significantly reduced OS in breast cancer patients. Conclusion: Our results indicate that PNI is an important prognostic factor for patients with breast cancer. Pre-treatment low PNI is associated with worse OS and DFS. Scarce data also indicates that a high CONUT score is predictive of poor OS in breast cancer.
RESUMEN
Microplastic pollution is widespread, affecting even the remotest places on Earth. However, observational data on microplastic deposition in deserts, which comprise 21% of the total land area, are relatively rare. The current study aims to address the knowledge gap in terms of microplastic distribution in Asian deserts. The Badain Jaran Desert in Central Asia is the second largest desert in China. We investigated microplastic distribution and deposition on dunes and lakes of this desert. Microplastics were extracted from surface sediments to determine their characteristics and polymer types by microscopic inspection and µ-FTIR. The abundance of microplastics (detection limit is approximately 40 µm) in the uninhabited area ranged from 0.7 ± 1.5 to 11.7 ± 15.5 items/kg, with an average of 6.0 ± 15.4 items/kg. Fragments and fibers accounted for 77% and 23% of the total microplastics, respectively. Epoxy resin (28%), polyethylene terephthalate (25%), phenoxy resin (25%), and polyamide (9%) were the main polymer components, whose sizes were concentrated at 50-200 µm. Back-trajectory modeling was then performed to explore the possible source direction of the microplastics. The results showed that the microplastics mainly originated from the populated areas southeast of the desert, indicating long-distance atmospheric transport and deposition in deserts. The desert-edge zone with some tourism activity contained more microplastics (8.2 ± 17.9 items/kg) than the non-tourism zone (0.9 ± 1.6 items/kg), indicating a potential contribution from tourism. The abundance in the non-tourism zone (0.9 items/kg) can be used as a reference for microplastic background values in the Central Asian deserts, as this value is critical for simulating and predicting global microplastic yields.