[Clinical characteristics of 272 437 patients with different histopathological subtypes of primary esophageal malignant tumors].

Objective: To characterize the histopathological subtypes and their clinicopathological parameters of gender and onset age by common, rare and sparse primary esophageal malignant tumors (PEMT). Methods: A total of 272 437 patients with PEMT were enrolled in this study, and all of the patients were received radical surgery. The clinicopathological information of the patients was obtained from the database established by the State Key Laboratory of Esophageal Cancer Prevention & Treatment from September 1973 to December 2020, which included the clinical treatment, pathological diagnosis and follow-up information of esophagus and gastric cardia cancers. All patients were diagnosed and classified by the criteria of esophageal tumor histopathological diagnosis and classification (2019) of the World Health Organization (WHO). The esophageal tumors, which were not included in the WHO classification, were analyzed separately according to the postoperative pathological diagnosis. The χ2 test was performed by the SPSS 25.0 software on count data, and the test standard α=0.05. Results: A total of 32 histopathological types were identified in the enrolled PEMT patients, of which 10 subtypes were not included in the WHO classification. According to the frequency, PEMT were divided into common (esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, ESCC, accounting for 97.1%), rare (esophageal adenocarcinoma, EAC, accounting for 2.3%) and sparse (mainly esophageal small cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma, etc., accounting for 0.6%). All the common, rare, and sparse types occurred predominantly in male patients, and the gender difference of rare type was most significant (EAC, male∶ female, 2.67∶1), followed with common type (ESCC, male∶ female, 1.78∶1) and sparse type (male∶ female, 1.71∶1). The common type (ESCC) mainly occurred in the middle thoracic segment (65.2%), while the rare type (EAC) mainly occurred in the lower thoracic segment (56.8%). Among the sparse type, malignant melanoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma were both predominantly located in the lower thoracic segment (51.7%, 66.7%), and the others were mainly in the middle thoracic segment. Conclusion: ESCC is the most common type among the 32 histopathological types of PEMT, followed by EAC as the rare type, and esophageal small cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma as the major sparse type, and all of which are mainly occur in male patients. The common type of ESCC mainly occur in the middle thoracic segment, while the rare type of EAC mainly in the lower thoracic segment. The mainly sparse type of malignant melanoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma predominately occur in the lower thoracic segment, and the remaining sparse types mainly occur in the middle thoracic segment.

[Increased expression of SEMA5B in gastric adenocarcinoma predicts poor prognosis: a study based on TCGA data].

Objective: To evaluate the expression of semaphorin 5B (SEMA5B) in gastric adenocarcinoma and its relationship with prognosis. Methods: In November 2019, the clinicopathological characteristics and SEMA5B mRNA expression data of 341 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma were collected through TCGA database. The relationship between SEMA5B expression in gastric adenocarcinoma tissues and clinical pathologic features and overall survival were analyzed. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was used to analyze the signaling pathways regulated by SEMA5B. Results: The expression level of SEMA5B mRNA in 341 gastric adenocarcinoma tissues was 0.577±0.587, in adjacent normal tissues was 0.132±0.075, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). The median survival time of 109 patients with high expression of SEMA5B mRNA was 14.5 months, 232 patients with low expression of SEMA5B mRNA was 17.9 months (P=0.047). Univariate analysis showed that the expression of SEMA5B mRNA was correlated with histological grade and T stage (P<0.05). The multivariate analysis revealed that age<65 years remained independently associated with overall survival, with a hazard ratio(HR) of 1.042 (95%CI: 1.021-1.064). The multivariate analysis revealed that high expression of SEMA5b mRNA remained independently associated with overall survival, with a HR of 1.195 (95%CI: 0.925-2.551). GSEA showed that malignant tumor signaling pathways (P=0.008), MAPK signaling pathways (P=0.047) and Notch signaling pathways (P=0.029) were differentially enriched in SEMA5B highly expressed phenotype. Conclusions: SEMA5B expression may be a potential prognostic molecular marker for prognosis of GAC patients. Moreover, malignant tumor signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway and Notch signaling pathway may be the key pathway regulated by SEMA5B in GAC.

The expression and mechanism of BDNF and NGB in perihematomal tissue in rats with intracerebral hemorrhage.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze how changes in the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neuroglobin (NGB) affect learning and memory in rats with intracerebral hemorrhage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the control group, sham operation group and model group with 10 rats each. The rats in the control group were untreated, while those in the sham operation group were treated with sterile saline instead of type VII collagenase injection in the globus pallidus. The model of cerebral hemorrhage was established according to the methods described by Rosenberg. The expression of perihematomal BDNF mRNA was measured by Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-PCR) for 7 days consecutively. Perihematomal NGB-positive cells were detected by immunohistochemistry. The Morris water maze was used to test the spatial learning and memory of rats. RESULTS: Compared with the control group and sham operation group, the expression of BDNF mRNA and number of NGB-positive cells in the model group were significantly higher. Furthermore, the escape latency was significantly prolonged (p < 0.05). The NGB and BDNF mRNA levels and escape latency were positively correlated. The correlation coefficients were as follows: rs (NGB) = 1.1838 (p = 0.008); rs (BDNF) = 0.5948 (p = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: Cerebral hemorrhage significantly inhibited the spatial learning and memory ability of rats. The mechanism may be related to decreased cerebral expression of BDNF and NGB.

[Therapeutic effect of low-fluorine drinking water on fluorosis of bone].

495 clinical cases and 25 radiographic cases of fluorosis of bone diagnosed six years ago in an endemic area showed satisfactory results after six years' treatment with low-fluorine drinking water. Among these, 140 have been completely cured, 105 have gained marked clinical improvement and 172 have gained moderate improvement; the cure rate being 49.49% and the effective rate, 84.84%. Of the 25 X-ray diagnosed cases, 15 showed marked improvement. Radiographic examination has revealed reappearance of evenly distributed fine bone trabeculae. Two cases of grade III osteosclerosis have turned to grade II; 4 to grade I; 8 cases of grade II have turned to grade I; 1 case of grade I has become normal. The results demonstrate that fluorosis of bone is reversible.

A longitudinal study of emergency room visits and air pollution for Prince George, British Columbia.

A new method for regression analysis of longitudinal counts is applied to data from Prince George, British Columbia, previously analysed by Knight et al. The data consist of daily recordings of the number of emergency room visits for each of four categories of respiratory diseases, along with measurements of meteorological variables and air pollution. We use a state-space model assuming conditionally independent Poisson counts for the four categories given a latent morbidity process, the latent process being a gamma Markov process. The main objective of the investigation was to examine the relationship between air pollution and respiratory morbidity, taking into account seasonality and meteorological conditions. We found that total reduced sulphur significantly influences the expected number of emergency room visits for the four disease categories, in agreement with the conclusion by Knight et al. However, our final model is simpler than theirs; in particular we found no evidence of seasonal variation beyond that explained by the meteorological variables.

A new sesquiterpene lactone from Tsoongiodendron odorum Chun.

A new sesquiterpene lactone (1) was obtained from the cytotoxic fraction of 95% ethanol extract of root barks of Tsoongiodendron odorum Chun together with two known sesquiterpene lactones, costunolide (2) and parthenolide (3). The structure of 1 was elucidated as 5alpha, 6alpha, 7beta, 10beta- 11alpha, 13-dihydro-4(15)-eudesmene-12, 6-olide on the basis of chemical and spectral evidence including X-ray diffraction analysis. Costunolide showed cytotoxic activity against human leukemia (HL-60) cell line. Parthenolide showed promising cytotoxic activities in vitro against HCT-8, Bel-7402, SKOV3, KB, HELA and EJ cell lines. Also, the cytotoxic ethyl acetate fraction of ethanol extract of the root barks from which three chemical components were isolated showed promising cytotoxic activities in vitro against KB, BGC-823, Bel-7402, HCT-8, HL-60 cell lines.