Prognostic Value of Microvessel Density in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Angiogenesis in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) has been investigated by a variety of studies. However, the correlation between angiogenesis and the occurrence or prognosis of NHL patients remains controversial. METHODS: We performed a systematic and comprehensive retrieval of relevant literatures from PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases. The quality of the eligible studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). RESULTS: Fifteen eligible studies containing a total of 1373 NHL patients were included in this study. All the eligible studies were high-quality studies scoring ≥6 points. MVD was not different between NHL and control (SMD = 0.281, 95% CI: -1.410 to 1.972, p = 0.745). High MVD was associated with advanced disease stage (OR = 1.580, 95% CI: 1.080-2.311, p = 0.018) and unfavorable OS (HR = 1.656, 95% CI: 1.366-2.009, p = 0.000) but not with PFS (HR = 1.349, 95% CI: 0.852-2.136, p = 0.201). CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis demonstrated that high MVD was related to advanced disease stage and associated with unfavorable OS of NHL patients.

Prognostic and clinicopathological value of Beclin-1 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The abnormal expression of Beclin-1 has recently been investigated in a variety of tumors. However, previous studies have obtained contradicting results regarding the clinical and prognostic value of Beclin-1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We performed a meta-analysis to clarify the prognostic value of Beclin-1 and its correlations with clinical pathological parameters in HCC. METHODS: Relevant studies were systematically retrieved from PubMed, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wan Fang and Chinese VIP databases. We used the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) to estimate the quality of the involved studies. RESULTS: Ten eligible studies with 1086 HCC patients were included in this study. Our results showed that decreased Beclin-1 expression in HCC related to histological grade [poor-undifferentiated vs. well-moderate: odds ratio (OR) = 2.34, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.65-3.32, P < 0.00001]. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) (HR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.17-1.75, P = 0.0004) indicated that decreased Beclin-1 expression correlated with poor overall survival (OS). CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis indicated that decreased Beclin-1 expression might relate to poor differentiation and unfavorable outcome in HCC.

Research progress on expansive soil cracks under changing environment.

Engineering problems shunned previously rise to the surface gradually with the activities of reforming the natural world in depth, the problem of expansive soil crack under the changing environment becoming a control factor of expansive soil slope stability. The problem of expansive soil crack has gradually become a research hotspot, elaborates the occurrence and development of cracks from the basic properties of expansive soil, and points out the role of controlling the crack of expansive soil strength. We summarize the existing research methods and results of expansive soil crack characteristics. Improving crack measurement and calculation method and researching the crack depth measurement, statistical analysis method, crack depth and surface feature relationship will be the future direction.

Four-phase computed tomography helps differentiation of renal oncocytoma with central hypodense areas from clear cell renal cell carcinoma

PURPOSE: To explore the utility of four-phase computed tomography (CT) in distinguishing renal oncocytoma with central hypodense areas from clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). METHODS: Eighteen patients with oncocytoma and 63 patients with ccRCC presenting with central hypodense areas were included in this study. All patients underwent four-phase CT imaging including the excretory phases later than 20 min after contrast injection. Two blinded experienced radiologists visually reviewed the enhancement features of the central hypodense areas in the excretory phase images and selected the area demonstrating the greatest degree of enhancement of the tumor in the corticomedullary phase images. Regions of interest (ROIs) were placed in the same location in each of the three contrast-enhanced imaging phases. Additionally, ROIs were placed in the adjacent normal renal cortex for normalization. The ratio of the lesion to cortex attenuation (L/C) for the three contrast-enhanced imaging phases and absolute de-enhancement were calculated. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to obtain the cut-off values. RESULTS: Complete enhancement inversion of the central areas was observed in 12 oncocytomas (66.67%) and 16 ccRCCs (25.40%) (P = 0.003). Complete enhancement inversion combined with L/C in the corticomedullary phase lower than 1.0 (P < 0.001) or absolute de-enhancement lower than 42.5 HU (P < 0.001) provided 86.42% and 85.19% accuracy, 61.11% and 55.56% sensitivity, 93.65% and 93.65% specificity, 73.33% and 71.43% positive predictive value (PPV), and 89.39% and 88.06% negative predictive value (NPV), respectively, for the diagnosis of oncocytomas. Combined with complete enhancement inversion, L/C in the corticomedullary phase lower than 1.0 and absolute de-enhancement lower than 42.5 HU provided 87.65%, 55.56%, 96.83%, 83.33%, and 88.41% of accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV, respectively, for the diagnosis of oncocytomas. CONCLUSION: The combination of enhancement features of the central hypodense areas and the peripheral tumor parenchyma can help distinguish oncocytoma with central hypodense areas from ccRCC.