Research on the cutoff tumor size of omitting radiotherapy for BCSS after breast conserving surgery in women aged 65 years or oder with low-risk invasive breast carcinoma: Results based on the SEER database

BackgroundRadiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is not always necessary in older women staged T1N0M0 with low-risk invasive breast cancer, but few studies have concluded the detailed tumor size as a reference for avoiding radiotherapy. The study was conducted to explore and identify the optimal cutoff tumor size.MethodsThe study population was from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database in 2010–2016. Propensity score matching was used to balance the confounders between groups. Predictors associated with survival were analyzed by Kaplan–Meier, X-tile, Cox proportional hazards model and competing risk model.ResultsA total of 52049 women and 3846 deaths were included in the cohort with a median follow-up of 34 months. Based on the cutoff value determined by X-tile analysis, the study population were divided into small tumor group (≤14 mm in diameter) and large tumor group (>14 mm in diameter). Small tumors and radiotherapy were correlated with better breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS). In subgroup analysis, the absolute benefit of BCSS in 6 years attributed to radiotherapy was only 0.90% (RT vs. non- RT:98.77% vs. 97.87%) for patients with small tumors but up to 3.33% (RT vs. non- RT:97.10% vs. 93.77%) for those with large tumors.ConclusionSmall tumors and adjuvant radiotherapy were associated with improved long-term prognosis, and 14 mm in diameter was the cutoff tumor size of omitting radiotherapy for patients aged 65 or older with T1N0M0 stage, ER+ and HER2-breast carcinoma after BCS.     

肺耐药蛋白表达与食管鳞癌临床病理特征的关系

目的　研究肺耐药蛋白(LRP)在食管鳞癌组织中的表达情况及其与临床病理特征和预后的关系。方法　应用Elivision二步免疫组织化学法观察51例食管鳞癌组织和18例癌旁正常粘膜组织(距离癌组织>2cm)中LRP的表达情况,结合临床病理指标包括患者年龄、肿瘤大小、临床分期和淋巴结转移以及生存情况进行统计学分析。结果　肿瘤大于5cm者LRP的阳性率明显高于5cm以下者(P<0. 05),食管鳞癌中LRP表达阳性率高于癌旁正常食管鳞状上皮,高年龄组的LRP阳性率较低年龄组高,有淋巴结转移者LRP阳性率高于无转移者,生存期短者( <3年)的阳性率高于生存期长者( >3年),但P均>0. 05。结论　LRP表达与食管鳞癌肿瘤大小之间存在显著相关性,临床检测LRP阳性不能作为判断食管鳞癌转移和预后的独立指标,但提示LRP表达阳性患者可能有预后差的趋势。     

Inequalities in enrollment of women and racial minorities in trials testing uric acid lowering drugs

AimsWe investigated sex and racial inequalities in clinical trials testing serum uric acid (SUA) lowering drugs and analyzed the temporal trends of participation among the pre-specified demographic groups.Data were collected from publications of clinical trials testing SUA-lowering drugs. Linear regression analysis was performed to assess the relation between drug approval year and proportion of women and minorities enrolled in clinical studies.Data synthesisThe mean percentage enrollment of women in clinical trials significantly decreased over the time (r = −0.43, P-value = 0.02). Moreover, there was a statistically significant difference in mean percentage enrollment of women among trials testing different SUA-lowering drugs, with the highest representation in rasburicase (71.1%) and the lowest representation of women in dotinurad (0.8%). Over the time, also the mean percentage enrollment of racial minorities decreased, passing from 8.7% to 2.2% in a 10-year period.Women were proportionally underrepresented compared with their share of the population with asymptomatic hyperuricemia, overall (participation-to-prevalence ratio (PPR) = 0.34), in trials testing xanthine oxiase inhibitors (PPR = 0.38) and uricosurics (PPR = 0.29), and in trials with febuxostat, allopurinol, pegloticase, halofenate/arhalofenate, verinurad, lesinurad and dotinurad. Women were proportionally underreppresented also compared with their share of the population with gout, overall (PPR = 0.69) and in trials testing XOIs (PPR = 0.69), uricosurics (PPR = 0.68), and all SUA-lowering drugs excepted for rasburicase, pegloticase and topiroxostat.ConclusionsOur analysis shows that women and racial and ethnical minorities are underrepresented in controlled clinical trials testing SUA-lowering drugs, with similar pattern across drug classes.     

Expert opinion on thyroid complications of new anti-cancer therapies: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors

Thyroid pathology is the most frequent form of endocrinopathy during tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment. Dysthyroidism occurs in 10% to 80% of cases, depending on diagnostic criteria. In patients with intact thyroid gland prior to TKI treatment, incidence of dysthyroidism is 30–40%, with subclinical presentation in half of cases. It mainly involves hypothyroidism, preceded in 20–40% of cases by transient thyrotoxicosis that may go overlooked. The pathophysiological mechanism is “vascular” thyroiditis induced by the anti-angiogenic action of TKIs. Between 20% and 60% of patients receiving levothyroxine ahead of TKI treatment show increased levothyroxine requirements. TKIs should not be discontinued because of onset of thyroid dysfunction. Treatment is symptomatic in case of thyrotoxicosis, and levothyroxine replacement therapy is initiated in case of symptomatic hypothyroidism or TSH > 10 mIU/L. During TKI treatment, TSH should be assayed monthly, or at end of off-period (i.e., day 1 of new cycle after interruption), for the first 6 months, then every 2–3 months or in case of clinical signs of dysthyroidism. In patients already treated for hypothyroidism, TSH should be assayed monthly for 3 months, then every 3 months throughout treatment. At TKI termination, remission of hypothyroidism is possible but unpredictable, and progressive discontinuation of levothyroxine may be considered under monitoring. Teamwork between oncologists and endocrinologists improves screening and treatment of thyroid dysfunction, enabling the patient to be better accompanied during treatment.     

Development of the decision tree model for distinguishing individuals of Chinese four surnames from Zhanjiang Han population based on Y-STR haplotypes

Co-separation studies between surnames and Y chromosome genetic markers are beneficial to revealing population migrations, surname origins, population formation histories and forensic familial searching. Genetic distributions of 27 Y-STRs in Chinese four surnames (Li, Lin, Chen and Huang) from Zhanjiang Han population were investigated. Meanwhile, we tried to develop a decision tree model for surname predictions based on Y-STR haplotypes. Allelic frequencies of 27 Y-STRs showed that unique alleles were only observed in a certain surname; besides, some alleles displayed higher frequencies in a certain surname than those in other surnames, implying these alleles might be employed as the useful indicators for surname predictions. Haplotype match probability values of 27 Y-STRs in these surnames revealed that the system could be used as a valuable tool for forensic male identification. The developed decision tree model performed well for the training set with the accuracy of 0.9860 and obtained the relatively high accuracy (>0.70) for surname predictions of the testing set. To sum up, we explored the power of the machine learning to the surname predictions based on obtained Y-STR haplotypes, which showed promising application values in forensic familial searching.     

索拉菲尼治疗进展期原发性肝癌患者有效性及安全性研究*

目的 探讨应用索拉菲尼治疗进展期原发性肝癌(aPLC)患者的有效性和安全性。方法 2013年4月~2016年12月我科诊治的aPLC患者82例,采用随机数字表法分为两组,每组41例。两组均给予射频消融术（RFA）治疗,观察组患者在RFA前后接受索拉菲尼治疗,观察12 w。采用ELISA法检测血清碱性成纤维细胞生长因子（bFGF）和血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）。结果 2例观察组患者被剔除,3例对照组患者失访;在治疗12 w末,观察组疾病控制率为61.5%,与对照组的52.6%比,差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）,但观察组肿瘤客观有效率为48.7%,显著高于对照组的26.3%,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）;观察组血清AFP、bFGF和VEGF水平分别为（184.7±10.5）μg/L、（3.8±1.3） pg/mL和（172.3±25.4） pg/mL,均显著低于对照组的（213.6±11.6） μg/L、（6.4±2.0） pg/mL和（210.5±28.3） pg/mL,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）;观察组中位无进展生存期（PFS）为10.2个月（95%CI为7.4~11.5）,对照组为7.9个月（95%CI为 6.0~10.1）,经Log-rank检验显示两组差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）;观察组在服药过程中手足综合征、皮疹、白细胞减少、口腔黏膜炎、脱发和肝功能异常发生率分别为43.6%、25.6%、17.9%、20.5%、25.6%和23.1%,显著高于对照组的0.0%、2.6%、0.0%、0.0%、0.0%和5.3%,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。结论 索拉菲尼可控制aPLC患者实体瘤扩散,延长无进展生存期,但索拉菲尼可引起多种不良反应,在用药过程中应注意观察并及时采取相应处理措施,以防止发生严重不良反应。     

Glucagon-modified Liposomes Delivering Thyroid Hormone for Anti-obesity Therapy

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Splenic Kaposi’s sarcoma in a human immunodeficiency virus-negative patient: A case report

BACKGROUNDKaposi’s sarcoma (KS) is a malignancy that usually affects the skin of the lower extremities, and may involve internal organs. It originates from the vascular endothelium. It is well known that the development of KS is associated with human herpes virus 8 (i.e. HHV8) infections. Sporadic KS cases have mainly been found in Africa. Isolated splenic KS in Asia has rarely been reported. We present here a case of KS primarily involving the spleen in a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative Chinese patient.CASE SUMMARYA 50-year-old male patient was admitted to hospital due to abdominal distension and discomfort, reduced food intake and weight loss. Medical examination revealed that the patient had moderate anemia, a low platelet count, slight fatty liver and a huge mass in the spleen. Spleen lymphoma was considered. An anti-HIV test was negative. The whole spleen was surgically excised. The final pathological diagnosis was nodular stage spleen KS, and the patient underwent total splenectomy. He recovered well and was discharged from hospital 12 d after surgery. Two weeks later, the patient developed liver metastasis and died within 1 mo after surgery.CONCLUSIONKS is difficult to diagnose and pathological examination is necessary. KS has a poor prognosis and should be diagnosed and treated early to improve survival.     

Alterations of serum cholinesterase in patients with gastric cancer

AIM:To understand the correlation of serum cholinesterase (CHE) activity with gastric cancer and to assess their clinical significance. METHODS:The velocity method was adopted to detect the activity of serum CHE in patients with gastric cancer and in patients with non-malignant tumor as controls. RESULTS:The serum CHE activity in the treatment group was significantly lower than that in the control group with a very significant difference between the two groups (83.3:113.1,P=0.0003). Age was significantly associated with the incidence of gastric caner. CONCLUSION:Serum CHE activity has a close relation with the incidence of gastric cancer.