The prognostic value of an immune-related gene signature and infiltrating tumor immune cells based on bioinformatics analysis in primary esophageal cancer

BackgroundImmunotherapy is a promising novel treatment for esophageal cancer (ESCA). However, previous studies provide limited direct information about the prognostic significance of immune-related genes (IRGs) in primary ESCA development. This study explored the prognostic value of IRGs and infiltrating tumor immune cells in primary ESCA.MethodsThe ribonucleic acid (RNA)-sequencing data and clinical information of primary ESCA were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Which included the clinical factors and prognosis outcomes of the ESCA patients. The IRGs were downloaded from the ImmPORT database.ResultsWe established the robust IRG prognostic signature of 4 IRGs (i.e., heat shock protein family A member 6, Oncostatin M, androgen receptor, and nuclear receptor subfamily 2 group F member 2) in primary ESCA, and divided the ESCA patients into high- and low-risk groups based on overall survival (OS). The Kaplan-Meier curves showed the high predictive ability of the prognostic signature in the training, testing, and full data sets (P=2.407e-03, P=1.044e-02, and P=2.535e-04, respectively). Multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed with age, grade, tumor stage, tumor type and the risk score as covariables. The risk score supports the use of a prognostic signature as an independent prognostic factor [training data set: hazard ratio (HR) =1.185, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.013–1.388, P=0.034; testing data set: HR =2.056, 95% CI: 1.015–4.166, P=0.045; full data set: HR =1.197, 95% CI: 1.059–1.354, P=0.004]. The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve validated the high predictive accuracy of the IRG signature in the training, testing, and full data set (AUCs =0.808, 0.657, and 0.751, respectively). The infiltration level of the activated mast cells was significantly higher in the high-risk group than the low-risk group; thus, infiltrating mast cells are associated with worse OS in ESCA patients.ConclusionsOur IRG prognostic signature provides a new direction to predict the survival of primary ESCA patients and has the potential ability to establish, promote, and improve personalized treatment procedures based on each patient’s risk.     

阿米替林联合喹硫平对双向情感障碍患者的疗效及对TBIL和脑源性神经营养因子水平的影响

目的 探究阿米替林联合喹硫平对双向情感障碍患者的治疗效果及对总胆红素(TBIL)、脑源性神经营养因子(BDNF)水平的影响.方法 选取接受治疗的双向情感障碍患者100例,随机分为喹硫平组、联合组各50例.喹硫平组使用喹硫平进行治疗,联合组使用阿米替林联合喹硫平进行治疗.测试临床总体印象疾病严重度量表-双相障碍版(CGI...     

Acupuncture and massage combined with rehabilitation therapy for hemiplegia after stroke: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture and massage combined with rehabilitation in the treatment of hemiplegia after stroke.Methods:To collect relevant literature, we will research following databases: Medicine, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan-Fang Database, Chongqing VIP Chinese Science and Technology Periodicaols Database, and China Biomedical Database; the time is from its creation to May 2021, and the language is limited to Chinese and English. In addition, we will retrieve other literature resources, including the Chinese Clinical Trial Register and conference articles. Two reviewers will independently complete the literature screen and data extraction and quality assessment of the included studies will be independently completed by two other researchers. The primary outcomes included the Modified Ashworth scale and the simplified Fugl-Meyer Assessment scale. The Modified Barthel Index, the China Stroke Scale, and adverse reactions as secondary outcomes were assessed. RevMan V.5.4.1 software will be used for meta-analysis, and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) will be used to assess the quality of evidence.Results:This systematic review will provide a high-quality synthesis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture and massage combined with rehabilitation in the treatment of hemiplegia after stroke, providing a reference for the safe and effective treatment of hemiplegia after stroke.Conclusion:This study provides evidence that acupuncture and massage combined with rehabilitation therapy is effective.Ethics and dissemination:The protocol of the systematic review does not require ethical approval because it does not involve humans. This article will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at relevant conferences.Systematic review registration:INPLASY202210026.     

Flexible Manipulation of the Reflected Wavefront Using Acoustic Metasurface with Split Hollow Cuboid

This work proposes a method for actively constructing acoustic metasurface (AMS) based on the split hollow cuboid (SHC) structure of local resonance, with the designed AMS flexibly manipulating the direction of reflected acoustic waves at a given frequency range. The AMS was obtained by precisely adjusting any one or two types of structural parameters of the SHC unit, which included the diameter of the split hole, the length, width, height, and shell thickness of the SHC. The simulation results showed that the AMS can flexibly manipulate the direction of the reflected acoustic waves, and the anomalous reflection angle obeys the generalized Snell’s law. Furthermore, among the five structural parameters, the AMS’s response frequency band is widest with the hole diameter and height, followed by the length and width, and narrowest with the shell thickness. It is worth noting that comprehensive manipulation of two parameters not only broadens the response frequency band, but also strengthens the effect of the anomalous reflection at the same response frequency. The subwavelength size of the AMS constructed with such a comprehensive method has the advantages of a small size, wide response band, simple preparation, and flexible modulation, and can be widely used in various fields, such as medical imaging and underwater stealth.     

Point-of-Care Tests for Rapid Detection of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The timely and accurate diagnosis of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection is crucial to reduce the risk of viral transmission. Therefore, the objective of this review was to evaluate the overall diagnostic accuracy of rapid point-of-care tests (POCTs) for PEDV. Studies published before 7 January 2022 were identified by searching PubMed, EMBASE, Springer Link, and Web of Science databases, using subject headings or keywords related to point of care and rapid test diagnostic for PEDV and PED. Two investigators independently extracted data, rated risk of bias, and assessed the quality using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool. The bivariate model and the hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) model were used for performing the meta-analysis. Threshold effect, subgroup analysis, and meta-regression were applied to explore heterogeneity. Of the 2908 records identified, 24 eligible studies involving 3264 specimens were enrolled in the meta-analysis, including 11 studies on evaluation of lateral flow immunochromatography assay (ICA)-based, and 13 on nucleic acid isothermal amplification (NAIA)-based POCTs. The overall pooled sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were 0.95 (95% CI: 0.92–0.97), 0.96 (95% CI 0.88–0.99) and 480 (95% CI 111–2074), respectively; for ICA-based POCTs and the corresponding values for NAIA-based, POCTs were 0.97 (95% CI 0.94–0.99), 0.98 (95% CI 0.91–0.99) and 1517 (95% CI 290–7943), respectively. The two tests showed highly comparable and satisfactory diagnostic performance in clinical utility. These results support current recommendations for the use of rapid POC tests when PEDV is suspected.     

Effects of Chronic Exposure to Diets Containing Moldy Corn or Moldy Wheat Bran on Growth Performance,Ovarian Follicular Pool,and Oxidative Status of Gilts

Background: We investigated the effect of replacing normal corn (NC) or normal wheat bran (NW) with moldy corn (MC) or moldy wheat bran (MW) on growth, ovarian follicular reserves, and oxidative status. Methods: Sixty-three Landrace × Yorkshire gilts were assigned to seven diets formulated by using MC to replace 0% (control), 25% (25% MC), 50% (50% MC), 75% (75% MC), and 100% NC (100% MC), MW to replace 100% NW (100% MW), and MC and MW to replace 100% NC and 100% NW (100% MC + MW), from postnatal day 110 to day 19 of the second estrous cycle. Results: Feeding the gilts with MC or MW induced a lower average daily gain at days 29–56 of the experiment. Age at puberty remained unchanged, but MC inclusion resulted in a linear decrease in antral follicles with diameter >3.0 mm, and control gilts had a 12.7 more large antral follicles than gilts in the 100% MC + MW treatment. MC inclusion linearly decreased the numbers of primordial follicles, growing follicles, and corpora lutea, associated with a lower anti-Müllerian hormone level in serum and 17β-estradiol level in follicular fluid. MC inclusion decreased the serum concentrations of insulin-like growth factor 1 and its mRNA levels in the liver, combined with higher malondialdehyde concentration and lower total superoxide dismutase activities in serum and liver. Conclusion: Chronic exposure to MC-containing diets caused the loss of follicles, even if levels of deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, and aflatoxin B1 were below the levels allowed by China and Europe standards.     

Meta-analysis of the relationship between lymphovascular invasion and prognosis of patients with stage I gastric cancer

Lymphovascular invasion is considered to be a high-risk pathological feature after radical resection of gastric cancer, but the relationship between lymphovascular invasion and the prognosis of stage I gastric cancer is still controversial. Therefore, we used meta-analysis to systematically evaluate the relationship between lymphovascular invasion and the prognosis of stage I gastric cancer. Up to September 2, 2021, the databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CNKI, and Wanfang were searched. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 2 researchers independently completed the screening of literature, extraction of data, and quality evaluation. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software merged with HR and 95%CI. A total of 7508 patients with stage I gastric cancer were included in 9 studies, and the positive rate of lymphovascular invasion was 17%. Lymphovascular invasion was significantly associated with shorter overall survival (OS) (univariate: HR = 4.05, 95%CI: 1.91–8.58; multivariate: HR = 2.10, 95%CI: 1.37–3.22) and relapse-free survival (RFS) (univariate: HR = 4.79, 95%CI: 2.30–9.99; multiple: HR = 2.17, 95%CI: 1.56–3.00). This study indicates that lymphovascular invasion is an independent risk factor affecting the prognosis of patients with stage I gastric cancer, and can be used as a reference index for postoperative adjuvant therapy.