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Sarcopenia is observed to have age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass, muscle strength and physical performance, which can be an effective prognostic indicator for postoperative complications and poor survival outcomes in tumor patients. Sarcopenia could reflect tumor-host interactions and has the advantages in accuracy and generality compared with traditional predictors. This paper reviews the research progress of sarcopenia in predicting the prognosis of genitourinary tumors.
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Objective:To compare clinical features of patients with pyogenic liver abscesses with and without septated lobulations.Methods:Patients diagnosed to have pyogenic liver abscesses who were treated in our hospital from January 2011 to March 2021 were enrolled into this retrospective study. There were 203 males and 132 females, with age of (56±14) years old. The patients were divided into two groups by findings on computed tomography and ultrasound into the septated lobulation group ( n=68) and the non-septated lobulation group ( n=267). The clinical data of these patients were compared. Results:In the septated lobulation group, the neutrophil count was 9.17(5.97, 12.33)×10 9/L and the TBil was 17.65(11.92, 27.84) μmol/L. These were significantly higher than the corresponding figures of 7.81(5.42, 10.81)×10 9/L, 12.90(9.00, 19.68) μmol/L, respectively in the non-septated lobulation group ( P<0.05). The difference in the maximum diameters of the septated lobulation group was also significantly larger than the non-septated lobulation group ( P=0.032). Additionally, pus culture showed the proportion of Klebsiella pneumoniae positive patients in the septated lobulation group was significantly higher than that in the non-septated lobulation group [41.18% (28/68) vs. 25.84% (69/267), P=0.013]. The use of fluoroquinolones in patients in the septated lobulation group was higher than that in the non-septated lobulation group [20.59% (14/68) vs. 10.11% (27/267), χ 2=5.54, P=0.019]. Conclusion:Compared to patients without septated lobulations, those with septated lobulations had a larger diameter of abscesses, a higher positive rate of Klebsiella pneumoniae on pus culture and a higher proportion of patients receiving fluoroquinolones.
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Objective MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the chemoradiotherapy efficacy of rectal cancer (RC).This study aimed to screen the chemoradiotherapy-associated microRNAs and their target genes of RC through bioinformatics approaches in order to promote the fundamental study of RC chemoradiotherapy.Methods The chemoradiotherapy-associated microRNAs were manually searched through the published papers via PubMed and its target genes were identified by comprehensively analyzing these public data of microRNA-mRNA and gene expression profiles.Both gene ontology (GO) and pathway analysis of the target genes were performed by DAVID and IPA programs,respectively.Results A total of 38 microRNAs were collected from PubMed,and 3 545 putative target genes were inferred from the integrated microRNA-mRNA associations,among them,131 were differentially expressed (DE) (P ＜ 0.05) in the selected gene expression profile (GSE35452).The GO and pathway enrichment analyses indicated that the DE genes were closely involved in the responses of chemoradiotherapy of RC.Conclusions These microRNAs and their regulated DE genes may contribute to the molecular mechanism of the differential efficacy of RC chemoradiotherapy,which may provide a theoretical reference for predicting the response of RC to chemoradiotherapy.
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Objective To evaluate the value of detecting chlorophyll related genes of plankton in the diagnosis of drowning. MethodsEighteen rabbits were divided randomly into three groups: death by drowning (n=10), postmortem submersion (n=6) and control (n=2). The heart blood, lung, liver, kidney and brain tissues were taken from every rabbit. After isolated plankton from tissues with percoll and extracted their DNA, the chlorophyll-related genes, including EG (EG1 and EG2) and SK (SK1 and SK2), were detected using PCR technique. Meanwhile, diatom test was also performed from lung and liver tissues by nitric acid digestion method. ResultsFor the drowning group, the specific amplification products for EG1 were detected from 9 samples in heart blood, 10 samples in lung, 9 samples in liver, 7 samples in kidney and 8 samples in brain. The products for EG2 were detected from 8 samples, 10 samples, 7 samples, 5 samples and 7 samples accordingly. There were a small number of positives in heart blood, lung and kidney with SK1 and SK2 (≤2). For the postmortem submersion group, only one case was positive from heart blood and lung tissue respectively for EG1. No amplified product was detected for EG1 and EG2 in various tissues in control group, and also no product was detected for SK1and SK2 in other groups. In addition, diatoms were detected from 9 lung and 3 liver tissues in drowning group with the nitric acid digestion, and only one sample of lung was positive in the postmortem submersion group. ConclusionThe detection rate of the chlorophyll-related gene EG with PCR method was higher than that of diatom with nitric acid digestion method in drowning victims, and it can be used as a potentially useful tool for diagnosing drowning.