Systemic Inflammatory Biomarkers, Especially Fibrinogen to Albumin Ratio, Predict Prognosis in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer / Journal of the Korean Cancer Association, 대한암학회지

Purpose@#Systemic inflammatory response is a critical factor that promotes the initiation and metastasis of malignancies including pancreatic cancer (PC). This study was designed to determine and compare the prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), and fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio (FAR) in resectable PC and locally advanced or metastatic PC. @*Materials and Methods@#Three hundred fifty-three patients with resectable PC and 807 patients with locally advan-ced or metastatic PC were recruited in this study. These patients were classified into a training set (n=758) and a validation set (n=402). Kaplan-Meier survival plots and Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to analyze prognosis. @*Results@#Overall survival (OS) was significantly better for patients with resectable PC with low preoperative PLR (p=0.048) and MLR (p=0.027). Low FAR, MLR, NLR (p < 0.001), and PLR (p=0.003) were significantly associated with decreased risk of death for locally advanced or metastatic PC patients. FAR (hazard ratio [HR], 1.522; 95% confidential interval [CI], 1.261 to 1.837; p < 0.001) and MLR (HR, 1.248; 95% CI, 1.017 to 1.532; p=0.034) were independent prognostic factors for locally advanced or metastatic PC. @*Conclusion@#The prognostic roles of FAR, MLR, NLR, and PLR in resectable PC and locally advanced or metastatic PC were different. FAR showed the most prognostic power in locally advanced or metastatic PC. Low FAR was positively correlated with OS in locally advanced or metastatic PC, which could be used to predict the prognosis.

Nursing Grading Evaluation System for Patients with Stroke at Home: Construction, Validity and Reliability / 中国康复理论与实践

Objective:To construct a nursing grading evaluation indicator system for patients with stroke at home to provide a basis for graded care. Methods:Based on literature analysis, qualitative interviews and panel meeting, an evaluation indicator system was preliminarily drafted. June to September, 2018, the indicator system was consulted to experts three times. It was used to evaluate 210 patients with stroke at home from September to December, 2018 to test its reliability and validity. Results:The effective recovery rates of the three times of consultation were 85.00%, 89.47% and 100%, and the authority coefficient were 0.878, 0.879 and 0.879. The indicator system included four first-level indicators, 30 second-level indicators and 120 items. The scale-level content validity index (CVI) universal agreement was 0.733, average CVI was 0.927; the item-level CVIs were 0.83 to 1.00. For the overall level, the Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.928, and the Guttman Spilt half-factor coefficient was 0.794. For the dimensions, the Cronbach's α coefficient and the Guttman Spilt half-factor coefficients were all above 0.700. The correlated coefficients inter-evaluator of each indicators were 0.492 to 0.963 (P< 0.05). Conclusion:The nursing grading evaluation indicator system for patients with stroke at home is simple and operable, with satisfactory reliability and validity to grade the level of care for patients with stroke at home.

Choroidal thickness changes in macular area and facular area of patients with diabetic retinopathy after panretinal photocoagulation / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

AIM: To investigate the choroidal thickness changes in macular area and facular area of patients with diabetic retinopathy ( DR) after panretinal photocoagulation (PRP). METHODS: Totally 40 cases (78 eyes) of DR patients with PRP in our hospital from January 2015 to January 2017 were selected, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) was conducted for preoperative and postoperative choroidal thickness in macular area and facular area. RESULTS: At 1mo after PRP, the subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), nasal choroidal thickness (NCT), the temporal choroidal thickness (TCT), superior choroidal thickness (SCT),inferior choroidal thickness(ICT) were sharply higher than those before operation, the difference was statistically significant(t=2.016,t=2 017, t=2.001, t=2.264, t=2.229;P<0.05). SFCT,NCT,TCT, SCT and ICT at postoperative 3mo sharply decreased when compared to those before operation, showing statistical significance (t=2.048, t=2.051, t=2.092, t=2 010, t=2.273; P<0.05). Postoperative baseline level average choroidal thickness in facular area of 227. 6士44 9μ m was evidently higher than that at postoperative 1mo (207.1士41.6μ m),the difference had statistical points (t=2.118, P<0.05). The mean thickness at postoperative 3mo (206. 5士41. 3μ m) was apparently lower than the baseline level mean choroidal thickness 227.6士44.9μ m, the difference showed statistical significance(t=2.188,P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The choroid thickness at macular region rises obviously for short term after PRP, while that in facula area reduces markedly, which shows choroidal blood flow redistribution after operation.

A novel panel of serum miR-21/miR-155/miR-365 as a potential diagnostic biomarker for breast cancer

PURPOSE: Insufficient sensitivity and specificity prevent the use of most existing biomarkers for early detection of breast cancer. Recently, it was reported that serum microRNAs (miRNAs) may be potential biomarkers in many cancer diseases. In this study, we investigated whether serum levels of 5 miRNAs including miR-21, miR-125b, miR-145, miR-155, and miR-365 could discriminate breast cancer patients and healthy controls. METHODS: Serum levels of miRNAs were measured by using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in 99 breast cancer patients and 21 healthy controls. The abundance change of serum miRNAs were also evaluated following surgical resection in 20 breast cancer patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to assess the sensitivity and specificity of miRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers. RESULTS: Serum levels of miR-21 and miR-155 was significantly higher, while miR-365 was significantly lower in breast cancer as compared with healthy controls. The serum levels of miR-21 and miR-155 significantly decreased following surgical resection. Additionally, the serum level of miR-155 at stages I and II was significantly higher compared to stage III. The serum miR-145 level was remarkably higher in progesterone receptor (PR)-positive patients than PR-negative. The positivity of miR-21, miR-155, and miR-365 was high compared to CA 153 and CEA in breast cancer. ROC curve analyses of a combination of miR-21, miR-155, and miR-365 yielded much higher area under curve and enhanced sensitivity and specificity in comparison to each miRNA alone. CONCLUSION: The combination of serum miR-21/miR-155/miR-365 may potentially serve as a sensitive and specific biomarker that enables differentiation of breast cancer from healthy controls.

Effect of intracoronary injection with xuesaitong in treating post-PCI slow-reflow phenomenon in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the effect and safety of Xuesaitong (XST, a Panax Notoginseng extract preparation) via intracoronary injection for treating post-PCI slow-reflow phenomenon in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and its impact on patients' prognosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty-nine STEMI patients who suffered from post-PCI slow-reflow after received percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or stenting were assigned to two groups, 20 patients in the treated group and 19 in the control group. Intracoronary administering of 10 mL (0.5 mg) tirofiban and 400 mg XST were given to the treated group through guiding catheter, and followed with 36 h continuous intravenous dripping of tirofiban 10 mL/h and 400 mg XST in 250 mL of saline for dripping, while to the control group, the same intracoronary administering and intravenous dripping of tirofiban but without XST was given. The treatment was implemented for two days. Patients' coronary flow was assessed by the TIMI frame count method (TFC) at 1 min, 5 min and 10 min after injection; and the changes of ST-segment in 2 h, and incidence of bleeding in 48 h after medication were recorded. All patients were followed-up for 6 months to observe the incidence of cardiovascular events.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Before the medication, the TIMI flow grade and the TFC in the treated group and the control group showed insignificantly statistical difference between groups (P > 0.05). After medication, 11 patients (55%) in the treated group and 8 patients (42%) in the control group with their blood flow reaching TIMI grade 3; the TFC decreased at 1, 5 and 10 min to 57.6 +/- 12.6, 46.1 +/- 9.3, 49.8 +/- 10.9 in the treated group and to 69.3 +/- 16.1, 61.2 +/- 15.3, 63.7 +/- 18.3 in the control group; and the 2 h ST segment fallback in them was 1.85 +/- 0.31 mm and 1.40 +/- 0.21 mm respectively, showing that the coronary blood flow in both groups were improved significantly after medication but the improvement in the former was better than in the latter group (P < 0.05). No case of death occurred in the hospitalization period. Results of 6-month follow-up study showed that the incidence of major adverse cardiac events, including angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, heart failure and cardiac death, was 33% in treated group and 44% in the control group, showing insignificant difference between groups (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Concomitant coronary injection with tirofiban and XST is more effective than that with tirofiban alone in improving the coronary blood flow and shows no increasing on the incidence of hemorrhagic complication.</p>

Effect of fucoidan on proliferation and apoptosis of human breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7 / 肿瘤

Objective: To investigate the effects of fucoidan on proliferation and apoptosis of breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7 and the underlying mechanism. Methods: Cell viability was measured by MTF assay. Apoptosis was detected by Hoechst 33258 staining and agarose gel electrophoresis. The mRNA and protein expression of bcl-2 and bax were examined by RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Results: Fucoidan effectively inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 cells in a concentration-dependent manner (P <0.01). Fucoidan induced significant apoptosis of MCF-7 cells characterized by fragmented DNA ladder. Fucoidan down-regulated the expression of bcl-2 and up-regulated bax at mRNA and protein levels. The ratio of bcl-2 to bax decreased with the increase in the fucoidan concentrations (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Fucoidan inhibites the proliferation and induced the apoptosis of MCF-7 cells. The underlying mechanism may be related with down-regulation of anti-apoptotic protein bcl-2 and up-regulation of apoptotic protein bax.

Quantitative analysis of adenosine and cordycepin in Cordyceps sinensis and its substitutes with LC-MS-MS / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To develop a LC-MS-MS method for determination of adenosine and cordycepin in Cordyceps sinensis and it's substitutes.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The sawple was extracted with. 90% methanol. Multi-reactions monitoring (MRM) technique was adopted.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The regression equations and coefficients were Y = 89.04X + 506.85 (r = 0.999 7) for adenosine, Y = 99.66X + 1 251.34 (r = 0.998 8) for cordycepin respectively. The linear range was 5.0-1 000.0 microg x L(-1) for adenosine and cordycepin. The limits of detection (LOD) were 0. 44 microg x L(-1) for adenosine and 0.31 microg x L(-1) for cordycepin, respectively. The average recoveries of adenosine and cordycepin were 98.1% and 97.9%, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The method was highly sensitive, selective and fast, which can be used for the determination of adenosine and cordycepin in C. sinensis and it's substitutes. This method can also be applied for the quality control of the medicinal materials.</p>