Novel molecular typing reveals the risk of recurrence in patients with early-stage papillary thyroid cancer.

BACKGROUND: Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is an indolent disease with a favorable prognosis but characterized by a high recurrence rate. We aimed to improve precise stratification of recurrence risk in PTC patients with early stage using multi-gene signatures. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The present study was performed using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and multi-center datasets. Unsupervised consensus clustering was used to obtain the optimal molecular subtypes and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analysis was performed to identify potential genes for the construction of recurrence signature. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and the log-rank test was used to detect survival differences. Harrells concordance index (C-index) was used to assess the performance of the DNA damage repair (DDR) recurrence signature. RESULTS: Through screening 8 candidate gene sets, the entire cohort was successfully stratified into two recurrence-related molecular subtypes based on DDR genes: DDR-high subtype and DDR-low subtype. The recurrence rate of DDR-high subtype was significantly lower than DDR-low subtype [HR = 0.288 (95%CI, 0.084-0.986), P = 0.047]. Further, a two-gene DDR recurrence signature was constructed, including PER1 and EME2. The high-risk group showed a significantly worse recurrence-free survival (RFS) than the low-risk group [HR = 10.647 (95%CI, 1.363-83.197), P = 0.024]. The multi-center data demonstrated that proportion of patients with low expression of PER1 and EME2 was higher in the recurrence group than those in the non-recurrence group. CONCLUSIONS: These findings could help accurately and reliably identify PTC patients with high risk of recurrence so that they could receive more radical and aggressive treatment strategies and more rigorous surveillance practices.

Synergistic and capacitance effects in nanocarbon based capacitor batteries designed for superior rate capability and long-cycle stability.

Existing lithium-ion batteries struggle to achieve high-rate discharge stability. To address this problem, this study combines resin-based carbon nanospheres with a double electric layer effect and cathode materials with lithium-ion intercalation/delithiation behavior to form a LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2/resin-based carbon-sphere hybrid electrode. For further improvement in electron contact and tap density, the size of the carbon nanospheres was controlled by changing the synthetic parameters, and a size-matched spatial structure model of each component within the hybrid electrode was constructed. Considering the excellent rate capability of small-sized hard carbon, hard-carbon nanospheres derived from glucose were employed as the anode active material to assemble a capacitor battery. With the integration of characteristics of both lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors, the as-prepared new capacitor battery exhibited a specific capacity of 146.1 mAh/g at 0.1C and an energy density of 474.5 Wh/kg on the cathode active material mass, a reversible capacity of 113.2 mAh/g at 1C after 200 cycles with retention of 85.3%, and the capacity remained at 82 mAh/g even at a high current rate of 10C. These results offer insights into the design of energy storage devices with excellent cycling stability and rate capability.

Prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Previous studies have established an association between primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC). The disease burden of IBD in PSC patients was not well estimated. The study aimed to quantify the pooled prevalence of IBD in PSC and to investigate whether subtypes of PSC and sex influence the prevalence of IBD. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were searched through November 2021 for studies reporting data on IBD among PSC patients. The outcomes were the prevalence of IBD in patients with PSC, as well as the association (odds ratio [OR]) of IBD in PSC according to subtype and sex. RESULTS: Based on the analysis of 25 studies, the prevalence of IBD in patients with PSC was 71.1% (95% CI 68.2-75.1%), most commonly in UC (55.9%, 95% CI 52.5-59.3%). The pooled prevalence of IBD was 76.9% in Australia (95% CI 71.2-82.6%, 1 study), 75.9% (95% CI 69.5-82.3%, 4 studies) in North America, 70.9% (95% CI 65.8-76.0%, 17 studies) in Europe and 67.0% (95% CI 57.9-76.0%, 2 studies) in Asia. Male PSC patients had a higher prevalence of IBD (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.52-1.83) and UC (OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.56-2.63) and a lower prevalence of CD (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.67-0.88) than female patients. Large duct PSC patients had a higher prevalence of IBD (OR 2.57, 95% CI 2.03-3.25) and UC (OR 4.51, 95% CI 1.22-16.71) than small duct PSC patients. CONCLUSIONS: The study provided the first pooled estimates of the burden of IBD in patients with PSC and could be used as the basis for risk stratification of PSC patients.

S-adenosylmethionine induces apoptosis and cycle arrest of gallbladder carcinoma cells by suppression of JAK2/STAT3 pathways.

S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) is a naturally occurring physiologic molecule found ubiquitously in all mammalian cells and an essential compound in many metabolic pathways. It has been reported to possess many pharmacological properties including cancer-preventive and anticancer effects. However, the precise molecular mechanism involved in its anticancer effect is not yet clear. The present study is conducted to investigate the anticancer activity and the underlying mechanisms of SAM on human gallbladder cancer cells (GBC-SD and SGC-996) in vitro and in vivo. Cells were dealt with SAM and subjected to cell viability, colony formation, Hoechst staining, apoptosis, cycle arrest, western blot, and xenograft tumorigenicity assay. Experimental results showed that SAM could significantly inhibit the growth and proliferation and induce the apoptosis as well as cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase of GBC-SD and SGC-996 cells in a dose-dependent manner in vitro. The expression levels of p-JAK2, p-STAT3, Mcl-1, and Bcl-XL were significantly downregulated. In addition, inhibition of the JAK2/STAT3 pathway significantly enhanced the anti-apoptotic effect of SAM, suggesting the key roles of JAK2/STAT3 in the process. More importantly, our in vivo studies demonstrated that administration of SAM could significantly decrease the tumor weight and volume and immunohistochemistry analysis proved the downregulation of p-JAK2 and p-STAT3 in tumor tissues following SAM treatment, consistent with our in vitro results. In summary, our findings indicated that SAM can inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis as well as cycle arrest of GBC cells by suppression of JAK2/STAT3 pathways and the dramatic effects of SAM hinting that SAM might be a useful therapeutic option for patients suffering from gallbladder cancer.

Investigation of Penetration Performance of Zr-based Amorphous Alloy Liner Compared with Copper.

Zr-based amorphous alloy is a new type of metastable energetic material, which has been exploringly used to design shaped charge (SC) liners by scholars of the military industry. In order to know well how the stand-off distance influences jet penetration performance of liners made by such energetic materials against metal targets, SC static explosion tests were conducted under the same initiation and target conditions but different stand-off distances compared with copper liners. Test results indicate that the jet depth of penetration (DOP) of Zr-based amorphous alloy liners firstly increases slowly and then decreases sharply as the stand-off becomes larger. The optimum stand-off distance is 3.5 times of charge diameter (CD) and the corresponding maximum DOP is about 2.68 CD against the 45# steel plate. The perforation area varies with the stand-off distance. It reaches the maximum when the stand-off is 3.5 CD and the corresponding perforation diameter is about 42mm, also the penetration hole is nearly circular. The jet DOP of Zr-based amorphous alloy liner is smaller than that of copper liner's while the perforation area is the opposite. The former DOP is about 55.7% of the latter and the former perforation area is about 2.8 times of latter when the stand-off distance is 3.5 CD.

Comparison of the breast and areola approaches for endoscopic thyroidectomy in patients with microcarcinoma.

The safety, advantages and disadvantages of thyroidectomy for microcarcinoma through the areola approach and breast approach were compared. Fifty patients diagnosed with thyroid microcarcinoma in our department from January 2014 to June 2015 were selected. The areola approach was carried out for 21 patients whereas the breast approach for 29 patients. Endoscopic thyroid lobectomy, isthmus resection and dissection of central group lymph nodes was performed. The clinical outcomes of the two surgical approaches were compared. Comparing operating time, blood loss during surgery, number of lymph node dissections, postoperative hospitalization time and surgical complications between the surgical approaches, there were no significant differences (P>0.05). Comparing patient satisfaction of cosmetic results from the incisions, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Endoscopic thyroidectomy via areola approach and breast approach have equal curative effects for the treatment of thyroid microcarcinoma. However, the areola approach can achieve better cosmetic results and is a safe and ideal surgical method, that we recommend be widely used.

Adjunctive with versus without intravitreal bevacizumab injection before Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation in the treatment of neovascular glaucoma.

BACKGROUND: Neovascular glaucoma (NVG) is a refractory disease which is difficult to manage. This study aimed at evaluating the efficacy and safety of adjunctive intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injection in conjunction with Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation (AGVI) in the management of NVG. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of patients with NVG in whom AGVI was performed between October 2008 and May 2012. The sample was divided into two groups according to the pretreatment: with adjunctive IVB injection (the IVB group, n = 25 eyes) and without adjunctive IVB injection (the control group, n = 28 eyes). The surgical success rate, number of antiglaucoma medications used, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), postoperative complications, regression, and recurrence of iris neovascularization (NVI) were analyzed between the groups. RESULTS: The surgical outcomes of the two groups were compared. The complete success rates in the IVB and control groups were 84.0% and 64.3% at 12 months and 80.0% and 53.6% at 18 months, respectively. There was a significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.041). Mean postoperative intraocular pressures, mean number of postoperative antiglaucoma medications, and BCVA were not significant between the two groups. The NVI in 22 (88.0%) eyes had completely regressed within 2 - 8 days after IVB. However, NVI recurred in 10 eyes (40.0%) 2 - 9 months later after IVB. The IVB group had only 1 case (4.0%) of hyphema out of 25 eyes, while there were 8 (28.6%) cases of hyphema out of 28 eyes in the control group (P = 0.026). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that preoperative IVB injection reduced NVI remarkably, decreased hyphema, and led to higher surgical success rates. Pre-operative IVB injection may be an effective adjunct to AGVI in the management of NVG.