Evaluation of the applicability of hospital-affiliated green spaces to patient recovery using the entropy weight method and grey relational analysis.

Introduction: Hospital affiliated green spaces can help patients recover and recover their physical functions, promote physical and mental relaxation, enhance health awareness, and improve overall health. However, there are still significant questions about how to scientifically construct hospital affiliated green spaces. This study examines the impact of hospital green spaces on patient rehabilitation through scientific evaluation methods, providing reference for the scientific construction of hospital affiliated green spaces. Applicability evaluation was conducted on the affiliated green spaces of three hospitals in Harbin. An evaluation system covering plants, space, accessibility, rehabilitation functions, and promotional and educational functions has been constructed. The entropy weight method is used to determine the weight of indicators, and the grey correlation analysis method is used to evaluate the suitability of green space for patient rehabilitation. Methods: The experimental results showed that the landscape accessibility index had the highest weight (0.3005) and the plant index had the lowest weight (0.1628), indicating that caring for special needs is the foundation of hospital landscapes, and plants have subtle and long-term effects on physical and mental health. In the evaluation of the rehabilitation applicability of the affiliated green spaces of various hospitals, the second hospital has the highest grey correlation degree (0.8525), followed by the tumor hospital (0.5306) and the fifth hospital (0.4846). It can be seen that the green space of the second hospital has high applicability for patient rehabilitation, but the green space of the tumor hospital and the fifth hospital needs to be improved and developed. Results and discussion: The evaluation criteria used in this study are comprehensive. The landscaping at the Third Hospital is well-planned with good plant configuration and reasonable spatial layout. However, there is insufficient consideration for accessibility in the landscape design, and the details are lacking. The rehabilitation and educational functions of the landscape are inadequate, with limited outdoor activities and low road safety. The hospital's affiliated green spaces should adhere to the principle of "appropriate scale, comprehensive functionality, and educational leisure," integrating rehabilitation and educational functions while increasing the variety of outdoor activities. In the future, emphasis should be placed on exploring the integration of landscape and rehabilitation to provide a functional site that is convenient for visiting, with improved rehabilitation facilities and an educational and enjoyable environment. The design should incorporate elements that contribute to a sense of well-being, including roads and.

Association between Gastrointestinal Dysfunction Score (GIDS) and disease severity and prognosis in critically ill patients: A prospective, observational study.

OBJECTIVES: Recently, the Gastrointestinal Dysfunction Score (GIDS) was developed for use with critically ill patients. This study evaluated the association of GIDS with disease severity and clinical outcomes to assess the technical feasibility of using GIDS to reflect the severity and short-term prognosis of critically ill patients. METHODS: Association between Gastrointestinal Dysfunction Score (GIDS) and disease severity and prognosis in critically ill patients: A prospective, observational study. This was a prospective observational study involving adult patients in two Intensive Care Units (ICUs). During the first seven days of ICU admission, GIDS, acute gastrointestinal injury (AGI), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II), and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores were assessed daily. RESULTS: A total of 276 patients from two centers were enrolled in this study. Patients were divided into GIDS 0-1 (121, 43.8%) and GIDS 2-4 (155, 56.2%). The ICU length of stay and 28-day mortality in the GIDS 2-4 group were significantly higher than the GIDS 0-1 group (P = 0.032, P = 0.001, respectively). The APACHE II and SOFA scores in the GIDS 2-4 group were also significantly higher (P < 0.001). The ROC curves of GIDS, AGI, APACHE II, and SOFA scores on the first day of ICU admission for the prediction of 28-day mortality showed that the AUC of GIDS was 0.702 (95%CI 0.628, 0.775; P < 0.001). The AUC for GIDS + SOFA was 0.719 (95%CI 0.648, 0.790; P < 0.001), compared with SOFA alone (AUC = 0.703), showing improved predictive power for 28-day mortality. CONCLUSIONS: GIDS represents a step toward a reliable clinical tool for GI dysfunction to assess disease severity and short-term prognosis in critically ill patients. In addition, combining GIDS with SOFA score may better predict mortality risk compared to SOFA score alone.

Effect of Electrical Impedance Tomography-Guided Early Mobilization in Patients After Major Upper Abdominal Surgery: Protocol for a Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Pulmonary complications are common in patients after upper abdominal surgery, resulting in poor clinical outcomes and increased costs of hospitalization. Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Guidelines strongly recommend early mobilization post-operatively; however, the quality of the evidence is poor, and indicators for quantifying the effectiveness of early mobilization are lacking. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of early mobilization in patients undergoing an upper abdominal surgery using electrical impedance tomography (EIT). Specifically, we will use EIT to assess and compare the lung ventilation distribution among various regions of interest (ROI) before and after mobilization in this patient population. Additionally, we will assess the temporal differences in the distribution of ventilation in various ROI during mobilization in an effort to develop personalized activity programs for this patient population. Methods: In this prospective, single-center cohort study, we aim to recruit 50 patients after upper abdominal surgery between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022. This study will use EIT to quantify the ventilation distribution among different ROI. On post-operative day 1, the nurses will assist the patient to sit on the chair beside the bed. Patient's heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, and ROI 1-4 will be recorded before the mobilization as baseline. These data will be recorded again at 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min after mobilization, and the changes in vital signs and ROI 1-4 values at each time point before and after mobilization will be compared. Ethics and Dissemination: The study protocol has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of Liaocheng Cardiac Hospital (2020036). The trial is registered at chictr.org.cn with identifier ChiCTR2100042877, registered on January 31, 2021. The results of the study will be presented at relevant national and international conferences and submitted to international peer-reviewed journals. There are no plans to communicate results specifically to participants. Important protocol modifications, such as changes to eligibility criteria, outcomes, or analyses, will be communicated to all relevant parties (including investigators, Institutional Review Board, trial participants, trial registries, journals, and regulators) as needed via email or in-person communication.

Effect of remimazolam besylate compared with propofol on the incidence of delirium after cardiac surgery: study protocol for a randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Delirium is an acute cognitive disorder that presents with fluctuation in cognition, apathy, and non-organized thinking, resulting in increased morbidity, mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and total healthcare costs. In patients undergoing cardiac surgery, delirium also increases the risk of postoperative complications, such as respiratory insufficiency, sternum instability, and need for re-operation of the sternum. This study aims to understand the incidence of delirium in patients after cardiac surgery in patients sedated with remimazolam besylate versus propofol. METHODS: In this prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled clinical trial, we aim to recruit 200 patients undergoing cardiac surgery between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021, who will be randomized to receive either remimazolam besylate or propofol infusions postoperatively, until they are extubated. The primary outcome is the incidence of delirium within 5 days after surgery. Secondary outcomes include the time of delirium onset, duration of delirium, ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, and mechanical ventilation time. DISCUSSION: The key objective of this study is to assess whether remimazolam besylate reduces the incidence of delirium in patients after cardiac surgery compared to propofol sedation. In this preliminary randomized controlled clinical trial, we will test the hypothesis that the use of remimazolam besylate lowers the incidence of delirium when compared to propofol in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. TRIAL REGISTRATION: chictr.org.cn ChiCTR2000038976. Registered on October 11, 2020.

Downregulation of LncRNA-XIST inhibited development of non-small cell lung cancer by activating miR-335/SOD2/ROS signal pathway mediated pyroptotic cell death.

LncRNA-XIST participated in the regulation of Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) progression, but the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. This study showed that LncRNA-XIST aberrantly overexpressed in either NSCLC tissues or cell lines comparing to their paired control groups. Knock-down of LncRNA-XIST promoted NSCLC cell apoptosis and inhibited cell proliferation, which were reversed by synergistically treating cells with pyroptosis inhibitor Necrosulfonamide (NSA). In addition, knock-down of LncRNA-XIST also promoted reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and NLRP3 inflammasome activation. In parallel, ROS scavenger N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) abrogated the effects of downregulated LncRNA-XIST on NSCLC cell pyroptosis. Furthermore, miR-335 was the downstream target of LncRNA-XIST and overexpressed LncRNA-XIST increased SOD2 expression levels by sponging miR-335. Mechanistically, miR-335 inhibitor reversed the effects of downregulated LncRNA-XIST on ROS levels and cell pyroptosis, which were abrogated by synergistically knocking down SOD2. Taken together, knock-down of LncRNA-XIST inhibited NSCLC progression by triggering miR-335/SOD2/ROS signal pathway mediated pyroptotic cell death.

GATA6-upregulating autophagy promotes TKI resistance in nonsmall cell lung cancer.

Autophagy plays a complicated role in tumorigenesis, and the effects of autophagy in drug resistance have not been fully known. The aim of this study was to evaluate autophagy activity in lung cancer cells derived from different origins and explore the mechanism regulating autophagy in tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) resistance. We found basal level of autophagy had no significant increase in resistant H1650 and H1975 cells compared with sensitive HCC827 and PC9 cells. After erlotinib treatment, the autophagy activity enhanced threefold in H1650 cells but a little in H1975 cells. Inhibiting autophagy with 3-MA increased apoptosis in H1650 rather than H1975 cells. Combined with transmission microscope, results showed PC9 cells tended to be apoptotic and more autophagosomes formed in H1650 cells, which may be correlated with cell viability. GATA6 expression was found markedly elevated in H1650 cells after erlotinib and knocking down GATA6 led to significantly reduced autophagy activity and cell viability. Furthermore, a significant increase of GATA6 and LC3-II expression was observed in insensitive tissues compared with sensitive ones by immunostaining in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. With chi-square test, we found GATA6 was positively correlated with LC3-II. The Kaplan-Meier curve analyses further showed patients with high GATA6 had lower overall survival and progression-free survival rates than those with low GATA6 after EGFR-TKI treatment. Our results suggest that GATA6 could enhance autophagy activity contributing to TKI resistance. Targeting GATA6 and autophagy together with TKI may be promising to overcome drug resistance in NSCLC.

Methylation of DACT2 contributes to the progression of breast cancer through activating WNT signaling pathway.

The activation of the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway has been demonstrated to play important roles in breast carcinogenesis and to be associated with a poorer prognosis in breast cancer patients. However, genetic mutation is not the major reason for Wnt/ß-catenin activation in breast cancer. Dishevelled-associated antagonist of ß-catenin homolog 2 (DACT2) is a negative regulator of ß-catenin and acts as a tumor suppressor in numerous cancer types; however, the expression change and potential role of DACT2 in breast cancer is unknown. The present study detected the expression and function of DACT2 in breast cancer progression. It was identified that the expression of DACT2 significantly decreased in breast cancer tissues compared with paired adjacent normal breast tissues. Additional investigation demonstrated that the hypermethylation of DACT2 gene promoter contributes to the loss of the gene in breast cancer. It was also demonstrated that DACT2 is a tumor suppressor in breast cancer and inhibits the proliferation and invasion of breast cancer cells by repressing the expression of ß-catenin target genes associated with tumor growth and metastasis. The present study indicates that the loss of DACT2 may contribute to breast cancer progression and provides a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of breast cancer.

Beclin 1 and LC3 as predictive biomarkers for metastatic colorectal carcinoma.

Autophagy is a highly conserved self-destructive process that disassembles dysfunctional or unnecessary cellular components. It plays an important role in cancer metastasis, which is of particular interest considering metastatic disease is the major cause of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) related mortality. Here, we investigated the immunohistochemical expression of autophagy-related protein Beclin 1 and Microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (LC3) within surgical CRC specimens, first in a training cohort (205 patients), then in an inner validation cohort (160 patients) and an independent cohort (161 patients). The expressions of Beclin 1 and LC3 were lower in metastatic CRC compared with non-metastatic CRC. Furthermore, we developed an autophagy-based classifier for metastatic prediction. This classifier, including Beclin 1, LC3 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level, resulted in 82.9% sensitivity and 89.8% specificity for metastatic detection in the training cohort. In the independent cohort, it achieved 77.9% sensitivity and 90.3% specificity in predicting the metastasis of CRC. These results suggested that low expression of Beclin 1 and LC3 contributed to a more aggressive cancer cell phenotype, and our autophagy-based classifier was a reliable tool for metastatic prediction in CRC.

Efficacy of epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors in combination with chemotherapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

The role of a combination of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) and chemotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been well established. To clarify this problem, we performed a meta-analysis with 15 studies identified from PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library. We found that the combined regimen had a significant benefit on progression-free survival (PFS) (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.80; 95% CI = 0.71-0.90; P < 0.001) and the objective response rate (ORR) (RR = 1.35; 95% CI = 1.14-1.59; P < 0.001). However, the combined regimen had no significant impact on overall survival (OS) (HR = 0.96; 95% CI = 0.90-1.03; P = 0.25). Subgroup analysis showed significantly higher OS advantages in EGFR mutation positive patients (P = 0.01), never smokers (P = 0.01), Asian patients (P = 0.02), patients receiving second-line treatment (P < 0.001), and those receiving a sequential combination of EGFR-TKIs and chemotherapy (P = 0.005). The combination regimen showed a higher incidence of grade 3-4 toxicities (leucopenia, neutropenia, febrile neutropenia, anemia, rash, fatigue and diarrhea). In summary, the combination of EGFR-TKIs plus chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC achieved a significantly longer PFS and a higher ORR but not longer OS. Well-designed prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Autophagy-based survival prognosis in human colorectal carcinoma.

The role of autophagy in cancers is controversial. Here we aim to determine the prognostic significance of autophagy in colorectal carcinoma patients, thereby allowing more rational development of therapeutic strategies. Through transmission electron microscopy, our data first demonstrated high frequency of defective mitochondria was strongly associated with poor overall survival in colorectal carcinoma. Next immunohistochemical study showed the expressions of Beclin 1, LC3B and Bcl-xL in both the center of tumor and adjacent noncancerous mucosal region were also correlated with overall survivals. We developed an autophagy signature for prognosis based on these three major autophagic proteins, further analysis suggested it was an independent prognostic biomarker and had its value even within single clinical stage. Combined TNM stage and this signature could significantly improve the accuracy of survival prognosis. To validate these immunohistochemical results, an internal testing cohort and an independent population were also included. Our findings suggest that autophagy plays an important role in the clinical cancer progression. Therefore autophagic proteins may be valuable prognostic biomarkers in the therapy of colorectal carcinoma and possibly other types of cancers.

Prognostic value of survivin and EGFR protein expression in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a particular type of breast cancer which is characterized by its biological aggressiveness, worse prognosis, and lack of prognostic markers or therapeutic targets in contrast with hormonal receptor-positive and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) breast cancers. We aimed to evaluate survivin and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and their prognostic value and determine their relationships with the clinicopathological parameters of TNBC. A total of 136 patients who had undergone a resection of primary TNBC were enrolled at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University from March 2003 to September 2005. Expression of ER, PR, HER2, EGFR, and survivin was assessed by immunohistochemistry. The association of TNBC and other clinicopathological variables and the prognostic value of survivin and EGFR expression were evaluated. Survivin was expressed in 62 (45.6 %) cases and EGFR was expressed in 82 (60.3 %) cases. Survivin expression was associated with menopausal status (P = 0.011), tumor size (P = 0.037), and lymph node status (P = 0.001). EGFR expression was associated with menopausal status (P = 0.029), lymph node status (P = 0.004), P53 expression (P = 0.001), Ki-67 expression (P = 0.028), and lymphatic vascular invasion (P = 0.037). A multivariate analysis demonstrated that tumor size (hazard ratio (HR) 1.587, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.081­2.330, P = 0.018 for disease-free survival (DFS); HR 1.606, 95%CI 1.096­2.354, P = 0.015 for overall survival (OS)), lymph node status (HR 2.873, 95%CI 1.544­5.344, P = 0.001 for DFS; HR 2.915, 95%CI 1.553­5.471, P = 0.001 for OS), tumor grade (HR 1.914, 95%CI 1.218­3.007, P = 0.005 for DFS; HR 1.983, 95%CI 1.228­3.203, P = 0.005 for OS), EGFR (HR 3.008, 95%CI 1.331­6.792, P = 0.008 for DFS; HR 3.151, 95%CI 1.374­7.226, P = 0.007 for OS), and survivin (HR 1.573, 95%CI 1.087­2.277, P = 0.016 for DFS; HR 1.607, 95%CI 1.088­2.374, P = 0.017 for OS) were of prognostic significance for disease-free and overall survival. We draw a conclusion from the present study that survivin and EGFR expression are useful prognostic markers of TNBC and might be useful for molecular targeting therapy of TNBC treatment.

Risk factors of recurrence in small-sized, node negative breast cancer in young women: a retrospective study in Chinese population.

We aimed to investigate risk factors of local and distant recurrence in small-sized, node negative breast cancer in women <35 years in a Chinese cohort. Between January 1994 and January 2007, 107 patients with pathologically confirmed small-sized ([Symbol: see text]1 cm), node negative breast cancer who did not receive neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy were included. The 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) was estimated according to different prognostic variables. With a median time of 60 months (range, 8-60 months) follow-up, local and distant recurrence were observed in 25 cases (23.4%). By univariate analysis, HER-2 positivity, triple negative (TN), and high Ki-67 index ([Symbol: see text]14%) were risk factors of a lower RFS (hazard ratio (HR) 6.680, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.350-18.985, P<0.0001 for HER-2 positive; HR 4.769, 95%CI 1.559-14.591, P=0.006 for TN; HR 6.030, 95%CI 2.659-13.674, P<0.0001 for high Ki-67 index). Patients with grade 3 tumors had a lower RFS (HR 2.922, 95%CI 1.096-7.791, P=0.032) compared with those with grade 1 or grade 2 tumors. By multivariate analysis, HER-2 positivity (HR 10.204, 95%CI 3.391-30.704, P<0.0001), TN (HR 10.521, 95% CI 3.152-35.113, P<0.0001) and high Ki-67 index (HR 10.820, 95%CI 4.338-27.002, P<0.0001) remained risk factors of RFS. In this cohort, HER-2 positivity, triple negative and high Ki-67 index were independent risk factors of RFS in young patients with T1a,bN0 breast cancer. Subsequent pregnancy did not affect RFS.

High expression of LC3B is associated with progression and poor outcome in triple-negative breast cancer.

Microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3B (LC3B) was involved in autophagosome formation and had been as a marker of autophagy which played an important role in the development of breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to explore the level of LC3B expression in four stages of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and to evaluate the prognostic significance of LC3B expression in TNBC. The ultimate aim was to identify the new factor that could be useful in predicting clinical behavior of TNBC. We evaluated the expression level of LC3B protein in four kinds of TNBC tissue samples, including intraductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) without metastases, IDC with lymph node metastases (LNM), and IDC with distant metastases (DM). Hundred and four primary TNBC patients were involved in present study, and the expression level of LC3B protein was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Medical records of these patients were reviewed, and the clinicopathological analysis was performed. High expression of LC3B was observed in 7.7 % of DCIS (1 of 13 cases), 16.2 % of IDC (6 of 37 cases), 35.7 % of LNM (15 of 42 cases), and 58.3 % of DM (7 of 12 cases). LC3B high expression was significantly associated with tumor size (P = 0.028), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.002), and Ki-67 expression (P = 0.047). LC3B high expression patients showed poorer DFS and OS rates compared with LC3B low expression patients (P = 0.024, and P = 0.047, respectively). Multivariate analyses confirmed that high LC3B expression was an independent and significant factor for predicting the poor outcome of TNBC patients. These preliminary results demonstrated that high LC3B expression was associated with lymph node and distant metastasis. Furthermore, high LC3B protein expression was correlated with shorter survival in patients with triple-negative breast carcinoma. These findings provided preliminary evidence for the function of LC3B on the progression of TNBC and suggested LC3B was a useful marker in prognostic evaluation for patients with TNBC.

The first case of omental metastasis from primary choroidal melanoma.

Choroidal melanoma is the most common intraocular malignancy and can be fatal in half of the patients because of metastatic disease. Metastasis of choroidal melanoma to the omentum is extremely rare and, to our knowledge, no such case has ever been described in the literature. Here we present a 41-year-old Chinese man with an omental metastasis, 5 years after he was diagnosed with a spindle-cell-type malignant melanoma of the choroid and had his left eye enucleated. The patient demonstrated some uncommon symptoms, but the diagnosis was confirmed histopathologically. The cells were positive for S-100, HMB-45 and Melan-A proteins. He underwent a complete tumor resection and concomitantly received chemotherapy, biological treatment and traditional Chinese medicine. At 2-year follow-up, this patient continues to do well.

Effects of microvascular density on primary pulmonary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (PPL).

This study aims to analyze 30 cases of primary pulmonary lymphoma (PPL) including treatment as well as follow-up information during the past 10 years and to investigate the correlation between microvessel density (MVD) and survival in patients with PPL. We reviewed all patients from October 2000 to October 2010. Patient demographics such as survival, recurrence, time to follow-up, and treatment mode were recorded. We also assessed MVD in the pretreated pulmonary lymphoma tissues of 30 previously untreated patients using α-CD34 immunohistochemical staining. The median age of the 30 patients was 46.9 years. With a median follow-up of 4.3 years (range, 2 to 10 years), the 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 57 % and progression-free survival (PFS) was 44 %. High MVD, elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and B symptoms was significantly correlated with clinical features and shorter PFS (P(MVD) = 0.021, P(LDH) = 0.023, and P(B symptoms) = 0.005) and OS (P(MVD) = 0.028, P(LDH) = 0.032, and P(B symptoms) = 0.001). Application of surgical treatment improved the PFS (P = 0.024) and OS(P = 0.028) of patients with stage IE disease (patients who were nodal negative). The patient's stage predicted the outcome and guides the use of treatments. Patients with high MVD measured in the microenvironment had worse PFS/OS than those with low MVD expression. Patients who had B symptoms or elevated serum LDH had poor prognosis. Patients with lymph node involvement (stage IIE or greater) had poor prognosis.

The prognostic role of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detected by RT-PCR in breast cancer: a meta-analysis of published literature.

The prognostic significance of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with breast cancer is controversial. We performed a meta-analysis of published literature to assess whether the detection of CTCs in patients diagnosed with primary breast cancer can be used as a prognostic factor. We searched Medline, Science Citation Index, and Embase databases as well as reference lists of relevant articles (including review articles) for studies that assessed the prognostic relevance of tumor cell detection in the peripheral blood (PB). A total of 24 eligible studies with 4,013 cases and 1,333 controls were included. Meta-analyses were performed using a random-effects model, using the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) as effect measures. The positive detection of CTCs in patients was significantly associated with poor overall survival (OS) (HR = 3.00 [95% CI 2.29-3.94], n = 17, P < 0.0001) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) (HR = 2.67 [95% CI 2.09-3.42], n = 22, P < 0.0001). CTC-positive breast cancers were significantly associated with high histological grade (HR = 1.21 [95% CI 1.09-1.35], n = 34, P < 0.0001), tumor size (>2 cm) (HR = 1.12 [95% CI 1.02-1.22], n = 31, P = 0.01). and nodal status (≥1) (HR = 1.10 [95% CI 1.00-1.21], n = 32, P = 0.037), but cytokeratin-19 (CK-19) mRNA-positive CTCs were not associated with these clinicopathological parameters of breast cancer. Furthermore, the presence of CTCs was not associated with estrogen receptor (ER) negativity, progesterone receptor (PR) negativity, or human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2) positivity. Detection of CTCs in the PB indicates poor prognosis in patients with primary breast cancer. Larger clinical studies are required to further evaluate the role of these markers in clinical practice.

[Expressions and clinical implications of kruppel-like factor 6 and APC in human colorectal carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expressions and clinical implications of kruppel-like factor 6(KLF-6) and APC in human colorectal carcinoma. METHODS: The expressions of KLF-6 and APC in tumor and normal tissues from 32 patients with colorectal carcinoma were investigated by RT-PCR and immunohistochemical technique. RESULTS: The expression rates of KLF-6 and APC mRNA were 37.5% and 34.3% in tumor tissue, 96.9% and 93.8% respectively in normal tissues (both P< 0.05). The expression rates of KLF-6 and APC protein were 28.1% and 25.0% in colorectal carcinomas, 81.3% and 84.43% respectively in normal tissues (both P< 0.05). There was a significant correlation between the expressions of KLF-6 and APC in colorectal carcinomas (P < 0.05). The expressions of KLF-6 and APC were significantly correlated with tumor differentiation, depth of infiltration, lymph node metastasis and clinical stage (P< 0.05). CONCLUSION: Down-regulations of KLF-6 and APC might play an important role in the carcinogenesis, development, metastasis of human colorectal carcinoma.