Effect of low skeletal muscle mass on long-term mortality after abdominal aortic aneurysm repair: A meta-analysis.

Objective: This meta-analysis was designed to assess if pre-operative low skeletal muscle mass impacts mortality rates of patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair. Methods: Datasets of PubMed, CENTRAL, ScienceDirect, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched from 1st January 1980 to 15th December 2021 for studies assessing the role of low skeletal muscle mass on mortality rates of AAA repair. Studies measuring skeletal muscle mass on computed tomography scans and reporting long-term mortality (>1 year) were included. Multivariable adjusted ratios were combined in a random-effects model. Results: Fifteen studies with 3776 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed a statistically significant increased risk of all-cause mortality in patients with low skeletal muscle mass (HR: 2.07 95% CI: 1.56, 2.74 I2=65% p<0.00001) as compared to normal muscle mass patients. Pooled data indicated that low skeletal muscle mass was associated with statistically significant increased risk of mortality in studies on endovascular repair (HR: 2.86 95% CI: 1.95, 4.20 I2=58% p<0.00001) as well as those including a mixed group of patients (HR: 1.39 95% CI: 1.06, 1.82 I2=31% p=0.02). Conclusion: Low skeletal muscle mass in AAA patients undergoing surgical repair is associated with increased risk of long-term mortality. Current evidence is limited by the retrospective nature of data and variability in defining and measuring low skeletal muscle mass. There is a need for future prospective studies defining the optimal cut-off of low skeletal muscle mass in different populations.

Effects of fast track surgery on perioperative recovery, stress indicators and swallowing function in patients with thyroid cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of fast track surgery (FTS) on perioperative recovery, stress indicators and swallowing function in patients with thyroid cancer. METHODS: One hundred and thirty patients with thyroid cancer admitted to Huzhou Central Hospital, Zhejiang University Huzhou Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Huzhou Normal University from January 2019 to December 2020 were retrospectively included as study subjects, and were divided into a control group (n = 63, conventional nursing) and a study group (n = 67, FTS). The perioperative recovery indicators, complications, stress response, and swallowing function were compared between the two groups. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the risk factors for accelerating postoperative recovery. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were observed in the scores of Kubota drinking test and Ichiro Fujishima rating scale (IFRS) between the two groups before intervention (P > 0.05). After nursing, the study group had lower scores of Kubota drinking test and higher scores of IFRS than the control group (P < 0.05). The time to drainage tube removal, time to first anal exhaust, time to first getting out of bed activity, length of hospitalization, and medical costs in the study group were lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The study group showed lower incidence of postoperative complications than the control group (8.96% vs. 28.57%, P < 0.05). The postoperative C-reactive protein, glucose, epinephrine, cortisol levels and numerical rating scale scores in the study group were lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that age was an important negative factor for accelerating postoperative recovery of patients with thyroid cancer, and the length of postoperative hospital stay increased significantly with age (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The intervention of FTS in the perioperative period for thyroid cancer patients can improve the swallowing function, shorten the recovery time and reduce the incidence of complications, which may be related to the improvement of the perioperative stress response of patients with FTS.

Interleukins and Ischemic Stroke.

Ischemic stroke after cerebral artery occlusion is one of the major causes of chronic disability worldwide. Interleukins (ILs) play a bidirectional role in ischemic stroke through information transmission, activation and regulation of immune cells, mediating the activation, multiplication and differentiation of T and B cells and in the inflammatory reaction. Crosstalk between different ILs in different immune cells also impact the outcome of ischemic stroke. This overview is aimed to roughly discuss the multiple roles of ILs after ischemic stroke. The roles of IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-9, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, IL-15, IL-16, IL-17, IL-18, IL-19, IL-21, IL-22, IL-23, IL-32, IL-33, IL-34, IL-37, and IL-38 in ischemic stroke were discussed in this review.

Identification of an IFN-ß-associated gene signature for the prediction of overall survival among glioblastoma patients.

BACKGROUND: Brain glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common primary malignant intracranial tumor. The prognosis of this disease is extremely poor. While the introduction of ß-interferon (IFN-ß) regimen in the treatment of gliomas has significantly improved the outcome of patients; The mechanism by which IFN-ß induces increased TMZ sensitivity has not been described. Therefore, the main objective of the study was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms responsible for the beneficial effect of IFNß in GBM. METHODS: Messenger RNA expression profiles and clinicopathological data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) GBM and GSE83300 dataset from the Gene Expression Omnibus. Univariate Cox regression analysis and lasso Cox regression model established a novel 4-gene IFN-ß signature (peroxiredoxin 1, Sec61 subunit beta, X-ray repair cross-complementing 5, and Bcl-2-like protein 2) for GBM prognosis prediction. Further, GBM samples (n=50) and normal brain tissues (n=50) were then used for real-time polymerase chain reaction experiments. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed to further understand the underlying molecular mechanisms. Pearson correlation was applied to calculate the correlation between the long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and IFN-ß-associated genes. An lncRNA with a correlation coefficient |R2|>0.3 and P<0.05 was considered to be an IFN-ß-associated lncRNA. RESULTS: Patients in the high-risk group had significantly poorer survival than patients in the low-risk group. The signature was found to be an independent prognostic factor for GBM survival. Furthermore, GSEA revealed several significantly enriched pathways, which might help explain the underlying mechanisms. Our study identified a novel robust 4-gene IFN-ß signature for GBM prognosis prediction. The signature might contain potential biomarkers for metabolic therapy and treatment response prediction for GBM patients. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, we established a novel IFN-ß-associated gene signature to predict the overall survival of GBM patients, which may help in clinical decision making for individual treatment.

microRNA-377 acts as a suppressor in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma through CBX3-dependent P53/P21 pathway.

Stem cells play pivotal roles in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) recurrence and metastasis. The self-renewal ability of stem cells was associated with specific microRNAs (miRs). Herein, we identified the effects of miR-377 on ESCC stem cell activities. First, the expression of miR-377 in ESCC and adjacent normal tissues was determined. The relationship between miR-377 and chromobox protein homolog 3 (CBX3) was assessed by a dual-luciferase reporter gene assay. miR-377 was overexpressed or inhibited in ESCC stem cells to explore its role in ESCC. To further investigate the mechanism of miR-377 in ESCC, cells were introduced with short hairpin RNA against CBX3 or pifithrin-α (inhibitor of P53 pathway). Besides, the expression of P21, P53, CD133, CD13, Nanog, sex determining region Y-Box 2 (Sox2), and octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (Oct4), cell sphere formation, colony formation, and proliferation were evaluated respectively. Finally, limiting dilution assay in vivo and tumor xenograft in nude mice were conducted to confirm the roles of miR-377 in vivo. miR-377 was poorly expressed in ESCC. Overexpression of miR-377 could suppress the stem-like trait of ESCC as well as the tumor growth in vivo. miR-377 targeted CBX3 to activate the P53/P21 pathway. Besides, the expression of stem-like markers including CD133, CD13, Oct4, Sox2, and Nanog was decreased, and the abilities of cell sphere formation, colony formation, proliferation, and tumorigenicity were significantly reduced by overexpressing miR-377 or silencing CBX3. The results were reversed after inactivating the P53/P21 pathway. In summary, upregulation of miR-377 inhibits the self-renewal of ESCC stem cells by inhibiting CBX3 expression and promoting activation of the P53/P21 pathway.