The clinical value of iodine-125 seed implantation in the treatment of iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Objective: To explore the clinical benefits of 125I seed implantation for iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (RAIR-DTC). Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 36 patients with RAIR-DTC who underwent radioactive 125I seed implantation from January 2015 to February 2022, involving 73 lesions. Prescription dose: 80~120 Gy. All cases were followed up at 1, 3, and 5 months postoperatively to monitor changes in tumor size, serum thyroglobulin (Tg), and serum anti-thyroglobulin antibody levels in thyrotropin-inhibited states, pain scores, and postoperative adverse reactions. The data were processed and analyzed using IBM SPSS 26.0. LER (Local Effective Rate) and LCR (Local Control Rate) were expressed as n (%), tumor diameter, Tg, and pain scores were represented as Median (Q1, Q3). Pairwise comparisons were conducted using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and a p-value of less than 0.05 indicated statistical significance. Results: Tumor size was significantly reduced after treatment (all P < 0.001): tumor length diameters were 32.67 (17.70, 45.72) mm, 27.45 (12.30, 39.98) mm, 20.70 (11.98, 37.58) mm, and 20.39 (10.56, 33.20) mm in the preoperative, 1-, 3-, and 5-months postoperative periods, respectively. Additionally, two consecutive post-treatment results were more minor and statistically significant than the previous results (P < 0.001). The LER at 1-, 3-, and 5-months post-surgery was 23.73%, 38.98%, and 52.54%, respectively, while the LCR at the same time points was 98.31%, 96.61%, and 94.92%, respectively. Patients' serum Tg levels decreased significantly after surgery. (P < 0.001). Serum Tg levels were measured before surgery and 1-, 3-, and 5-months post-surgery. The results showed that serum Tg levels were 249.45 (79.39, 4718.75) ng/ml, 193.40 (44.53, 2829.00) ng/ml, 192.10 (25.58, 1758.00) ng/ml, and 136.25 (16.57, 1553.25) ng/ml, respectively. Two consecutive post-treatment results were more minor and statistically significant than the previous results (P < 0.001). The patients' pain symptoms were significantly relieved after 125I brachytherapy (P < 0.001). The pain scores before 125I seed implantation and at 1, 3, and 5 months after the operation were 5.00 (4.00, 6.00), 3.00 (2.25, 4.00), 2.00 (2.00, 3.00), and 2.00 (1.00, 3.00), respectively. Conclusion: Most lesions treated with 125I seed implantation in RAIR-DTC patients showed shrinkage and improved pain symptoms. Clinical trial registration: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT06362772.

Radiomics Based on Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI to Early Predict Pathologic Complete Response in Breast Cancer Patients Treated with Neoadjuvant Therapy.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: To investigate the value of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI)-based radiomics at baseline and after two cycles of neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) and associated longitudinal changes for early prediction of the NAT response in patients with breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred seventeen patients with breast cancer who underwent DCE-MRI before NAT and after two cycles of NAT from April 2019 to November 2021 were enrolled retrospectively. Patients were randomly divided into a training set (n = 81) and a test set (n = 36) at a ratio of 7:3. Clinical-pathological data and the relative tumor maximum diameter regression value (diameter%) were also collected. A total of 851 radiomic features were extracted from the phase with the most pronounced tumor enhancement on DCE-MRI T1 imaging acquired both pre- and post-treatment. Delta and delta% radiomics features were also calculated. The Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) method was applied to select features, and a logistic regression model was used to calculate pre-NAT, early-NAT, delta, and delta% radscores and then select among four radscores to build a Fusion radiomics model. The final clinical-radiomics model was constructed by combining fusion radscores and clinical-pathological variables. The discrimination and clinical utility of the models were further evaluated and compared. RESULTS: The area under the curve (AUC) values of the fusion radiomics model based on pre-NAT, Delta, and Delta% radscores were 0.868 of 0.825. The clinical-radiomics model integrating Fusion radscores and clinical-pathological variables achieved AUC values of 0.920 of 0.884, which were higher than those of the clinical model constructed by AUC values (0.858/0.831), although no significant improvement was observed in the test set (Delong test, p = 0.196). Decision curve analysis (DCA) showed that the clinical-radiomics model demonstrated more clinical utility than the clinical model. CONCLUSION: DCE-MRI-based radiomics features may have potential for pathological complete response (pCR) prediction in the early phase of NAT. By combining radiomics features and clinical-pathological characteristics, higher diagnostic performance can be achieved.

LncRNA Chaer Prevents Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis From Acute Myocardial Infarction Through AMPK Activation.

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is widely reported to be involved in cardiac (patho)physiology. Acute myocardial infarction, in which cardiomyocyte apoptosis plays an important role, is a life-threatening disease. Here, we report the lncRNA Chaer that is anti-apoptotic in cardiomyocytes during Acute myocardial infarction. Importantly, lncRNA Chaer is significantly downregulated in both oxygen-glucose deprivation (oxygen-glucose deprivation)-treated cardiomyocytes in vitro and AMI heart. In vitro, overexpression of lncRNA Chaer with adeno virus reduces cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by OGD-treated while silencing of lncRNA Chaer increases cardiomyocyte apoptosis instead. In vivo, forced expression of lncRNA Chaer with AAV9 attenuates cardiac apoptosis, reduces infarction area and improves mice heart function in AMI. Interestingly, overexpression of lncRNA Chaer promotes the phosphorylation of AMPK, and AMPK inhibitor Compound C reverses the overexpression of lncRNA Chaer effect of reducing cardiomyocyte apoptosis under OGD-treatment. In summary, we identify the novel ability of lncRNA Chaer in regulating cardiomyocyte apoptosis by promoting phosphorylation of AMPK in AMI.

Engineering and characterization of a novel low temperature active and thermo stable esterase from marine Enterobacter cloacae.

Esterases are one of the most important industrial enzymes. Here, a novel estA was cloned from Enterobacter sp. and characterized. The sequence alignment results showed that it was a novel esterase. The purified EstA had a molecular weight of 26 KDa with an optimum temperature and pH of 40 °C and 9.0. EstA retained >70% activity between 0 °C and 20 °C, indicating it was a low temperature active enzyme. EstA exhibited low activity after incubation at 45 °C for 120 min or 50 °C for 30 min. In the presence of organic solvents, detergents and different concentrations of NaCl, EstA retained high activity. In order to improve thermal stability, a mutant A92D with better thermal stability than EstA was obtained by random mutation. ESTA92D showed high activity at 45 °C for 120 min and maintained 85% of the original activity at 50 °C for 30 min, approximately a 3.4-fold increase over EstA. Homology modeling analysis showed that the improved thermostability of ESTA92D was attributed to hydrophilic Asp rather than hydrophobic Ala, leading to an increase of the interaction and solubility as well as the surrounding area. The improved thermostability of low-temperature-active EstA suggests its immense applications in industrial applications.