Validation of serum cystatin SN detection for diagnosis and poor prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: The identification of effective tumor markers is of paramount importance for the early diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The present study endeavors to identify efficacious serological markers that can differentiate patients with early-stage ESCC from those with benign esophageal lesions and healthy controls (HC). Cystatin-SN (CST1), an active cysteine protease inhibitor belonging to the Cystatin (CST) superfamily, is implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammation and tumorigenesis. The objective of this investigation is to assess the diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic potential of serum CST1 in ESCC. Methods: In our prior RNA sequencing and screening endeavors, we have identified ten genes that are up-regulated in relation to esophageal cancer. Subsequently, we have verified the gene CST1 from the transcriptome data of the The Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA) and Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) database. Following this, we conducted an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to ascertain the expression levels of CST1 in serum samples from clinical cohorts. Results: The study revealed a significant elevation in serum CST1 levels among patients with early-stage esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) (7.41 ± 4.32 ng/ml) compared to those with esophageal benign lesions (4.67 ± 2.43 ng/ml) (p < 0.0001) and healthy controls (4.87 ± 2.77 ng/ml) (p < 0.0001). The diagnostic sensitivity of CST1 for ESCC was 75.68% (specificity 70.83%, AUC 0.775). Combination of CST1 and SCC-Ag exhibited the AUC up to 0.819. Additionally, serum CST1 levels exhibited a significant decrease at 1-2 weeks post-surgery (4.49 ± 3.31 ng/ml) compared to pre-surgery levels (7.68 ± 3.71 ng/ml) (p<0.0001). Survival analysis demonstrated a strong association between high (844/415-1543 d) or low (1490/645-1710 d) serum CST1 levels at diagnosis and overall survival time (p < 0.001). Furthermore, multivariate regression analysis confirmed CST1 (p=0.024, HR=2.023, 95%CI 1.099-3.725) as an independent prognostic factor. Conclusion: Serum CST1 has the potential to function as a diagnostic indicator for distinguishing early-stage esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) from individuals with benign esophageal lesions and healthy individuals. Additionally, it could serve as a prognostic predictor and therapeutic efficacy indicator for patients with ESCC.

Comparison of Cerebrospinal Fluid Cellular Analysis by Optical Microscopy and Sysmex XN 9000.

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to compare the body fluid module of Sysmex XN9000 (XN-BF) with optical microscopy (OM) for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis after two-step cell slide centrifuge (TSCSC), defining the best procedure for CSF optical microscopy analysis. METHODS: Items of RBC, WBC enumeration and differentiation were observed. The cell count and morphologic evaluation of the cellular composition by OM was carried out both with and without two-step cell slide centrifuge (TSCSC) and were compared the data with XN-BF. RESULTS: There were 69.98 ± 4.94 RBC and 36.98 ± 3.39 WBC in one OSCSC microscopic field whereas there were 96.35 ± 5.41 RBC and 66.15 ± 4.85 WBC in one TSCSC microscopic field in the same sample (*200). There was a statistical difference between those two methods (p = 0.000). Excellent correlation was found between total cell count with both OM and XN-BF. The R2 value for RBC and WBC counts were 0.99 and 0.96, respectively. For WBC differential, the R2 values were 0.98 for PMN and 0.70 for MN. Correlation of MN was poorer than PMN. As far as the tumor cell, phagocyte, and plasma cell with high fluorescence were concerned, OM were not consistent with XN-BF. CONCLUSIONS: The TSCSC procedure contributes to the separation of cells and other ingredients. XN-BF displays excellent performance at RBC and WBC cell count except for mononuclear cells, tumor cells, phagocytes, and leukemia cells. which makes it just a practical alternative to total cell (WBC, RBC) count for CSF samples. Detailed morphologic workup of CSF samples is mandated in all cases with meningoencephalitis, elevated cell count, sub-arachnoid hemorrhage and meningeal carcinomatosis, the TSCSC procedure is recommended.

The effect of oral nutritional supplement therapy on nutritional status and quality of life in patients with esophageal cancer undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy: A protocol for randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of malnutrition in patients with esophageal cancer is high, which seriously affects the therapeutic effect and quality of life. Oral nutritional supplement is the first choice of nutritional support recommended by current guidelines, which can supplement the lack of energy and protein in patients with esophageal cancer, improve nutritional status and improve the quality of life, but there are few clinical studies. Therefore, the purpose of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the effect of oral nutritional supplement therapy on nutritional status and quality of life in patients with esophageal cancer treated undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy. METHODS: This is a prospective randomized controlled trial to study the effects of oral nutritional supplement therapy on nutritional status and quality of life in patients with esophageal cancer undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy. This study is approved by the Clinical Research Society of our hospital. Patients will be randomly divided into ONS group and traditional diet group. The nutritional status, quality of life score and adverse reactions will be observed before and after radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The data will be analyzed by SPSS 16.0. DISCUSSION: This study will evaluate the effect of oral nutritional supplement therapy on nutritional status and quality of life of patients with esophageal cancer undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The results of this experiment will establish clinical evidence for the application of oral nutritional supplement therapy in patients with esophageal cancer undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy. OSF REGISTRATION NUMBER: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/9ZW34.

[Correlation of arsenic accumulative intake and its health effects to the residents in arsenic polluted area. Estimation of arsenic accumulative intake level of residents living in arsenic polluted area].

In order to evaluate arsenic accumulative intake level of residents living in an area with arsenic pollution in the air, the level of arsenic accumulative intake is measured by calculating residents' accumulative rice consumption and the measurement of the level via inhalation. The results show that ignoring the non-polluted time periods, the highest arsenic accumulative intake level (AAIL) appears in residents aged 50 and above who have the highest level of air inhalation and rice consumption in comparison with young residents after 32 years exposure, and their AAIL detected via inhalation are 591.4 mg for female and 612.9 for male respectively. There is 3488.74 mg arsenic obtained by their daily diet. Total AAIL are 4080.14 mg for female and 4101.66 mg for male respectively, being about 80% of estimation level reflected by daily exposure level multiplied by total exposure time (day).

[Estimation of arsenic accumulative intake and residents' health effects in an air pollution area--relationship between arsenic accumulative intake level and arsenicism prevalence].

This paper reports the results of epidemiological survey on health effects of residents exposed to arsenic in a pollution area and estimation of arsenic accumulative intake level (EAAIL) based on calculating accumulative rice consumption and via inhalation way. 795 persons were sampled randomly from the polluted area, among whom 674 persons and 83 persons were diagnosed with Chronic Arsenic Absorption (CAA) and Chronic Arsenicism (CA) according to the National Diagnose Standard respectively. There were 60.98% CAA in 30 years old and younger age-groups and 97.59% CA in 30 years old and older age-groups. The one youngest case of CA occurred in 15 years old age group, while its EAAIL was at 1846.47 mg. The highest EAAIL was at 8706.47 mg. The rate of CA had gone obviously up at 30 years old age group. Its EAAIL was at 3833.42 mg. One equation of relationship between the rate of CA (%) and EAAIL (mg) was fitted by means of curve fitting, its is followed: Y = X1.843/e12.694 -2.866, r2 = 0.945.