Development of a novel, clinically relevant anoikis-related gene signature to forecast prognosis in patients with prostate cancer.

Introduction: Anoikis is a specific form of programmed cell death and is related to prostate cancer (PC) metastasis. This study aimed to develop a reliable anoikis-related gene signature to accurately forecast PC prognosis. Methods: Based on anoikis-related genes and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data, anoikis-related molecular subtypes were identified, and their differences in disease-free survival (DFS), stemness, clinical features, and immune infiltration patterns were compared. Differential expression analysis of the two subtypes and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) were employed to identify clinically relevant anoikis-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between subtypes, which were then selected to construct a prognostic signature. The clinical utility of the signature was verified using the validation datasets GSE116918 and GSE46602. A nomogram was established to predict patient survival. Finally, differentially enriched hallmark gene sets were revealed between the different risk groups. Results: Two anoikis-related molecular subtypes were identified, and cluster 1 had poor prognosis, higher stemness, advanced clinical features, and differential immune cell infiltration. Next, 13 clinically relevant anoikis-related DEGs were identified, and five of them (CKS2, CDC20, FMOD, CD38, and MSMB) were selected to build a prognostic signature. This gene signature had a high prognostic value. A nomogram that combined Gleason score, T stage, and risk score could accurately predict patient survival. Furthermore, gene sets closely related with DNA repair were differentially expressed in the different risk groups. Conclusion: A novel, clinically relevant five-anoikis-related gene signature was a powerful prognostic biomarker for PC.

Predictive miRNAs Patterns in Blood of Breast Cancer Patients Demonstrating Resistance Towards Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.

Objective: The effect of chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer (BC) is uncertain. This study attempted to analyze serum microRNAs (miRNAs) in NAC resistant and sensitive BC patients and develop a miRNA-based nomogram model. To further help clinicians make treatment decisions for hormone receptor-positive patients. Methods: A total of 110 BC patients with NAC were recruited and assigned in sensitive and resistant group, and 4 sensitive patients and 3 resistant patients were subjected to high-throughput sequencing. The functions of their target genes were analyzed by GO and KEGG. Five BC-related reported miRNAs were selected for expression pattern measurement by RT-qPCR and multivariate logistic analysis. The nomogram model was developed using R 4.0.1, and its predictive efficacy, consistency and clinical application value in development and validation groups were evaluated using ROC, calibration and decision curves. Results: There were 44 differentially-expressed miRNAs in resistant BC patients. miR-3646, miR-4741, miR-6730-3p, miR-6831-5p and miR-8485 were candidate for resistance diagnosis in BC. Logistic multiple regression analysis showed that miR-4741 (or = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.08-0.63, P = 0.02) and miR-6831-5p (or = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.24-0.78, P = 0.01) were protective factors of BC resistance. The ROC curves showed a sensitivity of 0.884 and 0.750 for miR-4741 and miR-6831-5P as markers of resistance, suggesting that they can be used as independent risk factors for BC resistance. The other 3 miRNAs can be used as calibration factors to establish the risk prediction model of resistance in BC. In risk model, the prediction accuracy of resistance of BC is about 78%. 5-miRNA signature diagnostic models can help clinicians provide personalized treatment for NAC resistance BC patients to improve patient survival. Conclusion: MiR-4741 and miR-6831-5p are independent risk factors for breast cancer resistance. This study constructed a nomogram model of NAC resistance in BC based on 5 differentially-expressed serum miRNAs.

[Treatment of Duane's retraction syndrome by recession of medial and lateral rectus muscles combined with Y-splitting procedure].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the new surgical method and effect of treatment of Duane's retraction syndrome by recession of medial and lateral rectus muscles combined with Y-splitting procedure. METHODS: Eight patients with Duane retraction syndrome underwent surgery. Among seven cases of normal direction Duane's retraction syndrome, Six patients were performed recession of medial and lateral rectus muscles with Y-splitting of lateral rectus muscle, one patient was performed recession and Y-splitting of lateral rectus muscle. One patient with inverse Duane's retraction syndrome was performed bilateral recession of medial and lateral rectus muscles combined with Y-splitting of both medial rectus muscles. All patients were followed up 1 to 12 months. Ocular alignment, ocular motility and change of compensatory head posture were evaluated. RESULTS: The compensatory head posture, upshoot or downshoot were eliminated. Globe retraction and narrowing of palpebral fissure got improved. Postoperative ocular alignment of 6 cases achieved orthophoria, with 2 cases of residual strabismus. CONCLUSIONS: Recession of medial and lateral rectus muscles combined with Y-splitting procedure is an effective method for treatment of Duane's retraction syndrome, aiming at correction of ocular deviation and head posture and elimination of globe retraction.

Perceptual salience of global structures and the crowding effect in amblyopia.

BACKGROUND: The crowding effect refers to stronger deficits in linear acuity (e.g., letters in a line) than in single letter acuity in amblyopia. The current work investigated whether the salience of a global structure in which the target for identification is embedded influences the crowding effect in amblyopia. METHODS: Compound shapes were presented to the amblyopic and fellow eyes respectively of 12 anisometropic amblyopes. The compound stimuli were presented on either a blank or a cross background so that the salience of global structures were manipulated. Reaction times (RTs) and response error rates were recorded when subjects identified global or local shapes, respectively. RESULTS: RTs were shorter to global than local shapes for both the amblyopic and the fellow eyes. The global RT advantage was larger for the amblyopic than the fellow eye. Interestingly, when viewing the stimuli with the amblyopic eye, subjects made more errors to local targets when the compound stimuli were presented against the blank than the cross background. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the salience of global structures of visual stimuli contributes to the crowding effect in amblyopia.