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Objective Methods Results Conclusions One‐third of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas are early‐stage oral cavity squamous cell carcinomas (OCSCC). Despite a high curative rate, 20% of early‐stage OCSCC patients do not achieve long‐term survival. This study evaluates the role of adjuvant therapy (ADJ) in delaying disease progression and prolonging survival.This single‐institute retrospective cohort study enrolled 481 early‐stage OCSCC patients, 16% (78/481) of whom received ADJ. It was reported according to the STROBE guidelines. Cox proportional hazards regression and Kaplan–Meier survival curves were employed to identify suitable candidates for ADJ.The 5‐year locoregional recurrence‐free survival (LR‐RFS) and overall survival rates were 73.2% and 84.9%, respectively. Positive margins and advanced depth of invasion (DOI) were independent predictors of LR‐RFS. For patients with positive margins, adjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) was superior to adjuvant radiotherapy alone in improving LR‐RFS (hazard ratios for adjuvant CRT vs. none, 0.042; adjuvant radiotherapy alone vs. none, 0.702). Excluding positive margins, advanced DOI was the most critical factor in assessing the need for ADJ. Positive margins and advanced DOI were more appropriate criteria than EORTC 22931/RTOG 9501 for evaluating adjuvant CRT.Adjuvant CRT was indicated for patients with positive margins and advanced DOI to improve survival outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is still no consensus about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine-associated glomerular disease (CVAGD). Given the large number of vaccinations administered and the variations in glomerulopathy observed across different countries and regional environments, CVAGD remains an important area of concern. Aim of study: We aimed to elucidate the findings of CVAGD within a Taiwanese cohort using biopsy data. Additionally, we endeavored to clarify the presentation of CVAGD. Methods: We collected data from patients who underwent renal biopsy from June 2021 to October 2022 at Taichung Veterans General Hospital. Two independent nephrologists meticulously reviewed the charts to exclude cases unrelated to vaccination. Results: Initially, a total of 286 patients underwent renal biopsy at our institute. Ultimately, we identified 14 patients with highly suspected CVAGD. All 14 patients exhibited proteinuria and hematuria. The urinary protein-to-creatinine ratio was elevated (median of 2012.1 mg/g; interquartile range (IQR) 25%–IQR 75%: 941.85–3884.1 mg/g) with a median serum creatinine level of 1.71 mg/dL (0.79–5.35). The majority of CVAGD cases were diagnosed as immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy (n = 5, 35.7%), followed by antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-related rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) (n = 4, 28.6%). There were only three cases of minimal change disease each: one case of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, one of membranous glomerulonephritis, and one of lupus nephritis. The culprit of COVID-19 vaccinations was 35.7% (n = 5) of Oxford-AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1-S), 42.9% (n = 6) of Moderna, and 21.4% (n = 3) of BNT162b2. Most patients experienced improvements in renal function. Only two cases of P-ANCA RPGN and one case of IgA nephropathy did not recover. Eighty percent of IgA nephropathy cases had favorable outcomes, but none of the patients with P-ANCA RPGN achieved full recovery. Conclusions: IgA nephropathy and ANCA-related RPGN were the most common CVAGD, and all types of COVID-19 vaccines posed a risk for CVAGD. However, further studies are required to confirm causality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Whether oral lichen planus (OLP) was potentially malignant remains controversial. Here, we examined associations of ZNF582 methylation (ZNF582m) with OLP lesions, dysplastic features and squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Materials and Methods: This is a case–control study. ZNF582m was evaluated in both lesion and adjacent normal sites of 42 dysplasia, 90 OSCC and 43 OLP patients, whereas ZNF582m was evaluated only in one mucosal site of 45 normal controls. High‐risk habits affecting ZNF582m such as betel nut chewing and cigarette smoking were also compared in those groups. Results: OLP lesions showed significantly lower ZNF582m than those of dysplasia and OSCC. At adjacent normal mucosa, ZNF582m increased from patients of OLP, dysplasia, to OSCC. In addition, ZNF582m at adjacent normal sites in OLP patients was comparable to normal mucosa in control group. Dysplasia/OSCC patients with high‐risk habits exhibited significantly higher ZNF582m than those without high‐risk habits. However, ZNF582m in OLP patients was not affected by those high‐risk habits. Conclusions: OLP is unlikely to be potentially malignant based on ZNF582m levels. ZNF582m may also be a potential biomarker for distinguishing OLP from true dysplastic features and OSCC, and for monitoring the malignant transformation of OLP, potentially malignant disorders with dysplastic features and OSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are recommended as the first‐line therapy for platinum‐refractory head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), a disease with a poor prognosis. However, biomarkers in this situation are rare. The objective was to identify radiomic features‐associated biomarkers to guide the prognosis and treatment opinions in the era of ICI. Methods: A total of 31 platinum‐refractory HNSCC patients were retrospectively enrolled. Of these, 65.5% (20/31) received ICI‐based therapy and 35.5% (11/31) did not. Radiomic features of the primary site at the onset of recurrent metastatic (R/M) status were extracted. Prognostic and predictive radiomic biomarkers were analysed. Results: The median overall survival from R/M status (R/M OS) was 9.6 months. Grey‐level co‐occurrence matrix‐associated texture features were the most important in identifying the patients with or without 9‐month R/M death. A radiomic risk‐stratification model was established and equally separated the patients into high‐, intermittent‐ and lower‐risk groups (1‐year R/M death rate, 100.0% vs. 70.8% vs. 27.1%, p = 0.001). Short‐run high grey‐level emphasis (SRHGE) was more suitable than programmed death ligand 1 (PD‐L1) expression in selecting whether patients received ICI‐based therapy. Conclusions: Radiomic features were effective prognostic and predictive biomarkers. Future studies are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First CNN-based method proposed for flow velocity and discharge measurements. • Solve the shortcomings of traditional PIV in flow measurements. • Demonstrate the robustness of CNN with noisy images under different flow fields. • Prove the feasibility of CNN with synthetic images and flume experiments. Data related to river velocity and discharge are important for water resource management. Non-intrusive image measurement techniques based on direct cross-correlation (DCC) algorithms, such as particle image velocimetry (PIV), are widely used to measure velocity and discharge in the field. However, environmental noise is highly complex and uncontrollable in the field, significantly reducing the accuracy of DCC-based methods. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are commonly used in image recognition because of their outstanding accuracy, which far exceeds that of conventional imaging methods. However, these accuracy levels cannot be directly extrapolated for flow movement estimation. Therefore, in this study, we developed an innovative sub-pixel correction technique that allows CNN-based methods to obtain stable measurements in the PIV framework. This is the first study that successfully applied the concept of CNN to measure velocity data using images. The Hamel-Oseen vortex-flow, uniform steady-flow, and plane laminar jet-flow models are established as benchmark vector fields. Non-uniform illumination and Gaussian noise with varying degrees of interference are added to the synthetic data to evaluate the performance of the CNN-based method in PIV. For noiseless images, the DCC-based and CNN-based methods achieve lower measurement errors than benchmark errors. For noisy images, the DCC suffers a fold error increase ranging from 2.77 to 31.13, whereas the CNN suffers only a fold error increase ranging from 1.25 to 1.68. A 30-m-long flume is then used in an uncontrolled environment to mimic real-world flow measurement. The dispersion of the instantaneous velocity measurements for the CNN is more concentrated than that for the DCC. The acoustic Doppler velocimetry yields an error of only 7.87% in discharge estimation using CNN. These results indicate that the CNN-based method is more robust than conventional methods and has the potential to be effectively applied to measurements in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Osteopontin (OPN) is an extracellular matrix protein in hard tissues. The polymorphism in promoter region of OPN gene correlates to different gene expression and might implicate potential roles in tumor progression and metastasis. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was utilized to detect the OPN expression in 58 oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) tissues and adjacent normal oral mucosa. The differential OPN expression was further analyzed in relation to clinico-pathological features. Genomic DNA was obtained from isolated leukocytes of blood samples of OSCC patients (n =100), and healthy individuals (n =97) from Taiwan. The OPN gene polymorphism was analyzed by direct sequencing. Our result showed OPN expression was significantly higher in OSCC tissues than in the paired adjacent normal tissues (p <0.01). The expression of OPN was significantly associated with nodal metastasis and the more advanced clinical stage (p <0.05). More prevalent −156 insGG/insGG genotype and −443 T/T genotype was found in OSCC patients (p <0.05). A significant difference in −443T/−156GG/−66T and −443C/−156G/−66T haplotypes between OSCC and controls (p <0.05) was also noted. The OPN expression in tumor tissues significantly correlated with −156 insGG/insGG and −156 G/G+insGG/G genotypes (p <0.05). The conclusion is tissue OPN expression correlates to OSCC progression. −156 insGG/insGG genotype is associated with OSCC susceptibility and higher OPN expression. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The discharge of river is the most important information in the water resource management. One of the non-contact measurement techniques stemmed from Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is widely used in measuring the surface flow velocity and estimating the discharge in the open channel flow. The image processing method of it is conventionally based on the direct cross-correlation algorithm (DCC) considering the correlation of pixel intensity in the interrogation area as the characteristic. DCC has been proved in the laboratory; however, the conditions (such as illumination, seeding, etc.) are usually complex and not controllable in the field. These unfavorable factors not only impact on the intensity patterns of the images, but also magnify the error in matching the interrogation area and calculating the surface velocities. Applying the intensity as the only matching feature is not reliable in the field. In terms of discharge measurement in the field, a solid method which considers more geometric characteristics for the image matching is necessary.The deep-learning model, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), is one of the main categories to do image recognition and object detection in neural networks. With those advantages, CNN should take more characteristics on river surface into account, and build an appropriate deep-learning network structure to extract and classify the features from the river surface. Two scenarios were designed to validate the applicability of this method. One with high-density small particles and the other with low-density big particles were conducted to simulate the common circumstances of applying PIV method in the laboratory and the field. Both image sets with different seeding conditions were generated by using PIVlab. The particles on images were all based on the function of Lamb-Oseen vortex rings, thus the true values of velocity field were controlled as the benchmarks. Moreover, to quantify the quality of the results, the vector correlation coefficient which can calculate the correlation between two velocity field, was conducted to compare the results of different velocity fields calculated by CNN and DCC. The correlation value of CNN on the set of high-density small particles was 1.95, which performed similarly to DCC method with 1.98. The result of images with low-density big particles is 1.85, which is better than 1.77 from DCC. Applying the CNN can make more stable preference for different cases. It also provides better results on the angle and magnitude of velocity field. CNN, therefore, can improve the performance and stability of using PIV on the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: All guidelines recommend 12-month dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) for patients (pts) with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). In Asia, little information is available about the contemporary real world data for DAPT duration and its impact on clinical outcomes in ACS pts treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods and Results: The Taiwan ACS Stent Registry was a prospective, multicenter, cohort study to observe clopidogrel-based DAPT in ACS pts treated with PCI from 2012 to 2015. The clinical outcomes in relation to DAPT duration (< 6, ≥ 6 to ≤ 9, and > 9 months [mos]) were compared. The primary outcome was the composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. Stent thrombosis was the secondary endpoint. Overall, 2,222 ACS pts (62 yrs, 83% men) were included. Among them, 55% were ST-elevation MI, 36% received > 1 stent and 51% used drug-eluting stents. Overall, the mean duration of DAPT was 263±120 days. DAPT duration was < 6 mos in 23.9% of pts; 6 to 9 mos in 17.5%; and > 9 mos in 58.6%. At 1 yr follow-up, only 35.6% pts were treated with DAPT. The primary outcome occurred in 3.2%, 2.6% and 1.3% (p = 0.020) in pts with DAPT duration < 6, 6 to 9, and > 9 mos at 1 yr follow-up. Stent thrombosis occurred in 0.5% pts and there was no difference between the DAPT duration groups. Propensity score adjusted analysis was performed. Compared with < 6 mos, DAPT duration > 9 mos was associated with a lower risk of primary outcome (odds ratio [OR] 0.479, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.238, 0.963), but not 6 to 9 mos (OR 0.952, 95% CI 0.425, 2.135). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that pts with diabetes, atrial fibrillation or received bare metal stent were more likely to have DAPT < 6 mos. The most common reason (72%) to stop clopidogrel before 12 mos was due to the Taiwan National Health Insurance reimbursement regulations which only cover 9 mos P2Y12 inhibitor after ACS. Conclusions: Only 35.6% pts with ACS treated with PCI received DAPT for 12 mos in Taiwan. DAPT ≤ 9 mos increased the risk of primary outcome. The reimbursement regulation is the most common cause to stop clopidogrel before 12 mos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) play important roles in organisms, including the structure and liquidity of cell membranes, anti-oxidation and anti-inflammation. Very little has been done in terms of the effect of PUFAs on cell death, especially on DNA virus. In this study, we demonstrated that the infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) can induce host cell death via the apoptotic cell death pathway, which correlated to modulation by PUFAs in grouper fin cell line (GF-1) cells. We screened the PUFAs, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), for the ability of different dosages to prevent cell death in GF-1 cells with ISKNV infection. In the results, each 10 μM of DHA and EPA treatment enhanced host cell viability up to 80% at day 5 post-infection. Then, in Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) assay, DHA- and EPA-treated groups reduced TUNEL positive signals 50% in GF-1 cells with ISKNV infection. Then, through studies of the mechanism of cell death, we found that ISKNV can induce both the Bax/caspase-3 and Fas/caspase-8/tBid death signaling pathways in GF-1 cells, especially at day 5 post-infection. Furthermore, we found that DHA and EPA treatment can either prevent caspase-3 activation on 17-kDa form cleavage or Bid cleaved (15-kDa form) for activation by caspase-8, apparently. On the other hand, the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2 was upregulated 0.3-fold and 0.15-fold at day 3 and day 5, respectively, compared to ISKNV-infected and DHA-treated cells; that this did not happen in the EPA-treated group showed that different PUFAs trigger different signals. Finally, ISKNV-infected GF-1 cells treated with either DHA or EPA showed a 5-fold difference in viral titer at day 5. Taken together, these results suggest that optimal PUFA treatment can affect cell death signaling through both the intrinsic and extrinsic death pathways, reducing viral expression and viral titer in GF-1 cells. This finding may provide insight in DNA virus infection and control. Image 1 • Iridovirus (ISKNV) infection can induce Fas-mediated and Bax-mediated cell death signaling in GF-1 cells. • Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) play important roles in organisms, including the structure and anti-oxidation and anti-inflammation, but very few in cell death via viral infection. • The PUFAs treatment also reduce host cell death via extrinsic death signals and mildly decrease viral titer with ISKNV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Visual oral examination (VOE) is a conventional oral cancer screening method. This study aimed to evaluate the value of methylation marker to assist VOE in identifying oral epithelial dysplasia and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OED/OSCC) from non-cancerous lesions in a real-world situation. Methods: 201 patients with high-risk personal habits who self-perceived oral anomaly were VOE examined, ZNF582 methylation (ZNF582m) tested, and histologically diagnosed. Results: Among them, 132 patients (65.7%) were histologically diagnosed OED/OSCC. Using VOE, 56.1% OED/OSCC patients had possible oral cancer, whereas 37.7% non-OED/OSCC patients had leukoplakia. ZNF582m-positive was detected in 90.2% OED/OSCC patients and 44.9% non-OED/OSCC patients. Various logistic regression models were postulated to evaluate the diagnostic performance of conventional VOE and new strategies using ZNF582m. ROC analysis and its corresponding C-index demonstrated that either triage or co-testing models of VOE and ZNF582m could improve diagnostic performance and discriminative abilities compared with the VOE only approach. Conclusions: In conclusion, methylation marker test shows equivalent performance to an experienced judgment by oral maxillofacial surgeons and plays a significantly supplementary role in increasing the efficacy in identifying oral malignant lesions. ZNF582m may be an especially important tool for family physicians or general dentists to properly diagnose suspicious oral lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Thrombus aspiration has been shown to provide significant benefits during primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The aim of the current study was to evaluate the additional benefit of tirofiban to thrombus aspiration during primary PCI in myocardial reperfusion. Methods: 100 STEMI patients were randomized according to a 2×2 factorial design into 1 of the 4 groups: standard PCI, PCI with initial thrombus aspiration (IT), PCI with tirofiban infusion (TI), and PCI with both treatments (IT+TI). Results: The myocardial blush grade (MBG) 3 was achieved in 30.4%, 45.8%, 56% and 78.6% in the 4 groups respectively. More frequent MBG 3 (p =0.015) and complete (>70%) ST-segment resolution (STR, 67.9% vs. 41.7%, p =0.058) were observed in IT±TI group compared with IT group. If actuarial analysis was done after reassigning the 2 TI patients who crossed over to IT+TI, the difference between IT+TI and IT groups became more significant (MBG 3 rates: 76.7% vs. 45.8%, p =0.009; complete STR rates: 70% vs. 41.7%, p =0.036). Infusion of tirofiban resulted in improved MBG and STR (p =0.003 and 0.037, respectively). Thrombus aspiration resulted in improved MBG only (p =0.048) but not in STR. 6-month MACE (death, reinfarction, target lesion revascularization and stroke) was similar among groups (p =0.725). Conclusions: Tirofiban may augment thrombus aspiration therapy on myocardial reperfusion in primary PCI. The benefit of thrombus aspiration treatment without tirofiban might be less significant, especially on resolution of ST-segment elevation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Secondary hypertension caused by APA can be cured by adrenalectomy. • Pre-operative renal function could predict residual hypertension after operation. • Creatinine-cystatin combined GFR is better in predicting residual hypertension. Renal function is associated with postoperative residual hypertension in aldosterone-producing adenoma(APA) patients. Cystatin C-based glomerular filtration rate (GFR) can more accurately estimate renal function than creatinine-based methods. However, which renal function estimation method can more accurately predict postoperative hypertension in APA patients is still unknown. We recruited 180 APA patients who underwent adrenalectomy. Preoperative creatinine and cystatin C-based GFRs were calculated. Residual hypertension was defined as persistent hypertension > 140/90 mmHg or requiring anti-hypertensive medications 1 year after surgery. Sixty-five(36.1%) of the 180 APA patients had residual hypertension. Multivariate logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed a combination of creatinine and cystatin method CKD-EPI (Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration) creatinine-cystatin GFR was significantly associated with residual postoperative hypertension and had the largest area under the ROC curve, which was statistically larger than that of Cockcroft-Gault creatinine-based GFR. In both net reclassification index and integrated discrimination index models, CKD-EPI creatinine-cystatin GFR significantly improved the discriminatory power of CG-GFR. Among these renal function estimations used in the presented study, creatinine-cystatin combined GFR was a precise method to predict residual postoperative hypertension in APA patients received adrenalectomy. These finding may help identify those patients with higher risk of residual hypertension after operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dysbiosis of oral microbiome may dictate the progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Yet, the composition of oral microbiome fluctuates by saliva and distinct sites of oral cavity and is affected by risky behaviors (smoking, drinking and betel quid chewing) and individuals' oral health condition. To characterize the disturbances in the oral microbial population mainly due to oral tumorigenicity, we profiled the bacteria within the surface of OSCC lesion and its contralateral normal tissue from discovery (n = 74) and validation (n = 42) cohorts of male patients with cancers of the buccal mucosa. Significant alterations in the bacterial diversity and relative abundance of specific oral microbiota (most profoundly, an enrichment for genus Fusobacterium and the loss of genus Streptococcus in the tumor sites) were identified. Functional prediction of oral microbiome shown that microbial genes related to the metabolism of terpenoids and polyketides were differentially enriched between the control and tumor groups, indicating a functional role of oral microbiome in formulating a tumor microenvironment via attenuated biosynthesis of secondary metabolites with anti-cancer effects. Furthermore, the vast majority of microbial signatures detected in the discovery cohort was generalized well to the independent validation cohort, and the clinical validity of these OSCC-associated microbes was observed and successfully replicated. Overall, our analyses reveal signatures (a profusion of Fusobacterium nucleatum CTI-2 and a decrease in Streptococcus pneumoniae) and functions (decreased production of tumor-suppressive metabolites) of oral microbiota related to oral cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background There is conflicting information regarding the association between hyperuricemia and survival in STEMI patients. Our study examined the interaction between hyperuricemia and Killip class on mortality of STEMI patients. Methods We analyzed 951 consecutive STEMI patients between February 2006 and September 2012. Hyperuricemia was defined as SUA of at least 7 mg/dL in males and 6 mg/dL in females. Killip class I patients were divided into hyperuricemia and normouricemia groups. Results The Killip class I hyperuricemia and normouricemia groups had similar baseline and procedural characteristics, but the hyperuricemia group had significantly greater BMI, serum creatinine, and SUA, and a lower TIMI risk score (2, IQR: 1–4 vs. 3, IQR: 2–4, p = 0.019). The hyperuricemia group also had greater 30-day and 1-year mortality rates (2.9% vs. 0.3%, p = 0.022; 6.5% vs. 1.1%, p = 0.002, respectively). However, hyperuricemia was not associated with mortality of patients in Killip classes II–IV or in the overall study population. Hyperuricemia was associated with increased mortality in subgroups of patients who were at least 65 years-old, male, had BMI of 25 kg/m 2 or less, were in Killip class I, without diabetes, and who did not receive intra-aortic balloon pump support. Hyperuricemia interacted with Killip class I in increasing the risk for 1-year mortality ( p for interaction = 0.038). Conclusions Hyperuricemia increased the 1-year mortality of STEMI patients in Killip class I, but not of patients in Killip classes II–IV. An interaction of hyperuricemia and Killip class significantly affects the mortality of STEMI patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In approximately 50% of patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC), the disease progresses after curative surgery. However, the role of salvage surgery (SS) is controversial, and life expectancy after SS is unknown.Methods: In this study, 262 patients with OCSCC with locoregional recurrence and second primary OCSCC were retrospectively enrolled and divided into a resectable (55.0%, 144/262) and unresectable (45.0%, 118/262) groups. After excluding neck recurrence only, SS had been performed 195 times in the resectable group. The corresponding preoperative clinicopathologic factors and postsurgery survival (PSS) of each SS were pooled for analysis.Results: Median survival after disease progression was 64.2 and 10.4 months for the resectable and unresectable groups, respectively. In the resectable group, one-fifth (19.5%, 37/190) of the patients died within 1 year of SS (PSS < 1 year), and one-third (32.8%, 64/195) of the patients had undergone SS two or more times. The interval from the last surgery ≤ 12 months, depth of invasion of the last surgery > 1 cm, and clinical evidence of nodal disease at the preoperative evaluation were independent predictors of poor PSS. A scoring prediction model was established with 1 point for each factor. The results revealed 1-year postsurgery death rates of 10.3% in the low-risk group (score: 0-1) and 48.6% in the high-risk group (score: 2 or 3) (P < 0.001).Conclusions: In conclusion, an effective scoring model predicting life expectancy after SS for patients with OCSCC was established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common form of secondary hypertension and induces various cardiovascular injuries. Aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) is one of the major forms of PA. The occurrence of APA is closely correlated with somatic mutations, including KCNJ5. We described here the impact of KCNJ5 somatic mutations on arterial stiffness excluding the influence of age, sex, and blood pressure status. We found KCNJ5 mutation carriers had similar arterial stiffness before surgery, but greater improvement of arterial stiffness after adrenalectomy compared with non-carriers. Hence, APA patients with KCNJ5 mutations had a greater improvement in arterial stiffness after adrenalectomy than those without mutations. Primary aldosteronism is the most common form of secondary hypertension and induces various cardiovascular injuries. In aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA), the impact of KCNJ5 somatic mutations on arterial stiffness excluding the influence of confounding factors is uncertain. We enrolled 213 APA patients who were scheduled to undergo adrenalectomy. KCNJ5 gene sequencing of APA was performed. After propensity score matching (PSM) for age, sex, body mass index, blood pressure, number of hypertensive medications, and hypertension duration, there were 66 patients in each group with and without KCNJ5 mutations. The mutation carriers had a higher aldosterone level and lower log transformed brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) than the non-carriers before PSM, but no difference in log baPWV after PSM. One year after adrenalectomy, the mutation carriers had greater decreases in log plasma aldosterone concentration, log aldosterone–renin activity ratio, and log baPWV than the non-carriers after PSM. Only the mutation carriers had a significant decrease in log baPWV after surgery both before and after PSM. KCNJ5 mutations were not correlated with baseline baPWV after PSM but were significantly correlated with ∆baPWV after surgery both before and after PSM. Conclusively, APA patients with KCNJ5 mutations had a greater regression in arterial stiffness after adrenalectomy than those without mutations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a fatal disease—even with state-of-the-art medical treatment. Non-invasive clinical tools for risk stratification are still lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical utility of heart rhythm complexity in risk stratification for PH patients. We prospectively enrolled 54 PH patients, including 20 high-risk patients (group A; defined as WHO functional class IV or class III with severely compromised hemodynamics), and 34 low-risk patients (group B). Both linear and non-linear heart rate variability (HRV) variables, including detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) and multiscale entropy (MSE), were analyzed. In linear and non-linear HRV analysis, low frequency and high frequency ratio, DFAα1, MSE slope 5, scale 5, and area 6–20 were significantly lower in group A. Among all HRV variables, MSE scale 5 (AUC: 0.758) had the best predictive power to discriminate the two groups. In multivariable analysis, MSE scale 5 (p = 0.010) was the only significantly predictor of severe PH in all HRV variables. In conclusion, the patients with severe PH had worse heart rhythm complexity. MSE parameters, especially scale 5, can help to identify high-risk PH patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]