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Purpose: To investigate the associations of ANLN expression with prognosis of breast cancer and clinical outcome of anthracycline-based chemotherapy.Methods: This study enrolled 308 breast cancer patients in which 264 of them received anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect ANLN expression level of the patients. Clinical characteristics of the patients were collected, and associations of ANLN expression with prognosis were analyzed.Results: Our results showed that ANLN expression was associated with survival of breast cancer patients, and it was also related to clinical outcome of patients received anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Breast cancer patients with high expression of ANLN would have poor prognosis and poor clinical outcome to anthracycline-based chemotherapy.Conclusion: ANLN could be an independent prognosis predictor for breast cancer, and its expression might be used to predict the anthracycline-based chemotherapy clinical outcome in breast cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to observe the rotation patterns at the papillary muscle plane in the Left Ventricle(LV) with normal subjects using two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging(2D-STI). Methods: We acquired standard of the basal, the papillary muscle and the apical short-axis images of the LV in 64 subjects to estimate the LV rotation motion by 2D-STI. The rotational degrees at the papillary muscle short-axis plane were measured at 15 different time points in the analysis of two heart cycles. Results: There were counterclockwise rotation, clockwise rotation, and counterclockwise to clockwise rotation at the papillary muscle plane in the LV with normal subjects, respectively. The ROC analysis of the rotational degrees was performed at the papillary muscle short-axis plane at the peak LV torsion for predicting whether the turnaround point of twist to untwist motion pattern was located at the papillary muscle level. Sensitivity and specificity were 97% and 67%, respectively, with a cut-off value of 0.34°, and an area under the ROC curve of 0.8. At the peak LV torsion, there was no correlation between the rotational degrees at the papillary muscle short-axis plane and the LVEF in the normal subjects(r = 0.000, p = 0.998). Conclusions: In the study, we conclude that there were three rotation patterns at the papillary muscle short-axis levels, and the transition from basal clockwise rotation to apical counterclockwise rotation is located at the papillary muscle level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim Endoscopic ultrasound ( EUS) elastography is not used for detection but rather for characterization of solid pancreatic masses. A meta-analysis was used to assess the accuracy of EUS elastography for identification of malignant pancreatic masses. Methods Pub Med, the Cochrane Library, and the ISI Web of Knowledge were searched. The studies relating to evaluation accuracy of qualitative or quantitative EUS elastography for identification of malignant pancreatic masses were collected. Language was limited to English. The sensitivity and specificity were used to examine the accuracy. Clinical utility was evaluated by likelihood ratio scattergram. Results A total of 10 studies including 893 pancreatic masses (646 malignant, 72.3%) were analyzed. The summary sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of malignant pancreatic masses were 0.98 (95% confidence interval [ CI] 0.93-1.00) and 0.69 (95% CI 0.52-0.82) for qualitative EUS elastography, and 0.96 (95% CI 0.86-0.99) and 0.76 (95% CI 0.58-0.87) for quantitative EUS elastography, respectively. The hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic curves were 0.94 and 0.93 for qualitative and quantitative EUS elastography. The accuracy of quantitative methods was similar to qualitative methods. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were 3.15 and 0.03 for qualitative EUS elastography, and 3.94 and 0.05 for quantitative EUS elastography, respectively. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were useful for exclusion of presence of malignant pancreatic masses and not for its confirmation. Conclusions EUS elastography could be used as a good identification tool for benign and malignant pancreatic masses, with its good performance for exclusion of presence of malignant pancreatic masses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To assess the performance of acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging for identification of malignant liver lesions using meta-analysis.Methods: PubMed, the Cochrane Library, the ISI Web of Knowledge and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure were searched. The studies published in English or Chinese relating to evaluation accuracy of ARFI imaging for identification of malignant liver lesions were collected. A hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) curve was used to examine the ARFI imaging accuracy. Clinical utility of ARFI imaging for identification of malignant liver lesions was evaluated by Fagan plot analysis.Results: A total of eight studies which included 590 liver lesions were analysed. The summary sensitivity and specificity for identification of malignant liver lesions were 0.86 (95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.74-0.93) and 0.89 (95 % CI 0.81-0.94), respectively. The HSROC was 0.94 (95 % CI 0.91-0.96). After ARFI imaging results over the cut-off value for malignant liver lesions ("positive" result), the corresponding post-test probability for the presence (if pre-test probability was 50 %) was 89 %; in "negative" measurement, the post-test probability was 13 %.Conclusions: ARFI imaging has a high accuracy in the classification of liver lesions.Key Points: Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging is a novel ultrasound-based elastography method. This study comprehensively assessed the published performance of ARFI for liver lesions. ARFI imaging appears to have high sensitivity and specificity for liver lesions. ARFI can help differentiate liver lesions and may prevent unnecessary biopsies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Platelet count/spleen diameter ratio (PSR) is a non-invasive method for the assessment of esophageal varices (EV), developed as an alternative to endoscopy. Aim: To assess the performance of PSR for diagnosis of EV using meta-analysis. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, ISI web of Knowledge, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and article references were searched. We included studies using endoscopy as a reference standard, with the data necessary to calculate the true and false positive, true and false negative diagnostic results of PSR for EV. The quality of the studies was rated with the QUADAS tool. The hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) was used to examine the PSR accuracy for the diagnosis of EV. Heterogeneity was explored using meta-regression. Clinical utility of PSR for EV was evaluated by a Fagan plot. Results: In 20 studies ( n = 3,063), the HSROC of the PSR for EV was 0.95 at various thresholds. At the threshold of 909, the summary sensitivities and specificities were 0.92 (95% CI, 0.79-0.97) and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.76-0.93), respectively. The HSROC was also 0.95 at the threshold of 909. If PSR was below 909 for EV ('positive' result), the post-test probability (if pre-test probability was 50%) was 87%, while if PSR was at or over 909 ('negative' result), the post-test probability was only 9%. PSR also had a high accuracy in diagnosis of EV in patients with compensated cirrhosis. Conclusions: PSR can identify EV in cirrhosis with a high accuracy. Application of this index may decrease the need for endoscopy among cirrhotic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]