Search

Runzhi Wang,1 Rong Zhao,2 Zhongguo Liang,1 Kaihua Chen,1 Xiaodong Zhu1,3– 6 1Department of Radiation Oncology, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Radiation, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region People’s Hospital, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous Region, 010020, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Oncology, Wuming Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530199, People’s Republic of China; 4Key Laboratory of Early Prevention and Treatment for Regional High Frequency Tumor (Guangxi Medical University), Ministry of Education, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, People’s Republic of China; 5Guangxi Clinical Medicine Research Center of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, People’s Republic of China; 6Guangxi Key Laboratory of Early Prevention and Treatment for Regional High Frequency Tumor, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Xiaodong Zhu, Department of Radiation Oncology, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, 71 He-Di Road, Nanning, 530021, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 15778028340, Email zhuxdonggxmu@126.comPurpose: To evaluate the prognostic significance of platelet distribution width-to-lymphocyte ratio (PDWLR) in patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LA-NPC). Moreover, a nomogram based on PDWLR was built and validated to predict the overall survival (OS) of this population.Patients and Methods: All LA-NPC patients who were diagnosed and treated between January 2015 and December 2017 at Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital were included. Cox regression analyses were performed to assess PDWLR and clinical features that might affect OS to screen for independent predictors. The independent predictors and important clinical variables were used to build and validate a nomogram for predicting OS. Then, the capability of the model was estimated by discrimination, calibration and clinical usefulness. Risk stratification was conducted using the nomogram-calculated risk score, and the comparison of survival in the high-risk group and the low-risk group was through Kaplan–Meier method.Results: This study included 746 LA-NPC patients. Multivariate Cox analysis suggested that age (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.81, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.18– 2.78, P = 0.007), gender (HR: 2.03, 95% CI: 1.12– 3.68, P = 0.019), pre-treatment plasma Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA (HR: 1.55, 95% CI: 1.01– 2.39, P = 0.047), PDWLR (HR: 2.61, 95% CI: 1.67– 4.09, P < 0.001) were independent predictors of OS. Compared to the 8th edition TNM staging system, the nomogram based on the above four factors and important clinical variables (T stage and N stage) demonstrated better predictive performance. Moreover, the model had the ability to identify individuals at high risk.Conclusion: PDWLR was a promising negative predictor for patients with LA-NPC. The nomogram based on PDWLR demonstrated better predictive performance than the current staging system.Keywords: nomogram, platelet distribution width-to-lymphocyte ratio, inflammatory biomarker, locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma, overall survival

Yuxuan Xu,&ast; Zhihui Lin,&ast; Chenxi Zhu,&ast; Dongyan Song, Bosen Wu, Kangting Ji, Jin Li Department of Cardiology, Key Laboratory of Panvascular Diseases of Wenzhou, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325027, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Kangting Ji; Jin Li, Department of Cardiology, Key Laboratory of Panvascular Diseases of Wenzhou, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Xueyuanxi Road, No. 109, Wenzhou, 325027, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-577-85676627, Email jikt@wmu.edu.cn; lijin1982@wzhealth.comObjective: The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between all-cause mortality and the neutrophil percentage-to-albumin ratio (NPAR) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF).Methods: We obtained clinical information from patients with AF from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-IV version 2.0 (MIMIC-IV) database and the Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University (WMU). The clinical endpoints were all-cause death measured at 30-day, 90-day, and one-year intervals. For endpoints associated with the NPAR, logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the curve (AUC) were developed to compare the ability of different inflammatory biomarkers to predict 90-day mortality in patients with AF.Results: Higher NPAR was associated with a higher risk of 30-day (OR 2.08, 95% CI 1.58– 2.75), 90-day (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.61– 2.67), and one-year mortality (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.26– 2.04) in patients with AF in 2813 patients from MIMIC-IV. The predictive performance of NPAR (AUC = 0.609) for 90-day mortality was better than that of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (AUC = 0.565, P < 0.001), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) (AUC = 0.528, P < 0.001). When NPAR and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) were combined, the AUC increased from 0.609 to 0.674 (P < 0.001). Higher NPAR was associated with a higher risk of 30-day mortality (OR 2.54, 95% CI 1.02– 6.30) and 90-day mortality (OR 2.76, 95% CI 1.09– 7.01) in 283 patients from WMU.Conclusion: An increased 30-day, 90-day, and one-year mortality risk among patients with AF were linked to a higher NPAR in MIMIC-IV. NPAR was thought to be a good predictor of 90-day all-cause mortality. Higher NPAR was associated with a higher risk of 30-day and 90-day mortality in WMU.Keywords: atrial fibrillation, neutrophil percentage-to-albumin ratio, mortality, inflammatory biomarker

Rong Zhao,1 Zhongguo Liang,1 Kaihua Chen,1 Xiaodong Zhu1– 3 1Department of Radiation Oncology, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China; 2Affiliated Wu-Ming Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China; 3Key Laboratory of Early Prevention and Treatment for Regional High Frequency Tumor (Guangxi Medical University), Ministry of Education/Guangxi Key Laboratory of Early Prevention and Treatment for Regional High Frequency Tumor, Guangxi, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Xiaodong Zhu, Department of Radiation Oncology, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 13978873616, Email zhuxdonggxmu@126.comPurpose: To establish and validate a nomogram to predict overall survival in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LA-NPC) based on inflammatory biomarkers and nutritional indicators.Patients and Methods: A total of 1304 patients who underwent concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) with or without induction chemotherapy (IC) or adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) were included in the study. The prognosis factors of overall survival (OS) were selected by Cox regression analysis to establish the nomogram. Concordance index (C-index), calibration curves, decision curve analysis (DCA) and Kaplan–Meier curves were used to evaluate the nomogram.Results: Using multivariate Cox analysis of clinically important variables, the following variables were incorporated in the prediction of OS: age, gender, T stage, N stage, pre-treatment plasma Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), lactic dehydrogenase-to-albumin ratio (LAR) and prognostic nutritional index (PNI). The discriminative ability, clinical usefulness and calibration of the nomogram revealed good predictive ability as indicated by the C-index (0.717 in nomogram and 0.602 in the 8th AJCC staging system), decision curves, calibration curves and K-M curves.Conclusion: Inflammatory biomarkers and nutritional indicators of survival for LA-NPC were selected to create a nomogram predicting OS. The proposed nomogram resulted in more accurate prognostic prediction than 8th AJCC staging system.Keywords: locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma, inflammatory biomarker, nutritional indicator, nomogram, overall survival

Alia A El Shahaway,1 Rasha R Abd Elhady,2 Amr Ahmed Abdelrhman,2 Shymaa Yahia11Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, EgyptBackground: Immunological factors play a unique role in the setting of preeclampsia; there is a rising debate about the performance of interleukin 17 (IL-17) as inflammatory mediator in its pathogenesis. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the significance of IL-17 in the diagnosis and prognosis of preeclampsia and estimate a cutoff value for better prediction.Methods: A prospective case control study, 40 patient were enrolled in the study, two groups were designed: a normotensive (control) group (n=20) and preeclampsia group (n=20). Both groups were compared regarding serum IL-17 level to clarify its significance, then ROC curve analysis was done to establish the best cutoff level to predict preeclampsia, with further assessment of its relation to blood pressure to determine its prognostic value.Results: We noted a statistically significant difference in serum IL-17 (pg/mL) level between the preeclampsia and control group (P

Background: Immunological factors play a unique role in the setting of preeclampsia; there is a rising debate about the performance of interleukin 17 (IL-17) as inflammatory mediator in its pathogenesis. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the significance of IL-17 in the diagnosis and prognosis of preeclampsia and estimate a cutoff value for better prediction. Methods: A prospective case control study, 40 patient were enrolled in the study, two groups were designed: a normotensive (control) group (n=20) and preeclampsia group (n=20). Both groups were compared regarding serum IL-17 level to clarify its significance, then ROC curve analysis was done to establish the best cutoff level to predict preeclampsia, with further assessment of its relation to blood pressure to determine its prognostic value. Results: We noted a statistically significant difference in serum IL-17 (pg/mL) level between the preeclampsia and control group (P<0.05). The best cutoff value of serum IL-17 in preeclampsia was (8.2 pg/mL) with a sensitivity of 100%, specificity 80% and accuracy 89%. There was also significant variation in its concentrations before and after control of blood pressure and a significant positive correlation with systolic blood pressure level (r=0.9). Conclusion: IL-17 is a significant inflammatory biomarker in preeclampsia with useful prognostic power to predict severity of disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]