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Accurately predicting prognosis subcutaneous leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is crucial for guiding treatment decisions in patients. The objective of this study was to develop prediction models for cancer-specific survival (CSS) in patients with subcutaneous LMS. The collected cases of diagnosed subcutaneous LMS were randomly divided into a training cohort and a validation cohort at a 6:4 ratio based on tumor location and histological code. The X-tile program was utilized to determine the optimal cutoff points for age index. Univariate and Cox multivariate regression analyses were conducted to identify independent risk factors for subcutaneous LMS patients. Nomograms were constructed to predict CSS, and their performance was assessed using C-index and calibration plots. Additionally, a decision tree model was established using recursive partitioning analysis to determine the total score for CSS prediction in subcutaneous LMS patients based on the nomogram model. A total of 1793 patients with subcutaneous LMS were found. X-tile software divides all patients into ≤ 61 years old, 61–82 years old, and ≥ 82 years old. The most important anatomical sites were the limbs (including the upper and lower limbs, 48.0%). Only 6.2% of patients received chemotherapy, while 44% had a history of radiotherapy and 92.9% underwent surgery. The independent risk factors for patients with subcutaneous LMS were age, summary stage, grade, and surgery. CSS was significantly decreased in patients with distant metastases, which showed the highest independent risk predictor (HR 4.325, 95% CI 3.010–6.214, p < 0.001). The nomogram prediction model of LMS was constructed based on four risk factors. The C-index for this model was 0.802 [95% CI 0.781–0.823] and 0.798 [95% CI 0.768–0.829]. The training cohort's 3-, 5-, and 10-year AUCs for CSS in patients with subcutaneous LMS were 0.833, 0.830, and 0.859, and the validation cohort's AUC for predicting CSS rate were 0.849, 0.830, and 0.803, respectively. Recursive segmentation analysis divided patients into 4 risk subgroups according to the total score in the nomogram, including low-risk group < 145, intermediate-low-risk group ≥ 145 < 176, intermediate-high-risk group ≥ 176 < 196, and high-risk group ≥ 196; The probability of the four risk subgroups is 9.1%, 34%, 49%, and 79% respectively. In this retrospective study, a novel nomogram or corresponding risk classification system for patients with subcutaneous LMS were developed, which may assist clinicians in identifying high-risk patients and in guiding the clinical decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common and it is associated with poor clinical outcomes in premature and low birth weight neonates. This systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to summarize the literature and evaluate the prevalence, risk factors, and mortality of premature and low birth weight neonates with AKI. Methods: A systematic search in PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library was performed. Studies on the prevalence, risk factors, diagnosis, and outcomes of acute kidney injury in preterm neonates and neonates with low birth weight were included and analyzed. Results: Fifty articles of 10,744 patients were included in this study. The overall rate of AKI from the pooled results of all patients was 25% (95% CI 20–30%) with heterogeneity among studies (I2 = 97%; P < 0.01). Patients with AKI had significantly higher rate of mortality than patients without AKI (odds ratio (OR) = 7.13; 95% CI 5.91–8.60; P < 0.01). Conclusions: AKI was prevalent and was associated with high mortality rate among preterm and low birth weight neonates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Data from in vitro and animal studies support the preventive effect of tea (Camellia sinensis) against colorectal cancer. Further, many epidemiologic studies evaluated the association between tea consumption and colorectal cancer risk, but the results were inconsistent. We conducted a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies to systematically assess the association between tea consumption and colorectal cancer risk. Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify the related articles by searching PubMed and Embase up to June, 2019. Summary relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a fixed effect model. Results: Twenty cohort articles were included in the present meta-analysis involving 2,068,137 participants and 21,437 cases. The combined RR of colorectal cancer for the highest vs. lowest tea consumption was determined to 0.97 (95% CI 0.94–1.01) with marginal heterogeneity (I2 = 24.0%, P = 0.093) among all studies. This indicated that tea consumption had no significant association with colorectal cancer risk. Stratified analysis showed that no significant differences were found in all subgroups. We further conducted the gender-specific meta-analysis for deriving a more precise estimation. No significant association was observed between tea consumption and colorectal cancer risk in male (combined RR = 0.97; 95% CI 0.90–1.04). However, tea consumption had a marginal significant inverse impact on colorectal cancer risk in female (combined RR = 0.93; 95% CI 0.86–1.00). Further, we found a stronger inverse association between tea consumption and risk of colorectal cancer among the female studies with no adjustment of coffee intake (RR: 0.90; 95% CI 0.82–1.00, P < 0.05) compared to the female studies that adjusted for coffee intake (RR = 0.97; 95% CI 0.87–1.09, P > 0.05). Conclusions: Our finding indicates that tea consumption has no significant impact on the colorectal cancer risk in both genders combined, but gender-specific meta-analysis shows that tea consumption has a marginal significant inverse impact on colorectal cancer risk in female. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the correlation between the initial prophylactic antibiotic use and the subsequent NEC in high-risk premature infants.Methods: We performed a literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and the Web of Science, and nine studies with a total of 5207 infants were selected for inclusion in this study.Results: The pooled estimate for the seven studies combined indicating that prophylactic antibiotic usage was associated with a non-significant trend toward increased incidence of NEC [odds ratio (OR) 0.75; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.26-2.17], and prolonged exposure to prophylactic antibiotics, compared with limited prophylactic antibiotic use, was associated with a significant trend toward the risk of increasing incidence of NEC (OR 1.31; 95% CI 1.08-1.59).Conclusion: Current evidence does not support the use of prophylactic antibiotics to reduce the incidence of NEC for high-risk premature infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology is one of today's most promising technological developments, but safety concerns raise questions about its development. Risk assessments of nanomaterials during occupational exposure are crucial for their development. Here, we assessed the lung toxicity of functionalized single-walled carbon nanotube (f-SWCNT) exposure in C57BL/6 mice, elucidated the underlying molecular mechanism, and evaluated the self-repair ability and lung fibrosis of the mice. Soluble f-SWCNTs were administered to mice. After 18 h or 14 days, the lung histopathology, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, lung edema, vascular permeability, and PaO levels were evaluated, and biochemical and immunostaining tests were also performed. We found that some f-SWCNTs could induce acute lung injury (ALI) in mice via proinflammatory cytokine storm signaling through the NF-κB pathway in vivo. We illustrated that corticosteroid treatments could ameliorate the ALI induced by the f-SWCNTs in mice. Surprisingly, the ALI was almost completely reversed within 14 days, while mild to moderate fibrosis, granuloma, and DNA damage remained in the mice at day 14. Our studies indicate potential remedies to address the growing concerns about the safety of nanomaterials. In addition, we notify that the type of functional groups should be considered in nanomedicine application as differently functionalized SWCNTs generated different effects on the lung toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]