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Purpose Inflammation is closely associated with prognosis in gastric cancer (GC). We aimed to assess the predictive value of existing inflammatory and tumor markers in GC, to establish a systemic score based on valuable predictors for early risk stratification of patients, and to create a nomogram for individual risk prediction. Patients and Methods We retrospectively analyzed 401 GC patients who underwent curative gastrectomy from 2007 to 2016. Results Through univariate and multivariate survival analysis, age (>60 years), depth of invasion (pT3-4), lymph node invasion (pN1-3), histologic classification (poor), adjuvant chemotherapy (no), albumin fibrinogen ratio (AFR) ( 27 U/mL) independently indicated inferior disease-free survival (DFS). In addition, depth of invasion, lymph node invasion, histologic classification, adjuvant chemotherapy, AFR, and CA19-9 were incorporated in the prediction of cancer-specific survival (CSS). A combined AFR and CA19-9 prognostic score (CACPS) was established. Lower AFR ( 27 U/mL) were allocated 1 point each in the CACPS (range, 0-2). CACPS can be used as an independent predictor for DFS and CSS in multivariate analysis (for DFS: CACPS 1: HR=2.039, 95% CI: 1.357-3.065, P=0.001; CACPS 2: HR=2.419, 95% CI: 1.397-4.186, P=0.002; for CSS: CACPS 1: HR=2.035, 95% CI: 1.292-3.205, P=0.002; CACPS 2: HR=2.255, 95% CI: 1.252-4.059, P=0.007), with a higher CACPS indicating poor survival according to Kaplan-Meier curves (both P

Cardiac alternans closely linked to calcium dysregulation is a crucial risk factor for fatal arrhythmia causing especially sudden death. Calcium overload is well-known to activate Ca

This paper presents a novel deep-learning approach to analyze the fish feeding intensity based on the images of fish tanks during the fish feeding process. The grade of the fish feeding intensity is an important indicator of fish appetite. On the design of a smart feeding system in aquaculture, this information is of great significance for guiding feeding and optimizing the fish production. However, conventional fish appetite assessment methods are inefficient and subjective. To solve these problems, in this study, based on a space-time two-stream 3D CNN, a deep learning approach for grading fish feeding intensity is proposed to evaluate fish appetite. The flow of the approach is implemented as follows. First, a fixed RGB camera is setup to capture the videos from the fish tanks during the feeding processes. This also constructs a dataset for training the two-stream neural network, and the fish appetite levels are graded using the trained neural network model. Finally, the performance of the method is evaluated and compared with other CNN-based deep learning approaches. The results show that the grading accuracy reached 91.18%, which outperforms the compared CNN-based approaches. Thus, the model can be used to detect and evaluate fish appetite to guide production practices.

Biodegradable intravascular stents could become totally degraded after supporting the stenosis diseased vascular without risks of thrombus and restenosis. As the earliest used biodegradable material on stents, poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) has favorable mechanical and degradable performance. In this paper, poly-lactic acid was used as a stent material for the imitation of the S7 stent (Medtronic AVE, Minnesota, USA). The Z-structure stent was designed and constructed with textile methods by wounding and bonding the strut with a cylindrical mold. Poly-lactic acid Z-structure stents were made into different forms with two different bonding methods for the comparison of stent mechanical properties. In the meantime, polydiaxanon monofilament was used for the preparation of the Z-structure stent and WallStent to compare with poly-lactic acid stents. The stent radial force was tested by the platform compression method. Experimental results showed that the polydiaxanon Z-structure stent had a higher radial force than the poly-lactic acid ones because of better mechanical properties of the strut. Small-diameter stents expressed higher radial force, whereas stents with more crown rows had lower radial forces. Stents bonded with medical glue had higher radial force but lower fastness and inefficient self-expanded performance. The WallStent and Z-structure stent both had favorable elastic resilience performance, whereas the Z-structure stent performed better in compression resistance under large deformation

A comparison of compression behaviors between fully covered biodegradable polydioxanone (PDO) biliary stents (FCBPBSs) and uncovered biodegradable polydioxanone biliary stents (NBPBSs) was made by the finite element method. Numerical models for FCBPBSs and NBPBSs were established to investigate the relationship between the compression force and structural parameter (monofilament diameter and braid-pin number). The simulation and experimental results after calculating the compression force derived from both experiment and simulation results are in good agreement with each other, indicating that the simulation results can provide a useful reference for the investigation of biliary stents. The stress distributions for FCBPBSs and NBPBSs were studied, and the plastic dissipation analysis and plastic strain of FCBPBSs were obtained via simulation of compression of the film layer of the FCBPBSs. The film layer of FCBPBSs contributes greatly to the differences in mechanical properties, such as stress distribution, plastic dissipation and plastic strain, between FCBPBSs and NBPBSs.

Two novel biodegradable intravascular stents (BIS) with different structures are introduced. Braiding-structural BIS and Z-structural BIS were fabricated from polydioxanone (PDO) monofilament by a hand-braiding method with a perforated mold, imitating commercial stents that have been used clinically. The fabrication process of these two BIS is described and stent parameters, mechanical properties, and degradation properties are reported. The findings reveal that Z-structural BIS have higher porosity, smaller longitudinal shortening rate, and higher radial force and recovery rate compared with the braiding-structural stent. During the degradation process, braiding-structural BIS maintained their mechanical properties higher than international standards for 12 weeks, while Z-structural stents maintained them for 16 weeks.

Background: The mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein has recently been identified as a key downstream component of tumor necrosis factor–induced necroptosis, which is an important pathway of cancer cell death. The goal of the current study is to explore the expression of mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein in colon cancer tissues and evaluate the prognostic value in patients with colon cancer. Methods: We collected normal and cancer colon tissues from 135 patients diagnosed with colon cancer after radical operation during July 2007 to April 2009 at The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University. Immunohistochemistry analysis was scored using an established scoring system. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were generated for recurrence-free survival and overall survival for all patients and 2 subsets of patients. The relationship between mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein expression and prognosis parameter (recurrence-free survival, overall survival) was analyzed by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. Results: The median age of all patients was 67 years and 56.3% were male. Low expression of mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein was associated with decreased overall survival (78.6 vs 81.2 months; P = .011) in all patients. In the subset of 79 patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy, low expression of mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein was associated with decreased recurrence-free survival (60.4 vs 72.8 months; P = .032) and decreased overall survival (66.3 vs 72.9 months; P = .005). Low expression of mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein was associated with decreased overall survival (74.9 vs 79.8 months; P = .006) and recurrence-free survival (69.6 vs 78.8 months; P = .005) among patients with Tumor Node Metastasis (TNM) stage II colon cancer. Conclusions: Low expression of mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein was associated with decreased overall survival in all patient-group with resected colon cancer. It is associated with decreased recurrence-free survival and overall survival in the subset of patients who receive adjuvant chemotherapy and patients who were TNM stage II. Mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein may provide important prognostic information in patients with colon cancer.

Biodegradable intravascular stent has attracted more and more focus in recent years as an effective solution for angiostenosis. Ideal stents were expected to exhibit sufficient radial force to support the vascular wall, while suitable flexibility for the angioplasty. After vascular remodeling, stents should be degraded into small molecular and be eliminated from human body, causing no potential risk. In this paper, poly-p-dioxanone (PDO) monofilament was braided into net structure with four different braiding density, two of which exhibited sufficient radial force larger than 30 kPa, and three of which showed the bending rigidity within 11.7–88.1 N•mm2. The degradation behaviors of monofilaments and stents have been observed for 16 weeks. The findings obtained indicate that degradation first occurred in morphology region, which induced temporary increase of crystallinity, monofilament bending rigidity and stent mechanical properties. During this period, monofilament tends to be hard and brittle and lost its tensile properties. Then the crystalline region was degraded and stent mechanical properties decreased. All the results reveal that the PDO intravascular stents with braided structure were able to afford at least 10 weeks of sufficient support to the vascular wall.

Exosomes are small secretory vesicles that are involved in intercellular communication. Exosomes are secreted by many types of cells and exert important functions in plasma-membrane exchange as well as the transport of bioactive substances, such as proteins, messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs), micro ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) and organelles. Exosomes may regulate physiological processes by altering gene regulatory networks or epigenetic recombination. Recent studies have shown that exosomes secreted by stem cells can effectively transport proteins, mRNAs and miRNAs and play important roles in the regulation of tissue regeneration. This report reviews current progress in exosome studies as well as their emerging roles in stem cell research and potential clinical use.