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Introduction: We examined the suitability of using a video visit platform to perform postoperative parotidectomy evaluation at a tertiary care, multiple-surgeon otolaryngology center., Methods: A retrospective case review was conducted of patients who underwent parotidectomy and postoperative video visits between November 2019 and December 2020. Success of video visit, plan if applicable, and post-visit outcomes were reviewed. Video visits were designated as successful if the physician could assess for complications in the postoperative course (e.g. first bite pain, Frey syndrome, ear numbness, unplanned visits to the emergency department, unplanned return to the operating room), perform examination of facial nerve function, and formulate care recommendations per clinical judgement without deferment of recommendations for a subsequent in-person visit., Results: There were 96 postoperative video visits with 91 unique parotidectomy patients. Demographics: 28/63 male/female; average age, 54y. All video visits were suitable for successful postoperative parotidectomy patient evaluation. Eight visits (8.3%) consisted of patients presenting with common postoperative complications (e.g. eye dryness, first bite pain) and warranted care recommendations. In only two cases did the patient require further in-person procedural (hematoma evacuation, seroma aspiration) follow-ups. For the other 91.7% of visits (n = 88), no additional recommendations were required as patients experienced uncomplicated postoperative courses. Of all the patients, 26.1% (n = 23) were instructed to follow-up for routine surveillance. All other patients, 73.9% (n = 65) were instructed to follow-up as needed., Conclusion: Postoperative parotidectomy evaluation is highly amenable to being performed by video. A telemedicine option offers convenience for patients in the majority of cases without compromising clinical assessment and judgment for the physician., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Introduction: The ability to collect blood samples remotely without the involvement of healthcare professionals is a key element of future telehealth applications. We developed and validated the application of the Drawbridge OneDraw device for use at home for blood sample collection. The device was then applied in a large population-based remote monitoring study to assess changes in SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody levels., Methods: We tested: (1) feasibility of participants using the device at home without a healthcare professional on the upper arm and thigh sites (2) stability of the dried blood sample collected remotely (3) participant acceptability of the device compared with finger-prick and venous blood samples and the validity of SARS-CoV-2 virus antibody measurement versus venous blood sample (4) application to the Fenland COVID-19 study in which 4023 participants at 3 timepoints across 6 months., Results: Participant acceptability was high, with a significantly lower median perceived pain score and 76% of participants preferring the OneDraw device over the other blood collection methods. There was high level of agreement in SARS-CoV-2 virus antibody results with venous blood samples in 120 participants (Cohen's kappa 0.68 (95% CI 0.56, 0.83). In the Fenland COVID-19 study, 92% of participants returned a sample at baseline (3702/4023), 89% at 3 months (3492/3918) and 93% at 6 months (3453/3731), with almost all samples received successfully processed (99.9%)., Discussion: The OneDraw device enables a standardised blood sample collection at home by participants themselves. Due to its ease-of-use and acceptability the OneDraw device is particularly useful in telehealth approaches where multiple samples need to be collected., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant effects on service delivery for transgender and gender diverse youth. Many in-person services were suspended in response to the need to follow quarantine and social-distancing guidelines, at both the state and national levels. In response, our pediatric gender clinic adopted a rapid implementation of telehealth services to provide access to gender affirming care. However, there exists little guidance on how to provide gender-affirming care via these platforms. In this article, we provide a narrative review of the development of a full-scale model for delivering telehealth services to transgender and gender diverse youth and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also discuss the benefits and drawbacks of telehealth services for transgender and gender-diverse youth and focus on the continued need for advocacy around systemic barriers to care.

Renal cell carcinoma is particularly sensitive to ferroptosis, an iron-dependent non-apoptotic form of cell death. This mechanism does not require activation of caspase or the participation of other apoptotic effector molecules (such as BAX or BAK), nor is it accompanied by the morphological characteristics or biochemical processes of apoptosis. The STEAP3 gene was found because it promotes tumor apoptosis in prostate cancer, but its role in renal cell carcinoma has not been studied in depth. Through real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, we found that the expression of the STEAP3 gene was upregulated in renal cell carcinoma tissue samples and cell lines, and it was found to be highly expressed in renal cell carcinoma tissue through immunohistochemistry. This upregulation is related to poor survival and prognosis of patients. We used erastin, a ferroptosis inducer, found that renal cell carcinoma became more susceptible to ferroptosis after knocking down STEAP3. The results indicate that renal cell carcinoma cell lines with knocked down STEAP3 expression are more sensitive to ferroptosis, and this effect occurs through the p53/xCT pathway. In summary, our research helps to identify new biomarkers and provides new targets for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma.

For effective patient therapy and improved patient safety, it is critical to administer medication accurately in accordance with doctor's prescription. However, accidents owing to the erroneous programing of infusion pumps caused by users have been consistently reported in several documents. In this study, the authors propose a novel surveillance technique for infusion pumps to continuously monitor the variations in panel digits using a convolutional neural network model, and evaluate the performance of the implemented technique. During the experimental evaluation, 1st-step ROIs and 2nd-step ROIs were successfully extracted from the frame images regardless of the ambient lighting conditions. The final accuracies of the implemented CNN model are 99.9% for both the training (172,800 images) and validation (1080 images) dataset while the final losses for the training and validation datasets are 0.48 and 0.45 after 13th epoch, respectively. In the 24-h continuous monitoring test, the accuracy of the model for volume recognition considering all the 1440 measurements (960 for day-lighting and 480 for night-lighting ) is 95.5%, whereas in day-lighting and night-lighting modes the accuracies of the model are 98.2% and 90.0%, respectively. Based on these experimental results, the proposed surveillance technique incorporating infusion pumps is expected to improve the safety of patients who need long-term treatments via infusion pumps, reducing the burden on the nurses and hospitals.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a rare type of cancer but frequently occurred in children. However, it is still unclear whether circular RNAs (circRNAs) play key roles in NB tumorigenesis or progression. In this study, we identified 39,022 circRNAs across the 39 neuroblastoma and 2 normal cell lines. With the gene and circRNA expression data, we classified the NB cell lines, identified and characterized the functional circRNAs in the 3 NB classes. Specifically, 29 circRNAs were found to be dysregulated in the NB classes. Notably, 7 circRNAs located within MYCN-amplified regions were upregulated in cell lines with the high activities of MYC targets and MYCN amplification, and were highly correlated with expression of their parental gene, NBAS . Subsequently, we constructed ceRNA networks for the functional circRNAs. Specifically, hsa_circ_0005379 was identified as a critical regulator in the ceRNA networks because of targeting 13 genes, which formed a complex competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network. Moreover, hsa_circ_0002343, which was connected with few genes, might regulate the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling via RAC1. Furthermore, 3 genes, including NOTCH2, SERPINH1, and LAMC1, involved in epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) were observed to connect with hsa_circ_0001361, suggesting that this circRNA was closely associated with EMT. Consequently, 7 genes, such as DAD1, PPIA, NOTCH2, PGK1, BUB1, EIF2S1, and TCF7L2, were found to be closely associated with both event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS). In conclusion, the present study identified functional circRNAs and predicted their functionality in neuroblastoma cell lines, which not only improved the understanding of circRNAs in neuroblastoma, but also provided the evidences for the related researchers.

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death, and adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer. Although emerging evidence implicates the role of several aldehyde dehydrogenases in cancer progression, the expression and clinical significance of aldehyde dehydrogenase 3B1 in lung adenocarcinoma has never been studied., Materials: In our study, the expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 3B1 in 250 cases of lung adenocarcinoma was detected with immunohistochemistry, and the patients were further divided into subgroups with different aldehyde dehydrogenase 3B1 expression. Using real-time polymerase chain reaction, we investigated the aldehyde dehydrogenase 3B1 messenger RNA in 20 lung adenocarcinoma and paired normal lung tissues. With the χ 2 test, we evaluated the clinical significance of aldehyde dehydrogenase 3B1 by analyzing its correlation with the clinicopathological factors. Propensity score matching was performed to balance the baseline of cohort. With univariate and multivariate analyses, we screened the prognostic factors of lung adenocarcinoma and identified the independent prognostic factors before and after the propensity score matching., Results: Aldehyde dehydrogenase 3B1 expression was significantly associated with the sex and age of patients, tumor size, and histological grade. High expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 3B1 predicted the poor prognosis ( P = .003). Moreover, male patients ( P = .020), large tumor size ( P = .009), advanced T stage ( P = .001), positive lymphatic invasion ( P < .001), and advanced tumor-node-metastasis stage ( P < .001) were all the prognostic factors for unfavorable outcome. Aldehyde dehydrogenase 3B1 was an independent prognostic biomarker of lung adenocarcinoma, indicating the poor prognosis. In addition, after balancing the baseline characteristics by propensity score matching, we also demonstrated that aldehyde dehydrogenase 3B1 was an independent prognostic biomarker of lung adenocarcinoma ( P = .007)., Conclusions: Aldehyde dehydrogenase 3B1 was an independent prognostic biomarker of lung adenocarcinoma, indicating the unfavorable prognosis. Postoperative detection of aldehyde dehydrogenase 3B1 would help stratify the high-risk patients with lung adenocarcinoma and guide individual treatment.

RNA-binding proteins have been associated with cancer development. The overexpression of a well-known RNA-binding protein, insulin-like growth factor 2 messenger RNA-binding protein 3, has been identified as an indicator of poor prognosis in patients with various types of cancer. Although gastric cancer is a relatively frequent and potentially fatal malignancy, the mechanism by which insulin-like growth factor 2 messenger RNA-binding protein 3 regulates the development of this cancer remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the role and regulatory mechanism of insulin-like growth factor 2 messenger RNA-binding protein 3 in gastric cancer. An analysis of IGF2BP3 expression patterns reported in 4 public gastric cancer-related microarray data sets from the Gene Expression Omnibus and The Cancer Genome Atlas-Stomach Adenocarcinoma revealed strong expression of this gene in gastric cancer tissues. Insulin-like growth factor 2 messenger RNA-binding protein 3 expression in gastric cancer was further confirmed via quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry, respectively, in an in-house gastric cancer cohort (n = 30), and the association of insulin-like growth factor 2 messenger RNA-binding protein 3 expression with clinical parameters and prognosis was analyzed. Notably, stronger IGF2BP3 expression significantly correlated with poor prognosis, and significant changes in insulin-like growth factor 2 messenger RNA-binding protein 3 expression were only confirmed in patients with advanced-stage gastric cancer in an independent cohort. The effects of insulin-like growth factor 2 messenger RNA-binding protein 3 on cell proliferation were confirmed through in vitro experiments involving the HGC-27 gastric cancer cell line. MicroR-125a-5p, a candidate microRNA that target on insulin-like growth factor 2 messenger RNA-binding protein 3, decreased in advanced-stage gastric cancer. Upregulation of microR-125a-5p inhibited insulin-like growth factor 2 messenger RNA-binding protein 3, and dual-luciferase report assay indicated that microR-125a-5p inhibited the translation of IGF2BP3 by directly targeting the 3' untranslated region. These results indicate that the microR-125a-5p/insulin-like growth factor 2 messenger RNA-binding protein 3 axis contributes to the oncogenesis of advanced gastric cancer.

Objectives Visceral arterial aneurysms may be treated using open surgery or endovascular repair, but the best approach remains controversial. This was a retrospective study aiming to compare open surgery and endovascular treatment strategies for visceral arterial aneurysms. Methods The study included all 93 patients who were admitted with visceral artery aneurysms between January 2001 and January 2011 at the Department of Vascular Surgery, Changhai Hospital, Shanghai, China. All cases underwent either open or endovascular procedures. Overall survival and adverse events were compared between the groups. Success rate, blood loss, length of surgery, and length of hospital stay were also compared. The patients were followed up at three, six, and 12 months then every year until April 2014. Results Open surgery was performed on 34 patients and endovascular procedures on 59. There were no differences in characteristics of the patients between the open surgery and endovascular groups. The perioperative complication rate was 52.9 and 13.6% in the open surgery and endovascular groups, respectively. Mean follow-up was 36.8 months (range: 11 months to 10 years). The one- and five-year survival rates were 100 and 60.6%, respectively, in the open surgery group, compared to 100 and 84.5% in the endovascular group. Multivariate analysis for factors related to overall survival showed that there was a significant relationship with the treatment approach (HR = 0.479, 95%CI: 0.278-0.825; P = 0.008) and the presence of false aneurysm (HR = 2.929, 95%CI: 1.388-6.180, P = 0.005). Conclusions Endovascular repair could be considered as an effective method for visceral artery aneurysm. Endovascular repair showed lower perioperative complication rates and better long-term survival.

The hemicellulose composition of a pulp significantly affects its chemical and physical properties and thus represents an important process control variable. However, complicated steps of sample preparation make standard methods for the carbohydrate analysis of pulp samples, such as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), expensive and time-consuming. In contrast, pulp analysis by attenuated total internal reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR) requires little sample preparation. Here we show that ATR FT-IR with discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and standard normal variate (SNV) spectral preprocessing offers a convenient means for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of hemicelluloses in bleached kraft pulp and alkaline treated kraft pulp. The pulp samples investigated include bleached softwood kraft pulps, bleached hardwood kraft pulps, and their mixtures, as obtained from Canadian industry mills or blended in a lab, and bleached kraft pulp samples treated with 0-6% NaOH solutions. In the principal component analysis (PCA) of these spectra, we find the potential both to differentiate all pulps on the basis of hemicellulose compositions and to distinguish bleached hardwood pulps by species. Partial least squares (PLS) multivariate analysis gives a 0.442 wt% root mean square errors of prediction (RMSEP) for the prediction of xylan content and 0.233 wt% RMSEP for the prediction of mannan content. These data all support the idea that ATR FT-IR has a great potential to rapidly and accurately predict the content of xylan and mannan for bleached kraft pulps (softwood, hardwood, and their mixtures) in industry. However, the prediction of xylan and mannan concentrations presented a difficulty for pulp samples with modified cellulose crystalline structure., (© The Author(s) 2016.)

A new method was developed to study how the oil and cyan pigments of cold-set ink are distributed in newspaper thickness. The methodology involved laboratory printing followed by delamination of the printed paper. The unprinted side, printed side, and resulting layers were analyzed using attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR). Three commercial newspapers and black and cyan cold-set inks were chosen for the study. Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy enabled the proportion of oil and cyan pigment on the printed surface and throughout the sheet thickness to be measured. Oil percentage was evaluated as the area increment of the region from 2800 cm(-1) to 3000 cm(-1) The relative amount of cyan pigment was determined as the area of the absorption band at 730 cm(-1) The ink oil was found mainly below half the paper thickness, whereas the pigment was detected at the layers closer to the printed surface, at a depth penetration of less than 15 µm (20% of thickness). Distribution of these two components in paper thickness depended on the type of cold-set ink, the amount of ink transferred, and the newspaper properties., (© The Author(s) 2016.)

The near-infrared transmission spectra of two organic liquid three-component systems of variable compositions were investigated in detail. To evaluate the interaction of the different components in the two systems the experimental spectra of the pure components were compared to mathematically constructed "pure component" spectra. Though usually the correlation coefficient (CC) and Manhattan distance (MD) are used to measure the similarity of spectra, in the present investigations principal component analysis (PCA) was found to be a more effective tool to investigate the difference between these spectra and derive parameters characterizing the interaction between the different components. Thus, PC scores for the two types of spectra established some distinct patterns which clearly expressed their differences. For a three-dimensional coordinate system of selected principal components, the Euclidean distances between the mathematically constructed and the experimental spectra of the pure components were calculated. Finally, the mean values of the distances for each component provided indices to rank the interaction of the components in the mixtures. Thus, the results offer a convenient approach that can quantitatively evaluate the molecular interactions of the individual components in organic liquid mixtures by various spectroscopies., (© The Author(s) 2016.)

Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) has been adopted by many clinics for its higher delivery efficiency compared to conventional intensity modulated radiotherapy techniques. Currently, the quality assurance (QA) has remained a challenge in that no identical tests are available for accelerators from different vendors. This study is the first attempt to design identical QA tests for the VMAT technique for Varian and Elekta machines. Identical procedures testing MLC positions and movements, dose rate variations, and gantry positions and movement were created for both machines. These included picket fence (PF), dose rate vs. gantry speed (DRGS) and MLC speed vs. dose rate (MLCDR) tests. Deliverable plans for these tests were made with in-house software that was deliverable for linacs from two vendors (Elekta Synergy and Varian Trilogy). The electronic portal imaging device (EPID) was used for these tests. An automated analysis method was established and software was created to quantitatively evaluate the result. The systematic gap position and width errors from PF tests were within 0.5 mm. We evaluated the detectability of this program for introduced errors down to 0.2 mm. Linear relationships existed between the introduced errors and measured errors. In the DRGS test, 99.8% and 100.0% of the intensity deviations from expected profiles were less than 3% for the Synergy and Trilogy, respectively. For the MLCDR, the intensity deviations from expected profiles less than 3% were 100.0% for Synergy and 98.1% for Trilogy. Identical test series were created and implemented for VMAT accelerators from two vendors. Test results were reported from both accelerators. Comparable results were obtained from both vendors, enabling uniform criteria to be established for VMAT quality assurance., (© The Author(s) 2014.)

The objective of this study is to explore the feasibility of radioiodine treatment for cervical cancer using the early growth response (Egr-1) promoter to control sodium-iodine symporter (hNIS) gene expression. The hNIS gene was previously transfected into Hela cells under the control of either the cytomegalovirus (CMV) or Egr-1 promoters. Na(125)I uptake was measured in the presence or absence of NaClO4. Na(125)I efflux was measured. The effects of external beam radiation on iodine uptake and retention were studied. The cytotoxic effects of (131)I were measured by clonogenic assay. The Na(125)I biodistribution was obtained using mice bearing control and transfected cells. The %ID/g of tumor and major organs were obtained for a range of times up to 48 hours post injection and the ratio of tumor to non-tumor activity (T/NT) was calculated. Tumors were imaged with Na(131)I and (99m)TcO4 (-), and the ratio of tumor to background activity (T/B) was calculated. Na(125)I uptake in Hela cells was minimal in the absence of hNIS. Uptake in the transfected cells was strong, and could be blocked by NaClO4. The iodine uptake of Hela-Egr-1-hNIS cells increased after the irradiation, and the magnitude of this effect approximately matched the radiation dose delivered. The efflux of 125I was affected by neither the promoter sequence nor pre-irradiation. (131)I reduced the clonogenic survival of symporter expressing cells, relative to the parental line. The effect was greatest in cells where hNIS was driven by the CMV promoter. Tumors formed from Hela-Egr-1-hNIS concentrated Na(125)I over a 12 hour period, in contrast to untransfected cells. These tumors could also be successfully imaged using either Na(131)I or (99m)TcO4 (-). (131)I uptake peaked at 4h, while (99m)TcO4 (-) accumulated over approximately 20 hours. In vivo uptake of (131)I and (99m)TcO4 (-) was slightly higher in cells transfected with the Egr-1 promoter, compared to CMV. Hela-Egr-1-hNIS cells demonstrate highly enhanced iodine uptake, and this effect is further augmented by radiation, creating a positive feedback loop which may bolster radionuclide therapy in vivo., (© The Author(s) 2014.)

Pontocerebellar hypoplasias represent a group of neurodegenerative autosomal recessive disorders characterized by hypoplasia/atrophy of the cerebellum, hypoplastic ventral pons, and microcephaly and associated with various clinical features. Pontocerebellar hypolasia type 2 is the most common form, and different mutations in genes encoding subunits of the transfer ribonucleic acid (RNA)-splicing endonuclease (TSEN) complex were identified in patients. The authors report clinical, imaging, and molecular studies in 2 unrelated patients with different clinical pictures of the pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 2 spectrum and novel mutations in TSEN54, aiming to further define the clinical spectrum of the disease and possible indicators of more favorable progression. They identified a novel missense mutation c.355T>G/p.Y119D in compound heterozygosity with the "common" c.919G>T/p.A307S (patient 1) and a novel homozygous c.7ins6(CCGGAG)/p.E2-P3insPE variant (patient 2). An expanded array of mutations might contribute in defining possible differences in severity and phenotype-genotype correlations.

Advancements in the field of printed electronics can be applied to the field of diabetes testing. A brief history and some new developments in printed electronics components applicable to personal test devices, including circuitry, batteries, transmission devices, displays, and sensors, are presented. Low-cost, thin, and lightweight materials containing printed circuits with energy storage or harvest capability and reactive/display centers, made using new printing/imaging technologies, are ideal for incorporation into personal-use medical devices such as glucose test meters. Semicontinuous rotogravure printing, which utilizes flexible substrates and polymeric, metallic, and/or nano "ink" composite materials to effect rapidly produced, lower-cost printed electronics, is showing promise. Continuing research advancing substrate, "ink," and continuous processing development presents the opportunity for research collaboration with medical device designers., (© 2011 Diabetes Technology Society.)