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Background: Ewing sarcoma remains the second most prevalent primary aggressive bone tumor in teens and young adults. The aim of our study was to develop and validate a web-based nomogram to predict the overall survival for Ewing sarcoma in children. Methods: A total of 698 patients, with 640 cases from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (the training set) and 58 cases (the external validation set), were included in this study. Cox analyses were carried out to determine the independent prognostic indicators, which were further included to establish a web-based nomogram. The predictive abilities were tested through the concordance index, calibration curve, decision curve analysis, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Results: As suggested by univariate and multivariate Cox analyses, age, primary site, tumor size, metastasis stage (M stage), and chemotherapy were included as the independent predictive variables. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve values, calibration curves, concordance index, and decision curve analysis from training and validation groups suggested the model has great clinical applications. Conclusion: We developed a convenient and precise web-based nomogram to evaluate overall survival for Ewing sarcoma in children. The application of this nomogram would assist physicians and patients in making decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Whether sentinel lymph node biopsy should be performed in patients ≥70 years old with early-stage invasive breast cancer is controversial. We examined the effect of sentinel lymph node biopsy on the treatment and outcomes in this population. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, patients aged ≥70 years who were treated for invasive breast cancer with sentinel lymph node biopsy followed by mastectomy or lumpectomy between 2010 and 2019 were identified from our database. Patients were compared according to sentinel lymph node status. Outcomes were analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox multivariate analysis. Results: Of the 376 patients enrolled in this study, 311 (82.7%) were sentinel lymph node-negative and 65 (17.3%) were sentinel lymph node-positive. The median follow-up duration for all patients was 70 months. Systemic treatment and radiation were similar between sentinel lymph node-negative and -positive groups. Disease-free survival, distant disease-free survival, breast cancer-specific survival, overall survival were not significantly different between groups (88.2% vs 87.6%, 96.7% vs 94.8%, 96.2% vs 93.6%, and 93.5% vs 90.0%, respectively). Sentinel lymph node status, tumor size, chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, and adjuvant radiation were included in Cox multivariate analysis. None of the variables were found to significantly affect disease-free survival, distant disease-free survival, breast cancer-specific survival, and overall survival. Conclusions: Our analysis indicated that sentinel lymph node status may not affect systemic treatment decisions or survival in patients aged ≥70 years with breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea cucumber is a kind of food. Holothurian glycosaminoglycan (hGAG) is extracted from the body wall of the sea cucumber. Administration of hGAG and cisplatin (DDP) together to treat lung cancer was investigated. Lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells were cultured and divided into 4 groups: control group, hGAG 100 µg/mL group, DDP 3 µg/mL group, and hGAG 100 µg/mL + DDP 3 µg/mL group. Cell inhibition and apoptosis was evaluated by CCK8 and Hoechst33258 staining. Cell cycle was tested by Annexin V-FITC/PI (propidium iodide) double-staining and flow cytometry. The expression of mRNA and protein of Bcl-2, Bax, caspase-3, and survivin were detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot, respectively. The results showed that hGAG combined with DDP enhanced the inhibitory effect of DDP on A549 lung cells through apoptosis pathway. The mechanism of apoptosis may be related to the reduction of Bcl-2 and survivin, as well as the ascension of Bax and caspase-3. hGAG could promote A549 cell cycle arrest in G1 and G2 phase and improve the DDP chemotherapy effects on A549 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. nebraskensis (Cmn) and Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii (Pss) are two plant pathogens that can cause tremendous agricultural economic losses. This novel method based on microsphere immunoreaction was developed for the simultaneous detection of Cmn and Pss in maize. This multiplex method was constructed based on microsphere immunodetection with fluorescent labels such as quantum dots (QDs) and R-phycoerythrin (R-PE) for the detection of Cmn and Pss. Captured QDs and R-PE serve as signal reporters for fluorescent readout. The principle of this method is based on a sandwich immunoreaction. Cmn and Pss captured by the microspheres were detected using flow cytometry. The limit of detection of this method was 10 times lower than the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and its analysis time (1 h) was much shorter compared with ELISA (6–8 h). The method, which has been proven to be an effective approach to multiplex detection of plant bacteria (Cmn and Pss as models), not only increased the varieties but also improved the sensitivity. The microsphere immunoreaction provides a universal method for the multiplex determination of microbes because of its high sensitivity, specificity, and speed. In the future, the method will be more fully validated in vivo to detect diversiform bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: The purpose of this study is to analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with Van der Woude syndrome (VWS) and to detect variations in each patient. Finally, the combination of genotype and phenotype can make a clear diagnosis of VWS patients with different phenotype penetrance. Methods: Five Chinese VWS pedigree were enrolled. Whole exome sequencing of the proband was performed, and the potential pathogenic variation was further verified by Sanger sequencing in the patient and their parents. The human mutant IRF6 coding sequence was generated from the human full-length IRF6 plasmid by site-directed mutagenesis and cloned into the GV658 vector, RT-qPCR and Western blot were used to detect the expression of IRF6. Results: We found one de novo nonsense variation (p. Gln118Ter) and three novel missense variations (p. Gly301Glu, p. Gly267Ala, and p. Glu404Gly) co-segregated with VWS. RT-qPCR analysis revealed that p. Glu404Gly significantly reduced the expression level of IRF6 mRNA. Western blot of cell lysates confirmed that IRF6 p. Glu404Gly abundance levels were lower than those for IRF6 wild type. Conclusions: This discovery of the novel variation (IRF6 p. Glu404Gly) expands the spectrum of known variations in VWS in Chinese humans. Genetic results combined with clinical phenotypes and differential diagnosis points from other diseases can make a definitive diagnosis and provide genetic counseling for families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]