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To achieve the simultaneous and unobtrusive breathing rate (BR) and heart rate (HR) measurements during nighttime, we leverage a far-infrared imager and an infrared camera equipped with IR-Cut lens and an infrared lighting array to develop a dual-camera imaging system. A custom-built cascade face classifier, containing the conventional Adaboost model and fully convolutional network trained by 32K images, was used to detect the face region in registered infrared images. The region of interest (ROI) inclusive of mouth and nose regions was afterwards confirmed by the discriminative regression and coordinate conversions of three selected landmarks. Subsequently, a tracking algorithm based on spatio-temporal context learning was applied for following the ROI in thermal video, and the raw signal was synchronously extracted. Finally, a custom-made time-domain signal analysis approach was developed for the determinations of BR and HR. A dual-mode sleep video database, including the videos obtained under environment where illumination intensity ranged from 0 to 3 Lux, was constructed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed system and algorithms. In linear regression analysis, the determination coefficient (R2) of 0.831 had been observed for the measured BR and reference BR, and this value was 0.933 for HR measurement. In addition, the Bland-Altman plots of BR and HR demonstrated that almost all the data points located within their own 95% limits of agreement. Consequently, the overall performance of the proposed technique is acceptable for BR and HR estimations during nighttime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis has emerged as a global threat. The aim of this work was to compare the CT findings of primary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and drug-sensitive tuberculosis in non-AIDS adults. Material and methods: From January 2012 to February 2016, 89 patients with primary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis were retrospectively reviewed, and 89 consecutive drug sensitive TB patients with no history of anti-tuberculous chemotherapy from January 2014 to November 2014 were enrolled as control group. All patients were seronegative for HIV. The patients’ demographic data and the locations, frequency and patterns of lung lesions on chest CT were compared. Results: Gender and frequency of diabetes were similar between the two groups. The mean age of primary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients was younger than that of drug-sensitive tuberculosis (39.0 vs 47.5, P = 0.005). Lung cavitary nodules or masses were more frequently observed and also showed greater extent in primary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis compared with drug-sensitive tuberculosis. The extent of bronchiectasis was significantly greater in primary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis than in drug-sensitive tuberculosis. Calcification, large nodules and calcified lymph nodes were more frequent in drug-sensitive tuberculosis. Conclusion: Characteristic chest CT findings may help differentiate between primary multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and drug-sensitive tuberculosis in patients without HIV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationships between all-cause mortality and serum intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), calcium, and phosphate are fairly diverse in patients on maintenance hemodialysis according to prior studies. This study evaluated the association of chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD) markers with all-cause mortality in prevalent hemodialysis patients from 2007 to 2012 in Beijing, China. A cohort, involving 8530 prevalent hemodialysis patients who had undergone a 6–70 months follow-up program (with median as 40 months) was formed. Related data was recorded from the database in 120 hemodialysis centers of Beijing Health Bureau (2007 to 2012). Information regarding baseline demographics, blood CKD-MBD markers and all-cause mortality was retrospectively reviewed. By using multivariate Cox regression model analysis, patients with a low iPTH level at baseline were found to have greater risk of mortality (<75pg/ml, HR = 1.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16–1.60) than those with a baseline iPTH level within 150–300 pg/ml. Similarly, death risk showed an increase when the baseline serum calcium presented a low level (<2.1mmol/L, HR = 1.54; 95% CI 1.37–1.74). Levels of baseline serum phosphorus were not associated with the risk of death. Similar results appeared through the baseline competing risks regression analysis. Patients with a lower level of serum iPTH or calcium are at a higher risk of all-cause mortality compared with those within the range recommended by Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative (KDOQI) guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Marine-derived n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) may have a beneficial effect on inflammation via lowering pro-inflammatory eicosanoid concentrations. We aimed to assess the effect of marine-derived n-3 PUFA on prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), thromboxane B2 (TXB2), and leukotriene B4 (LTB4) through systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Method and Findings: A structured search strategy on PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane up to November 2015 was undertaken in this meta-analysis. Standard mean difference was used to calculate the effect size of marine-derived n-3 PUFA on PGE2, TXB2 and LTB4 in a random-effect model. A total of 18 RCTs with 826 subjects were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Supplementation of marine-derived n-3 PUFA significantly decreased concentrations of TXB2 in serum/plasma in subjects with high risk of cardiovascular diseases (SMD:-1.26; 95% CI: -1.65, -0.86) and LTB4 in neutrophils in unhealthy subjects (subjects with non-autoimmune chronic diseases or auto-immune diseases) (SMD:-0.59: 95% CI: -1.02, -0.16). Subgroup analyses showed a significant reduction of LTB4 in subjects with rheumatoid arthritis (SMD: -0.83; 95% CI: -1.37, -0.29), but not in non-autoimmune chronic disease patients (SMD: -0.33; 95% CI: -0.97, 0.31). No significant publication bias was shown in the meta-analysis. Conclusions: Marine-derived n-3 PUFA had a beneficial effect on reducing the concentration of TXB2 in blood of subjects with high risk of CVD as well as LTB4 in neutrophils in unhealthy subjects, and that subjects with RA showed lower LTB4 content with supplementation of marine-derived n-3 PUFA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to systemically evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Materials and Methods: A computerized search of randomized controlled trials for CIK cell-based therapy was performed. The overall survival, clinical response rate, immunological assessment and side effects were evaluated. Results: Overall, 17 randomized controlled trials of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a total of 1172 patients were included in the present analysis. Our study showed that the CIK cell therapy significantly improved the objective response rate and overall survival compared to the non-CIK cell-treated group. After CIK combined therapy, we observed substantially increased percentages of CD3+, CD4+, CD4+CD8+, CD3+CD56+ and NK cells, whereas significant decreases were noted in the percentage of CD8+ and regulatory T cell (Treg) subgroups. A significant increase in Ag-NORs was observed in the CIK-treated patient group (p = 0.00001), whereas carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was more likely to be reduced to a normal level after CIK treatment (p = 0.0008). Of the possible major side effects, only the incidence of fever in the CIK group was significantly higher compared to the group that received chemotherapy alone. Conclusion: The CIK cell combined therapy demonstrated significant superiority in the overall survival, clinical response rate, and T lymphocytes responses and did not present any evidence of major adverse events in patients with NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several prospective cohort and case-control studies reported the inconsistent association between biospecimen composition of C20 and C22 long-chain (LC) n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of biospecimen LC n-3 PUFA with CRC risk based on prospective cohort and case-control studies. Methods and Results: Cochrane Library, PubMed, and EMBASE database were searched up to February 2014 for eligible studies. Risk ratios (RRs) or odds ratios (ORs) from prospective and case-control studies were combined using a random-effects model in the highest vs. lowest categorical analysis. Nonlinear dose-response relationships were assessed using restricted cubic spline regression models. Difference in tissue composition of LC n-3 PUFA between cases and noncases was analyzed as standardized mean difference (SMD). Three prospective cohort studies and 8 case-control studies were included in the present study, comprising 60,627 participants (1,499 CRC cases and 59,128 noncases). Higher biospecimen LC n-3 PUFA was significantly associated with a lower risk of CRC in case-control (pooled OR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.59, 0.97; I2 = 10.00%) and prospective cohort studies (pooled RR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.55, 0.88; I2 = 0.00%), respectively. A significant dose-response association was found of biospecimen C20:5n-3 (P for nonlinearity  = 0.02) and C22:6n-3 (P for trend  = 0.01) with CRC risk, respectively. Subjects without CRC have significantly higher biospecimen compositions of C20:5n-3 (SMD: 0.27; 95%: 0.13, 0.41), C22:6n-3 (SMD: 0.23; 95%: 0.11, 0.34) and total LC n-3 PUFA (SMD: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.07, 0.37) compared with those with CRC. Conclusions: The present evidence suggests human tissue compositions of LC n-3 PUFA may be an independent predictive factor for CRC risk, especially C20:5n-3 and C22:6n-3. This needs to be confirmed with more large-scale prospective cohort studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The effectiveness of immunotherapy for high-grade glioma (HGG) patients remains controversial. To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of dendritic cells (DCs) alone in the treatment of HGG, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis in terms of patient survival with relevant published clinical studies. Materials and methods: A total of 409 patients, including historical cohorts, nonrandomized and randomized controls with HGG, were selected for the meta-analysis. Results: The treatment of HGG with DCs was associated with a significantly improved one-year survival (OS) (p<0.001) and 1.5-, 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year OS (p<0.001) compared with the non-DC group. A meta-analysis of the patient outcome data revealed that DC immunotherapy has a significant influence on progression-free survival (PFS) in HGG patients, who showed significantly improved 1-,1.5-, 2-, 3- and 4-year PFS (p<0.001). The analysis of Karnofsky performance status (KPS) demonstrated no favorable results for DC cell therapy arm (p = 0.23).The percentages of CD3+CD8+ and CD3+CD4+ T cells and CD16+ lymphocyte subset were not significantly increased in the DC group compared with the baseline levels observed before treatment (p>0.05), whereas CD56+ lymphocyte subset were significantly increased after DC treatment (p = 0.0001). Furthermore, the levels of IFN-γ in the peripheral blood of HGG patients, which reflect the immune function of the patients, were significantly increased after DC immunotherapy (p<0.001). Conclusions: Thus, our meta-analysis showed that DC immunotherapy markedly prolongs survival rates and progression-free time, enhances immune function, and improves the efficacy of the treatment of HGG patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a head and neck malignant tumor rare throughout most of the world but common in Southeast Asia, especially in Southern China. Flotillin-2 (Flot-2) is not only an important component of cellular membrane, but also involves in various cellular processes such as membrane trafficking, T cell and B cell activation, regulation of several signaling pathways associated with cell growth and malignant transformation, keeping structure and junction of epidermal cells and formation of filopodia. Although such molecular effects of Flot-2 have been reported, whether the expression of Flot-2 protein is associated with clinicopathologic implication for NPC has not been reported. The purpose of this research is to investigate the expression of Flot-2 protein in NPC and control nasopharyngeal epithelial tissues by immunohistochemistry and elucidate the association between the expression of Flot-2 protein and clinicopathological characteristics of NPC. The results showed that the positive percentage of Flot-2 expression in the NPC, nasopharyngeal epithelia with atypical hyperplasia and in the control nasopharyngeal mucosa epithelia was 88.8% (119/134), 76.9% (10/13) and 5.7% (5/88), respectively. There was significantly higher expression of Flot-2 protein in NPC and nasopharyngeal epithelia with atypical hyperplasia compared to the control nasopharyngeal mucosa epithelia (P<0.001, respectively). The positive percentage of Flot-2 protein expression in NPC patients with lymph node metastasis was significantly higher than those without lymph node metastasis. Increasing of Flot-2 expression was obviously correlated with clinical stages of NPC patients. The expression of Flot-2 was proved to be the independent predicted factor for lymph node metastasis by multivariate analysis. The sensitivity of Flot-2 for predicting lymph node metastasis of NPC patients was 93%. Taken together, our results suggest that the increased expression of Flot-2 protein is a novel higher sensitivity biomarker that can predict lymph node metastases in NPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]