Search

Objective: Neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix (NECC) is extremely rare in clinical practice. This study aimed to methodologically analyze the clinicopathological factors associated with NECC patients and to develop a validated survival prediction model. Methods: A total of 535 patients diagnosed with NECC between 2004 and 2016 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database, while 122 patients diagnosed with NECC at Yunnan Cancer Hospital (YCH) from 2006 to 2019 were also recruited. Patients from the SEER database were divided into a training cohort (n = 376) and a validation cohort (n = 159) in a 7:3 ratio for the construction and internal validation of the nomogram. External validation was performed in a cohort at YCH. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis, the Log-rank method test was used for univariate analysis of prognostic influences, and the Cox regression model was used for multivariate analysis. Results: The 3-year and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates for patients with NECC in SEER were 43.6% and 39.7%, respectively. In the training cohort, multivariate analysis showed independent prognostic factors for NECC patients including race, tumor size, distant metastasis, stage, and chemotherapy (p<0.05). For extended application in other cohorts, a nomogram including four factors without race was subsequently created. The consistency index (C-index) of the nomogram predicting survival was 0.736, which was well-validated in the validation cohorts (0.746 for the internal validation cohort and 0.765 for the external validation cohort). In both the training and validation cohorts, the 3-year survival rates predicted by the nomogram were comparable to the actual ones. We then succeeded in dividing patients with NECC into high- and low-risk groups concerning OS using the nomogram we developed. Besides, univariate analysis showed that chemotherapy ≥4 cycles may improve the OS of patients at YCH with NECC. Conclusion: We successfully constructed a nomogram that precisely predicts the OS for patients with NECC based on the SEER database and a large single-center retrospective cohort. The visualized and practical model can distinguish high-risk patients for recurrence and death who may benefit from clinical trials of boost therapy effectively. We also found that patients who received more than 4 cycles of chemotherapy acquired survival benefits than those who received less than 4 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ethnobotanical plant Marsdenia tenacissima has been used for hundreds of years for Dai people in Yunnan Province, China. Previously, chemical investigations on this plant have revealed that pregnane glycosides were the main biological constituents. Nine new pregnane glycosides, marsdeosides A–I (1–9), were isolated from cultivated dried stems of the medicinal plant Marsdenia tenacissima in this study. The structures were analyzed by extensive spectroscopic analysis, including 1D, 2D NMR, HRESIMS, and IR spectroscopic analysis. The absolute configurations of the sugar moieties were identified by comparing the Rf values and specific optical rotations with those of the commercially available standard samples and the data reported in the literature. Marsdeosides A (1) featured an unusual 8,14-seco-pregnane skeleton. Compounds 1, 8, and 9 showed activity against nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide-activated macrophage RAW264.7, with IC50 values of 37.5, 38.8, and 42.8 μM (L-NMMA was used as a positive control, IC50 39.3 μM), respectively. This study puts the knowledge of the chemical profile of the botanical plant M. tenacissima one step forward and, thereby, promotes the sustainable utilization of the resources of traditional folk medicinal plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zingiber corallinum and Zingiber montanum , which belong to the Zingiberaceae family, are traditional Chinese folk medicinal herbs in Guizhou and Yunnan Province of China. They share great similarities in morphology, chemical constituent, and DNA barcoding sequence. The taxonomy of the two Zingiber species is controversial and discrimination of traditional Chinese medicines directly affects the pharmacological and clinical effects. In the present study, we performed a systemic analysis of "super-barcode" and untargeted metabolomics between Z. corallinum and Z. montanum using chloroplast (cp) genome sequencing and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Comparison and phylogenetic analysis of cp genomes of the two Zingiber species showed that the cp genome could not guarantee the accuracy of identification. An untargeted metabolomics strategy combining GC-MS with chemometric methods was proposed to distinguish the Zingiber samples of known variety. A total of 51 volatile compounds extracted from Z. corallinum and Z. montanum were identified, and nine compounds were selected as candidate metabolic markers to reveal the significant difference between Z. corallinum and Z. montanum. The performance of the untargeted metabolomic approach was verified with unknown Zingiber samples. Although the cp genomes could not be used to identify Zingiber species in this study, it will still provide a valuable genomics resource for population studies in the Zingiberaceae family, and the GC-MS based metabolic fingerprint is more promising for species identification and safe application of Z. corallinum and Z. montanum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis C was the most popular chronic infectious liver disease worldwide. It was identified that Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection could lead to mitochondrial dysfunction, though the mechanism was not fully understood. To investigate whether mtDNA copy number could be affected by HCV infection and be associated with clinical features of HCV patients, mtDNA copy numbers were analyzed in 242 patients with HCV infection and 226 matched control samples. The results suggested that mtDNA copy numbers significantly decreased in HCV patients (68.80 ± 3.33) than in control samples (81.54 ± 4.50) (p = 0.022). When males/females were separated from total patients to compare mtDNA copy numbers with gender matched controls, mtDNA copy numbers still significantly decreased in male HCV patients (p = 0.002). Further analysis indicated that level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was negatively correlated with mtDNA copy numbers in total HCV patients (r = −0.128,p = 0.047), and this correlation was more significant in male HCV patients (r = −0.266,p = 0.030). Intriguingly, aspartate amino-transferase (AST) showed positive correlation with mtDNA copy numbers (r = 0.260,p = 0.034) in male HCV patients. Our results indicated that mtDNA copy numbers depleted and correlated with clinical features in male HCV patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The relationship between potassic felsic intrusions, cospatial and cotemporal with potassic mafic magmatism, and strike–slip displacement along the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone in western Yunnan, SW China has been highly controversial. We report 22 new SHRIMP zircon U–Pb ages from 19 potassic felsic intrusions located as far as 150km east and 50km west of the shear zone to constrain temporal relationships. The results show that the felsic intrusions in western Yunnan were emplaced between 36.9±0.3Ma and 32.5±0.3Ma. This age range is significantly shorter than previous dating of 38Ma to 23Ma using K–Ar and Ar–Ar methods from 15 intrusions, indicating that the latter are reset or cooling ages. Potassic felsic intrusions are coeval with potassic mafic volcanic rocks (36.6Ma to 33.4Ma) in the same area, supporting a possible genetic link between the two end members. The dated intrusions occur over a 200km wide zone across the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone; therefore they are unlikely genetically related to shearing. Rather, potassic mafic magmatism in western Yunnan may be related to delamination and melting of previously subduction-modified mantle lithosphere along the Mesozoic Jinsha suture reactivated in the Eocene–Early Oligocene, following the India-Asia continental collision; potassic felsic magmas were crustal melts hybridized with mafic liquids. Delamination in turn facilitated and localized initiation of the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone at ca. 32Ma during continental extrusion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • The effect of precipitation and topography on terrestrial water patterns was revealed. • The sensitivity of SHP branches to terrestrial hydrological variables was measured. • Soil porosity is the most significant SHP parameter in influencing terrestrial water. • The sensitivity of β and α increases in steep areas and during drier periods. Terrestrial water, which plays an essential role in ecosystems, is unbalanced in terms of storage and distribution patterns under natural conditions. The formation mechanism of this imbalance is relevant to soil hydraulic properties (SHP), surface terrain, and meteorological factors. In this study, the features of high-precision hydrological models and their specific soil hydraulic parameters were useful in providing some important insights and an effective approach towards a better understanding of the mechanisms that affect the representative terrestrial hydrological variables. First, the Penn State Integrated Hydrologic Model (PIHM), a physically based, coupled surface–subsurface hydrological model was used to investigate the relationship between terrestrial water distribution patterns and external driving factors of the study area within Yunnan Province, China. Subsequently, a variance-based sensitivity analysis method was used to measure the effects of SHP on terrestrial hydrological variables and their variability under different driving factors, including rainfall intensity and surface topography. It was found that (a) the areas with lower elevations and plain terrain tend to retain more soil moisture, (b) generally, the porosity of soil is the primary determiner of soil moisture storage and groundwater depth among other hydraulic properties, and (c) the importance ranking of the SHP parameters changes according to precipitation, surface elevation, and slope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A suite of lamprophyres, spatially associated with mafic lavas and potassic felsic intrusive rocks, was emplaced between 36.5 ± 0.2 and 33.7 ± 0.5 Ma (based on phlogopite 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating) on the eastern side of the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone in the western Yangtze Craton. These shoshonitic and ultrapotassic intrusive rocks post-date the ~ 60–55 Ma collisional event between the Indian and the Asian continents. They are characterized by: (1) enrichment in large-ion lithophile elements and light rare-earth elements with (La/Sm) n = 3.15–7.15; (2) strong positive Pb spikes; (3) depletion in high-field-strength elements (e.g. Nb/La = 0.08–0.98); (4) high initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr (0.706–0.709) with negative εNd(t) values of − 10.5 to − 0.9; (5) old Nd model ages of 1542–945 Ma; and (6) radiogenic ( 207 Pb/ 204 Pb) i of 15.57–15.70 and ( 208 Pb/ 204 Pb) i (38.70–39.06). These features suggest that the mantle source was metasomatized by Proterozoic subduction beneath the Yangtze Craton. The lamprophyres have similar trace element patterns, and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope compositions, as coeval mafic lava, indicating a common source of metasomatized veined continental lithospheric mantle (CLM). Lower degree partial melting of metasomatic veins likely generated the lamprophyres, whereas the coeval mafic lava was likely derived from melting of phlogopite harzburgite. The lamprophyres and mafic lava have similar Sr–Nd isotope systematics as CLM-derived Neoproterozoic mafic rocks and Late Permian Emeishan low-Ti basalt in the region, indicating that they share the same Proterozoic source. We envisage that mantle plumes thermally eroded the Proterozoic metasomatized CLM beneath the western part of the Yangtze Craton during 825–750 Ma and 260–250 Ma, although residual metasomatized domains remained before being tapped by delamination after the India–Asia continental collision during the Paleogene period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]