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PurposeTo explore the effect of human papillomavirus (HPV) status on prognosis and further investigate whether human papillomavirus (HPV) status has an impact on the local treatment strategies for T1-2N0 oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer (OPSCC) patients.MethodsPatients diagnosed with T1-2N0 OPSCC between 2010 and 2015 were included from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Data were analyzed using propensity score matching (PSM), Chi-square test, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and Cox multivariable analyses.ResultsA total of 1,004 patients were identified, of whom 595 (59.3%) had HPV-related tumors. Of all the patients, 386 (38.4%) and 618 (61.6%) received definitive radiotherapy and radical surgery, respectively. HPV status had no significant effect on local treatment strategies for early-stage OPSCC (P = 0.817). The 3-year cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) were 89.6 and 80.1%, respectively. Compared to those with HPV-negative diseases, patients with HPV-positive diseases had better CSS and OS. A total of 222 pairs of patients were completely matched after PSM. The results of multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that patients with HPV-positive disease had significantly better CSS (P = 0.001) and OS (P < 0.001) compared to those with HPV-negative tumors. However, local treatment strategy was not associated with survival outcomes after PSM (CSS, P = 0.771; OS, P = 0.440). The subgroup analysis showed comparable CSS and OS between those treated with radical surgery and definitive radiotherapy regardless of HPV status.ConclusionsHPV status is an independent prognostic factor for the survival of stage T1-2N0 OPSCC patients. Local treatment strategies had no significant effect on the survival of early-stage OPSCC regardless of HPV status. Patients with early-stage OPSCC should be informed regarding the pros and cons of definitive radiotherapy or radical surgery.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to evaluate a potential successful strategy for treating large renal hilar angiomyolipoma (RHAML) during the procedure of laparoscopic nephron-sparing surgery (NSS).MethodsThe total study population includes 12 patients with large RHAMLs who underwent laparoscopic NSS in the Department of Urology of Fujian Provincial hospital and People’s Hospital of Zhejiang, ranging from January 2016 to March 2020. The perioperative variables, intraoperative procedures, and postprocedure complications were all recorded. Three months later, all patients returned to the hospital to check their postoperative recovery by reviewing the computed tomography urography (CTU) image. In the follow-up, patients were asked to have their review by CT or color doppler ultrasound every year.ResultsLaparoscopic NSS was successfully performed in all patients. The average operation time was 113.33 ± 33.39 min; the intraoperative blood loss was about 137.50 ± 91.17 ml; the warm ischemia time was 25.25 ± 4.88 min; the drainage tube extubation time was 4.58 ± 2.07 days; and the hospital stay time was 6.42 ± 1.78 days. The average follow-up time was 14.58 ± 9.18 months. After 3 months, all CTU images showed an unobstructed urinary tract in the patient, and no tumor recurrence was found. In addition, no patients had renal atrophy and urine extravasation during follow-up.ConclusionsLaparoscopic NSS for RHAML is complex and technically demanding, but good surgical design and operation can achieve satisfactory surgical results. Modified laparoscopic NSS was a beneficial technique and may provide a reference for treating patients with RHAML.

It is well established that diabetes mellitus accelerates atherosclerotic vascular disease. Endothelial injury has been proposed to be the initial event in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Endothelium not only acts as a semi-selective barrier but also serves physiological and metabolic functions. Diabetes or high glucose in circulation triggers a series of intracellular responses and organ damage such as endothelial dysfunction and apoptosis. One such response is high glucose-induced chronic endoplasmic reticulum stress in the endothelium. The unfolded protein response is an acute reaction that enables cells to overcome endoplasmic reticulum stress. However, when chronically persistent, endoplasmic reticulum stress response could ultimately lead to endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis. Herein, we discuss the scientific advances in understanding endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced endothelial dysfunction, the pathogenesis of diabetes-accelerated atherosclerosis and endoplasmic reticulum stress as a potential target in therapies for diabetic atherosclerosis.

The retina is a light sensitive tissue that contains specialized photoreceptor cells called rods and cones which process visual signals. These signals are relayed to the brain through interneurons and the fibers of the optic nerve. The retina is susceptible to a variety of degenerative diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and other inherited retinal degenerations. In order to reveal the mechanism underlying these diseases and to find methods for the prevention/treatment of retinal degeneration, animal models have been generated to mimic human eye diseases. In this paper, several well-characterized and commonly used animal models are reviewed. Of particular interest are the contributions of these models to our understanding of the mechanisms of retinal degeneration and thereby providing novel treatment options including gene therapy, stem cell therapy, nanomedicine, and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing. Role of newly-identified adaptor protein epsins from our laboratory is discussed in retinal angiogenesis and VEGFR2 signaling.

In the last decade, cable-suspended parallel robots have attracted significant interest due to their large workspaces and high dynamic performances. However, a significant drawback is that cables must always be in tension to control the motion. Using launch motions to reach a target can enlarge the workspace of such robots. For a spatial translational cable robot suspended by six pairwise-parallel cables, an analytical method for planning point-to-point dynamic trajectories is proposed. Using a second-order Bézier curve trajectory, the mechanism starts from a static condition, passes through intermediate points, and finally launches an object towards a target. According to the kinematic constraint conditions on the position, the velocity and acceleration of the end-effector at a prescribed point, the parametric expressions for a dynamically-feasible trajectory can be determined. The feasibility of the trajectory is analyzed under the constraint that cable tensions must be positive at all times. By changing the position of the end point of the trajectory and the total motion time, the kinematic conditions on the position and velocity as well as the feasibility constraint can be satisfied. Finally, our point-to-point dynamic launch trajectories are verified by simulations and experiments.

Affected by the near-fault pulse-like ground motions, the tunnels emerged in adverse geology, especially in an inhomogeneous strata are more vulnerable. However, the quantitative index effects on tunnel response during pulse identification are unclear and the propagation features of the near-fault pulse-like waves in a soft soil interlayer site are seldom revealed. In view of this, an improved energy-based pulse identification was used in this study to quantitatively extract the potential pulse energies emerged in velocity time-histories of ground motions. Subsequently, a series of numerical simulations were carried out to consider the critical parameters of soft soil layer and input ground motions. Finally, the dynamic response of the tunnel and interaction differences of soil and tunnel subjected to three types of ground motions were revealed. The result showed that the near-fault pulse-like ground motions pose a commonly severe damage to the tunnel, especially in the high pulse period ground motions based on the energy-based pulse identification method. The pulse energy of ground motions is an effective pulse index to analyze the seismic effects on tunnel when pulse periods of two different ground motions are uniform, and the index affects the tunnel in dynamic internal forces. More importantly, the existence of soft soil layer severely affects the propagation of input ground motions. At frequency domain, the ground response increases at high frequency component in the near-fault pulse-like ground motion, while the response shows a decreasing at low frequency component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]