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To explore the effects of heat-moisture treatment on the physicochemical and structural properties of sweet potato starch, five types of sweet potato starch were used as the raw material, and their solubility, swelling power, water holding capacity, transmittance, and sedimentation were determined. Furthermore, the influence of heat-moisture treatment on the water absorption characteristics and crystal structure of sweet potato starch with different initial water contents was explored. The results showed that the solubility, swelling power, sedimentation, and transmittance of the five sweet potato starches treated with heat-moisture were all decreased when compared with the original starch, but their water holding capacity was increased, indicating that both sweet potato varieties and heat-moisture treatment had no significant effect on starch properties. There was no new diffraction characteristic peaks were found in sweet potato starch after heat-moisture treatment, the crystal type of those treated starch remained a C-type structure, but the diffraction intensity and crystallinity were decreased. The time required for the heat-moisture treated starch to reach equilibrium in water absorption was shorter than that of the original starch, and the saturated water absorption tended to decrease compared to the original starch. The soaking kinetic constants K1 and K2 from the Peleg model equation were calculated, and the water absorption kinetics equation of sweet potato starch after heat-moisture treatment was confirmed, achieving accurate prediction of its water content during the soaking process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Signaling threshold regulating transmembrane adaptor 1 (SIT1) encodes a disulfide-linked homodimeric lymphocyte-specific glycoprotein involved in immune cell activation. However, the relationship between SIT1 and the prognosis of skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes remains elusive. Here, we first compared the differences in SIT1 expression levels between SKCM tissues and adjacent normal tissues. Next, we found that the immune cell infiltration levels and signature pattern of immune infiltration were positively associated with the SIT1 gene mRNA levels. TCGA_SKCM RNA-seq data unveiled that the SIT1 upregulated several immune-associated signaling pathways in GSEA analysis. The high expression of SIT1 was closely related to improved survival in patients with SKCM. A pathway enrichment analysis of SIT1-associated immunomodulators indicated the involvement of the NF-κB signaling pathways. Based on SIT1-associated immunomodulators, we built a 13-gene signature by LASSO Cox regression which served as an independent prognostic factor for the survival of melanoma patients. By using the signature risk score, we achieved a good prediction result for the immunotherapy response and survival of SKCM patients. Our findings provided evidence for SIT1's implication in tumor immunity and survival of SKCM patients. The nominated immune signature is a promising predictive model for prognosis and immunotherapy sensitivity in SKCM patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the changes of patients' quality of life (QoL) after cystoprostatectomy as a treatment for locally advanced prostate cancer (LAPC) with the bladder invasion and to determine risk factors for postoperative poor QoL.Materials and Methods: Between Jan 2012 and December 2015, 27 patients who received cystoprostatectomy for LAPC with the bladder invasion were retrospectively included. QoL was assessed with the functional assessment of cancer therapy-prostate (FACT-P) questionnaire scores. Determinants for postoperative poor QoL were investigated using univariate and multivariate regression analysis.Results: Three-year overall survival, biochemical progression-free survival, and clinical progress-free survival were 88.89%, 62.96% and 77.78%, respectively. Preoperative symptoms of hematuria, urinary frequency, and dysuria were well alleviated after cystoprostatectomy. Moreover, FACT-P questionnaire scores at 6 months and 1 year after cystoprostatectomy were significantly higher than preoperative scores. Univariate and multivariable analysis (p < .05) showed that postoperative complication was the independent risk factor for the loss of postoperative QoL.Conclusions: Patients' QoL can be improved after cystoprostatectomy as the treatment for LAPC with the bladder invasion, which is associated with ameliorative urinary symptoms after the surgery. Besides, surgical complication is identified to be a risk factor for postoperative poor QoL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To assess the cost-effectiveness of medical expulsive therapy (MET) versus observation for large distal ureteral stones in China and provide preliminary evidence for the determination of the course of MET by mathematical estimation.Materials and Methods: With linear success rate assumptions, a decision tree was constructed by TreeAge Pro 2011 software. The stones passage rates after observation or receiving 0.4 mg daily tamsulosin were estimated according to a large randomized clinical trial (RCT). The costs of ureteroscopy, drugs and examinations were estimated according to related price from pharmacies or hospitals, or the guidance price published by the government. MET was also compared with observation by the sensitivity analysis. The effectiveness of MET or observation was presented by quality-adjusted life-day. Mathematical estimation of stone expulsion time was made by using a decision-analytic Markov model under the assumption that the daily stone expulsion probability is constant.Results: In China, the MET was associated with a $295.1 cost advantage over observation. The cost of ureteroscopy has to decrease to $77.8 to reach cost equivalence between observation and MET. Observation is cost-effective only if ureteroscopy is very cheap or the difference of stone expulsion rates is insignificant. The estimated expulsion time was much longer than those reported in above mentioned RCT.Conclusion: Due to the high cost of ureteroscopy, MET showed a cost advantage over observation in treating distal ureteral stones in China. The daily stone passage rate was inconstant. More studies are needed to find the appropriate duration of MET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the effect of combined antiviral therapy in patients with hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma., Methods: 82 patients with hepatitis B-related primary liver cancer were selected and divided into two groups. Among them, the control group was treated with routine liver protection, the observation group was treated with antiviral therapy and nucleoside analogues (including lamivudine, entecavir and tibivudine)., Results: The alanine transferase (ALT) of the observation group (54.79±13.23) U/L was significantly lower than that in the control group (150.27±18.75) U/L (p<0.05). The unpredictable rate of HBV DNA in the observation group was 48.1% in the 12th month, which was obviously improved compared with the conventional therapy, p<0.05. Among the 18 patients (43.9%) in the observation group, 7 patients with positive HBeAg turned negative and 3 were converted to HBeAb, among which, the HBeAg negative conversion rate was 38.9% and the HBeAg conversion rate was 16.7%. Child-Pugh score of patients with hepatitis B-related primary liver cancer increased with the extension of treatment. In the observation group for 6 and 12 months, Child-Pugh score was significantly lower than that in the control group, p<0.05. The survival rate was 97.6% and 92.7% at the 6th month, 85.4% and 78.0% at the 12th month, 78.0% and 56.1% at the 18th month, the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05)., Conclusion: Combined antiviral therapy on the basis of conventional treatment can significantly improve the liver function, reduce the viral load and prolong the survival time of patients with hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma associated.

Purpose: PIWIL2, one of the PIWI gene subfamily, is now thought to be closely related to poor clinical outcomes in various cancers. The aim of this research was to comprehensively estimate its predictive value in the prognosis of cancer patients., Methods: We thoroughly searched PubMed, Web of Science and Embase databases for eligible articles published until April 4th 2019, in which the association between cancer prognosis and PIWIL2 expression level was studied. Study qualities were assessed using NOS criteria. We performed analyses by Stata SE 12.0 and RevMan 5.3. The primary endpoints contained overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), metastasis-free survival (MFS), recurrence-free survival (RFS) and disease-free survival (DFS)., Results: Ten studies containing 2116 patients with 8 various solid cancers were finally included. The outcomes indicated that cancer patients with higher PIWIL2 expression level had significant shorter OS (HR:2.20, 95%CI:1.25-3.88, p=0.006), DFS/RFS/MFS (HR:2.96, 95%CI:1.68-5.23, p<0.001), CSS (HR: 2.12, 95%CI: 1.40-3.23, p<0.001) than cancer patients with lower PIWIL2 expression level. What's more, PIWIL2 over-expression was significantly correlated to more lymph node metastasis (LNM) (OR:1.61, 95%CI:1.28-2.02, p<0.001). And PIWIL2 expression was not significantly correlated with age, gender, differentiation, tumor invasion, tumor size, TNM stage and distant metastasis (DM)., Conclusions: A higher expression level of PIWIL2 may predict a poorer prognosis of cancer patients. And its prognostic values are not significantly influenced by clinicopathological characters. Therefore, PIWIL2 could serve as a personalized prognostic predictor in cancers in the future.

Purpose: To assess the cost-effectiveness of medical expulsive therapy (MET) versus observation for large distal ureteral stones in China and provide preliminary evidence for the determination of the course of MET by mathematical estimation., Materials and Methods: With linear success rate assumptions, a decision tree was constructed by TreeAge Pro 2011 software. The stones passage rates after observation or receiving 0.4 mg daily tamsulosin were estimated according to a large randomized clinical trial (RCT). The costs of ureteroscopy, drugs and examinations were estimated according to related price from pharmacies or hospitals, or the guidance price published by the government. MET was also compared with observation by the sensitivity analysis. The effectiveness of MET or observation was presented by quality-adjusted life-day. Mathematical estimation of stone expulsion time was made by using a decision-analytic Markov model under the assumption that the daily stone expulsion probability is constant., Results: In China, the MET was associated with a $295.1 cost advantage over observation. The cost of ureteroscopy has to decrease to $77.8 to reach cost equivalence between observation and MET. Observation is cost-effective only if ureteroscopy is very cheap or the difference of stone expulsion rates is insignificant. The estimated expulsion time was much longer than those reported in above mentioned RCT., Conclusion: Due to the high cost of ureteroscopy, MET showed a cost advantage over observation in treating distal ureteral stones in China. The daily stone passage rate was inconstant. More studies are needed to find the appropriate duration of MET.

We collected 2460 Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks from vegetation in Jiaonan County, Shandong Province, in June of 2013 and Daishan County, Zhejiang Province, China, in May of 2015. The tick DNA was subsequently amplified with nested polymerase chain reaction using Ehrlichia common 16S rRNA gene primers and Ehrlichia ewingii species-specific groEL and gltA primers. We found 0.4% (3/780) of the ticks from Zhejiang Province contained Ehrlichia DNA that was different from all known Ehrlichia species, but most closely related to E. ewingii. We concluded that a novel Ehrlichia species exists in H. longicornis ticks in China.