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BACKGROUND: Liver function is a key determinant for the survival of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients receiving transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). However, establishing robust prognostic indicators for liver insufficiencies and patient survival remains an unmet demand. This retrospective study evaluated the prognostic value of splenic volume (SV) in HCC patients undergoing TACE. METHODS: A total of 67 HCC patients who underwent at least two consecutive TACE procedures were retrospectively included in this study. Comprehensive clinical information and follow-up data were collected, and the SV was measured based on dynamic contrast enhanced images. Risk factors of SV enlargement were assessed. The prognostic value of SV on survival was analyzed and compared with Child-Pugh (CP) classification and albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade. RESULTS: The baseline SV was 299.74±143.63 cm(3), and showed a moderate and statistically significant correlation with CP classification (R=0.31, P

Background: Up-regulated expression of copper chaperone for superoxide dismutase (CCS) is identified in a multitude of tumors and is closely related to more malignant tumoral biological behaviors. However, little is known about the role of CCS in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aims to explore the expression pattern and the significance of CCS in human HCC.Methods Fresh samples of HCC with paired adjacent tissues, as well as the clinicopathological features and prognosis data were obtained from 32 patients who underwent hepatectomy from January 2018 to December 2018. The expression levels of CCS and a series of representative malignant biomarkers in HCC and adjacent tissues were investigated by western blotting and immunohistochemistry staining, respectively. The correlation between the expression status of CCS and the activities of selected malignant biomarkers and important drive genes of HCC oncogenesis, patient’s clinicopathological features and prognosis, were analyzed. Additional bioinformatics investigation of dataset retrieved from TCGA, the GEPIA, HPA, and Kaplan-Meier plotter (KM plotter) database were performed to further explore the role of CCS in human HCC and to validate the aforementioned findings. Results A unique express pattern was found that the majority of the HCC tumor (78.1%, 25/32) presented a lower expression of CCS as compared with that in adjacent tissues, whereas in the minority of the tumor (22.9%, 7/32) the expression of CCS was determined as higher. The distinctive CCS express status in HCC was further validated by the analysis of the data from TCGA and the GEPIA database. Furthermore, it was found that the expression level of CCS was significantly correlated with the those of the selected biomarkers including Ki67, vimentin, GPC3, and E-cadherin, which were also confirmed by the bioinformatic study. On the clinicopathological features, the expression of CCS was reversely correlated with ES grade and TNM stage to some extent, whereas there were no apparent correlations were proved with the remaining parameters included. Additional explorations revealed that there is a significant correlation between the CCS gene and a series of the driving/high-frequency mutation genes of various signal pathways in the development and progression of HCC. Despite statistic significant was not achieved, patients with higher CCS expression lever were prone to have a better prognosis. And a robust prognostic value of CCS was further proven in bioinformatic study. Conclusion HCC presented a unique lower expression pattern of CCS which reversely correlated with the more malignant tumoral features and poor prognosis as demonstrated by both experimental and bioinformatic studies. These findings improved our knowledge for understanding of the unique biological behavior of human HCC.

The survival benefits and which patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) would benefit from sorafenib plus transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) therapy remain controversial. We aimed to develop a prognostic score model for predicting different prognoses of patients with HCC and portal vein invasion who received sorafenib plus TACE. This observational study included 167 patients with HCC and portal vein invasion undergoing sorafenib combined with TACE from January 2013 to June 2018 at two hospitals. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed using a training cohort (n = 83) to identify critical factors associated with survival. Then, a prognostic score model was established to classify different outcomes and confirmed using a validation cohort (n = 84). Three factors were determined to critically impact survival in the training cohort: portal vein invasion extent, sorafenib-related dermatologic response, and initial radiological response. Using the β-coefficients of these factors, a prognostic score was calculated, and the survival time decreased as the score increased. Based on the prognostic score model, three different prognoses of patients with 0 points, 2–3 points, and > 3 points were stratified with a median survival of 38.0 months, 20.0 months, and 7.0 months, respectively (P

Doxorubicin (DOX) has been widely used to treat cancers as a first-line antitumor drug. However, it causes severe, irreversible, dose-dependent cardiotoxicity. To evaluate the protective effects of naringin (NRG) on cardiotoxicity, the authors investigated the molecular mechanism of the p38MAPK signaling pathway. H9c2 cells were treated for 24 h by using 5 µmol/l DOX without or with being pretreated by 1 µM NRG for 150 min or by 3 µM SB203580 for 60 min. Cell viability was detected by cell counting kit-8 assay. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were detected based on the oxidative conversion of 2′,7′-dichlorfluorescein-diacetate (cell-permeable) to dichlorofluorescein (fluorescent). The expression of p38MAPK was determined by western blotting. The expression level of p-p38MAPK in H9c2 cells, which was significantly increased by exposure to 5 µM DOX for 60 min (P

We formulate a multi-matrices factorization model (MMF) for the missing sensor data estimation problem. The estimation problem is adequately transformed into a matrix completion one. With MMF, an n-by-t real matrix, R, is adopted to represent the data collected by mobile sensors from n areas at the time, T-1, T-2, . . . , T-t, where the entry, R-i,R-j, is the aggregate value of the data collected in the ith area at T-j. We propose to approximate R by seeking a family of d-by-n probabilistic spatial feature matrices, U-(1), U-(2), . . . , U-(t), and a probabilistic temporal feature matrix, V epsilon R-dxt, where R-j approximate to U-(j)(T) T-j. We also present a solution algorithm to the proposed model. We evaluate MMF with synthetic data and a real-world sensor dataset extensively. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach outperforms the state-of-the-art comparison algorithms.

The present study analyzed the feature of occupational chromium poisoning in China since the 1980s. The collected data were acquired from 18 previous surveys of chromium poisoning in 14 cities of China. The method of risk assessment was applied to calculate the relative risk and 95 % CI, p < 0.05 was considered as a significant risk. The results showed that nasal disease was the most common sign of occupational chromium poisoning, and the prevalence rate of nasal disease was 17.83 % in total population of 6,998. Further, the risk analysis showed that occupational chromium poisoning led to an increased risk of lung or liver cancer in male workers due to the definite carcinogenicity of hexavalent chromium. Significantly, an increased risk of spontaneous or threatened abortion was also found in female workers. In conclusion, these studies suggest that early detection of impaired reproductive function or impaired lung or liver function in female or male workers is essential for controlling occupational chromium poisoning in China.

To investigate the influence of uterine artery embolization (UAE) on endometrial microvessel density (MVD) and angiogenesis.Sixty female guinea pigs were divided into two groups, the control group (n = 15) and the UAE treatment group (n = 45). In the UAE group, tris-acryl gelatin microspheres were used to generate embolization. Animals were further divided into three subgroups, A1, A2, and A3 (n = 15 for each subgroup), with uterine specimens collected at 7-15, 16-30, and 31-45 days after UAE, respectively. Immunostaining for factor VIII and CD105 was performed to identify total endometrial MVD (MVDFVIII) and CD105-positive angiogenesis (MVDCD105) at the indicated time points after UAE.Quantitative analysis revealed that MVDFVIII significantly decreased in the A1 (11.40 ± 2.76, p 0.05) and A2 (15.37 ± 3.06, p 0.05) groups compared to the control group (19.40 ± 2.50), and was restored to normal in the A3 group (18.77 ± 2.69). UAE caused a temporal up-regulation of MVDCD105-positive angiogenesis in the A1 group (9.33 ± 2.37, p 0.05) and the A2 group (11.63 ± 1.56, p 0.05) compared to the control group (7.12 ± 1.67), and the MVDCD105 value returned to normal in the A3 group (8.07 ± 1.97).UAE caused a temporal decrease in endometrial MVD that reversed over time as a result of the increase of CD105-positive angiogenesis. Although the UAE-induced reduction of endometrial MVD was reversible, its long-term effect on endometrial receptivity still needs further study.

We aimed to study the effect of uterine arterial embolization (UAE) on the level of endometrial integrin ανβ3 in guinea pigs.A total of 55 female guinea pigs were randomly divided into a sham group (n=10) and a UAE group (n=45). The animals in the UAE group were further divided into three subgroups, A1, A2 and A3, with 15 subjects in each subgroup. Bilateral UAE was performed in the UAE group by injection of 40-120 μm and 100-300 μm microspheres. Uterine tissue samples were collected three days after ovulation, i.e., one menstrual cycle after UAE for A1 group, two menstrual cycles after UAE for A2 group and three menstrual cycles after UAE for A3 group. Levels of endometrial integrin ανβ3 were tested by immunohistochemistry with mean optical density (MOD) analysis. Serum levels of estradiol and progesterone were measured before sample collection.The MOD values for integrin ανβ3 levels in endometrial glands were 0.393 ± 0.039, 0.253 ± 0.032, 0.319 ± 0.034, 0.365 ± 0.032 for the sham, A1, A2 and A3 groups respectively; in endometrial luminal epithelium they were 0.386 ± 0.036, 0.242 ± 0.035, 0.308 ± 0.042, 0.355 ± 0.031 for the sham, A1, A2 and A3 groups respectively. For both endometrial glands and luminal epithelium, ανβ3 levels in the sham group were statistically significantly higher than those in the A1, A2 and A3 groups (p(1)0.001, p(2)0.001, p(3)0.05); and they were significantly higher in the A2 group than in A1 group (p0.001), also in the A3 group than in A2 group (p0.001). The levels of estradiol and progesterone in blood serum both had no significant differences among the groups (p0.05).UAE is associated with a decrease in endometrial integrin ανβ3 levels. The decrease would negatively affect endometrial receptivity, but might be transient and reversible.

Pirfenidone (esbiret) is an established anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory drug used to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In the present study, the dose-dependent effects of pirfenidone on the cell cycle, proliferation and expression of heat shock protein (HSP)-47 and collagen type I in a cultured rat hepatic stellate cell line (HSC-T6) were investigated. Following pirfenidone treatment, cell proliferation was determined using the cell counting kit-8 assay and the cell cycle was measured using flow cytometry. HSP-47 expression was estimated using western blot analysis and collagen type I mRNA was assessed using reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Pirfenidone induced significant dose-dependent inhibition of proliferation in HSC-T6 cells. Cell viability was unaffected by treatment with pirfenidone (0, 10 or 100 µM) for 24 and 72 h. However, after 24 h, HSC-T6 cells exhibited dose-dependent decreases in HSP-47 protein and collagen I mRNA levels. In conclusion, pirfenidone inhibited HSC-T6 cell proliferation, arrested the cell cycle and reduced the expression of HSP-47 and collagen type I, indicating that pirfenidone may be a promising drug in the treatment of liver fibrosis.

We study a matrix factorization problem, that is, to find two factor matricesUandVsuch thatR≈UT×V, whereRis a matrix composed of the values of the objectsO1,O2,…,Onat consecutive time pointsT1,T2,…,Tt. We first present MAFED, a constrained optimization model for this problem, which straightforwardly performs factorization onR. Then based on the interplay of the data inU,V, andR, a probabilistic graphical model using the same optimization objects is constructed, in which structural dependencies of the data in these matrices are revealed. Finally, we present a fitting algorithm to solve the proposed MAFED model, which produces the desired factorization. Empirical studies on real-world datasets demonstrate that our approach outperforms the state-of-the-art comparison algorithms.

Uterine artery chemoembolization (UACE) and internal iliac arterial infusion chemotherapy (IAIC) are important methods to treat cervical cancer. However, whether the curative efficacy of the two methods has difference is not clear. This study was to evaluate the curative effects of UACE and IAIC on the combining treatment for women with locally advanced cervical cancer.One hundred and seventy-five patients with locally advanced cervical cancer treated between April 1997 and November 2007 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into two groups: the UACE group (n=92) and the IAIC group (n=83). The UACE group was treated by bilateral uterine artery chemoembolization. Sixty-five of them underwent radical hysterectomy two weeks after UACE, 37 of which received 192Ir high-dose-rate intracavitary radiotherapy 1-2 weeks before radical hysterectomy. The IAIC group was treated by bilateral internal iliac arterial infusion chemotherapy. Among them 70 patients underwent radical hysterectomy after IAIC, 34 of which received 192Ir high-dose-rate intracavitary radiotherapy 1-2 weeks before radical hysterectomy. All patients were treated by carboplatin-based combining chemotherapy. Radiotherapy was performed on 51 requisite patients with high risk of pathological conditions after radical surgery.The tumor regression rate of the UACE group was 64.1%, which was significantly higher than 47.0% in the IAIC group (P=0.023). The effective rate for clinical stage IB cervical cancer in the UACE group was 77.8%, which was significantly higher than 41.2% in the IAIC group (P=0.037). However, for clinical stage II,III cervical cancer, the effective rates between the two groups had no significant differences (P=0.137 and P=0.524). Postoperative pathologic examinations showed that the negative percentages of cancer cell residue and pelvic lymph node metastasis in the UACE group were slightly higher than those in the IAIC group (17.2% and 80.6% vs. 12.9% and 79.4%, P=0.504 and P=0.861). The recurrent rate in the UACE group was slightly lower than that in the IAIC group (25% vs. 26.5%, P=0.820). The negative percentage of tumor embolus within lymphovascular space was lower in the UACE group than in the IAIC group (87.3% vs. 97.1%, P=0.072). The 1,3,5-year overall survival rates in the UACE group and the IAIC group were 95%, 81%, 77% and 91%, 79%, 71%, respectively (P=0.665).UACE followed by preoperative radiotherapy can more effectively reduce the tumor volume of locally advanced cervical cancer compared with IAIC. But UACE does not increase the pathological complete response rate and not decrease the pelvic lymph node metastasis rate, the postoperative recurrence rate, and tumor embolus within lymphovascular space.The effect of UACE on the long-term survival of locally advanced cervical cancer needs to be further evaluated.