Prognostic nutritional index is an independent prognostic factor for gastric cancer patients with peritoneal dissemination

Objective： The predictive and prognostic role of prognostic nutritional index（PNI） in gastric cancer patients with peritoneal dissemination remains unclear. This study aims to explore the role of the PNI in predicting outcomes of gastric cancer patients with peritoneal dissemination.Methods： A total of 660 patients diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma with peritoneal metastasis between January 2000 and April 2014 at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center and the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yatsen University were retrospectively analyzed. The clinicopathologic characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients with peritoneal dissemination were analyzed.Results： Compared with PNI-high group, PNI-low group was correlated with advanced age（P=0.036）, worse performance status（P0.001）, higher frequency of ascites（P0.001） and higher frequency of multisite distant metastasis（P0.001）. Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that PNI-high group had a significantly longer median overall survival than PNI-low group（13.13 vs. 9.03 months, P0.001）. Multivariate survival analysis revealed that Borrmann type IV（P=0.014）, presence of ascites（P=0.017） and lower PNI（P=0.041） were independent poor prognostic factors, and palliative surgery（P0.001） and first-line chemotherapy（P0.001） were good prognostic factors. For patients receiving palliative surgery, the postoperative morbidity rates in the PNI-low group and PNIhigh group were 9.1% and 9.9%, respectively（P=0.797）. The postoperative mortality rate was not significantly different between PNI-low and PNI-high groups（2.3% vs. 0.9%, P=0.362）.Conclusions： PNI is a useful and practical tool for evaluating the nutritional status of gastric cancer patients with peritoneal dissemination, and is an independent prognostic factor for these patients.

A Lightweight Data Aggregation Protocol in Wireless Sensor Networks for the Protection of Ancient Sites

In the application of large-scale ancient site protection, it is necessary to continuously monitor the ambient light, temperature, humidity and so on. However, it is impractical to frequently replace the nodes’ battery in the protected areas. So, the key methods to prolong the network lifetime are to aggregate the collected data and reduce the number of transferring messages. In this paper a Lightweight Data Aggregation Protocol (LDAP) based on the characteristics of the environmental changes in ancient sites is proposed. It has been implemented in the Lab with a dozen of MICAz motes and deployed in the real ancient sites. The result shows that LDAP is effective in reducing the number of transferring packets and satisfies the real application requirements.

Physical activity and cancer risk:a dose-response analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Objective Adopting a healthy lifestyle,including regular physical activity,is widely believed to decrease cancer risk.This study aimed to quantitatively establish the dose-response relationships between total physical activity and the risk of breast,colon,lung,gastric,and liver cancers.Methods A systematic review and dose-response analysis were conducted using PubMed and Embase from January 1,1980 to March 20,2023.Prospective cohort studies that examined the association between physical activity and the risks of any of the 5 outcomes were included.The search was confined to publications in the English language with a specific focus on human studies.Physical activity is standardized by using the data from US National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys(NHANES)and the Global Burden of Disease 2019 database.Results A total of 98 studies,involving a combined population of 16,418,361 individuals,were included in the analysis.Among the included studies,57 focused on breast cancer,17 on lung cancer,23 on colon cancer,5 on gastric cancer,and 7 on liver cancer.Overall,elevated levels of physical activity exhibited an inverse correlation with the risk of cancer.The dose-response curve for lung cancer exhibited a non-linear pattern,with the greatest benefit risk reduction observed at 13,200 MET-minutes/week of physical activity,resulting in a 14.7%reduction in risk(relative risk 0.853,uncertainty interval 0.798 to 0.912)compared to the inactive population.In contrast,the dose-response curves for colon,gastric,breast,and liver cancers showed linear associations,indicating that heightened levels of total physical activity were consistently associated with reduced cancer risks.However,the increase in physical activity yielded a smaller risk reduction for colon and gastric cancers compared to breast and liver cancers.Compared to individuals with insufficient activity(total activity level<600 MET-minutes/week),individuals with high levels of activity(≥8,000 MET-minutes/week)experienced a 10.3%(0.897,0.860 to 0.934)risk reduction for breast cancer;5.9%(0.941,0.884 to 1.001)for lung cancer;7.1%(0.929,0.909 to 0.949)for colon cancer;5.1%(0.949,0.908 to 0.992)for gastric cancer;17.1%(0.829,0.760 to 0.903)for liver cancer.Conclusions This study demonstrated a significant inverse relationship between total physical activity and the risk of breast,gastric,liver,colon,and lung cancers.

The application of the Internet of Things to animal ecology

For ecologists,understanding the reaction of animals to environmental changes is critical.Using networked sensor technology to measure wildlife and environmental parameters can provide accurate,real-time and comprehensive data for monitoring,research and conservation of wildlife.This paper reviews:(i)conventional detection technology;(ii)concepts and applications of the Internet of Things(IoT)in animal ecology;and(iii)the advantages and disadvantages of IoT.The current theoretical limits of IoT in animal ecology are also discussed.Although IoT offers a new direction in animal ecological research,it still needs to be further explored and developed as a theoretical system and applied to the appropriate scientific frameworks for understanding animal ecology.