Serum nutritional predictive biomarkers and risk assessment for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic surgery in rectal cancer patients

BACKGROUND Anastomotic leakage(AL)is one of the severest complications after laparoscopic surgery for middle/low rectal cancer,significantly impacting patient outcomes.Identifying reliable predictive factors for AL remains a clinical challenge.Serum nutritional biomarkers have been implicated in surgical outcomes but are un-derexplored as predictive tools for AL in this setting.Our study hypothesizes that preoperative serum levels of prealbumin(PA),albumin(ALB),and transferrin(TRF),along with surgical factors,can accurately predict AL risk.AIM To determine the predictive value of preoperative serum nutritional biomarkers for rectal cancer AL following laparoscopic surgery.METHODS In the retrospective cohort study carried out at a tertiary cancer center,we examined 560 individuals who underwent laparoscopic procedures for rectal cancer from 2018 to 2022.Preoperative serum levels of PA,ALB,and TRF were measured.We employed multivariate logistic regression to determine the independent risk factors for AL,and a predictive model was constructed and evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.RESULTS AL occurred in 11.96%of cases,affecting 67 out of 560 patients.Multivariate analysis identified PA,ALB,and TRF as the independent risk factor,each with an odds ratio of 2.621[95%confidence interval(CI):1.582-3.812,P=0.012],3.982(95%CI:1.927-4.887,P=0.024),and 2.109(95%CI:1.162-2.981,P=0.031),respectively.Tumor location(<7 cm from anal verge)and intraoperative bleeding≥300 mL also increased AL risk.The predictive model demonstrated an excellent accuracy,achieving an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.942,a sensitivity of 0.844,and a specificity of 0.922,demonstrating an excellent ability to discriminate.CONCLUSION Preoperative serum nutritional biomarkers,combined with surgical factors,reliably predict anastomotic leakage risk after rectal cancer surgery,highlighting their importance in preoperative assessment.

Development and validation of a risk prediction model for repeated indwelling urinary catheterization in patients with cervical cancer after surgery

Objective:To study the factors influencing secondary indwelling catheterisation after cervical cancer surgery and to develop a predictive risk model.Methods:A total of 260 patients in a tertiary hospital in Chongqing were selected from January 2020 to December 2021 via convenience sampling.Relevant information of patients was recorded,including age;body mass index;history of hypertension and diabetes,bladder dysfunction,postoperative urinary retention,and postoperative urinary tract infection;Histology;staging;surgical approach;Operation time;Time of first remove of catheter;indwelling catheter days;Hospitalization days.Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator was used to reduce dimensionality and select patient characteristics,and multivariate analysis was performed based on the selected variables.Based on the outcome of analysis,a line chart model was developed for predicting the risk of secondary catheterization in patients with indwelling catheterization after radical cervical cancer surgery.The coefficient of conformity index(C-index)and calibration curves were used to evaluate the accuracy and fit.The model was internally validated via bootstrapping(1000 random samples),and the clinical utility of the model was assessed via decision curve analysis(DCA).Results:Four characteristic variables were selected,including preoperative bladder function,postoperative urinary tract infection,surgical approach,and Time of first remove of catheter.They are independent risk factors affecting urinary tract.The risk prediction model exhibited good discrimination performance with a C-index of 0.722(95%CI,0.661-0.783)and was well calibrated.The C-index was 0.708 in internal validation analysis.DCA showed that the risk model was clinically useful for predicting secondary catheterization,and clinical benefits were observed at the decision threshold of≥11%.Conclusion:A novel model was developed to predict the risk of secondary catheterization.The model was based on preoperative bladder dysfunction,postoperative urinary tract infection,surgical approach,and number of days since the removal of the primary catheter.

Neat1 decreases neuronal apoptosis after oxygen and glucose deprivation

Studies have shown that downregulation of nuclear-enriched autosomal transcript 1(Neat1)may adversely affect the recovery of nerve function and the increased loss of hippocampal neurons in mice.Whether Neat1 has protective or inhibitory effects on neuronal cell apoptosis after secondary brain injury remains unclear.Therefore,the effects of Neat1 on neuronal apoptosis were observed.C57 BL/6 primary neurons were obtained from the cortices of newborn mice and cultured in vitro,and an oxygen and glucose deprivation cell model was established to simulate the secondary brain injury that occurs after traumatic brain injury in vitro.The level of Neat1 expression in neuronal cells was regulated by constructing a recombinant adenovirus to infect neurons,and the effects of Neat1 expression on neuronal apoptosis after oxygen and glucose deprivation were observed.The experiment was divided into four groups:the control group,without any treatment,received normal culture;the oxygen and glucose deprivation group were subjected to the oxygen and glucose deprivation model protocol;the Neat1 overexpression and Neat1 downregulation groups were treated with Neat1 expression intervention techniques and were subjected to the in oxygen and glucose deprivation protocol.The protein expression levels of neurons p53-induced death domain protein 1(PIDD1,a pro-apoptotic protein),caspase-2(an apoptotic priming protein),cytochrome C(a pro-apoptotic protein),and cleaved caspase-3(an apoptotic executive protein)were measured in each group using the western blot assay.To observe changes in the intracellular distribution of cytochrome C,the expression levels of cytochrome C in the cytoplasm and mitochondria of neurons from each group were detected by western blot assay.Differences in the cell viability and apoptosis rate between groups were detected by cell-counting kit 8 assay and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling assay,respectively.The results showed that the apoptosis rate,PIDD1,caspase-2,and cleaved caspase-3 expression levels significantly decreased,and cell viability significantly improved in the Neat1 overexpression group compared with the oxygen and glucose deprivation group;however,Neat1 downregulation reversed these changes.Compared with the Neat1 downregulation group,the cytosolic cytochrome C level in the Neat1 overexpression group significantly decreased,and the mitochondrial cytochrome C level significantly increased.These data indicate that Neat1 upregulation can reduce the release of cytochrome C from the mitochondria to the cytoplasm by inhibiting the PIDD1-caspase-2 pathway,reducing the activation of caspase-3,and preventing neuronal apoptosis after oxygen and glucose deprivation,which might reduce secondary brain injury after traumatic brain injury.All experiments were approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University,China,on December 19,2020(approval No.2020-895).

Study on the clinical correlation between serum total IgE level and peripheral blood eosinophil count in patients with eczema

Objective:To explore the correlation between the expression of serum total IgE level and peripheral blood EOS count in patients with eczema and the severity of clinical eczema.Methods:The EASI and pruritus VAS score were used to evaluate the disease severity of 100 patients with eczema.According to the EASI score,patients with eczema were divided into three groups:mild(<7 points)、moderate(7-15 points)and severe(>15 points).At the same time,the serum total IgE level and peripheral blood EOS count were tested before and after the 4-week Chinese medicine treatment.Results:The serum total IgE level of 42%of eczema patients increased,and the peripheral blood EOS count increased in 26%.In the three groups of mild,moderate,and severe,as the severity of eczema increased,the level of serum total IgE and peripheral blood EOS count continued to increase,and the positive rate increased significantly(all P<0.05).In terms of correlation analysis,the study showed that in patients with eczema total IgE level and EASI score(r=0.421,P<0.01),EOS count and EASI score(r=0.326,P<0.01),EOS count and pruritus VAS score(r=0.529,P<0.01)all show relatively weak positive correlation;and a high proportion of patients had the same changes in IgE and EOS after treatment(82%of IgE is consistent with EASI,76%of EOS is consistent with EASI).Conclusion:This study shows that the total IgE level and EOS count of patients with eczema are positively correlated with the severity of eczema,but at the same time this correlation is relatively limited.In clinical practice,it is necessary to combine the dynamic changes of the individual's own indicators in order to diagnose,comprehensively treat and evaluate eczema.Provide greater reference value in other aspects.

Catalpol ameliorates LPS-induced endometritis by inhibiting inflammation and TLR4/NF-κB signaling

Catalpol is the main active ingredient of an extract from Radix rehmanniae,which in a previous study showed a protective effect against various types of tissue injury.However,a protective effect of catalpol on uterine inflammation has not been reported.In this study,to investigate the protective mechanism of catalpol on lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-induced bovine endometrial epithelial cells(bEECs)and mouse endometritis,in vitro and in vivo inflammation models were established.The Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4)/nuclear factor-κB(NF-κB)signaling pathway and its downstream inflammatory factors were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(qRT-PCR),western blot(WB),and immunofluorescence techniques.The results from ELISA and qRT-PCR showed that catalpol dose-dependently reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factorα(TNF-α),interleukin(IL)-1β,and IL-6,and chemokines such as C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 8(CXCL8)and CXCL5,both in bEECs and in uterine tissue.From the experimental results of WB,qRT-PCR,and immunofluorescence,the expression of TLR4 and the phosphorylation of NF-κB p65 were markedly inhibited by catalpol compared with the LPS group.The inflammatory damage to the mouse uterus caused by LPS was greatly reduced and was accompanied by a decline in myeloperoxidase(MPO)activity.The results of this study suggest that catalpol can exert an anti-inflammatory impact on LPS-induced bEECs and mouse endometritis by inhibiting inflammation and activation of the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Erratum to: Catalpol ameliorates LPS-induced endometritis by inhibiting inflammation and TLR4/NF-κB signaling

Erratum to:J Zhejiang Univ-Sci B(Biomed&Biotechnol)201920(10):816-827 https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1900071The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake.In p.823,Figs.8 c and 8 d were incorrect,and the obvious pathological changes were mistakenly placed in the picture.

Chimera states in bipartite networks of FitzHugh-Nagumo oscillators

Chimera states consisting of spatially coherent and incoherent domains have been observed in differ- ent topologies such as rings, spheres, and complex networks. In this paper, we investigate bipartite networks of nonlocally coupled FitzHugh-Nagumo （FHN） oscillators in which the units are allocated evenly to two layers, and FHN units interact with each other only when they are in different lay- ers. We report the existence of chimera states in bipartite networks. Owing to the interplay between chimera states in the two layers, many types of chimera states such as in-phase chimera states, an- tiphase chimera states, and out-of-phase chimera states are classified. Stability diagrams of several typical chimera states in the coupling strength-coupling radius plane, which show strong multistability of chimera states, are explored.

Possible phase transition of anisotropic frustrated Heisenberg model at finite temperature

The frustrated spin-1/2 J1a-J1b-J2 antiforrornagnet with anisotropy on the two-diinonsional square lattice was investigated,where the parameters J1a and Ju,represent the nearest neighbor exchanges and along the x and y directions,respectively.J2 represents the next-nearest neighbor exchange.The anisotropy includes the spatial and exchange anisotropies.Using the double-time Green’s function method,the offects of the interplay of exchanges and anisotropy on the possible phase transition of the Neel state and stripe state were discussed.Our results indicated that,in the case of anisotropic parameter 0 ≤η< 1,the Neel and stripe states can exist and have the same critical temperature as long as J2 =J1b/2.Under such parameters,a first-order plia.se transformation between the Neel and stripe states can occur below the critical point.For J2≠J1b/2,our results indicate that the Neel and stripe states can also exist,while their critical temperatures differ.When J2 >J1b/2,a first-order phase transformation between the two states may also occur.However,for J2 < J1b/2,the Neel state is always more stable than the stripe state.