Efficacy and safety of anlotinib combined with the STUPP regimen in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma: a multicenter, single-arm, phase Ⅱ trial

Objective:Glioblastomas are highly vascularized malignant tumors.We determined the efficacy and safety of the anti-angiogenic multi-kinase inhibitor,anlotinib,for a newly diagnosed glioblastoma.Methods:This multicenter,single-arm trial(NCT04119674)enrolled 33 treatment-naïve patients with histologically proven glioblastomas between March 2019 and November 2020.Patients underwent treatment with the standard STUPP regimen[fractionated focal irradiation in daily fractions of 1.8-2 Gy given 5 d/w×6 w(total=54-60 Gy)]or radiotherapy plus continuous daily temozolomide(TMZ)(75 mg/m^(2)of body surface area/d,7 d/w from the first to the last day of radiotherapy),followed by 6 cycles of adjuvant TMZ(150-200 mg/m^(2)×5 d during each 28-d cycle)plus anlotinib(8 mg/d on d 1-14 of each 3-w cycle for 2 cycles during concomitant chemoradiotherapy,8 maximal cycles as adjuvant therapy,followed by maintenance at 8 mg/d.The primary endpoint was progression-free survival(PFS).Secondary endpoints included overall survival(OS)and adverse events(AEs).Results:Thirty-three patients received the planned treatment.The median PFS was 10.9 months(95%CI,9.9-18.7 months)and the 12-month PFS rate was 48.5%.The median OS was 17.4 months(95%CI,14.5-21.1 months)and the 12-month OS rate was 81.8%.The most common AEs included hypertriglyceridemia[58%(n=19)],hypoalbuminemia[46%(n=15)],and hypercholesterolemia[46%(n=15)]during concurrent chemoradiotherapy and leukopenia[73%(n=24)],hypertriglyceridemia[67%(n=22)],and neutropenia[52%(n=17)]during adjuvant therapy.Five patients discontinued treatment due to AEs.HEG1(HR,5.6;95%CI,1.3-23.7;P=0.021)and RP1L1 alterations(HR,11.1;95%CI,2.2-57.2;P=0.004)were associated with a significantly shorter PFS.Conclusions:Anlotinib plus the STUPP regimen has promising anti-tumor activity against glioblastoma and manageable toxicity.HEG1 and RP1L1 alterations might be novel predictive biomarkers of the response to anlotinib.

Absence of BCS–BEC crossover in FeSe_(0.45)Te_(0.55) superconductor

In iron-based superconductor Fe(Se,Te), a flat band-like feature near the Fermi level was observed around the Brillouin zone center in the superconducting state. It is under debate whether this is the evidence on the presence of the BCS–BEC[Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer(BCS), Bose–Einstein condensation(BEC)] crossover in the superconductor. High-resolution laser-based angle-resolved photoemission measurements are carried out on high quality single crystals of FeSe_(0.45)Te_(0.55) superconductor to address the issue. By employing different polarization geometries, we have resolved and isolated the dyz band and the topological surface band, making it possible to study their superconducting behaviors separately. The dyz band alone does not form a flat band-like feature in the superconducting state and the measured dispersion can be well described by the BCS picture. We find that the flat band-like feature is formed from the combination of the dyz band and the topological surface state band in the superconducting state. These results reveal the origin of the flat band-like feature and rule out the presence of BCS-BEC crossover in Fe(Se,Te) superconductor.

Evolution of microstructure and texture of AZ80 magnesium alloy under hot torsion with constant decreasing temperature rate

Hot torsion tests for AZ80 magnesium alloy were carried out in the temperature range of 380℃-260℃,with a constant decreasing temperature rate of 10℃/s in order to weaken the basal texture and refine the grains.The results indicated that the average grain sizes were refined forming gradient structure with increasing specimen radial position from center(12.2-5.4μm),and that the initial basal texture intensity of the extruded magnesium alloy was weakened from 46.2 to 8.3.Furthermore,the extension twins(ETs)could be disintegrated from the twins forming separated twins with smaller sizes.Interestingly,ETs with the same twin variant intersecting with each other could be coalesced forming grains with similar orientation,while ETs with different twin variants were separated by twins boundaries contributing to grain refinement.Moreover,in addition to the conventional continuous dynamic recrystallized(CDRX)grains with 30˚orientation rotated around C-axis of the parent grains,CDRXed grains with 30˚rotation around a-axis and random rotation axis were also discerned.Besides,the CDRX evolution induced twins were also elaborated,exhibiting the complex competition between CDRX and twining.Hot torsion deformation with constant decreasing temperatures rate is an effective way of grain refinement and texture modification.

Lutein-stevioside nanoparticle attenuates H_(2)O_(2)-induced oxidative damage in ARPE cells

In order to improve the bioavailability of lutein(LUT),a novel lutein-stevio side nanoparticle(LUT-STE)were prepared previously,but the information about LUT-STE on protecting of eye health was limited.This study investigated the effect of LUT-STE on antioxidant activity of H_(2)O_(2)-induced human retinal pigment epithelial(ARPE)cells.LUT and LUT-STE(final concentration of 5μg/mL)significantly enhanced cell viability from(74.84±5.10)%to(81.92±10.01)%(LUT)and(89.33±4.34)%(LUT-STE),and inhibited the cell apoptosis(P<0.05).After pretreatment with LUT-STE in ARPE cells,the levels of superoxide dismutase(SOD),catalase(CAT)and glutathion peroxidase(GSH-Px)in ARPE cells were significantly increased(P<0.05),the contents of reactive oxygen species(ROS)and malondialdehyde(MDA)were decreased.In addition,the vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)levels were inhibited by 13.61%and 17.39%,respectively,pretreatment with LUT and LUT-STE.Western blotting results showed that the pretreatment with LUT-STE inhibited the expression of caspase-9 and caspase-3 and up-regulated Bcl-2/Bax pathway to inhibit H_(2)O_(2)-induced apoptosis.In summary,the novel delivery LUT-STE had more pronounced inhibitory effect on H_(2)O_(2)-induced damage in human ARPE cells.

Negligible normal fluid in superconducting state of heavily overdoped Bi_(2)Sr_(2)CaCu_(2)O_(8+δ) detected by ultra-low temperature angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

In high temperature cuprate superconductors,it was found that the superfluid density decreases with the increase of hole doping.One natural question is whether there exists normal fluid in the superconducting state in the overdoped region.In this paper,we have carried out high-resolution ultra-low temperature laser-based angle-resolved photoemission measurements on a heavily overdoped Bi2212 sample with a T_(c) of 48 K.We find that this heavily overdoped Bi2212 remains in the strong coupling regime with 2Δ_(0)/(k_(B)T_(c))=5.8.The single-particle scattering rate is very small along the nodal direction(~5 meV) and increases as the momentum moves from the nodal to the antinodal regions.A hard superconducting gap opening is observed near the antinodal region with the spectral weight at the Fermi level fully suppressed to zero.The normal fluid is found to be negligibly small in the superconducting state of this heavily overdoped Bi2212.These results provide key information to understand the high T_(c) mechanism in the cuprate superconductors.

A brief review on the recent development of phonon engineering and manipulation at nanoscales

Phonons are the quantum mechanical descriptions of vibrational modes that manifest themselves in many physical properties of condensed matter systems. As the size of electronic devices continues to decrease below mean free paths of acoustic phonons, the engineering of phonon spectra at the nanoscale becomes an important topic. Phonon manipulation allows for active control and management of heat fow, enabling functions such as regulated heat transport. At the same time, phonon transmission, as a novel signal transmission method, holds great potential to revolutionize modern industry like microelectronics technology, and boasts wide-ranging applications. Unlike fermions such as electrons, polarity regulation is difficult to act on phonons as bosons, making the development of effective phonon modulation methods a daunting task.This work reviews the development of phonon engineering and strategies of phonon manipulation at different scales, reports the latest research progress of nanophononic devices such as thermal rectifiers, thermal transistors, thermal memories, and thermoelectric devices,and analyzes the phonon transport mechanisms involved. Lastly, we survey feasible perspectives and research directions of phonon engineering. Thermoelectric analogies, external field regulation, and acousto-optic co-optimization are expected to become future research hotspots.

Cloning, Characterization and Transformation of Methyltransferase 2a Gene (Zmet2a) in Maize (Zea mays L.)

DNA methylation is an important epigenetic regulatory mechanism,it regulates gene expression by recruiting proteins involved in gene repression or by inhibiting the binding of transcription factor(s)to DNA.In this study,a novel methyltransferase 2a gene(Zmet2a)was cloned in maize and identified by polymerase chain reaction-base(PCR-base)using a bioinformatics strategy.The Zmet2a cDNA sequence is 2739 bp long and translates to 912 amino acid peptides.The Zmet2a protein revealed that it contains BAH and CHROMO structural domains,is a non-transmembrane protein that is hydrophilically unstable,and has no signal peptide structure.Meanwhile,we verified the biological roles of Zmet2a using transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing Zmet2a and Zmet2a-knockout maize.Transgenic Zmet2a Arabidopsis thaliana showed highly significant advancement inflowering time,and Zmet2a-knockout maize showed advancement inflowering time,with significant changes in several traits.Altogether,these report the role of Zmet2a in the regulation offlowering time,which will lay a foundation for revealing the biological function and epigenetic regulation mechanism of Zmet2a in the growth,development andflowering of maize.

Analysis and Optimization on Partition-Based Caching and Delivery in Satellite-Terrestrial Edge Computing Networks

As a viable component of 6G wireless communication architecture,satellite-terrestrial networks support efficient file delivery by leveraging the innate broadcast ability of satellite and the enhanced powerful file transmission approaches of multi-tier terrestrial networks.In the paper,we introduce edge computing technology into the satellite-terrestrial network and propose a partition-based cache and delivery strategy to make full use of the integrated resources and reducing the backhaul load.Focusing on the interference effect from varied nodes in different geographical distances,we derive the file successful transmission probability of the typical user and by utilizing the tool of stochastic geometry.Considering the constraint of nodes cache space and file sets parameters,we propose a near-optimal partition-based cache and delivery strategy by optimizing the asymptotic successful transmission probability of the typical user.The complex nonlinear programming problem is settled by jointly utilizing standard particle-based swarm optimization(PSO)method and greedy based multiple knapsack choice problem(MKCP)optimization method.Numerical results show that compared with the terrestrial only cache strategy,Ground Popular Strategy,Satellite Popular Strategy,and Independent and identically distributed popularity strategy,the performance of the proposed scheme improve by 30.5%,9.3%,12.5%and 13.7%.

Anchoring nitrogen-doped Co_(2)P nanoflakes on NiCo_(2)O_(4)nanorod arrays over nickel foam as high-performance 3D electrode for alkaline hydrogen evolution

Effective and robust electrocatalysts are mainly based on innovative materials and unique structures.Herein,we designed a flakelike cobalt phosphide-based catalyst supporting on NiCo_(2)O_(4)nanorods array,which in-situ grew on the nickel foam(NF)current collector,referring as NCo_(2)P/NiCo_(2)O_(4)/NF electrode.By optimizing the microstructure and electronic structure through 3D hierarchy fabrication and nitrogen doping,the catalyst features with abundant electrochemical surface area,favorable surface wettability,excellent electron transport,as well as tailored d band center.Consequently,the as-prepared N-Co_(2)P/NiCo_(2)O_(4)/NF electrode exhibits an impressive HER activity with a low overpotentials of58 mV at 10 mA cm^(-2),a Tafel slop of 75 mV dec^(-1),as well as superior durability in alkaline medium.This work may provide a new pathway to effectively improve the hydrogen evolution performance of transition metal phosphides and to develop promising electrodes for practical electrocatalysis.

New Technology of Multidirectional Loading Rotary Extrusion

To satisfy the requirements for the precise formation of large-scale high-performance lightweight components with inner ring reinforcement, a new multidirectional loading rotary extrusion forming technology is developed to match the linear motion with the rotary motion and actively increases the strong shear force. Its principle is that the radial force and rotating torque increase when the blank is axially extruded and loaded. Through the synergistic action of axial, radial, and rotating motions, the orderly fow of metal is controlled, and the cumulative severe plastic deformation (SPD) of an“uplift-trowel” micro-area is generated. Consequently, materials are uniformly strengthened and toughened. Simultaneously, through the continuous deformation of a punch “ellipse-circle,” a high reinforcement component is grown on the cylinder wall to achieve the high-quality formation of cylindrical parts or the inner-ring-reinforcement components. Additionally, the efective strain increases with rotation speed, and the maximum intensity on the basal plane decreases as the number of revolutions increase. The punch structure also afects the axial extrusion loading and equivalent plastic strain. Thus, the proposed technology enriches the plastic forming theory and widens the application feld of plastic forming. Furthermore, the formed large-scale high-performance inner-ring-stifened magnesium components have been successfully verifed in aerospace equipment, thereby solving the problems of integral forming and severe deformation strengthening and toughening. The developed technology has good prospects for mass production and application.

Research on hunting stability and bifurcation characteristics of nonlinear stochastic wheelset system

A stochastic wheelset model with a nonlinear wheel-rail contact relationship is established to investigate the stochastic stability and stochastic bifurcation of the wheelset system with the consideration of the stochastic parametric excitations of equivalent conicity and suspension stiffness.The wheelset is systematized into a onedimensional(1D)diffusion process by using the stochastic average method,the behavior of the singular boundary is analyzed to determine the hunting stability condition of the wheelset system,and the critical speed of stochastic bifurcation is obtained.The stationary probability density and joint probability density are derived theoretically.Based on the topological structure change of the probability density function,the stochastic Hopf bifurcation form and bifurcation condition of the wheelset system are determined.The effects of stochastic factors on the hunting stability and bifurcation characteristics are analyzed,and the simulation results verify the correctness of the theoretical analysis.The results reveal that the boundary behavior of the diffusion process determines the hunting stability of the stochastic wheelset system,and the left boundary characteristic value cL=1 is the critical state of hunting stability.Besides,stochastic D-bifurcation and P-bifurcation will appear in the wheelset system,and the critical speeds of the two kinds of stochastic bifurcation decrease with the increase in the stochastic parametric excitation intensity.

Context-Oriented Multi-RAT User Association and Resource Allocation with Triple Decision in 5G Heterogeneous Networks

In the upcoming 5 G heterogeneous networks, leveraging multiple radio access technologies(RATs) shows to be a crucial issue in achieving RAT multiplexing gain to meet the explosive traffic demand. For always best connection(ABC), users tend to activate parallel transmission across all available RATs. However from a system-wide perspective, this might not be optimal given the context of network load, interference and diverse service requirements. To intelligently determine how to use these multi-RAT access resources concurrently, this paper proposes a joint multi-RAT user association and resource allocation strategy with triple decision and integrated context awareness of users and networks. A dynamic game based ant colony algorithm(GACA) is designed to simultaneously maximize the system utility and the fairness of resource allocation. Simulation results show that it's more reasonable to make multi-RAT association decision from a system-wide viewpoint than from an individual one. Compared to max-SNR based and ABC based strategies, the proposed method alleviates network congestion and optimizes resource allocation. It obtains 39%~70% performance improvement.

透明质酸对膝关节骨性关节炎相关细胞因子及生物标志物的影响

骨性关节炎(OA)是一种由不同病因引起的综合征最终聚集在同一致病途径上,产生软骨、软骨下骨和滑膜的特征性变化。OA由于软骨破坏及其代谢改变,可在其体液中寻找反映软骨结构变化的相关细胞因子和特异性生物标志物,这对于OA的诊疗及预后评估起到积极的指导作用。关节腔注射透明质酸(HA)是治疗膝关节OA最常用的有效方法,其可刺激内生HA分泌,润滑关节组织,也可有效防止软骨降解。此外,关节腔注射HA可以降低金属蛋白酶含量,减少促炎介质的产生,从而减少参与OA发病机制的因素,改善关节炎症症状和关节软骨的损伤。

SGT:Session-based Recommendation with GRU and Transformer

Session-based recommendation aims to predict user preferences based on anonymous behavior sequences.Recent research on session-based recommendation systems has mainly focused on utilizing attention mechanisms on sequential patterns,which has achieved significant results.However,most existing studies only consider individual items in a session and do not extract information from continuous items,which can easily lead to the loss of information on item transition relationships.Therefore,this paper proposes a session-based recommendation algorithm(SGT)based on Gated Recurrent Unit(GRU)and Transformer,which captures user interests by learning continuous items in the current session and utilizes all item transitions on sessions in a more refined way.By combining short-term sessions and long-term behavior,user dynamic preferences are captured.Extensive experiments were conducted on three session-based recommendation datasets,and compared to the baseline methods,both the recall rate Recall@20 and the mean reciprocal rank MRR@20 of the SGT algorithm were improved,demonstrating the effectiveness of the SGT method.

Research on Precipitation Prediction Model Based on Extreme Learning Machine Ensemble

Precipitation is a significant index to measure the degree of drought and flood in a region,which directly reflects the local natural changes and ecological environment.It is very important to grasp the change characteristics and law of precipitation accurately for effectively reducing disaster loss and maintaining the stable development of a social economy.In order to accurately predict precipitation,a new precipitation prediction model based on extreme learning machine ensemble(ELME)is proposed.The integrated model is based on the extreme learning machine(ELM)with different kernel functions and supporting parameters,and the submodel with the minimum root mean square error(RMSE)is found to fit the test data.Due to the complex mechanism and factors affecting precipitation change,the data have strong uncertainty and significant nonlinear variation characteristics.The mean generating function(MGF)is used to generate the continuation factor matrix,and the principal component analysis technique is employed to reduce the dimension of the continuation matrix,and the effective data features are extracted.Finally,the ELME prediction model is established by using the precipitation data of Liuzhou city from 1951 to 2021 in June,July and August,and a comparative experiment is carried out by using ELM,long-term and short-term memory neural network(LSTM)and back propagation neural network based on genetic algorithm(GA-BP).The experimental results show that the prediction accuracy of the proposed method is significantly higher than that of other models,and it has high stability and reliability,which provides a reliable method for precipitation prediction.

PD-1抑制剂诱发的药物免疫相关不良反应事件的研究

近年来出现的肿瘤免疫治疗彻底改变传统的癌症治疗方法。免疫疗法是免疫抑制剂针对免疫检查点进行调节,免疫抑制剂包括细胞毒性T淋巴细胞抗原肿瘤4(CTLA-4)抑制剂、程序性死亡蛋白1(PD-1)抑制剂和程序性死亡蛋白配体1(PD-L1)抑制剂。PD-1/PD-L1抑制剂通过阻断PD-1/PD-L1途径以调节免疫耐受的重要抑制通路,在机体中参与维持对自身抗原的免疫耐受。然而,免疫系统平衡的转变也会对多个组织器官产生免疫相关不良事件(irAEs)。irAEs不同于传统的化疗药物或靶向治疗的副作用,且目前在其诊断和管理方面经验相对较少。因此,irAEs构成免疫疗法中真正的挑战,并且任何新的改变都可能是与治疗相关的。最常见的irAEs发生在皮肤、胃肠道,其次是肺、内分泌系统、肌肉骨骼、肾、神经、血液和心血管。IrAEs通常持续时间长、可控,但有时可能导致免疫治疗的中断,甚至可能发生致命不良事件。该文针对目前PD-1抑制剂所产生的irAEs做一综述。

大学生信息素养影响因素及培养策略研究——基于三维重叠空间的分析

构建教育与人力资源强国对大学生信息素养培养提出更高要求,因此探索大学生信息素养影响因素并提供合适的培养策略,对提高大学生信息素养具有重要意义。文章通过对调查数据进行结构方程模型和三维重叠空间分析发现:大学生学习兴趣、自我效能感、自主学习能力显著正向影响信息素养;学习积极特质在学习动机特质和信息素养之间存在完全中介作用;在高信息素养群体与低信息素养群体的重叠空间中,低分群体更有潜力培养为高信息素养者。文章最后提出从改善大学生学习积极特质、改进学习动机特质、针对三维重叠空间中的低分群体等方面提升大学生信息素养水平的策略和建议。

Six-long non-coding RNA signature predicts recurrence-free survival in hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND Recent evidence shows that long non-coding RNAs(lncRNAs) are closely related to hepatogenesis and a few aggressive features of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). Increasing studies demonstrate that lncRNAs are potential prognostic factors for HCC. Moreover, several studies reported the combination of lncRNAs for predicting the overall survival(OS) of HCC, but the results varied. Thus,more effort including more accurate statistical approaches is needed for exploring the prognostic value of lncRNAs in HCC.AIM To develop a robust lncRNA signature associated with HCC recurrence to improve prognosis prediction of HCC.METHODS Univariate COX regression analysis was performed to screen the lncRNAs significantly associated with recurrence-free survival(RFS) of HCC in GSE76427 for the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator(LASSO) modelling. The established lncRNA signature was validated and developed in The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA) series using Kaplan-Meier curves. The expression values of the identified lncRNAs were compared between the tumor and non-tumor tissues. Pathway enrichment of these lncRNAs was conducted based on the significantly co-expressed genes. A prognostic nomogram combining the lncRNA signature and clinical characteristics was constructed.RESULTS The lncRNA signature consisted of six lncRNAs: MSC-AS1, POLR2 J4, EIF3 J-AS1,SERHL, RMST, and PVT1. This risk model was significantly associated with the RFS of HCC in the TCGA cohort with a hazard ratio(HR) being 1.807(95%CI[confidence interval]: 1.329-2.457) and log-rank P-value being less than 0.001. The best candidates of the six-lncRNA signature were younger male patients with HBV infection in relatively early tumor-stage and better physical condition but with higher preoperative alpha-fetoprotein. All the lncRNAs were significantly upregulated in tumor samples compared to non-tumor samples(P < 0.05). The most significantly enriched pathways of the lncRNAs were TGF-β signaling pathway, cellular apoptosis-associated pathways, etc. The nomogram showed great utility of the lncRNA signature in HCC recurrence risk stratification.CONCLUSION We have constructed a six-lncRNA signature for prognosis prediction of HCC.This risk model provides new clinical evidence for the accurate diagnosis and targeted treatment of HCC.

Active corrosion protection of super-hydrophobic corrosion inhibitor intercalated Mg-Al layered double hydroxide coating on AZ31 magnesium alloy

Magnesium alloys,the advanced lightweight structural materials,have been successfully applied in the manufacturing field.Unfortunately,their poor corrosion resistance restrains the potential wide applications.In this work,anti-corrosion coatings were fabricated via the insitu growth of the corrosion inhibitors intercalated magnesium-aluminum layered double hydroxide(Mg-Al LDH)on AZ31 magnesium alloy and then post-sealing it by a super-hydrophobic coating.SEM,XRD,EDS,FTIR,XPS and contact angle test were conducted to analyze physical/chemical features of these coatings.Potentiodynamic polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were recorded to assess the anti-corrosion performance of prepared coatings.Surprisingly,Mg-Al LDH with molybdate intercalation and lauric acid modification achieves the excellent corrosion inhibition performance(99.99%)due to the multicomponent synergistic effect such as the physical protection of Mg-Al LDH,the corrosion inhibition of molybdate and super-hydrophobic properties of lauric acid.This work presents a scientific perspective and novel design philosophy to fabricate the efficient anti-corrosion coating to protect magnesium alloys and then expand their potential applications in other field.

Procalcitionin as a diagnostic marker to distinguish upper and lower gastrointestinal perforation

AIM To assess the accuracy of serum procalcitionin(PCT)as a diagnostic marker in verifying upper and lower gastrointestinal perforation(GIP).METHODS This retrospective study included 46 patients from the surgical intensive care unit(ICU)of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University who were confirmed to have GIP between June 2013 and December 2016.Demographic and clinical patient data were recorded on admission to ICU.Patients were divided into upper(n=19)and lower(n=27)GIP groups according to the perforation site(above or below Treitz ligament).PCT and WBC count was obtained before laparotomy and then compared between groups.Meanwhile,the diagnostic accuracy of PCT was analyzed.RESULTS Patients with lower GIP exhibited significantly higher APACHE II score,SOFA score and serum PCT level than patients with upper GIP(P=0.017,0.004,and0.001,respectively).There was a significant positive correlation between serum PCT level and APACHE II score or SOFA score(r=0.715 and r=0.611,respectively),while there was a significant negative correlation between serum PCT level and prognosis(r=-0.414).WBC count was not significantly different between the two groups,and WBC count showed no significant correlation with serum PCT level,APACHE II score,SOFA score or prognosis.The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of PCT level to distinguish upper or lower GIP was 0.778.Patients with a serum PCT level above 17.94 ng/d L had a high likelihood of lower GIP,with a sensitivity of 100%and a specificity of 42.1%.CONCLUSION Serum PCT level is a reliable and accurate diagnostic marker in identifying upper or lower GIP before laparotomy.