The role of a family history of lung cancer (LCFH) in screening using low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) has not been prospectively investigated with long-term follow-up.
A multicenter prospective ...study with up to three rounds of annual LDCT screening was conducted to determine the detection rate of lung cancer (LC) in asymptomatic first- or second-degree relatives of LCFH.
From 2007 to 2011, there were 1102 participants enrolled, including 805 and 297 from simplex and multiplex families (MFs), respectively (54.2% women and 70.0% never-smokers). The last follow-up date was May 5, 2021. The overall LC detection rate was 4.5% (50 of 1102). The detection rate in MF was 9.4% (19 of 202) and 4.4% (4 of 91) in never-smokers and in those who smoked, respectively. The corresponding rates for simplex families were 3.7% (21 of 569) and 2.7% (6 of 223), respectively. Of these, 68.0% and 22.0% of cases with stage I and IV diseases, respectively. LC diagnoses within a 3-year interval from the initial screening tend to be younger, have a higher detection rate, and have stage I disease; thereafter, more stage III–IV disease and 66.7% (16 of 24) with negative or semipositive nodules in initial computed tomography scans. Within the 6-year interval, only maternal (modified rate ratio = 4.46, 95% confidence interval: 2.32–8.56) or maternal relative history of LC (modified rate ratio = 5.41, 95% confidence interval: 2.84–10.30) increased the risk of LC.
LCFH is a risk factor for LC and is increased with MF history, among never-smokers, younger adults, and those with maternal relatives with LC. Randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm the mortality benefit of LDCT screening in those with LCFH.
To compare visual attention performances and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) between subjects with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and to discover neuronal ...substrates related to visual attention performances.
Thirty-nine subjects with SCD and 15 with MCI, diagnosed following neuropsychological tests and conventional brain magnetic resonance imaging, were recruited. All subjects were further examined by the Conners Continuous Performance Test 3 (CPT3) and DTI including fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), in which group comparisons and stepwise linear regression were made.
Subjects with MCI had a worse performance in all retrieval indices of verbal/nonverbal memory tests than those with SCD in the context of comparable general cognition and demographic status. In the CPT3, subjects with MCI had a significant longer hit reaction time (HRT) by univariate but not multivariate comparisons. Further analysis suggested that a longer HRT across all interstimuli intervals and at the point of fourth to sixth blocks were noted among MCI subjects. In DTI evaluations, FA value within the left forceps major was the only hotspot with significant between-group differences after the Bonferroni correction of FA and MD values. On the basis that HRT had significant inverse correlations with FA value within the genu of the corpus callosum and left forceps minor, regression analysis was conducted, showing HRT was best predicted by the FA value within the left forceps minor. Area under receiver operative characteristic curve was 0.70; the optimum cut-off for HRT was 515.8 ms, with a sensitivity of 85% but specificity of 47%.
Our report suggested that impaired sustained attention and vigilance to be an early cognitive marker in differentiating MCI from SCD, where MCI subjects had a longer HRT across all interstimuli intervals and more profoundly in later blocks. FA measures appeared to be more sensitive DTI parameters than MD values in detecting microstructural changes between SCD and MCI. The role of the anterior interhemispheric fibers in sustained attention implementation during visual signal detection task was highlighted.
Male stag beetles (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) use their mandibles as weapons to compete for resources and reproduction. Mandible size in stag beetles can be associated with different behaviours and the ...outcome of male contests. We investigated the allometric relationship between mandible and body size in males of the stag beetle
to uncover distinct morphs. The results divided male
into majors and minors with the switch point of mandible length at 14.01 mm. The allometric slope of mandibles was positive for both morphs but was steeper for the minors. We also characterised the fighting behaviour of the different morphs in size-matched contests using sequential analyses. Males matched each other's behaviour in contests with many physical contacts, no injury and a progression from low towards high aggression and rare de-escalation. Major and minor males employed the same behavioural elements in contests, but major males were more likely to escalate directly into more aggressive phases and minor males tended to stay within phases. This finding suggests that major males may compete more aggressively than minor males in contests.
Abnormal extracranial venous drainage modality has been considered an etiology of transient global amnesia (TGA). Evidence suggests that the transmission of the intrathoracic/intraabdominal pressure ...during a Valsalva maneuver (VM) is mainly through the vertebral venous system, and patency of internal jugular vein (IJV) is essential for venous drainage and pressure releasing. We hypothesize that obstruction of IJV venous drainage is a contributing factor in TGA pathogenesis. A magnetic resonance (MR) imaging protocol was used in 45 TGA patients and 45 age- and sex-matched controls to assess the morphologies of IJV, brachiocephalic vein (BCV) and asymmetry of transverse sinus (TS). The IJV was divided into the upper- and middle-IJV segments. Compared to the controls, TGA patients had significantly higher rates of moderate and severe compression/stenosis at the bilateral upper-IJV segment (left: 37.8% vs. 17.8%, P = 0.0393; right: 57.8% vs.15.6%, P<0.0012), in left BCV (60% vs. 8.9%, P<0.0004), and in TS hypoplasia (53.3%% vs. 31.1%, P = 0.0405). The prevalence of at least one site of venous compression/stenosis in IJV or BCV was significantly higher in patients than in controls (91.1% vs. 33.3%, P<0.0004). The diameter of the left TS in MRV, but not in T1 contrast imaging, was significantly smaller in TGA patients than in controls (0.31 ± 0.21 vs. 0.41 ± 0.19, P = 0.0290), which was compatible with downstream venous stenosis/obstruction. TGA patients have a higher prevalence of compression/stenosis of the bilateral IJV and the left BCV and TS hypoplasia, which is new evidence that supports the role of extracranial veins in TGA pathogenesis.
The importance and prevalence of phylogenetic tracking between hosts and dependent organisms caused by co‐evolution and shifting between closely related host species have been debated for decades. ...Most studies of phylogenetic tracking among phytophagous insects and their host plants have been limited to insects feeding on a narrow range of host species. However, narrow host ranges can confound phylogenetic tracking (phylogenetic tracking hypothesis) with host shifting between hosts of intermediate relationship (intermediate hypothesis). Here, we investigated the evolutionary history of the Enchenopa binotata complex of treehoppers. Each species in this complex has high host fidelity, but the entire complex uses hosts across eight plant orders. The phylogenies of E. binotata were reconstructed to evaluate whether (1) tracking host phylogeny; or (2) shifting between intermediately related host plants better explains the evolutionary history of E. binotata. Our results suggest that E. binotata primarily shifted between both distant and intermediate host plants regardless of host phylogeny and less frequently tracked the phylogeny of their hosts. These findings indicate that phytophagous insects with high host fidelity, such as E. binotata, are capable of adaptation not only to closely related host plants but also to novel hosts, likely with diverse phenology and defense mechanisms.
Although with high host fidelity and a wide range of host usage (across eight host orders), we found that host shifting, regardless of the host plant relationship, played a more important role than coevolution with hosts in the evolutionary history of Enchenopa binotata treehoppers. This result is fascinating it is not only unsupportive to coevolution between plant–insect relationship, but is also unsupportive to intermediate hypothesis for host shifting.
Oral cancer belongs to the group of head and neck cancers. If not diagnosed or treated early, it can be life threatening. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays an important role in tumor ...formation and progression. An increase in the presence of the EMT phenotype causes tumor cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and poor prognosis. Therefore, attenuating carcinogenesis via EMT inhibition is a good strategy. Herein, we will determine the pharmacological effects of chrysophanol on the EMT in FaDu cells. To analyze EMT, we detected the expression EMT markers, including α-SMA, β-catenin, vimentin, N-cadherin, E-cadherin, phospho-GSK-3β, and nuclear translocations of p65 and β-catenin by western blotting. Additionally, accumulating evidence indicates that reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediate EMT. Our results showed that the level of ROS was significantly increased after chrysophanol treatment. We further speculated that chrysophanol-mediated EMT and metastasis are involved in the Wnt-3-dependent signaling pathway. The inhibition of the EMT phenotype and metastasis and accumulation of ROS caused by chrysophanol was reversed by treatment with the Wnt-3 agonist Bml 284. Therefore, our findings indicated that chrysophanol altered EMT formation, ROS accumulation, and metastasis via the Wnt-3-dependent signaling pathway.
Semaphorin 6A (SEMA6A), a membrane-bound protein, is downregulated in lung cancer tissue compared to its adjacent normal tissue. However, the functions of SEMA6A in lung cancer cells are still ...unclear. In the present study, full length SEMA6A and various truncations were transfected into lung cancer cells to investigate the role of the different domains of SEMA6A in cell proliferation and survival, apoptosis, and in vivo tumor growth. SEMA6A-induced cell signaling was explored using gene silencing, co-immunoprecipitation, and co-culture assays. Our results showed that overexpression of SEMA6A reduced the growth of lung cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, and silencing SEMA6A increased the proliferation of normal lung fibroblasts. Truncated SEMA6A lacking the SEMA domain or the extracellular region induced more apoptosis than full length SEMA6A, and reintroducing the SEMA domain attenuated the apoptosis. Fas-associated protein with death domain (FADD) bound to the cytosolic region of truncated SEMA6A and was involved in SEMA6A-associated cytosol-induced apoptosis. This study suggests a novel function of SEMA6A in inducing apoptosis via FADD binding in lung cancer cells.
Spontaneous hemopneumothorax, defined as the accumulation of more than 400 mL of blood in the pleural cavity in association with spontaneous pneumothorax, is a rare entity occurring in young patients ...and may be life threatening. Although many reports of case studies and series have been published in the world literature, the lack of consistent intraoperative findings and varying surgical methods require a review study.
We discuss the clinical features, management, surgical findings, and outcomes of our own patients with spontaneous hemopneumothorax.
From September 1997 to September 2003, 488 patients with spontaneous pneumothorax were treated at our hospital. Of these patients, 27 (5.5%) had spontaneous hemopneumothorax develop. These 27 patients were comprised of 25 men and 2 women ranging in age from 15 to 39 years (mean age, 22.3 years). The amount of blood that was drained ranged from 400 to 1,700 mL (mean, 1,012 mL). Twenty-one patients underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery within 1 day after admission; the remaining 6 patients were treated conservatively with tube thoracostomy alone. On arrival at our emergency room, 9 patients (33.3%) experienced hemodynamic instability with hypovolemic shock. In a review of 6,396 patients with spontaneous pneumothorax in the literature and in our current study, 201 patients (3.1%) had spontaneous hemopneumothorax develop. One hundred seventy-six patients (87.6%) were treated surgically, whereas video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery has been performed in 48.9% of patients (86 of 176). There was no recurrence of hemopneumothorax in any of the 201 patients with spontaneous hemopneumothorax after treatment during the follow-up period.
Thus one-third of the patients with spontaneous hemopneumothorax had shock symptoms develop. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery may be considered as an initial treatment procedure for patients with spontaneous hemopneumothorax, whereas conservative treatment is effective and may be performed in selected patients.
Previous neuroimaging and ultrasound studies suggested that compression and stenosis of the internal jugular vein (IJV) in patients with transient global amnesia (TGA) may impair IJV drainage, while ...a patent IJV releases intracranial pressure caused by the Valsalva maneuver (VM).
Seventy-nine TGA patients with complete ultrasound examination data during admission were recruited prospectively to evaluate IJV drainage, which included the time-averaged mean velocity, and the cross-sectional lumen area of the IJV at the vein's middle (J2) and distal (J3) segments and the cross-sectional area during a 10-s VM to test for any retrograde or anti-grade flow. Forty-five TGA patients and 45 age- and sex-matched control subjects underwent complete contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) venous studies, which included time-resolved imaging of contrast kinetics, contrast-enhanced axial T1-weighted MR imaging, and phase-contrast-based non-contrast enhanced magnetic resonance venography (MRV).
In those subjects with complete MRV studies, the flow volumes exhibited at both the J2 and J3 segments of the left IJV and left vertebral vein (VV) were significantly lower in the TGA patients than in the control subjects. Although there was no significant difference in the flow volume of right IJV, the total of bilateral IJV, and VV flow volumes was still significantly lower in the TGA patients. As compared with the control subjects, the TGA patients exhibited significantly higher prevalence of completely blocked right IJV drainage at the J3 segment during the VM, but non-significantly higher for the left IJV at the J3 segment and for the right IJV at the J2 segment.
Our results confirmed that the total venous flow decreases in the IJVs and VVs of the patients with TGA. This is consistent with the findings of previous MR imaging studies that have reported about compression and stenosis of the draining veins. We also found that IJV drainage is relatively compromised during the VM in the patients with TGA.
A driving current based model describing the optical heterodyne output of a monolithic dual-wavelength DFB laser is established. The linear relationship between the driving current and the laser ...output wavelength was applied to obtain the simple equation for this purpose. Actual measured data from the real devices were used for the initial parameter extraction and the practical model can then be built. By using this model, the influence of different laser parameters towards the radio frequency signal generation and different current configuration on the output characteristic can be demonstrated. This can facilitate the future design of such integrated photonic devices.
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