Background
The development and progression of cancer cachexia are connected to systemic inflammation and physical performance. However, few relevant studies have reported the survival outcomes ...prediction of systemic inflammation and physical performance in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) cachexia. This study investigated the prognostic prediction value of systemic inflammation and performance status in patients with CRC cachexia.
Methods
This multicentre cohort study prospectively collected 905 patients with CRC (58.3% males, 59.3 ± 11.5 years old). Cancer cachexia was diagnosed according to the 2011 Fearon Cachexia Diagnostic Consensus. The prognostic value of systematic inflammatory indicators was determined using the area under the curve, concordance index, and multivariate survival analysis. Performance status was evaluated with Eastern Coopertive Oncology Group performance score (ECOG‐PS). Survival data were analysed using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses.
Results
The area under the curve, concordance index and survival analysis showed that C‐reactive protein (CRP), lymphocyte to CRP ratio (LCR) and CRP to albumin ratio (CAR) were more stable and consistent with the survival of patients with CRC, both in non‐cachexia and cachexia populations. Among patients with CRC cachexia, high inflammation low LCR, hazard ratio (HR) 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 3.33 (2.08–5.32); high CAR, HR (95% CI) = 2.92 (1.88–4.55); high CRP, HR (95% CI) = 3.12 (2.08–4.67) indicated a worse prognosis, compared with non‐cachexia patients low LCR, HR (95% CI) = 2.28 (1.65–3.16); high CAR, HR (95% CI) = 2.36 (1.71–3.25); high CRP, HR (95% CI) = 2.58 (1.85–3.60). Similarly, among patients with CRC cachexia, high PS ECOG‐PS 2, HR (95% CI) = 1.61 (1.04–2.50); ECOG‐PS 3/4, HR (95% CI) = 2.91 (1.69–5.00) indicated a worse prognosis, compared with patients with CRC without cachexia ECOG‐PS 2, HR (95% CI) = 1.28 (0.90–1.81); ECOG‐PS 3/4, HR (95% CI) = 2.41 (1.32–4.39). Patients with CRC cachexia with an ECOG‐PS score of 2 or 3–4 and a high inflammation had a shorter median survival time, compared with patients with an ECOG‐PS score of 0/1 and a low inflammation.
Conclusions
The systemic inflammatory markers LCR, CAR and CRP have stable prognostic values in patients with CRC. The ECOG‐PS may be an independent risk factor for CRC. Combined evaluation of systemic inflammation and ECOG‐PS in patients with CRC cachexia could provide a simple survival prediction.
Chromobox protein homolog 7 (CBX7), a member of the polycomb group (PcG) family of proteins, is involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and cancer progression. PcG family members, such as ...BMI, Mel-18, and EZH2, are integral constituents of the polycomb repressive complexes (PRCs) and have been known to regulate cancer stem cell (CSC) phenotype. However, the role of other PRCs' constituents such as CBX7 in the regulation of CSC phenotype remains largely elusive. This study was to investigate the role of CBX7 in regulating stem cell-like properties of gastric cancer and the underlying mechanisms.
Firstly, the role of CBX7 in regulating stem cell-like properties of gastric cancer was investigated using sphere formation, Western blot, and xenograft tumor assays. Next, RNA interference and ectopic CBX7 expression were employed to determine the impact of CBX7 on the expression of CSC marker proteins and CSC characteristics. The expression of CBX7, its downstream targets, and stem cell markers were analyzed in gastric stem cell spheres, common cancer cells, and gastric cancer tissues. Finally, the pathways by which CBX7 regulates stem cell-like properties of gastric cancer were explored.
We found that CBX7, a constituent of the polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1), plays an important role in maintaining stem cell-like characteristics of gastric cancer cells via the activation of AKT pathway and the downregulation of p16. Spearman rank correlation analysis showed positive correlations among the expression of CBX7 and phospho-AKT (pAKT), stem cell markers OCT-4, and CD133 in gastric cancer tissues. In addition, CBX7 was found to upregulate microRNA-21 (miR-21) via the activation of AKT-NF-κB pathway, and miR-21 contributes to CBX7-mediated CSC characteristics.
CBX7 positively regulates stem cell-like characteristics of gastric cancer cells by inhibiting p16 and activating AKT-NF-κB-miR-21 pathway.
Partial sorting, selecting <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{M} </tex-math></inline-formula> largest/smallest numbers from <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{N} ...</tex-math></inline-formula> inputs, is of interest in many applications. Thus, this brief presents a novel scheme for real-time max/min-set-selection sorters on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Our scheme has good expansibility but no close relation with the vector length, whose basic idea is reducing the programming complexity through the essence of sorting networks for Bitonic sequences. In addition, two modified forms of our scheme are proposed to solve the high data rate sequence and a multiple of 2 max/min-set-selection problem respectively. Finally, the effectiveness of our scheme is demonstrated on one Xilinx XC7VX690T FPGA by performing comparisons with state-of-the-arts.
Objectives
Our aim was to investigate the prevalence and predictive variables of sarcopenia.
Methods
We recruited participants from the Peking Union Medical College Hospital Multicenter Prospective ...Longitudinal Sarcopenia Study (PPLSS). Muscle mass was quantified using bioimpedance, and muscle function was quantified using grip strength and gait speed. Logistic regression revealed the relationships between sarcopenia and nutritional, lifestyle, disease, psychosocial and physical variables.
Results
The prevalence of sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity was 9.2%‐16.2% and 0.26%‐9.1%, respectively. Old age, single status, undernourishment, higher income, smoking, low physical activity, poor appetite and low protein diets were significantly associated with sarcopenia. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that age was a risk factor for all stages of sarcopenia, and participants above 80 years were greater than fivefold more susceptible to sarcopenia, while lower physical activity was an independent risk factor. The optimal cut‐off value for age was 71 years, which departs from the commonly accepted cut‐off of 60 years. Female participants were greater than twofold less susceptible to sarcopenia than male participants. The sterol derivative 25‐hydroxyvitamin D was associated with fourfold lower odds of sarcopenia in male participants. Several protein intake variables were also correlated with sarcopenia. Based on these parameters, we defined a highly predictive index for sarcopenia.
Conclusions
Our findings support a predictive index of sarcopenia, which agglomerates the complex influences that sterol metabolism and nutrition exert on male vs female participants.
Dysregulated circadian clock genes were associated with glioma grades and the IDH status. Prognostic model suggests circadian clock genes affect glioma progression. The GO and GSEA enrichment analysis suggested dysregulated circadian clock genes can affect glioma through interfering cell cycle and influencing immunocytes infiltration.
Background
Although socioeconomic factors are important determinants of population mortality, the effect of educational level on the survival of patients with cancer in China is unclear. This study ...aimed to assess whether educational level is associated with the prognosis of patients with cancer and to explore the mediators of this association.
Methods
This multicentre cohort study included 18,251 patients diagnosed with cancer between May 2013 and December 2018. The main parameters measured were overall survival (OS) and all‐cause mortality. The relationship between educational level and all‐cause mortality was assessed using multifactor‐corrected Cox survival analysis. Logistic regression was used to analyze the association between educational level and patient‐generated subjective global assessment (PG‐SGA).
Results
The mean age of the 18,251 participants (men, 9939 54.4%) was 57.37 ± 11.66 years. Multifactorial survival analysis showed that patients survived longer with increasing education (university and above vs. elementary school and below; p = p = <0.001, HR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.77–0.92), and the differences were statistically significant in different subgroups. The potential impact factors included sex, age, TNM stage, and PG‐SGA score. Logistic regression showed a significant negative association between educational level and the modifiable factor PG‐SGA (secondary vs. primary and below; p = 0.004, HR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.83–0.97; university and above vs. primary and below; p < 0.001, HR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.71–0.88).
Conclusions
Educational level was a significant prognostic factor for patients with cancer, independent of other known prognostic factors. This association was further improved by modifying the nutritional status.
A ruthenium‐catalyzed ammoxidation of alkenyl oximes under mild and neutural condtions is described. In this method, tert‐butyl nitrite plays a dual role, acting as an oxidant as well as a nitrogen ...source. This reaction avoids using any toxic radical initiators or cyanide reagents. This convenient and practical method offers an easy access to 5‐cyanated isoxazolines in good to high yields, and shows good functional group tolerance and high efficiency. It is rather remarkable that this new reaction provides a strategically distinct approach based on non‐stabilized radical intermediate and constructs C–O and C≡N triple bonds in a single‐step. Moreover, the difunctionalization of unactivated olefins bearing oximes has been realized.
A convenient method offers an easy access to 5‐cyanated isoxazolines in good to high yields and shows good functional group tolerance and high efficiency. In this protocol, tert‐butyl nitrte plays a dual role, acting as an oxidant as well as a nitrogen source. Remarkably, this new reaction avoids using any toxic radical initiator or cyanide reagents and constructs C–O and C≡N triple bonds in a single‐step.
Body water measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) predicts the outcomes of many diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between body water and the prognosis of cancer ...patients with sarcopenia.
This study employed 287 cancer patients with sarcopenia underwent BIA from a prospective multicenter study of patients with cancer in China from 2013 to 2020. The primary outcome of interest was all-cause mortality presented as the longest time to follow-up available. Eight indicators of body water total body water, extracellular water, intracellular water, free fat mass, active cell mass, extracellular water/intracellular water, extracellular water/total body water (ECW/TBW), and intracellular water/total body water were included in the research. Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) = neutrophil (× 10
)/lymphocyte (× 10
). The discriminatory ability and prediction accuracy of each factor were assessed using the C-index. The hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using the Cox proportional hazard model.
The median age was 65 years old, and 138 (48%) patients were men. During a mean follow-up of 46 months, 140 deaths were recorded, resulting in a rate of 204.6 events per 1000 patient-years. ECW/TBW showed the best predictive accuracy (C-index = 0.619) compared to the other indicators p = 0.004, adjusted HR (95% CI) 1.70 (1.18,2.44). In the middle tertile (0.385-0.405), ECW/TBW had a strong independent negative association with patient survival adjusted HR (95% CI) 2.88 (1.39-5.97), p = 0.004. Patients who had a high ECW/TBW (ECW/TBW ≥ 0.395) combined with a high NLR had 3.84-fold risk of mortality (p < 0.001, 95% CI 1.99,7.38).
ECW/TBW was better than other indicators in predicting survival of cancer patients with sarcopenia. High ECW/TBW combined with high NLR would further increase the risk of mortality.
The Investigation on Nutrition Status and Clinical Outcome of Common Cancers (INSCOC) (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR1800020329, URL of registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn/showprojen.aspx?proj=31813 ).
No relevant studies have yet been conducted to explore which measurement can best predict the survival time of patients with cancer cachexia. This study aimed to identify an anthropometric ...measurement that could predict the 1-year survival of patients with cancer cachexia. We conducted a nested case-control study using data from a multicentre clinical investigation of cancer from 2013 to 2020. Cachexia was defined using the Fearon criteria. A total of 262 patients who survived less than 1 year and 262 patients who survived more than 1 year were included in this study. Six candidate variables were selected based on clinical experience and previous studies. Five variables, BMI, mid-arm circumference, mid-arm muscle circumference, calf circumference and triceps skin fold (TSF), were selected for inclusion in the multivariable model. In the conditional logistic regression analysis, TSF (
= 0·014) was identified as a significant independent protective factor. A similar result was observed in all patients with cancer cachexia (
3084). In addition, a significantly stronger positive association between TSF and the 1-year survival of patients with cancer cachexia was observed in participants aged > 65 years (OR: 0·94; 95 % CI 0·89, 0·99) than in those aged ≤ 65 years (OR: 0·96; 95 % CI 0·93, 0·99;
= 0·013) and in participants with no chronic disease (OR: 0·92; 95 % CI 0·87, 0·97) than in those with chronic disease (OR: 0·97; 95 % CI 0·94, 1·00;
= 0·049). According to this study, TSF might be a good anthropometric measurement for predicting 1-year survival in patients with cancer cachexia.
In some insect nursery pollination mutualisms, plant hosts impose net costs to uncooperative “cheater” symbionts. These “sanctions” promote mutualism stability but their precise adaptive nature ...remains unclear. In fig–wasp mutualisms host trees (Ficus spp.) are only pollinated by female agaonid wasps whose larvae only use galled fig flowers as food. In actively pollinated systems, if wasps fail to pollinate, sanctions can result via fig abortion, killing all wasp offspring, or by increased offspring mortality within un-aborted figs. These sanctions result from selective investment to pollinated inflorescences, a mechanism present in almost all angiosperms. To more fully understand how selective investment functions as sanctions requires the measurement of variation in their costs and benefits to both hosts and symbionts. Gynodioecious fig-tree–fig-wasp mutualisms are particularly suitable for this because pollen and wasps are produced only in the figs of “male” trees and seeds only in the figs of “female” trees. Male and female trees thus incur different net costs of pollen absence, and costs of sanctions to pollen-free “cheater” wasps only occur in male trees. We used the actively pollinated host tree Ficus hispida and introduced into male and female figs either 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 all pollen-laden “cooperative” (P+) or all pollen-free “cheater” (P−) wasps. Abortion in both male and female trees was highest in P− figs, with P− fig abortion higher in females (∼90%) than in males (∼40%). Fig abortion was negatively associated with foundress number mainly in P+ figs; in P− figs abortion was only weakly associated with the number of “cheater” wasps, especially in female figs. In un-aborted male figs, wasp offspring mortality was higher in P− figs than in P+ figs, and in P− figs correlated positively with foundress (cheater) number. Increased offspring mortality was biased against female wasp offspring and likely resulted from reduced larval nutrition in unpollinated flowers. Variation in selective investment to P− figs thus reflects costs and benefits of pollen absence/presence to hosts, variation that translates directly to net costs to cheater wasps.
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