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This study aimed to determine the possibility of COVID-19 transmission through in-flight contact during flights for many patients with confirmed COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic and explore infection prevention and control (IPC) methods for overseas infectious diseases. A retrospective cohort study was conducted on flight with a large number of confirmed case among. Delhi- Incheon flights in 2020. This flight was selected to confirm transmission through close contact with the cabin, with a total of 14 confirmed cases out of 190 passengers (including 10 flight attendants). After confirming COVID-19 test results for those entering Korea, we conducted an epidemiological investigation on confirmed patients to determine their general characteristics and epidemiological relevance. We analyzed the epidemiological relevance, occupational information, incubation period, and COVID-19 variation and genotype among confirmed patients who were in close contact with confirmed cases, and analyzed the possibility of transmission according to the distance of close contact in the flight. One confirmed patient was found to be highly likely to be infected due to close contact with the cabin. However, it occurred within two rows, not within 1 meter. In addition, considering the aerodynamics in the cabin and local incidence rate, infection in an unspecified number of local people could not be excluded. It was analyzed that the reason for reducing infection from close contact on board for a long time in a flight with a large number of confirmed cases was the effective IPC method. In order to prevent overseas infectious diseases caused by flights, autonomous IPC management of airlines and passengers is necessary in addition to national quarantine management such as symptom screening before boarding, wearing passenger masks while boarding, food and beverage restrictions, disinfection of public spaces, distancing between passengers, close contact management after boarding, and self-quarantine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We investigated the association between exercise habits before or after thyroidectomy and incident type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in patients with thyroid cancer. Methods: An observational cohort study of 69,526 thyroid cancer patients who underwent thyroidectomy for the treatment of thyroid cancer between 2010 and 2016 was performed using the Korean National Health Information Database. Regular exercise was defined as mid-term or vigorous exercise at least 1 day in a week based on a self-reported questionnaire. Patients were divided into four groups according to exercise habits before and after thyroidectomy: persistent non-exercisers, new exercisers, exercise dropouts, and exercise maintainers. Results: During a median follow-up of 4.5 years, 2,720 (3.91%) patients developed T2DM. The incidence of T2DM per 1,000 person years was lower in patients who performed regular exercise before or after thyroidectomy than in persistent non-exercisers (10.77 in persistent non-exerciser group, 8.28 in new exerciser group, 8.59 in exercise dropout group, and 7.61 in exercise maintainer group). Compared with the persistent non-exerciser group, the new exerciser group (hazard ratio [HR] 0.87, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.78–0.97), the exercise dropout group (HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.72–0.91), and the exercise maintainer group (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.76–0.93) had lower risks of incident T2DM. Exercising < 1,500 MET-minutes/week in the exercise maintainer group was associated with a lower risk of incident T2DM compared with persistent non-exercisers (< 500: HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.67–0.96, P = 0.002; 500 to < 1,000: HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.71–0.93, P < 0.001; 1,000 to < 1,500: HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.69–0.94, P < 0.001). Conclusions: Regular exercise before or after thyroidectomy was associated with a lower risk of incident T2DM in patients with thyroid cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to compare the risk of incident diabetes according to fatty liver disease (FLD) definition, focusing on the comparison between those who met criteria for either metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) but not the other. This was a 5.0-year (interquartile range, 2.4–8.2) retrospective longitudinal cohort study of 21,178 adults who underwent at least two serial health checkup examinations. The presence of hepatic steatosis was determined by abdominal ultrasonography at the first health examination. Cox proportional hazard analyses were used to compare the risk of incident diabetes among five groups. Incident diabetes cases occurred in 1296 participants (6.1%). When non-FLD without metabolic dysfunction (MD) group was set as a reference, the risk of incident diabetes increased in the order of NAFLD-only, non-FLD with MD, both FLD, and MAFLD-only groups. The presence of excessive alcohol consumption and/or hepatitis B virus (HBV)/hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, FLD, and MD synergistically increased the risk of incident diabetes. MAFLD-only group showed a greater increase in incidence of diabetes than non-FLD with MD and NAFLD-only groups. The interaction among excessive alcohol consumption, HBV/HCV infection, MD, and hepatic steatosis on the development of diabetes should not be overlooked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entropic stabilized ABO3 perovskite oxides promise many applications, including the two-step solar thermochemical hydrogen (STCH) production. Using binary and quaternary A-site mixed {A}FeO3 as a model system, we reveal that as more cation types, especially above four, are mixed on the A-site, the cell lattice becomes more cubic-like but the local Fe–O octahedrons are more distorted. By comparing four different Density Functional Theory-informed statistical models with experiments, we show that the oxygen vacancy formation energies ( E V f ) distribution and the vacancy interactions must be considered to predict the oxygen non-stoichiometry (δ) accurately. For STCH applications, the E V f distribution, including both the average and the spread, can be optimized jointly to improve Δδ (difference of δ between the two-step conditions) in some hydrogen production levels. This model can be used to predict the range of water splitting that can be thermodynamically improved by mixing cations in {A}FeO3 perovskites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) can replace nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is under debate. This study evaluated which definition better predicted incident chronic kidney disease (CKD). This was a 5.3-year (range, 2.8–8.3) retrospective cohort study of 21,713 adults who underwent at least two serial health examinations. Cox analyses were used to compare the risk of incident CKD among non-fatty liver disease (FLD) without metabolic dysregulation (MD; reference), non-FLD with MD, MAFLD-only, NAFLD-only, or both-FLD groups. Non-FLD with MD group (hazard ratio [HR] 1.23, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00–1.53), both-FLD group (HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.19–1.89), and MAFLD-only group (HR 1.97, 95% CI 1.49–2.60), but not NAFLD-only group (HR 1.06, 95% CI 0.63–1.79) demonstrated an increased risk of CKD. The increased risk of CKD was significant in MAFLD subgroups with overweight/obesity (HR 2.94, 95% CI 1.91–4.55), diabetes (HR 2.20, 95% CI 1.67–2.90), MD only (HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.19–1.89), excessive alcohol consumption (HR 2.71, 95% CI 2.11–3.47), and viral hepatitis (HR 2.38, 95% CI 1.48–3.84). The switch from NAFLD to MAFLD criteria may identify a greater number of individuals at CKD risk. The association was also significant in MAFLD patients with excessive alcohol consumption or viral hepatitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aliovalent doping of perovskite oxides can tune the oxygen vacancy formation energy. This work discovers normal vs. abnormal aliovalent doping effects on redox behaviors in medium-entropy compositionally complex perovskite oxides (CCPOs) (La1−xSrx)(Mn1/3Fe1/3Ti1/3)O3−δ (LS_MFT) vs. (La1−xSrx)(Mn1/3Fe1/3Cr1/3)O3−δ (LS_MFC). In the LS_MFC series, the oxygen non-stoichiometry range Δδ (= δred − δox) linearly depends on the Sr molar ratio x, while the LS_MFT series shows a V-shape dependence of Δδ on x. This unusual observation is investigated and explained based on the analysis of the energy loss near edge structure (ELNES) in STEM electron energy loss spectroscopy, along with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In LS_MFC, Cr–L2,3, Mn–L2,3 and Fe–L2,3 peaks have a similar linear shift to higher energy with increasing x, which indicates higher oxidation states of Cr, Mn, and Fe with lower oxygen vacancy formation energies. In LS_MFT, the V-shape of the Δδ vs. x curve is caused by the stable Ti4+ state and a V-shape Mn/Fe valency dependence on x. This study suggests the possible existence of different (including unexpected) coupled aliovalent doping effects in CCPOs with multiple B-site redox active elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) disease (CVD) and mortality. However, whether the progression or regression of NAFLD can increase or decrease the risk of heart failure (HF) and mortality has not been fully evaluated. We investigated the association between changes in hepatic steatosis and the risks of incident HF (iHF), hospitalization for HF (hHF), and mortality including CV- or liver-related mortality. Methods: Using a database from the National Health Insurance Service in Korea from January 2009 to December 2012, we analyzed 240,301 individuals who underwent health check-ups at least twice in two years. Hepatic steatosis was assessed using the fatty liver index (FLI), with an FLI ≥ 60 considered to indicate the presence of hepatic steatosis. According to FLI changes, participants were divided into four groups. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results: Persistent hepatic steatosis increased the risk of iHF, hHF, and mortality including CV- and liver-related mortality compared with the group that never had steatosis (all P < 0.05). Incident hepatic steatosis was associated with increased risk for iHF and mortality including CV- or liver-related mortality (all P < 0.05). Compared with persistent steatosis, regression of hepatic steatosis was associated with decreased risk for iHF, hHF, and liver-related mortality (iHF, HR [95% CI], 0.800 [0.691–0.925]; hHF, 0.645 [0.514–0.810]; liver-related mortality, 0.434 [0.223–0.846]). Conclusions: FLI changes were associated with increased or decreased risk of HF outcomes and mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: To diversify and expand possible tuberculosis (TB) drug candidates and maximize limited global resources, we investigated the effect of colchicine, an FDA‐approved anti‐gout drug, against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection because of its immune‐modulating effects. Experimental Approach: We evaluated the intracellular anti‐Mtb activity of different concentrations of colchicine in murine bone marrow‐derived macrophages (BMDMs). To elucidate the underlying mechanism, RNA sequencing, biological and chemical inhibition assays, and Western blot, quantitative real‐time PCR, enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and immunohistochemical analyses were employed. Finally, type I interferon‐dependent highly TB‐susceptible A/J mice were challenged with virulent Mtb H37Rv, and the host‐directed therapeutic effect of oral colchicine administration on bacterial burdens and lung inflammation was assessed 30 days post‐infection (2.5 mg·kg−1 every 2 days). Key Results: Colchicine reinforced the anti‐Mtb activity of BMDMs without affecting cell viability, indicating that colchicine facilitated macrophage immune activation upon Mtb infection. The results from RNA sequencing, NLRP3 knockout BMDM, IL‐1 receptor blockade, and immunohistochemistry analyses revealed that this unexpected intracellular anti‐Mtb activity of colchicine was mediated through NLRP3‐dependent IL‐1β signalling and Cox‐2‐regulated PGE2 production in macrophages. Consequently, the TB‐susceptible A/J mouse model showed remarkable protection, with decreased bacterial loads in both the lungs and spleens of oral colchicine‐treated mice, with significantly elevated Cox‐2 expression at infection sites. Conclusions and Implications: The repurposing of colchicine against Mtb infection in this study highlights its unique function in macrophages upon Mtb infection and its novel potential use in treating TB as host‐directed or adjunctive therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies on inverse tone mapping (iTM) have moved toward indirect mapping, which generates a stack of low dynamic range (LDR) images with multiple exposure values (multi-EV stack) and then merges them. In order to generate multi-EV stack(s), several large-scale networks with more than 20 M parameters have been proposed, but their high dynamic range (HDR) reconstruction and multi-EV stack generation performance were not acceptable. Also, some previous methods using cycle consistency should even have trained additional networks that are not used for multi-EV stack generation, which results in large memory for training. Thus, this paper proposes novel cyclic learning based on cycle consistency to reduce the memory burden in training. In detail, we eliminated networks used only for training, so the proposed method enables efficient learning in terms of training-purpose memory. In addition, this paper presents a lightweight iTM network that dramatically reduces the network sizes of the existing networks. Actually, the proposed lightweight network requires only a small parameter size of 1/100 compared to the state-of-the-art (SOTA) method. The lightweight network contributes to the practical use of iTM. Therefore, the proposed method based on a lightweight network reliably generates a multi-EV stack. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves quantitatively SOTA performance and is qualitatively comparable to conventional indirect iTM methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored the association between cholesterol levels and dementia risk according to the presence of diabetes and statin use. In this population-based longitudinal cohort study, the Korean National Health Insurance Service datasets (2002–2017) were used. Among individuals aged ≥ 40 years who underwent health examinations in 2009 (N = 6,883,494), the hazard of dementia was evaluated according to cholesterol levels. During a median 8.33 years, 263,185 dementia cases were detected. In statin non-users with or without diabetes, the hazards of all-cause dementia were highest for those in the lowest quartile or quintile of low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) level, showing an inverted J-shaped relationship. Among statin users with or without diabetes, an advance in LDL-C group was associated with an increase in hazards of all-cause dementia. In statin users with diabetes, even very low LDL-C level was not associated with an increased risk of all-cause dementia. Although there was a seemingly paradoxical association between low LDL-C level and dementia risk in statin non-users, the trend was not observed in statin users and is not likely to be clinically relevant. Rather, an advance in LDL-C levels was associated with an increase in the hazard of all-cause dementia in statin users, regardless of the presence of diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although both type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), evidence is lacking as to whether the presence of NAFLD confers an additional risk of CVD in patients with T2DM. We investigated the associations between hepatic steatosis and/or fibrosis and risk of myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, heart failure (HF), and mortality in patients with new-onset T2DM. Methods: Using the Korean National Health Insurance dataset, we included 139,633 patients diagnosed with new-onset T2DM who underwent a national health screening from January 2009 to December 2012. Hepatic steatosis and advanced hepatic fibrosis were determined using cutoff values for fatty liver index (FLI) and BARD score. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results: During the median follow-up of 7.7 years, there were 3,079 (2.2%) cases of MI, 4,238 (3.0%) cases of ischemic stroke, 4,303 (3.1%) cases of HF, and 8,465 (6.1%) all-cause deaths. Hepatic steatosis defined as FLI ≥ 60 was associated with increased risk for MI (HR [95% CI], 1.28 [1.14–1.44]), stroke (1.41 [1.25–1.56]), HF (1.17 [1.07–1.26]), and mortality (1.41 [1.32–1.51]) after adjusting for well-known risk factors. Compared to the group without steatosis, the group with steatosis and without fibrosis (BARD < 2) and the group with both steatosis and fibrosis (BARD ≥ 2) showed gradual increased risk for MI, stroke, HF, and mortality (all p for trends < 0.001). Conclusion: Hepatic steatosis and/or advanced fibrosis as assessed by FLI or BARD score were significantly associated with risk of CVD and mortality in new-onset T2DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims/Introduction: We estimated the hazards of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and early all‐cause mortality in Korean adults according to the presence of recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes (type 2 diabetes for <5 years) and insulin use. Materials and Methods: We used the Korean National Health Insurance Service–National Sample Cohort database (2002–2015) for this longitudinal population‐based study. Among adults aged ≥40 years without baseline CVD, individuals without diabetes or with recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes were selected (N = 363,919). The hazard ratios (HRs) for myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and all‐cause mortality during follow‐up were analyzed according to three groups categorized by the presence of type 2 diabetes and insulin use. Results: Within a mean 7.8 years, there were 5,275 MIs, 7,220 strokes, and 15,834 deaths. The hazards for outcomes were higher in the insulin‐treated type 2 diabetes group than in the non‐diabetes group [HR (95% CI): 2.344 (1.870–2.938) for MI, 2.420 (1.993–2.937) for stroke, and 3.037 (2.706–3.407) for death], higher in the non‐insulin‐treated type 2 diabetes group than in the non‐diabetes group [HR (95% CI): 1.284 (1.159–1.423) for MI, 1.435 (1.320–1.561) for stroke, and 1.135 (1.067–1.206) for death], and higher in the insulin‐treated type 2 diabetes group than in the non‐insulin‐treated type 2 diabetes group [HR (95% CI): 1.914 (1.502–2.441) for MI, 1.676 (1.363–2.060) for stroke, and 2.535 (2.232–2.880) for death]. Conclusions: Recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients showed increased risks of incident CVDs and premature mortality, and insulin‐treated group demonstrated an additional increase in the risks of these outcomes in adults with recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes, suggesting the need for intensified cardio‐protective interventions for adults with insulin‐treated type 2 diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a hepatic manifestation of metabolic disease and independently affects the development of cardiovascular (CV) disease. We investigated whether hepatic steatosis and/or fibrosis are associated with the development of incident heart failure (iHF), hospitalized HF (hHF), mortality, and CV death in both the general population and HF patients. Methods: We analyzed 778,739 individuals without HF and 7445 patients with pre-existing HF aged 40 to 80 years who underwent a national health check-up from January 2009 to December 2012. The presence of hepatic steatosis and advanced hepatic fibrosis was determined using cutoff values for fatty liver index (FLI) and BARD score. We evaluated the association of FLI or BARD score with the development of iHF, hHF, mortality and CV death using multivariable-adjusted Cox regression models. Results: A total of 28,524 (3.7%) individuals in the general population and 1422 (19.1%) pre-existing HF patients developed iHF and hHF respectively. In the multivariable-adjusted model, participants with an FLI ≥ 60 were at increased risk for iHF (hazard ratio [HR], 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30, 1.24–1.36), hHF (HR 1.54, 95% CI 1.44–1.66), all-cause mortality (HR 1.62, 95% CI 1.54–1.70), and CV mortality (HR 1.41 95% CI 1.22–1.63) in the general population and hHF (HR 1.26, 95% CI 1.21–1.54) and all-cause mortality (HR 1.54 95% CI 1.24–1.92) in the HF patient group compared with an FLI < 20. Among participants with NAFLD, advanced liver fibrosis was associated with increased risk for iHF, hHF, and all-cause mortality in the general population and all-cause mortality and CV mortality in the HF patient group (all p < 0.05). Conclusion: Hepatic steatosis and/or advanced fibrosis as assessed by FLI and BARD score was significantly associated with the risk of HF and mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims/Introduction: Using an investigational diet plan based on the Mediterranean diet and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet comprised of substitute ingredients that mimic the average East Asian diet, this study assessed the glycemic benefits in comparison with a food exchange system‐based diet in established type 2 diabetes patients. Materials and Methods: This was a 12‐week, open‐label randomized clinical trial carried out among 60 Korean adults with type 2 diabetes having a median body mass index of 23.5 kg/m2. Glycemic benefits in the investigational diet (group A) were compared with those obtained with a food exchange system‐based diet, either in the form of ready meals provided to participants (group B) or not (group C). The primary end‐point was changes in glycated hemoglobin from baseline to week 12. Results: Changes in glycated hemoglobin (%) from baseline to week 12 were −0.97 ± 0.97 in group A (vs group B, P = 0.085 in the full analysis set, and P = 0.028 in the per‐protocol set; vs group C, P = 0.030 in the full analysis set and P = 0.020 in the per‐protocol set), −0.51 ± 0.65 in group B (vs group C, P > 0.05 in the full analysis set and the per‐protocol set), and −0.36 ± 0.74 in group C. Decreases from baseline in body mass index, waist circumference and blood pressure were greater in group A than in group C. Conclusion: With the provision of ready meals, the glycemic benefits of the investigational diet plan were demonstrable over a self‐prepared food exchange system‐based diet in Korean adults with established type 2 diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment outcomes using the standard regimen (a macrolide, ethambutol, and rifampicin) for Mycobacterium avium complex-pulmonary disease (MAC-PD) remain unsatisfactory. Thus, improved treatment regimens for MAC-PD are required. Clofazimine has recently been revisited as an effective drug against mycobacterial infection. We performed a comparison between the standard regimen and an alternative regimen (replacing the rifampicin of the standard regimen with clofazimine) based on the intracellular anti-MAC activities of the individual drugs in a murine model of chronic progressive MAC-pulmonary infection (MAC-PI). The intracellular anti-MAC activities of the individual drugs and their combinations in murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) were determined. The treatment efficacies of the standard and clofazimine-containing regimens were evaluated in mice chronically infected with M. avium by initiating 2- and 4-week treatment at 8 weeks post-infection. Bacterial loads in the lung, spleen, and liver were assessed along with lung inflammation. Insufficient intracellular anti-MAC activity of rifampicin in BMDMs was recorded despite its low in vitro minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs), whereas optimal intracellular killing activity against all tested MAC strains was achieved with clofazimine. Compared to the standard regimen, the clofazimine-containing regimen significantly reduced CFUs in all organs and achieved marked reductions in lung inflammation. The replacement of rifampicin with clofazimine in the treatment regimen resulted in more favorable outcomes in an animal model of chronic progressive MAC-PI. Intriguingly, 2 weeks of treatment with the clofazimine-containing regimen reduced bacterial loads more effectively than 4 weeks of treatment with the standard regimen in M. avium -infected mice. Thus, the clofazimine-containing regimen also had a treatment-shortening effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a nanoplasmonic approach of wearable biochip platform, understanding correlation between near‐field enhancement on nanostructures and sensing capability is a crucial step to improve the sensitivity in biosensing. A novel and effective method is demonstrated to increase sensitivity with the enhanced electric fields and to reduce noise with targeted functionalization enabled by transferring side edge prefunctionalized (SEPF) nanostructure arrays onto flexible substrates. Nanostructure sidewalls have selective biochemically functional terminals for the hybridization of microRNAs (miRNAs) and the immobilization of resonant nanoparticles, thus forming hetero assemblies of the nanostructure and the nanoparticles. The unique configuration has shown ultrasensitive biosensing of miRNA‐21 in a 10 × 10−15 m level by a red‐shift in scattering spectra induced by a plasmon coupling. This ultrasensitive SEPF nanostructure arrays are fabricated on a flexible substrate using a contact transfer printing with a release layer of trichloro(1H, 1H, 2H, 2H‐perfluorooctyl)silane. The introduction of the release layer at a prefunctionalizing step has proven to provide selective functionalization only on the sidewalls of the nanostructures. This reduces a background noise caused by the scattering from nonspecifically bound nanoparticles on the substrate, thus enabling reliable and precise detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In a cohort study involving 393 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer, we incorporated the TERT mutational status into AJCC TNM staging 8th edition (TNM-8), proposing a new prognostic system, termed TNM-8T. We demonstrated that the new prognostic system is superior to the existing TNM-8 staging system and its contents are not very complicated. This study is the first to present a new model that combines the mutational profile with the AJCC TNM stage to improve the predictability of cancer-specific survival with long-term follow-up. The role of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutations as an independent poor prognostic factor in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients is well known, but there is no prognostic system that combines the TERT promoter mutation status with tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage to predict cancer-specific survival (CSS). A total of 393 patients with pathologically confirmed DTC after thyroidectomy were enrolled. After incorporating wild-type TERT and mutant TERT with stages I, II, and III/IV of the AJCC TNM system 8th edition (TNM-8), we generated six combinations and calculated 10-year and 15-year CSS and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for cancer-related death using Cox regression. Then, a new mortality prediction model termed TNM-8T was derived based on the CSS and HR of each combination in the four groups. Of the 393 patients, there were 27 (6.9%) thyroid cancer-related deaths during a median follow-up of 14 years. Patients with a more advanced stage had a lower survival rate (10-year CSS for TNM-8T stage 1, 2, 3, and 4: 98.7%, 93.5%, 77.3%, and 63.0%, respectively; p < 0.001). TNM-8T showed a better spread of CSS (p < 0.001) than TNM-8 (p = 0.002) in the adjusted survival curves. The C-index for mortality risk predictability was 0.880 (95% CI, 0.665–0.957) in TNM-8T and 0.827 (95% CI, 0.622–0.930) in TNM-8 (p < 0.001). TNM-8T, a new prognostic system that incorporates the TERT mutational status into TNM-8, showed superior predictability to TNM-8 in the long-term survival of DTC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Systemic hematologic markers such as the neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) are attracting attention in a simple blood test predicting survival and treatment outcomes in various solid cancers. In our study including 40 patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) who underwent radiotherapy, we found that high NLR before and after radiotherapy was associated with poor survival. This study result means that host immunity has an important role in patients with ATC, which can be important information for designing future investigations on the impact of immune system modulating therapy in ATC. The neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a marker of systemic inflammation, and its elevation has recently been associated with poor survival in many solid cancers. Leukocyte elevation and lymphocyte reduction are associated with a poor response to radiotherapy (RT). This study aimed to assess the prognostic value of NLR before and after RT for anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC). This retrospective study analyzed 40 patients with ATC who received RT with available complete blood cell count data from November 1995 through May 2020 at Samsung Medical Center (Seoul, Korea). Patients were classified into two groups according to the NLR before and after RT. The median overall survival (OS) was 8.9 months (range, 3.5–18.2) in the low NLR group (<3.47) and 5.2 months (range, 2.7–7.5) months in the high NLR group (≥3.47). The association between NLR and OS was also observed in multivariable Cox regression analysis (hazard ratio, 3.18; 95% confidence interval, 1.15–8.85; p = 0.026). The OS curves differed significantly according to post-RT NLR (p = 0.036). A high NLR before and after RT may be significantly associated with poor OS in patients with ATC who receive RT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to detect microRNAs (miRNAs), we developed a colorimetric sensing method on the basis of the plasmonic coupling effect. Gold nanoplasmonic particles (GNPs) are assembled in a core–satellite configuration in the presence of target miRNA, inducing remarkable changes in the scattering color and spectra at the picomolar level with selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]