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Objective: To develop and validate a CT-based radiomics model to predict pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant immunotherapy plus chemoradiotherapy (NICRT) in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC)., Methods: A total of 105 patients with locally advanced ESCC receiving NICRT from February 2019 to December 2023 were enrolled. Patients were randomly divided into the training cohort and the test cohort at a 3:1 ratio. Enhanced CT scans were obtained before NICRT treatment. The 2D and 3D regions of interest were segmented, and features were extracted, followed by feature selection. Six algorithms were applied to construct the radiomics and clinical models. These models were evaluated by area under curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity, and their respective optimal algorithms were further compared., Results: Forty-eight patients (45.75%) achieved pCR after NICRT. The AUC values of three algorithms in 2D radiomics models were higher than those in the 3D radiomics model and clinical model. Among these, the 2D radiomics model based on eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) exhibited the best performance, with an AUC of 0.89 (95% CI, 0.81-0.97), accuracy of 0.85, sensitivity of 0.86, and specificity of 0.84 in the training cohort, and an AUC of 0.80 (95% CI, 0.64-0.97), accuracy of 0.77, sensitivity of 0.84, and specificity of 0.69 in the test cohort. Calibration curves also showed good agreement between predicted and actual response, and the decision curve analysis further confirmed its clinical applicability., Conclusion: The 2D radiomics model can effectively predict pCR to NICRT in locally advanced ESCC., Key Points: Question Can CT-based radiomics predict pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant immunotherapy plus chemoradiotherapy (NICRT) in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC)? Findings The model based on eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) performed best, with an AUC of 0.89 in the training and 0.80 in the test cohort. Clinical relevance This CT-based radiomics model exhibits promising performance for predicting pCR to NICRT in locally advanced ESCC, which may be valuable in personalized treatment plan optimization., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to European Society of Radiology.)

Objectives: Elderly-specific data for multimodal treatment of oesophageal cancer (EC) is lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of multimodal treatment in older EC patients and to compare the impact of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NCRT)., Methods: Patients diagnosed with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma who received NCT/NCRT were identified in the National Cancer Database (NCDB, 2004-2015). First, we compared baseline and post-treatment characteristics between younger (<70 years) and older patients (≥70 years). Logistic regression was used to investigate risk factors of postoperative mortality. Second, we evaluated the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on postoperative mortality and overall survival in the older cohort. Inverse probability of treatment weights and multivariable analyses were used to compensate for differences in baseline covariates., Results: We 1st compared outcomes of neoadjuvant therapy plus oesophagectomy in 14 778 eligible EC patients. The older group experienced higher rates of postoperative mortality at 30 days (5.8%) and 90 days (13.5%) compared to younger patients. Postoperative mortality was significantly related to the Charlson-Deyo score and treatment-related factors including neoadjuvant therapy type and minimally invasive technique. Second, among the 3141 older patients (with a median follow-up of 57.8 months and 2029 deaths), those receiving NCT obtained significantly lower postoperative mortality and improved overall survival compared with NCRT (inverse probability of treatment weights-adjusted P = 0.05; hazard ratio 0.85; 95% Cl 0.72-0.99)., Conclusions: Neoadjuvant therapy plus oesophagectomy carries increased short-term mortality risk in older EC patients. NCT in older EC patients showed lower postoperative mortality but no statistically significant differences in overall survival, with a point estimate favouring NCT compared to the NCRT group, making NCT a potential option for consideration in specific cases., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.)

Background: The long-term survival and perioperative outcomes of robotic-assisted lobectomy (RAL) and video-assisted lobectomy (VAL) in resectable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were found to be comparable in retrospective studies, but they have not been investigated in a randomized trial setting. We conducted the RVlob trial to investigate if RAL was non-inferior to VAL in patients with resectable NSCLC., Methods: In this single-center, open-label, and parallel-arm randomized controlled trial conducted in Ruijin Hospital (Shanghai, China) between May 2017 and May 2020, we randomly assigned patients with resectable NSCLC in a 1:1 ratio to receive either RAL or VAL. One of the primary endpoints was 3-year overall survival. Secondary endpoints included 3-year disease-free survival. The Kaplan-Meier approach was used to calculate overall survival and disease-free survival at 3 years. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03134534., Findings: A total of 320 patients were randomized to receive RAL (n = 157) or VAL (n = 163). The baseline characteristics of patients were well balanced between the two groups. After a median follow-up of 58.0 months, the 3-year overall survival was 94.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 91.0-98.3) in the RAL group and 91.5% (95% CI, 87.2-96.0) in the VAL group (hazard ratio [HR] for death, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.33-1.28; P  = 0.21); noninferiority of RAL was confirmed according to the predefined margin of -5% (absolute difference, 2.96%; a one-sided 90% CI, -1.39% to ∞; P  = 0.0029 for noninferiority). The 3-year disease-free survival was 88.7% (95% CI, 83.6-94.1) in the RAL group and 85.4% (95% CI, 80.0-91.2) in the VAL group (HR for disease recurrence or death, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.50-1.52; P  = 0.62)., Interpretation: This study is the first randomized trial to show that RAL resulted in non-inferior overall survival compared with VAL in patients with resectable NSCLC. Based on our results, RAL is an equally oncologically effective treatment and can be considered as an alternative to VAL for resectable NSCLC., Funding: National Natural Science Foundation of China (82072557), National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFC2500900), Shanghai Municipal Education Commission-Gaofeng Clinical Medicine Grant (20172005, the 2nd round of disbursement), program of Shanghai Academic Research Leader from Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (20XD1402300), Novel Interdisciplinary Research Project from Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (2022JC023), and Interdisciplinary Program of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (YG2023ZD04)., Competing Interests: All authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

Background: The presence of lymph node (LN) metastasis directly affects the treatment strategy for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been widely used in patients with advanced LUAD to identify targeted genes, while early detection of pathologic LN metastasis using NGS has not been assessed., Methods: Clinicopathologic features and molecular characteristics of 224 patients from Ruijin Hospital were analyzed to detect factors associated with LN metastases. Another 140 patients from Huashan Hospital were set as a test cohort., Results: Twenty-four out of 224 patients were found to have lymph node metastases (10.7%). Pathologic LN-positive tumors showed higher mutant allele tumor heterogeneity (p < 0.05), higher tumor mutation burden (p < 0.001), as well as more frequent KEAP1 (p = 0.001), STK11 (p = 0.004), KRAS (p = 0.007), CTNNB1 (p = 0.017), TP53, and ARID2 mutations (both p = 0.02); whereas low frequency of EGFR mutation (p = 0.005). A predictive nomogram involving male sex, solid tumor morphology, higher T stage, EGFR wild-type, and TP53, STK11, CDKN2A, KEAP1, ARID2, KRAS, SDHA, SPEN, CTNNB1, DICER1 mutations showed outstanding efficiency in both the training cohort (AUC = 0.819) and the test cohort (AUC = 0.780)., Conclusion: This study suggests that the integration of genomic profiling and clinical features identifies early-invasive LUAD patients at higher risk of LN metastasis. Improved identification of LN metastasis is beneficial for the optimization of the patient's therapy decisions., (© 2024 The Author(s). Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation is essential for airway management after thoracic surgery. Most current pulmonary rehabilitations are composed of 2-4-week exercises, which require significant consumption of medical resources and concerns about disease progression., Materials and Methods: This single-center, prospective, randomized controlled trial enrolled smoking patients with pulmonary masses or nodules suitable for lobectomy, aged 18-80, with smoking history (≥20 pack-years). Eligible patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio into two groups. Patients in the intervention group underwent perioperative breathing exercises based on positive pressure vibration expectoration and three-day preoperative lower limb endurance training. Patients in the control group received routine perioperative care. The primary outcome was in-hospital incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications. Secondary outcomes included postoperative hospital stay, total hospitalization cost, postoperative drainage time, drainage volume, semiquantitative cough strength score, pain score, Borg scale-assessed fatigue, and walking distance on postoperative days 1 and 2., Results: A total of 194 patients were included in the study with 94 in the intervention group and 100 in the control group. Our ultrashort pulmonary rehabilitation program potentially reduced pulmonary complications incidence (24.5% vs. 33.0%), but without statistical significance (P=0.190). No significant differences were found in other perioperative outcomes, except for postoperative semiquantitative cough strength score (3 [interquartile range, 3-3.75] vs. 3 [interquartile range, 2-3], P<0.001) and change in walking distance from postoperative days 1 to 2 (60 [interquartile range, 40-82.5] vs. 30 [interquartile range, 10-60], P=0.003)., Conclusion: There were no significant differences in postoperative complications and other hospitalizations, but our ultrashort rehabilitation program improved patients' semiquantitative cough strength score and walking distance, indicating potential for better outcomes. This treatment is a safe and effective means of airway management for thoracic surgery in the era of enhanced recovery. (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: XXX)., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Objective: This study aimed to develop and validate robust predictive models for patients with oesophageal cancer who achieved a pathological complete response (pCR) and those who did not (non-pCR) after neoadjuvant therapy and oesophagectomy., Design: Clinicopathological data of 6517 primary oesophageal cancer patients who underwent neoadjuvant therapy and oesophagectomy were obtained from the National Cancer Database for the training cohort. An independent cohort of 444 Chinese patients served as the validation set. Two distinct multivariable Cox models of overall survival (OS) were constructed for pCR and non-pCR patients, respectively, and were presented using web-based dynamic nomograms (graphical representation of predicted OS based on the clinical characteristics that a patient could input into the website). The calibration plot, concordance index and decision curve analysis were employed to assess calibration, discrimination and clinical usefulness of the predictive models., Results: In total, 13 and 15 variables were used to predict OS for pCR and non-pCR patients undergoing neoadjuvant therapy followed by oesophagectomy, respectively. Key predictors included demographic characteristics, pretreatment clinical stage, surgical approach, pathological information and postoperative treatments. The predictive models for pCR and non-pCR patients demonstrated good calibration and clinical utility, with acceptable discrimination that surpassed that of the current tumour, node, metastases staging system., Conclusions: The web-based dynamic nomograms for pCR (https://predict-survival.shinyapps.io/pCR-eso/) and non-pCR patients (https://predict-survival.shinyapps.io/non-pCR-eso/) developed in this study can facilitate the calculation of OS probability for individual patients undergoing neoadjuvant therapy and radical oesophagectomy, aiding clinicians and patients in making personalised treatment decisions., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

The molecular profiles and tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) of multiple primary lung cancers (MPLCs) presenting as concurrent lung adenocarcinoma (ADC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SQCC) remain unknown. We aimed to clarify these factors. We performed whole-exome sequencing (WES), RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq), and multiplex immunohistochemistry (mIHC) for five patients with concurrent ADC and SQCC. We found the genetic mutations were similar between ADC and SQCC groups. RNA-Seq revealed that the gene expression and pathways enriched in ADC and SQCC groups were quite different. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSVA) showed that nine gene sets were significantly differentially expressed between the ADC and SQCC groups (p < 0.05), with four gene sets relevant to squamous cell features upregulated in the SQCC group and five gene sets upregulated in the ADC group. Reactome enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes showed that the immune function-related pathways, including programmed cell death, innate immune system, interleukin-12 family signaling, and toll-like receptor 2/4 pathways, etc. were significantly enriched. Transcriptomic TIME analysis, with mIHC in patient specimens and in vivo validation, showed tumor-infiltrating immune cells were significantly more enriched and diverse in ADC, especially CD8 + T cells. Our results revealed that the transcriptomic profiles and TIME features were quite different between ADC and SQCC lesions. ADC lesions exhibited a more active TIME than SQCC lesions in MPLCs., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objectives: To give a comprehensive review of the literature comparing perioperative outcomes and long-term survival with robotic-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy (RAMIE) versus minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) for esophageal cancer., Background: Curative minimally invasive surgical treatment for esophageal cancer includes RAMIE and conventional MIE. It remains controversial whether RAMIE is comparable to MIE., Methods: This review was registered at the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42021260963). A systematic search of databases was conducted. Perioperative outcomes and long-term survival were analyzed and subgroup analysis was conducted. Cumulative meta-analysis was performed to track therapeutic effectiveness., Results: Eighteen studies were included and a total of 2932 patients (92.88% squamous cell carcinoma, 29.83% neoadjuvant therapy, and 38.93% stage III-IV), 1418 underwent RAMIE and 1514 underwent MIE, were analyzed. The number of total lymph nodes (LNs) [23.35 (95% CI: 21.41-25.29) vs 21.98 (95% CI: 20.31-23.65); mean difference (MD) = 1.18; 95% CI: 0.06-2.30; P =0.04], abdominal LNs [9.05 (95% CI: 8.16-9.94) vs 7.75 (95% CI: 6.62-8.88); MD = 1.04; 95% CI: 0.19-1.89; P =0.02] and LNs along the left recurrent laryngeal nerve [1.74 (95% CI: 1.04-2.43) vs 1.34 (95% CI: 0.32-2.35); MD = 0.22; 95% CI: 0.09-0.35; P <0.001] were significantly higher in the RAMIE group. RAMIE is associated with a lower incidence of pneumonia [9.61% (95% CI: 7.38%-11.84%) vs 14.74% (95% CI: 11.62%-18.15%); odds ratio = 0.73; 95% CI: 0.58-0.93; P =0.01]. Meanwhile, other perioperative outcomes, such as operative time, blood loss, length of hospital stay, 30/90-day mortality, and R0 resection, showed no significant difference between the two groups. Regarding long-term survival, the 3-year overall survival was similar in the two groups, whereas patients undergoing RAMIE had a higher rate of 3-year disease-free survival compared with the MIE group [77.98% (95% CI: 72.77%-82.43%) vs 70.65% (95% CI: 63.87%-77.00%); odds ratio = 1.42; 95% CI: 1.11-1.83; P =0.006]. A cumulative meta-analysis conducted for each outcome demonstrated relatively stable effects in the two groups. Analyses of each subgroup showed similar overall outcomes., Conclusions: RAMIE is a safe and feasible alternative to MIE in the treatment of resectable esophageal cancer with comparable perioperative outcomes and seems to indicate a possible superiority in LNs dissection in the abdominal cavity, and LNs dissected along the left recurrent laryngeal nerve and 3-year disease-free survival in particular in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Further randomized studies are needed to better evaluate the long-term benefits of RAMIE compared with MIE., Competing Interests: J.L. is a robotic proctor for Intuitive Surgical, Inc. I.S.S. has received Honoria for consulting, speaking, and/or education from Intuitive Surgical, Cambridge Medical Robotics, Auris Medical, and Stryker. The remaining authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Robot-assisted lobectomy (RAL) is increasingly used as an alternative to video-assisted lobectomy (VAL) for resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, there is little evidence of any difference in postoperative health-related quality of life (HRQoL) between these two approaches., Research Question: Is RAL superior to VAL in improving quality of life in patients with resectable NSCLC?, Study Design and Methods: We performed a single-center, open-label randomized clinical trial from May 2017 to May 2020 with 320 enrolled patients undergoing RAL or VAL for resectable NSCLC (RVlob trial; NCT03134534). Postoperative pain was evaluated by visual analog score or numeric rating score on postoperative day 1 and at weeks 4, 24, and 48. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Core Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30), EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire in Lung Cancer (QLQ-LC13), and the European Quality of Life 5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire were also administered at weeks 4, 24, and 48 after surgery., Results: One hundred and fifty-seven patients underwent RAL and 163 underwent VAL. The mean pain score of patients after RAL was significantly lower at week 4 (2.097 ± 0.111 vs 2.431 ± 0.108; P = .032). QLQ-C30 and QLQ-LC13 summary scores (P > .05) were similar for both RAL and VAL during the first 48 weeks of follow-up. HRQoL scores assessed with the EQ-5D questionnaire were also comparable between the two groups (P > .05) during the whole study period., Interpretation: Both RAL and VAL showed satisfactory and comparable HRQoL and postoperative pain up to 48 weeks after surgery, despite some minor statistical differences at week 4., Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT03134534; URL: www., Clinicaltrials: gov., (Copyright © 2023 American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This study aimed to propose a revised ypN (r-ypN) classification based on lymph node ratio (LNR) and to examine its prognostic value in postneoadjuvant esophageal cancer., Background: A new postneoadjuvant pathologic (ypTNM) staging classification has been introduced for esophageal cancer. However, the ypN classification currently defined by the number of positive lymph nodes is influenced by the extent of lymphadenectomy., Methods: Data on 7195 esophageal cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiation were extracted from the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Four r-ypN stages were defined by 3 LNR thresholds (0%, 10%, and 20% using X-tile software). A revised ypTNM (r-ypTNM) classification was developed by solely changing N categories. Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards models were used for survival analyses. Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Harrell's concordance index ( C -index) were used to compare the predictive performance of the current and the revised classification. External validation was performed using an independent cohort from the NEOCRTEC5010 clinical trial., Results: Both ypN ( P <0.001) and r-ypN ( P <0.001) were independent prognostic factors of overall survival (OS) for esophageal cancer patients. Kaplan-Meier curves demonstrated a better discrimination with r-ypN than ypN categories. Within each ypN category (except ypN3), OS was significantly different comparing r-ypN strata; however, there were no differences between ypN strata within each r-ypN category (except r-ypN3). r-ypN (AIC: 60752 vs 60782; C -index: 0.591 vs 0.587) and r-ypTNM (AIC: 60623 vs 60628; C -index: 0.613 vs 0.610) showed better predictive performance than the current staging system, with a lower AIC (better calibration) and higher C -index (improved discrimination). This advantage was also confirmed by external validation using the NEOCRTEC5010 cohort., Conclusions: LNR showed better performance than ypN in predicting OS of esophageal cancer patients after neoadjuvant chemoradiation and may be an improvement on the current staging system., Competing Interests: J.L. is a robotic proctor for Intuitive Surgical Inc. The remaining authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

With the popularity of mobile Internet, audio and video (A/V) have become the main way for people to entertain and socialize daily. However, in order to reduce the cost of media storage and transmission, A/V signals will be compressed by service providers before they are transmitted to end-users, which inevitably causes distortions in the A/V signals and degrades the end-user's Quality of Experience (QoE). This motivates us to research the objective audio-visual quality assessment (AVQA). In the field of AVQA, most previous works only focus on single-mode audio or visual signals, which ignores that the perceptual quality of users depends on both audio and video signals. Therefore, we propose an objective AVQA architecture for multi-mode signals based on attentional neural networks. Specifically, we first utilize an attention prediction model to extract the salient regions of video frames. Then, a pre-trained convolutional neural network is used to extract short-time features of the salient regions and the corresponding audio signals. Next, the short-time features are fed into Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) networks to model the temporal relationship between adjacent frames. Finally, the fully connected layers are utilized to fuse the temporal related features of A/V signals modeled by the GRU network into the final quality score. The proposed architecture is flexible and can be applied to both full-reference and no-reference AVQA. Experimental results on the LIVE-SJTU Database and UnB-AVC Database demonstrate that our model outperforms the state-of-the-art AVQA methods. The code of the proposed method will be publicly available to promote the development of the field of AVQA.

Introduction: To test the utility of the "A/T/N" system in the Chinese population, we study core Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers in a newly established Chinese cohort., Methods: A total of 411 participants were selected, including 96 cognitively normal individuals, 94 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, 173 patients with AD, and 48 patients with non-AD dementia. Fluid biomarkers were measured with single molecule array. Amyloid beta (Aβ) deposition was determined by  18 F-Flobetapir positron emission tomography (PET), and brain atrophy was quantified using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)., Results: Aβ42/Aβ40 was decreased, whereas levels of phosphorylated tau (p-tau) were increased in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma from patients with AD. CSF Aβ42/Aβ40, CSF p-tau, and plasma p-tau showed a high concordance in discriminating between AD and non-AD dementia or elderly controls. A combination of plasma p-tau, apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype, and MRI measures accurately predicted amyloid PET status., Discussion: These results revealed a universal applicability of the "A/T/N" framework in a Chinese population and established an optimal diagnostic model consisting of cost-effective and non-invasive approaches for diagnosing AD., (© 2022 the Alzheimer's Association.)

Background: Blood-brain barrier (BBB) damage is considered an important part of Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression, and cerebral small-vessel disease (CSVD) is commonly associated with AD. However, the relationship between BBB damage, small cerebrovascular lesions, especially cerebral microbleeds (CMBs), and amyloid and tau biomarkers remains controversial. Therefore, our study aimed to further investigate their association in our cohort of patients with AD., Methods: A total of 139 individuals were divided into probable AD ( 18 F-florbetapir PET positive, n = 101) and control group (cognitively normal, n = 38). The levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma t-tau, p-tau181, Aβ40, Aβ42, and albumin were measured using corresponding commercial assay kits, and the CSF/plasma albumin ratio (Qalb), an indicator of BBB dysfunction, was calculated. CSVD burden and the number of CMBs were defined using magnetic resonance imaging., Results: Patients with AD had higher Qalb ( p = 0.0024), higher numbers of CMBs ( p = 0.03), and greater CSVD burden ( p < 0.0001). In the AD group, CMBs and CSVD correlated with a higher Qalb ( p = 0.03), and the numbers of CMBs negatively correlated with CSF Aβ42 ( p = 0.02)., Conclusion: Blood-brain barrier damage was accompanied by a more severe burden of CSVD, including CMB, in patients with AD., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Cheng, Dai, Wu, Cao, Chai, Wang, Liu, Ni, Gao, Wang and Lv.)

In recent years, User Generated Content (UGC) has grown dramatically in video sharing applications. It is necessary for service-providers to use video quality assessment (VQA) to monitor and control users' Quality of Experience when watching UGC videos. However, most existing UGC VQA studies only focus on the visual distortions of videos, ignoring that the perceptual quality also depends on the accompanying audio signals. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive study on UGC audio-visual quality assessment (AVQA) from both subjective and objective perspectives. Specially, we construct the first UGC AVQA database named SJTU-UAV database, which includes 520 in-the-wild UGC audio and video (A/V) sequences collected from the YFCC100m database. A subjective AVQA experiment is conducted on the database to obtain the mean opinion scores (MOSs) of the A/V sequences. To demonstrate the content diversity of the SJTU-UAV database, we give a detailed analysis of the SJTU-UAV database as well as other two synthetically-distorted AVQA databases and one authentically-distorted VQA database, from both the audio and video aspects. Then, to facilitate the development of AVQA fields, we construct a benchmark of AVQA models on the proposed SJTU-UAV database and other two AVQA databases, of which the benchmark models consist of AVQA models designed for synthetically distorted A/V sequences and AVQA models built through combining the popular VQA methods and audio features via support vector regressor (SVR). Finally, considering benchmark AVQA models perform poorly in assessing in-the-wild UGC videos, we further propose an effective AVQA model via jointly learning quality-aware audio and visual feature representations in the temporal domain, which is seldom investigated by existing AVQA models. Our proposed model outperforms the aforementioned benchmark AVQA models on the SJTU-UAV database and two synthetically distorted AVQA databases. The SJTU-UAV database and the code of the proposed model will be released to facilitate further research.

Gastrointestinal (GI) tumor is a serious disease with high mortality rates and morbidity rates worldwide. Chemotherapy is a key treatment for GI, however, systematic side effects and inevitable drug resistance complicate the situation. In the process of therapy, P-glycoprotein (P-gp) could remove chemotherapy drugs from cells, thus causing multi-drug resistance. Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) utilizing Fenton chemistry has been used for cancer therapy, along with various combination therapies. The reactive oxygen species produced by CDT could inhibit P-gp's efflux pump function, which reduce chemoagents excretion and reverse drug resistance. In the present study, we developed novel nanocrystals (Cu 2 O@Pt NCs) to overcome drug resistance by reducing mitochondria-derived ATP through chemo/CDT in GI cancer. Furthermore, in vivo results in tumor-bearing mice demonstrated that treatment with Cu 2 O@Pt NCs with CDT and chemotherapy could achieve the most effective antitumor therapeutic effect with the least amounts of adverse effects. As a result, Cu 2 O@Pt NCs could provide a promising strategy for chemo/CDT-synergistic therapy.

In the past 20 years, robotic system has gradually found a place in esophagectomy which is a demanding procedure in the deep and narrow thoracic cavity containing crucial functional structures. Ivor Lewis esophagectomy (ILE) is a mainstream surgery type for esophagectomy and is widely accepted for its capability in lymphadenectomy and relatively mitigated trauma. As a minimally invasive technique, robot-assisted Ivor Lewis esophagectomy (RAILE) has been frequently compared with the video-assisted procedure and the traditional open procedure. However, high-quality evidence elucidating the advantages and drawbacks of RAILE is still lacking. In this article, we will review the surgical techniques, both short and long-term outcomes, the learning curve, and explicate the current progress and clinical efficacy of RAILE., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2022 Shen, Zhang, Cao, Li and Li.)

Background: Neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by esophagectomy has been established as the first-line treatment for locally advanced esophageal cancer. Postoperative enteral nutrition has been widely used to improve perioperative outcomes. However, whether to implement preoperative nutritional intervention during neoadjuvant therapy is yet to be verified by prospective studies., Methods: POINT trial is a multicenter, open-labeled, randomized controlled trial. A total of 244 patients with surgically resectable esophageal cancer are randomly assigned to nutritional therapy group (arm A) or control group (arm B) with a 2:1 ratio. Both groups receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy with concurrent radiotherapy based on the CROSS regimen followed by minimally invasive esophagectomy. The primary endpoint is the rate of nutrition and immune-related complications after surgery. Secondary endpoints include completion rate of neoadjuvant chemoradiation and related adverse events, rate of pathological complete response, perioperative outcomes, nutritional status, overall survival, progression-free survival and quality of life., Discussion: This trial aims to verify whether immunonutrition during neoadjuvant chemoradiation can reduce the rate of complications and improve perioperative outcomes. Frequent communication and monitoring are essential for a multicenter investigator-initiated trial., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04513418. The trial was prospectively registered on 14 August 2020, https://www., Clinicaltrials: gov/ct2/show/NCT04513418 ., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Objective: The novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in a global health crisis since first case was identified in December 2019. As the pandemic continues to strain global public health systems, elective surgeries for thoracic cancer, such as early-stage lung cancer and esophageal cancer (EC), have been postponed due to a shortage of medical resources and the risk of nosocomial transmission. This review is aimed to discuss the influence of COVID-19 on thoracic surgical practice, prevention of nosocomial transmission during the pandemic, and propose modifications to the standard practices in the surgical management of different thoracic cancer., Methods: A literature search of PubMed, Medline, and Google Scholar was performed for articles focusing on COVID-19, early-stage lung cancer, and EC prior to 1 July 2021. The evidence from articles was combined with our data and experience., Results: We review the challenges in the management of different thoracic cancer from the perspectives of thoracic surgeons and propose rational strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of early-stage lung cancer and EC during the COVID-19 pandemic., Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the optimization of hospital systems and medical resources is to fight against COVID-19. Indolent early lung cancers, such as pure ground-glass nodules/opacities (GGOs), can be postponed with a lower risk of progression, while selective surgeries of more biologically aggressive tumors should be prioritized. As for EC, we recommend immediate or prioritized surgeries for patients with stage Ib or more advanced stage and patients after neoadjuvant therapy. Routine COVID-19 screening should be performed preoperatively before thoracic surgeries. Prevention of nosocomial transmission by providing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), such as N-95 respirator masks with eye protection to healthcare workers, is necessary., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhang, Han, Zhang, Dong, Cao, Chen and Li.)

Postoperative enteral nutrition has been widely implemented in esophageal cancer, but the efficacy and safety of preoperative nutrition, particularly immune-enhancing nutrition (IEN), remain controversial. This meta-analysis aims to provide a quantitative synthesis of whether preoperative nutrition improves postoperative morbidity and mortality in patients with resectable esophageal cancer. A systematic search was conducted in Medline, Embase, Cochrane, and databases of clinical trials dated up to December 2019. Randomized controlled trials and observational studies comparing postoperative outcomes between esophageal cancer patients with and without preoperative nutritional support were included. Random-effects model was applied in the meta-analysis of primary outcomes (overall complication rate, in-hospital mortality) and secondary outcomes (infectious complication rate, anastomotic leak rate, length of postoperative hospital stay). Complications of feeding tube access and perioperative weight loss were evaluated by qualitative synthesis. Subgroup analyses were performed by stratifying immunonutrition and standard nutrition before surgery. Subgroup analysis of randomized controlled trials alone was also done. A total of 15 studies enrolling 1864 participants were included. The overall meta-analysis found that preoperative nutrition could reduce infectious complications (odds ratio [OR] = 0.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.26, 0.98]; I2 = 48%) and length of hospital stay (mean difference = -2.10 day, 95% CI [-3.72, -0.47]; I2 = 78%) after esophagectomy, whereas no significant difference was revealed in the incidence of overall complications (OR = 0.76, 95% CI [0.52, 1.11]; I2 = 32%), in-hospital mortality (OR = 1.03, 95% CI [0.41, 2.61]; I2 = 12%), and anastomotic leak (OR = 1.05, 95% CI [0.69, 1.58]; I2 = 0%). Subgroup of preoperative immunonutrition showed more prominent benefits. The complication rate of feeding tube access was low (1.6-16%). In conclusion, preoperative nutrition is safe in esophageal cancer, but benefits are observed in infectious complication rate and length of stay on a limited scale. IEN holds more advantages over standard nutrition. Randomized trials in the context of nutritional support during neoadjuvant therapy are in demand., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Japanese Radiation Research Society and Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Objective: To determine whether RAL affects perioperative outcomes and long-term efficacy in NSCLC patients, compared with traditional VAL., Summary of Background Data: RAL is a promising treatment for NSCLC. However, its efficacy has not been fully evaluated., Methods: A single-center, open-labeled prospective randomized clinical trial was launched in May 2017 to compare the efficacy of RAL and VAL. By May 2020, 320 patients were enrolled. The perioperative results of RAL and VAL were compared., Results: The 320 enrolled patients were randomly assigned to the RAL group (n = 157) and the VAL group (n = 163). Perioperative outcomes were comparable between the 2 groups, including the length of hospital stay (P = 0.76) and the rate of postoperative complications (P = 0.45). No perioperative mortality occurred in either group. The total amount of chest tube drainage {830 mL [interquartile range (IQR), 550-1130 mL] vs 685 mL [IQR, 367.5-1160 mL], P = 0.007} and hospitalization costs [$12821 (IQR, $12145-$13924) vs $8009 (IQR, $7014-$9003), P < 0.001] were significantly higher in the RAL group. RAL group had a significantly higher number of LNs harvested [11 (IQR, 8-15) vs 10 (IQR, 8-13), P = 0.02], higher number of N1 LNs [6 (IQR, 4-8) vs 5 (IQR, 3-7), P = 0.005], and more LN stations examined [6 (IQR, 5-7) vs 5 (IQR, 4-6), P < 0.001]., Conclusions: Both RAL and VAL are safe and feasible for the treatment of NSCLC. RAL achieved similar perioperative outcomes, together with higher LN yield. Further follow-up investigations are required to evaluate the long-term efficacy of RAL. (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03134534)., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (UniVATS) has been widely adopted in China, where several ultra-high volume thoracic surgical and training centers are located. The objective of this consensus from Chinese experts was to summarize the current application and give reference for the future development of UniVATS in the treatment of lung cancer. A panel of 41 experts from 21 Chinese hospitals was invited to join this project. The Delphi method was used in this consensus consisting of two rounds of voting. The questionnaire was based on the current clinical evidence. Forty (97.6%) experts completed the 2 rounds of questionnaires. The experts' experience was relatively similar. We defined the UniVATS as monitor-dependent surgery, no use of rib-spreading and single incision less than 4 cm. Tumor with stage of T1-T3 and N0-N2 is considered amenable to UniVATS. Other consensus was reached on several points outlining the safety and feasibility, surgical skills, learning curve, short-term and long-term outcomes for lung cancer, and current application of subxiphoid and nonintubated UniVATS approach. This consensus statement represents a collective agreement among Chinese experts to suggest that UniVATS is an effective alternative to multi-portal approach, although high-level evidence is expected in the future. Some agreements can be referred in the training of young surgeons., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/tlcr-20-576). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2020 Translational Lung Cancer Research. All rights reserved.)

ADNP (Activity Dependent Neuroprotective Protein) is a neuroprotective protein whose aberrant expression has been frequently linked to neural developmental disorders, including the Helsmoortel-Van der Aa syndrome (also called the ADNP syndrome). However, its role in neural development and pathology remains unclear. Here, we show that ADNP is required for neural induction and differentiation by enhancing Wnt signaling. Mechanistically, ADNP functions to stabilize β-Catenin through binding to its armadillo domain which prevents its association with key components of the degradation complex: Axin and APC. Loss of ADNP promotes the formation of the degradation complex and β-Catenin degradation via ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, resulting in down-regulation of key neuroectoderm developmental genes. In addition, adnp gene disruption in zebrafish leads to defective neurogenesis and reduced Wnt signaling. Our work provides important insights into the role of ADNP in neural development and the pathology of the Helsmoortel-Van der Aa syndrome caused by ADNP gene mutation.

The feasibility of ammonia pre-separation during the thermal-alkaline pretreatment (TAP) of waste activated sludge was evaluated to mitigate ammonia inhibition during high solid anaerobic digestion (HSAD). The results showed that the TAP increased the organics hydrolysis rate as much as 77% compared to the thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP). The production and separation of the ammonia during the TAP exhibited a linear relationship with the hydrolysis of organics and the Emerson model. The pre-separation ratio of the free ammonia nitrogen exceeded 98.00% at a lime dosage exceeding 0.021 g CaO/g TS. However, the separation ratio of the total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) was hindered by its production ratio. Compared to the THP, the TAP increased the methane production rate under similar production yield. A mass flow analysis indicated that the TAP-HSAD process reduced the volume of the digester compared to the THP-HSAD process and the recirculated HSAD-TAP process recovered 45% of the nitrogen in the waste activated sludge., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The apxIC genes of the Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serovar 5 (SC-1), encoding the ApxIactivating proteins, was deleted by a method involving sucrose counter-selection. In this study, a mutant strain of A. pleuropneumoniae (SC-1) was constructed and named DapxIC/ ompP2. The mutant strain contained foreign DNA in the deletion site of ompP2 gene of Haemophilus parasuis. It showed no haemolytic activity and lower virulence of cytotoxicity in mice compared with the parent strain, and its safety and immunogenicity were also evaluated in mice. The LD50 data shown that the mutant strain was attenuated 30-fold, compared with the parent strain (LD50 of the mutant strain and parent strain in mice were determined to be 1.0 × 10(7) CFU and 3.5 × 10(5) CFU respectively). The mutant strain that was attenuated could secrete inactivated ApxIA RTX toxins with complete antigenicity and could be used as a candidate live vaccine strain against infections of A. pleuropneumoniae and H. parasuis.