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Gastric cancer (GC), characterized by its inconspicuous initial symptoms and rapid invasiveness, presents a formidable challenge. Overlooking postoperative intervention opportunities may result in the dissemination of tumors to adjacent areas and distant organs, thereby substantially diminishing prospects for patient survival. Consequently, the prompt recognition and management of GC postoperative recurrence emerge as a matter of paramount urgency to mitigate the deleterious implications of the ailment. This study proposes an enhanced feature selection model, bRSPSO-FKNN, integrating boosted particle swarm optimization (RSPSO) with fuzzy k-nearest neighbor (FKNN), for predicting GC. It incorporates the Runge-Kutta search, for improved model accuracy, and Gaussian sampling, enhancing the search performance and helping to avoid locally optimal solutions. It outperforms the sophisticated variants of particle swarm optimization when evaluated in the CEC 2014 test suite. Furthermore, the bRSPSO-FKNN feature selection model was introduced for GC recurrence prediction analysis, achieving up to 82.082 % and 86.185 % accuracy and specificity, respectively. In summation, this model attains a notable level of precision, poised to ameliorate the early warning system for GC recurrence and, in turn, advance therapeutic options for afflicted patients., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: The aspartate aminotransferase to alanine aminotransferase (AST/ALT) ratio, an indicator for liver fibrosis, could be easily detected in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to examine the association between the AST/ALT ratio and skeletal muscle mass among Chinese community adult residents., Methods: We enrolled 2644 participants, age ≥18 y, undergoing bioelectrical impedance analysis and liver function test. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyze the effect of the AST/ALT ratio on the presence of low muscle mass (LMM). Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the factors associated with the skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) and to construct a formula to calculate the SMI., Results: When the AST/ALT ratio was regarded as a categorical variable, AST/ALT quartiles 9-2.19) kept independent effects on the presence of LMM status. When it was regarded as a continuous variable, each unit of the AST/ALT ratio was significantly associated with a 49% (P < 0.01) augment of the prevalence of LMM. By multiple general linear regression analysis, the formula was constructed with an adjusted R 2 of 0.72: SMI (kg/m 2 ) = -0.14 AST/ALT ratio + 1.35 sex (male: 1; female: 0) + 0.72 overweight status (yes: 1; no: 0) - 0.14 age (≤65: 0; >65: 1) + 6.26., Conclusion: In general, the high AST/ALT ratio was an independent adverse indicator of the presence of LMM., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Changes in human lifestyles have led to a dramatic increase in the incidence of Crohn's disease worldwide. Predicting the activity and remission of Crohn's disease has become an urgent research problem. In addition, the influence of each attribute in the test sample on the prediction results and the interpretability of the model still deserves further investigation. Therefore, in this paper, we proposed a wrapper feature selection classification model based on a combination of the improved ant colony optimization algorithm and the kernel extreme learning machine, called bIACOR-KELM-FS. IACOR introduces an evasive strategy and astrophysics strategy to balance the exploration and exploitation phases of the algorithm and enhance its optimization capabilities. The optimization capability of the proposed IACOR was validated on the IEEE CEC2017 benchmark test function. And the prediction was performed on Crohn's disease dataset. The results of the quantitative analysis showed that the prediction accuracy of bIACOR-KELM-FS for predicting the activity and remission of Crohn's disease reached 98.98%. The analysis of important attributes improved the interpretability of the model and provided a reference for the diagnosis of Crohn's disease. Therefore, the proposed model is considered a promising adjunctive diagnostic method for Crohn's disease., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To discover the value of contrast-enhanced CT parameters in predicting the prognosis of gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) patients after radical gastrectomy., Methods: The patients with a clinical diagnosis of GAC were retrospectively enrolled. Two radiologists drew the regions of interest (ROIs) in CT images and measured the CT attenuate value (CAV) in each phase and the corrected CAV (cCAV) in each contrast-enhanced phase. Patients were divided into two groups (high/low-enhancement) according to receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis were performed to evaluate correlation between prognosis and variables. Subgroup analysis was used to further analyze the prognostic value of variables., Results: In total 435 patients were included. According to ROC curve, the cCAV in delayed phase (DP-cCAV) with maximum AUC and Youden index was chosen. A total of 312 patients (71.7%) entered DP-cCAV low group and remaining 123 (28.3%) patients were in DP-cCAV high group. According to univariate (high vs low, HR=2.120, p <0.001) and multivariate (high vs low, HR=1.623, p <0.001) Cox regression analysis, the low-enhancement state was considered as an independent protective factor. Subgroup analysis was based on age, maximum diameter of tumor, differentiation, vascular invasion status, and TNM staging. In most subgroups, the overall survival (OS) of DP-cCAV low group was overwhelmingly satisfactory (all HR >1, expect TNM stage I, IV and differentiated type subgroups)., Conclusion: The prognostic effectiveness of CT parameters as biomarkers for OS in GAC patients treated with radical gastrectomy has potential value., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2020 Wang et al.)

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the role of contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT) parameters in predicting the expression status of HER2 in gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) patients before radical gastrectomy., Materials and Methods: A total of 460 GAC patients who underwent non-contrast CT (NC-CT) and CE-CT examinations before radical resection were enrolled in this retrospective study. The radiologists reviewed their CT scans and recorded parameters, including CT attenuate value (CAV) and corrected CAV (cCAV). The pathologist identified the postoperative HER2 expression status, and HER2 expression status was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining (IHC). The association between CE-CT parameters and HER2 expression status was analyzed., Results: Among the 460 patients, 84 patients had HER2 over-expression status, at a prevalence of 18.3%. The CAVs were significantly different between the 2 different HER2 expression groups in the non-contrast and arterial phases (non-contrast phase: p = 0.005; arterial phase: p < 0.001). Besides, there was a significant difference in the cCAVs between the 2 groups in the arterial phase (arterial phase: p = 0.003). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses identified that the maximum diameter of tumor, differentiation degree, CAV in non-contrast, arterial, and portal phases, and cCAV in the arterial phase were predictive factors of HER2 expression status., Conclusion: Our analyses showed that the CE-CT parameters were significantly different between different HER2 expression groups. CE-CT parameters could serve as simple, objective predictive factors of HER2 expression status of GAC patients., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2020 Wang et al.)

Background/aims: Epithelial cells line the intestinal mucosa and form an important barrier for maintaining host health. This study aimed to explore the mechanism of the Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P)/Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 2 (S1PR2) pathway in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) that participate in the intestinal barrier function., Methods: In this study, we constructed a knockout of the S1PR2 gene in mice, and Dextra sulfate sodium (DSS) was used to induce colitis. We isolated IECs from wild type (WT) and S1PR2-/- mice, and the endogenous expression of S1PR2 and Zonula occludens 1 (ZO-1) in IEC were detected by Western blot. Next, the major histocompatibility complex II (MHC-II) expression was analyzed by reverse transcription quantitative real-time (RT-qPCR) and flow cytometry. The in vivo and in vitro intestinal permeability were evaluated by serum fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) concentration. The tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) levels in cell suspension were analyzed by enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA). A carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) assay was used to detect the T-cell proliferation in a co-culture system., Results: The intestinal mucosal barrier damage in S1PR2-/- mice was more severe than in the WT mice, and there were more CD4+T-cells in the colon tissue of DSS-treated S1PR2-/- mice. Either the mouse colon carcinoma cell line (CT26. WT) or the IECs upregulated MHC-II expression, which then promoted CD4+T-cell proliferation. The S1P/S1PR2 pathway controlled MHC-II expression to regulate CD4+T-cell proliferation via the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway. In addition, the IFN-γ that was secreted by CD4+T-cells increased DSS-induced damage of intestinal epithelial cell barrier function. ZO-1 expression was increased by S1P in CT26.WT cells, while S1PR2 antagonist JTE-013 expression was downregulated. However, in CT26.WTsi-S1PR2 cells, S1P had no effect on ZO-1 expression., Conclusions: The S1P/S1PR2 axis in IECs mediated CD4+T-cell activation via the ERK pathway and MHC-II expression to regulate intestinal barrier function., (© 2018 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.)

We sought to systematically evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of miR-203 in patients with colorectal cancer. To explore the diagnostic performance of miR-203, eligible studies were identified from biomedical databases. Based on these results, 11 studies were pooled and included in this meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratios of miR-203 were 0.83 (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.78-0.86), 0.80 (95% CI: 0.77-0.83), and 19.27 (95% CI: 7.23-51.36) for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer. The area under the curve for miR-203 for diagnosing colorectal cancer was 0.89. Patients with higher expression of tissue miR-203 had poor overall survival (pooled hazard ratio: 1.63; 95% CI: 1.03-2.57, P =0.04), but serum miR-203 was not predictive (pooled hazard ratio: 1.59; 95% CI: 0.31-8.12, P =0.58). The miR-203 values of tissue and serum merged together may perhaps predict superior overall survival (pooled hazard ratio: 1.62; 95% CI: 0.93-2.82), but the effect was not significant ( P =0.09)., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Dual-specificity phosphatase 9 (DUSP9) is a strong negative regulator of transcription factor activating kinases (ERK, JNK and p38) in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. The aim of this study was to examine the CpG island methylation status of DUSP9 using bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP) in gastric cancer (GC). The investigation was conducted on 30 clinical GC samples and selected corresponding tumor-free normal gastric mucosa tissues, using BSP for the determination of the promoter methylation status. The methylation status of the tumor samples was compared to the corresponding tumor-free samples. DUSP9 was silenced by promoter region hypermethylation and G2/M phase arrest was induced by DUSP9 in the MKN-1 GC cell line. MKN-1 proliferation was suppressed by DUSP9 by inhibiting c-Jun, which was induced by JNK signaling. The expression levels of CCND1, c-Jun, CDK4 and CDK6 were upregulated while p21 was downregulated by DUSP9 in MKN-1 cells. However, DUSP9-induced resulted in the regulation of the levels of cycle-related molecules, whivh were inhibited when the JNK inhibitor SP600125 was added. In conclusion, DUSP9 was frequently methylated in human GC and the expression of DUSP9 is silenced by promoter region hypermethylation. The results of this study, combined with previous studies, suggested that therapeutic intervention to increase the expression or activity of DUSP9 may enable the activation of anti-proliferation signals in malignant cells.

The frequent haze episodes in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) of China have been of great public concern due to the high risks to human health. Therefore, a better understanding of the sources and characteristics of particulate matters (PM) and associated elements is crucial and urgent for haze controlling. In this study, air particulates were collected from six different functional areas in a megacity of the YRD, China in early winter of 2012. Highly time- and size-resolved analysis of PM-elements was conducted to trace their sources. Our results showed that the main donors to particulate elements were crustal dust, followed by traffic and industrial influences due to the mixed residential, commercial and industrial zones at most sites. Anthropogenesis contributed more to the sources of finer particles and associated elements than those of coarser ones. Besides the local emission sources, meteorological conditions also affected the distribution patterns of ambient elements. Furthermore, the risks of hazard metals in PM2.5 and PM1.0 to human health were estimated. The highest non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks were observed at urban living quarter (ULQ) and eco-industrial park (EIP), respectively. In addition, the general risks at rural living quarters (RLQ) were the lowest. Results from this study may provide valuable information for air pollution control and management in the YRD, China., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

An element-free Galerkin method (EFGM) is proposed to simulate the propagation of myocardial electrical activation without explicit mesh constraints using a monodomain model. In our framework the geometry of myocardium is first defined by a meshfree particle representation that is, a sufficient number of sample nodes without explicit connectivities are placed in and inside the surface of myocardium. Fiber orientations and other material properties of myocardium are then attached to sample nodes according to their geometrical locations, and over the meshfree particle representation spatial variation of these properties is approximated using the shape function of EFGM. After the monodomain equations are converted to their Galerkin weak form and solved using EFGM, the propagation of myocardial activation can be simulated over the meshfree particle representation. The derivation of this solution technique is presented along a series of numerical experiments and a solution of monodomain model using a FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) membrane model in a canine ventricular model and a human-heart model which is constructed from digitized virtual Chinese dataset.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is one of the most important applications in nuclear medicine and has become a powerful tool for scientific research. This paper is a symposium of the current status of image reconstruction for PET. The latest advances in the field of filtered-backprojection algorithm and expectation maximization algorithm are also introduced.