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Objectives Optical Coherence Tomograph (OCT) imaging technology can be used to examine, in vivo, the human ET. At present, it is impossible to achieve the OCT scanning vivo and ex vivo in the same individual human body, or study the consistency between OCT images and histological images of the eustachian tube nasopharyngeal region and adjacent structures. The aim of this study was to determine the consistency between OCT images and histological sections in vivo and ex vivo in miniature pigs. Methods OCT imaging was performed on five adult miniature pigs in vivo and ex vivo. The images of the eustachian tube OCT (ET-OCT), nasopharynx OCT (NP-OCT) and histological cross sections were further studied. Results All five miniature pigs achieved the OCT scan successfully, acquiring ET-OCT and NP-OCT images in vivo and ex vivo on both sides. The acquired ET OCT images closely matched the histological images, revealing details of the cartilage, submucosa, glands, and mucosa. The lower segment of the ET wall mucosa had an abundance of glands and submucosal tissues, with more low-signal areas appearing in the ex vivo images. The NP-OCT images of the nasopharynx matched the details of the mucosa and submucosal tissues. The ex-vivo OCT images showed thicker mucosa and more scattered slightly lower signal areas compared to the vivo OCT images. Conclusions ET-OCT images and NP-OCT images matched the histological structure of eustachian tube nasopharyngeal region structures in miniature pigs both in vivo and ex vivo. OCT images may be sensitive to changes in edema and ischemia status. There is a great potential for morphological assessment of inflammation, edema, injure, mucus gland status.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) usually presents infrequent infiltration of T lymphocytes. The known immune-checkpoint inhibitors to date focus on activating T cells and manifest limited effectiveness in PDAC. SIGLEC15 was identified as a novel tumor-associated macrophage (TAM)-related immune-checkpoint in other cancer types, while its immunosuppressive role and clinical significance remained unclear in PDAC. In our study, SIGLEC15 presented immunosuppressive relevance in PDAC via bioinformatic analysis and expressed on TAM and PDAC cells. SIGLEC15

Polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferases (GalNAc-Ts), a group of isoenzymes that initiate mucin-type O-glycosylation, have been shown to mediate tumor growth and metastasis in various cancer types. However, data on the clinical significance and features of GalNAc-Ts remain scant. Here, we used Oncomine and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases to analyze the transcription and survival effect of GALNTs (N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase genes) in pan-cancer. The data showed that the GALNTs were aberrantly expressed in various human cancers and significantly associated with patients’ clinical outcomes. The expression of 13 GALNTs were correlated with prognosis in brain low grade glioma (LGG) patients. In addition, based on the expression profiles of GALNT family genes in TCGA-LGG dataset, we identified 2 molecular subtypes (cluster1/2) by consensus clustering and analyzed tumor heterogeneity. Our results demonstrated that cluster 2 group was associated with poor prognosis, CD8+ T cells, macrophages and DCs infiltration, up-regulated expression of immune checkpoints, and higher tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion score, indicating that GalNAc-Ts might contribute to tumor immune escape. Furthermore, we employed LASSO regression and time-dependent ROC analysis to construct a GALNTs-related prognostic signature with the TCGA-LGG dataset, and then validated the signature using 2 external cohorts. Taken together, our study successfully developed a novel prognostic biomarker for LGG and provides a basis for personalized immunotherapy in brain cancer.

Mental time travel (MTT) refers to the ability to project oneself into the past to re-experience past events or into the future to pre-experience future events. This ability plays an important role in daily life. MTT is severely impaired in patients with schizophrenia (SZ). Studies have shown that life review therapy (LRT, remembering the past) could improve MTT ability in SZ. However, whether training to imagine the future can improve MTT and whether the combined training to remember the past and imagine the future can improve MTT to a larger degree remain unknown. The present study aimed to examine these issues. Eighty patients with SZ were randomly assigned to the remembering training group (SZ-re-training), future imagining training group (SZ-im-training), combined remembering and future imagining training group (SZ-re-im-training), or control group (SZ-control). All SZ-training groups received 8 training sessions over four weeks. MTT ability, emotion, life satisfaction, cognitive functions and clinical symptoms were assessed before and after training. Twenty-one matched healthy controls were also recruited and completed the baseline assessment. The results showed that the specificity of MTT in all SZ-training groups was higher than that in the SZ-control group after training; there was no significant difference among the three training groups. The SZ-training group also showed significant improvement in clinical symptoms and other cognitive functions, such as verbal and visual memory, whereas the SZ-control group did not. These results suggest that all three training methods improved the MTT ability of SZ patients to a similar degree and support the constructive episodic simulation hypothesis. The trial registration number of this study is ChiCTR-INR-17014096 and the date of registration is Dec 22, 2017.

Although there has been increasing interest in aesthetical approaches for treating patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), there have been no studies comparing the safety and effectiveness of gasless endoscopic selective lateral neck dissection (SLND) via the anterior chest approach (ACA) with that of conventional open surgery (OPEN) for papillary thyroid carcinoma. A total of 91 patients with PTC who underwent either gasless endoscopic thyroidectomy, central compartment neck dissection and SLND via the ACA or conventional open surgery between Nov. 2008 to Dec. 2018 were included. Primary outcomes and demographic data were compared between the two groups. Thirty-one patients were in the ACA group and 60 were in the OPEN group. The ACA group was younger and had a longer operative time but less intraoperative hemorrhage (P

This study aims to evaluate the association between autoimmune thyroiditis and Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSNHL).Hundred and five patients with SSNHL were enrolled. Audiometric tests, serum thyroid autoantibodies (TPOAb, TgAb) were studied. Based on the thyroid autoantibody results, patients were divided into two groups: thyroid autoantibody-positive and negative. The relationship between thyroid autoimmunity and audiological characteristics was analyzed.Twenty-six patients (24.8%) of the SSNHL had thyroid autoantibody elevated. The pure tone average (PTA) of patients with and without thyroid autoantibody is 60 ± 38.51 and 54.99 ± 33.87 dBHL, respectively. The PTA was significantly improved in both groups after treatment (We speculate that a potential association between thyroid autoimmunity and SSNHL. Thyroid autoimmunity may be a pathogenesis factor of SSNHL and associated with more severe hearing loss of high-frequency hearing.

N 6‐methyladenosine (m6A) modification of mRNA mediates diverse cellular and viral functions. Infection with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) is causally associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), 10% of gastric carcinoma, and various B‐cell lymphomas, in which the viral latent and lytic phases both play vital roles. Here, we show that EBV transcripts exhibit differential m6A modification in human NPC biopsies, patient‐derived xenograft tissues, and cells at different EBV infection stages. m6A‐modified EBV transcripts are recognized and destabilized by the YTHDF1 protein, which leads to the m6A‐dependent suppression of EBV infection and replication. Mechanistically, YTHDF1 hastens viral RNA decapping and mediates RNA decay by recruiting RNA degradation complexes, including ZAP, DDX17, and DCP2, thereby post‐transcriptionally downregulating the expression of EBV genes. Taken together, our results reveal the critical roles of m6A modifications and their reader YTHDF1 in EBV replication. These findings contribute novel targets for the treatment of EBV‐associated cancers., The m6A reader YTHDF1 promotes viral RNA degradation by recruiting RNA decay complexes, including ZAP, DDX17, and DCP2. YTHDF1 suppresses EBV lytic replication to regulate EBV infection status.

BACKGROUND The prognostic factors related to lymph node involvement [lymph node status, the number of positive lymph nodes, lymph node ratio (LNR)] and the number of nodes evaluated in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma after pancreatectomy are poorly defined. METHODS A total of 167 patients who had undergone resection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma from February 2010 to August 2011 were included in this study. Histological examination was performed to evaluate the tumor differentiation and lymph node involvement. Univariate and multivariate analyses were made to determine the relationship between the variables related to nodal involvement and the number of nodes and survival. RESULTS The median number of total nodes examined was 10 (range 0-44) for the entire cohort. The median number of total nodes examined in node-negative (pN0) patients was similar to that in node-positive (pN1) patients. Patients with pN1 diseases had significantly worse survival than those with pN0 ones ( P =0.000). Patients with three or more positive nodes had a poorer prognosis compared with those with the negative nodes ( P =0.000). The prognosis of the patients with negative nodes was similar to that of those with one to two positive nodes ( P =0.114). The median survival of patients with an LNR ≥0.4 was shorter than that of patients with an LNR P =0.014). No significance was found between the number of total nodes examined and the prognosis, regardless of the cutoff of 10 or 12 and in the entire cohort or the pN0 and pN1 groups. Based on the multivariate analysis of the entire cohort and the pN1 group, the nodal status, the number of positive nodes and the LNR were all associated with survival. CONCLUSIONS In addition to the nodal status, the number of positive nodes and the LNR can serve as comprehensive factors for the evaluation of nodal involvement. This approach may be more effective for predicting the survival of patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma after pancreatectomy. ( Hepatobiliary Pancreat Dis Int 2014;13:634-641 )

A multi-center population-based study in Shanghai, China was performed to explore the implications for the management of pancreatic cancer by comparing diagnosis and survival rates. Novel imaging modalities including MRI (13.9%), PET/CT (1.8%), and EUS (5.6%) were not widely used in our population. Only 39.7% of cases were histologically verified (surgery with histologic diagnosis 31.0%, cytological diagnosis 8.7%, surgery without histologic diagnosis 12.1%, and clinical diagnosis 48.2%). Overall, 30.0% of patients underwent curative-intent operation, and only 9.8% of patients received comprehensive treatment. The prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients was significantly better for patients who were treated in high-volume centers than in low-volume centers. We propose that more effort should be put on novel diagnostic modalities, histological confirmation, and comprehensive treatment in China. Multidisciplinary teams specialized in pancreatic cancer therapy in high-volume centers are urgently needed.

The integration of regional economic whose rapid development increase the construction speed and scale of the port of economic zone is becoming the main trend of China's economic development. In addition, the development and construction of the port has also contributed to the long-term healthy development of the regional economy. This paper establishes a model to analyze the complex relationship between the port' construction and regional economic development. The paper selects seven ports in different area including ports of Shenzhen, Dalian and Shanghai etc. as objects to study, carrier capacity, operating data and the corresponding macroeconomic data in the region within 10 years of ports as a data source, and the cross-sectional data model to analyze raw data obtained. The research results show that the port capacities will impact regional economic development and regional economic development will affect the speed and scale of the construction of the ports. But the interaction effect of ports' construction conditions and regional economic development speed have time lag, and the growth rate of port building scale are more than the expected level of regional economic development result in excess capacity of part of the ports.

Introduction Although anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is rare, it is one of the most aggressive human cancers. The optimal multimodal therapy policy of ATC is still debated, and a standardized treatment strategy remains to be established. This study aimed to evaluate the management aspect and prognosis of ATC. Materials and Methods The data were analyzed retrospectively for 50 patients with ATC to evaluate the clinical characters, management and factors influencing survival. Survival analysis was performed by Kaplan-Merier method and log-rank test, and multivariate analysis was performed using Cox proportional hazard model. Results The 1-year and 2-year overall survival rates (OS) were 48.0% and 26.0% respectively in all patients, with the 2-year OS of 40.0% and 31.0% and 6.3% for stage IVA, IVB and IVC respectively (P