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This systematic review with a meta-regression was conducted to determine the risk of depression after mastectomy compared to breast reconstruction among women with breast cancer 1 year after surgery. A literature search was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines using 4 databases: Medline (Ovid), Embase, Cinahl, and the Cochrane Library for the period January 2000 to March 2019. Studies that measured the status of depression within 1 year and immediately after surgery were included. Outcomes related to depression were analyzed by using a pool of event rates and a risk ratio of 95% confidence interval (CI), P value, and a fitting model based on the results of a heterogeneity test of mastectomy and BR. The statistical analysis was conducted using Comprehensive Meta-analysis 3.0 software. Nine studies met the inclusion criteria. There were 865 cases of mastectomy only, with a 22.2% risk of depression (95% CI, 12.4-36.2). In 869 women who underwent BR, the risk of depression was 15.7% (95% CI, 8.8-26.2). The depression risk ratio for mastectomy compared to BR was 1.36 (95% CI, 1.11-1.65). Patients with delayed reconstruction exhibited lower levels of depression (risk ratio 0.96, 95% CI 0.57-1.01). The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scale showed high sensitivity, and the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) with a cutoff of > 7 could measure even low to moderate depressive symptoms. One in 4 women with breast cancer had symptoms of depression after mastectomy; both surgeries were associated with depression in women 1 year after surgery. Our results will permit the development of proactive treatment plans before and after surgery to mitigate risk and prevent depression through the use of sensitive depression scales like BDI.

OBJECTIVES Osimertinib is the main treatment choice for pretreated patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harbouring epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) T790M mutations. However, the choice of subsequent therapy when progressive disease has developed after osimertinib treatment remains a major therapeutic challenge. This study evaluated the efficacy of osimertinib-based combination therapies in patients who developed progressive disease after treatment with osimertinib. MATERIAL AND METHODS We enrolled NSCLC patients harbouring T790M mutations pretreated with first- or second-generation EGFR tyrosine-kinase inhibitors and were receiving osimertinib at two tertiary referral centres between August 2015 and July 2019, and the subsequent treatment efficacy was assessed. RESULTS Osimertinib-based combination therapy yielded better overall survival (OS) than chemotherapy alone (not achieved vs. 7.8 months; hazard ratio, 0.39; 95 % confidence interval 0.17-0.89; P = 0.025) according to the Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for possible confounders. Synergism (combination index

The multi-stages and narrow processing time window of injection molding process cause its complexity and difficulty for process control and product quality pledge. To explore these physical phenomena of molten polymer at nozzle location during the injection molding process, a T-shape extension nozzle for connecting the barrel and mold was designed in this paper. This T-shape extension nozzle could be easily installed and aligning the injection mechanism in the limited space of fixed plate without further modifying the injection molding machine or mold, and provide the space for installing sensors. It would be a useful diagnosing tool for parameters setting, verification, and stages validation. Two integrated high temperature ultrasonic transducers (HTUTs) were fabricated on both sides of diagnosing zone of T-shape extension nozzle for process monitoring at elevated temperature real-time, non-intrusively and non-destructively. The HTUTs on extension nozzle could be widely applied for diagnosing most of the polymer materials. The progression of the injection molding process, including mold close, injection, packing, screw back, metering and plasticating stages at the nozzle location, was clearly observed by ultrasonic signals. Ultrasonic amplitude and velocity could not only indicate these steps of process, but also correlate to the various injection pressure and flowing state of molten polymer in this paper. Therefore, the designed extension nozzle with HTUTs would provide a novel solution for diagnosis of injection molding process at nozzle location to distinguish the multi-stages of process and detect flowing state of material.

We report that inducing elemental carbon overlayers on hematite electrodes is a universal case that can be achieved by electrodeposition with addition of a wide range of organic acid following by thermal treatment. The thickness of elemental carbon ovrelayers directly affects the photocurrent density of as-obtained samples, which can be adjusted by selection of organic acid and electrodeposition pH. An optimal carbon overlayer of approximately 2–5 nm enhanced a 10 times higher photocurrent density (2.0 mA/cm 2 at 0.4 V SCE ) in comparison with those without carbon overlayers. While carbon overlayers were effective in passivating surface states, a capacitor was formed at the hematite/carbon overlayer interface upon illumination for 90 min. Our results clearly demonstrated the characteristics of effective carbon overlayers include (i) passivating surface states to reduce the onset photocurrent potential, (ii) injecting additional charges to enhance the photocurrent plateau, and (iii) the durability to sustain a long period of sunlight illumination.

In this study, a modified T-shape extension nozzle (TsEN) with a high temperature (HT) ultrasonic transducer (UT) rod connected to its barrel and mold to carry out the injection molding (IM) process diagnosis is used. Two integrated HTUTs were fabricated on both sides of a rod for monitoring IM process at elevated temperatures real-time, non-intrusively as well as non-destructively. Two plastics, polypropylene (PP) and acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS), were employed to demonstrate the effects of various operation settings and materials on the molded sample quality. Based on the provided information, an innovative way of controlling the supply to structure process in regards to the plastic from the barrel into the nozzle, mold and the final product during the IM process is presented. Each phase of the process, including closing mold, injecting material, packing, and feeding material can be analyzed by an ultrasonic waveform during the various settings of the IM process of PP and ABS plastics. The various injection speeds of the PP and ABS plastics cause different deflection performance of the molded samples. This phenomenon can be observed by measuring the ultrasonic velocity at the beginning stage of molding. Therefore, a modified TsEN with an HTUT rod could provide a rigid structure and an innovative solution for how to run continual diagnosis during the IM process to verify the dynamics of process and analyze the flow rate and the state of the molten plastic to ensure better product quality.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNA molecules involved in the regulation of carcinogenesis. Tumor-derived miRNAs will be released into the circulation, and these miRNAs, also known as circulating miRNAs, have stable properties in plasma and serum. Thus miRNAs have been suggested as a potential biomarker for cancer diagnosis. The aim of this study was to develop a miRNA biochip platform. First, we used three types of reverse transcription (RT) primers; we constructed the miRNA-containing poly(A) tail and used RT primer oligo(dT) to make the complementary DNA (cDNA), and we also designed a linear-form RT primer and a stem-loop RT primer to synthesize cDNA. Second, we selected 11 candidate miRNAs related to colorectal cancer (CRC) from our previous studies and then designed the probes based on the sequence of the candidate miRNAs and constructed a miRNA biochip. miRNAs were extracted from CRC cell line SW620 and were detected by enzymatic biochip assay. According to the results, we found that this miRNA biochip can effectively detect the miRNAs by using a specific stem-loop RT primer to synthesize cDNA. In the future, we will design more oligonucleotides for miRNA detection and also evaluate the consistency between the results of the miRNA biochip and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Aim To develop tools for predicting diabetes development in middle-aged Chinese adults living in Taiwan. Methods This study made use of data from 24,899 non-diabetic adults aged ≥35 years who received health examination service from a private health check-up clinic during the period of 1994–1996 and had one or more examinations before December 31, 2006. The proportional hazard model and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve method were used respectively to construct the prediction equation and assess the model's performance. A point system is developed for the ease to calculate diabetes risk. Results Increased risk of diabetes development was associated with older age, lower education level, alcohol abstinence, abdominal obesity, elevated body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), triglycerides, and impaired fasting glucose. Model 1, incorporating personal socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics, BMI, and waist circumference (WC), had an area-under-curve (AUC) of 0.717. The AUC increased to 0.726 (model 2) when BP was introduced and to 0.823 (model 3) when both BP and clinical chemistry measures were added. The AUCs in the testing set for models 1, 2, and 3 were 0.688, 0.694, and 0.799 respectively. Conclusions These predictive equations of diabetic risk were easy to use by clinical professions and general subjects.

As chemotherapy causes severe and harmful drug reactions in most of the colorectal cancer patients, predictive biomarkers for treatment efficacy are needed for these patients. In the present study, we investigated the prevalence of single nucleotide polymorphisms related to genes associated with chemotherapeutic agents, 5-fluorouracil plus oxaliplatin or irinotecan, in 255 colorectal cancer patients in southern Taiwan. EGFR codon 497G>A, GSTP1 codon 105 A>G, XPD codon 751 A>C, DPD IVS14 + 1G>A, ERCC1 codon 118 C>T, and UTG1A1 3156 G>A were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and then sequenced. The prevalence of genotypes EGFR codon 497 A/A, GSTP1 codon 105 G/G, XPD codon 751 C/C, DPD IVS14 + 1 A/A, ERCC1 codon 118 T/T, and UGT1A1 3156 AA was 33.73%, 3.01%, 0.39%, 0%, 2.88%, and 1.18%, respectively. However, the correlation between the results of 5-fluorouracil plus oxaliplatin or irinotecan therapy and the frequencies of these single nucleotide polymorphisms needs further investigation.