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Objective. This study aimed to evaluate conjunctival vessels in patients with dry eye disease (DED) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods. This was a cross-sectional, observational clinical study. Twenty-three eyes of 18 patients with DED and 28 eyes of 23 healthy controls were included for examination in this study. The evaluation included the application of an Ocular Surface Disease Index Questionnaire, Schirmer Basic Secretion Test, and anterior OCTA targeting the temporal conjunctiva. AngioTool software was used to quantify the total vessel length and vessel density in the 3 × 3 mm temporal region of interest. Results. Blood vessel density measurements were compared across the OCTA systems. The total vessel length within the conjunctiva of the DED group (4799.34 ± 834.36) exceeded that of the control eye (3864.89 ± 1455.70) group (P < 0.05). However, the difference in vessel density between the two groups was not statistically significant. Conclusion. Measurement and analysis of conjunctival blood vessels using OCTA exhibited robust repeatability. In dry eyes, the total number of conjunctival blood vessels increased in accordance with disease severity. Hypoxia of conjunctival tissue may be an important cause of dry eye disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. This meta-analysis was performed to identify the prognostic value of SLNCR1 in multiple cancer types. Methods. Electronic databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Medline, BioMed Central, Springer, Science Direct, and China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI), were searched for relevant studies up to August 2021, and the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated to assess the relationship between SLNCR1 expression and overall survival (OS). Results. 12 studies with a total of 1155 patients with 9 different types of cancers were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled HR indicates that high SLNCR1 expression represented poorer prognosis of cancer (HR = 2.11, 95% CI: 1.59–2.80, I2 = 0%, P < 0.00001). Additionally, high SLNCR1 expression was correlated with TNM stage (odds ratio (OR): 1.72, 95% CI: 1.08–2.74, I2 = 62%, P = 0.02), lymph node metastasis (LNM) (OR:2.42, 95% CI: 1.61–3.64, I2 = 55%, P < 0.0001), and distant metastases (DM) (OR: 2.30, 95% CI: 1.50–3.55, I2 = 27%, P = 0.0002). However, no evidence was found for a relationship between SLNCR1 expression and clinical features such as tumor size (OR: 1.71, 95% CI: 0.93–3.14, I2 = 71%, P = 0.09), age (OR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.68–1.08, I2 = 0%, P = 0.19), or gender (OR: 1.07, 95% CI: 0.64–1.81, I2 = 55%, P = 0.79). Conclusion. Our findings found that high SLNCR1 expression was associated with poor OS, advanced tumor stage, tumor size, LNM, and DM in multiple cancers, indicating that SLNCR1 may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker for cancer patients in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Many randomized studies have shown that epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR-) tyrosine kinase inhibitors ( TKIs) are apparently advantageous over standard chemotherapy in non-small-cell lung cancer ( NSCLC) patients with EGFR active mutation in front-line treatment. But which subgroup of advanced NSCLC could benefit from EGFR- TKIs in the second-or third-line setting remains elusive. To explore predictive factors of advanced NSCLC patients with the unknown status of EGFR mutation treated by gefitinib in the second-or third-line setting, we used classification and regression tree ( CART) analysis to screen which patients would benefit more. Methods One hundred and fifty-five patients with advanced NSCLC previously unsuccessfully treated with platinum-based chemotherapy were included in this study. Patients received gefitinib as part of the Expanded Access Program of the China Charity Federation between 2 March 2005 and 11 May 2011. Multivariate analysis of progression-free survival ( PFS) was performed using CART analysis. This method uses recursive partitioning to assess the effect of specific variables on PFS, thereby ultimately generating groups of patients with similar clinical features on PFS. Results The median PFS in patients with NSCLC who were treated with gefitinib after prior chemotherapy was 16 months (95% confidence interval [ CI] 13.44-18.56). CART was performed with an initial split on adenocarcinoma differentiation, and four terminal subgroups were formed. The median PFS of the four subsets ranged from 12 to 42 months. Conclusions Adenocarcinoma differentiation, brain metastasis and prior thoracic radiotherapy are predictors of PFS in previously treated NSCLC patients. CART can be used to identify homogeneous patient populations in clinical practice and future clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the association between apolipoprotein E (APOE) polymorphism and metabolic syndrome (MetS) among Uyghur ethnic men in Xinjiang, China., Participants: A total of 482 patients with MetS and 510 healthy sex-matched and age-matched controls were recruited from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. The participants were subjected to routine physical and blood biochemical tests, and APOE genotyping was performed., Results: The APOE ε3/3 was the predominant type, with a frequency of 71.8%, while ε2/2 was less common than ε4/4 in Uyghur males. The frequencies of the APOE2, E3 and E4 alleles in Uyghur males were 8.5%, 80.0% and 11.5%, respectively. However, the distribution of APOE genotypes was significantly different between the MetS and control groups (p<0.001). In the MetS group, the frequencies of the ε2 and ε4 alleles and the frequencies of the ε2/2, ε2/3 and ε2/4 genotypes were significantly lower than those of the control group. Those individuals without the ε2 and ε4 alleles had higher MetS prevalence than the other gene carriers, and the ORs of these individuals developing MetS were 1.5 and 1.27 compared to the gene carriers. Triglyceride, serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were lower and serum high-density lipoprotein was higher in the ε2 carriers than the ε3 carriers, and the prevalence of MetS, central obesity, high blood pressure, hypercholesterolaemia and hypertriglyceridaemia was lower in the APOE2 group than in the APOE4 group. The risks of these individuals with ε4 allele carriers getting these changes were 1.327, 1.780, 1.888, 1.428 and 2.571 times greater than those of ε2 allele carriers., Conclusions: APOE4 is associated with many individual components of MetS, whereas APOE2 was associated with a reduced risk of MetS at the univariate level in Uyghur ethnic men., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/)