Search

Abstract Background This study aims to analyse changes in urinary kidney injury markers in children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP), investigate the risk factors for MPP-related acute kidney injury (AKI) and establish a model to predict MPP-related AKI. Methods Ninety-five children were enrolled based on the study’s inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were divided into a severe MPP (SMPP) group and a non-SMPP group and then into an AKI group and a non-AKI group according to the presence of AKI. A univariate logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the early risk factors for AKI. Based on a multivariate logistic regression analysis and a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression analysis, appropriate variables were selected to establish a prediction model, and R 4.2.2 software was used to draw nomograms and generate a dynamic nomogram website. Results Seven urinary kidney injury markers were abnormally elevated in the SMPP group and the non-SMPP group: urinary N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), β2-microglobulin, α1-microglobulin, retinol-binding protein, urinary immunoglobulin G, urinary transferrin and urinary microalbumin. Sixteen children were identified with AKI during hospitalisation. The AKI group had higher levels of urinary NAG, α1-microglobulin, β2-microglobulin, urinary microalbumin, urinary transferrin and retinol-binding protein than the non-AKI group (P

Abstract Background and aim The presence of microvascular invasion (MVI) will impair the surgical outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Adipose and muscle tissues have been confirmed to be associated with the prognosis of HCC. We aimed to develop and validate a nomogram based on adipose and muscle related-variables for preoperative prediction of MVI in HCC. Methods One hundred fifty-eight HCC patients from institution A (training cohort) and 53 HCC patients from institution B (validation cohort) were included, all of whom underwent preoperative CT scan and curative resection with confirmed pathological diagnoses. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) logistic regression was applied to data dimensionality reduction and screening. Nomogram was constructed based on the independent variables, and evaluated by external validation, calibration curve, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and decision curve analysis (DCA). Results Histopathologically identified MVI was found in 101 of 211 patients (47.9%). The preoperative imaging and clinical variables associated with MVI were visceral adipose tissue (VAT) density, intramuscular adipose tissue index (IMATI), skeletal muscle (SM) area, age, tumor size and cirrhosis. Incorporating these 6 factors, the nomogram achieved good concordance index of 0.79 (95%CI: 0.72–0.86) and 0.75 (95%CI: 0.62–0.89) in training and validation cohorts, respectively. In addition, calibration curve exhibited good consistency between predicted and actual MVI probabilities. ROC curve and DCA of the nomogram showed superior performance than that of models only depended on clinical or imaging variables. Based on the nomogram score, patients were divided into high (> 273.8) and low (

Abstract Background The long non-coding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) has been reported to play a vital role in the occurrence and development of various tumors. However, the underlying mechanism of MALAT1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been thoroughly elucidated. Methods The expression levels of MALAT1 in HCC tissues and different cell lines were detected by qRT-PCR. Antisense oligonucleotides (ASO)-MALAT1 transfected cells were used to explore the biological effects of MALAT1 in HCC cells by cell counting kit 8 (CCK-8), colony formation, transwell, wound healing, and flow cytometry analysis. Western blotting was performed to measure AMPK and apoptosis-related protein levels. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was performed to verify the relationship between MALAT1 and its specific targets. Results We found that MALAT1 was upregulated in HCC, and MALAT1 knockdown in HCC cells inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and inhibited apoptosis in vitro. Further studies demonstrated that MALAT1 positively regulated the expression of transcription factor II B‑related factor 2 (BRF2), which was associated with tumor recurrence, large tumor size, and poor prognosis in HCC. Mechanistically, MALAT1 was found to act as a competitive endogenous RNA to sponge has-miR-1-3p, which upregulated BRF2 expression. Knockdown of BRF2 inhibited the progression of HCC by activating the LKB1/AMPK signaling pathway. Overexpression of BRF2 reversed the inhibitory effect of MALAT1 knockdown on HCC cell viability. Moreover, ASO targeting MALAT1 inhibited the growth of xenograft tumors. Conclusions Our results demonstrate a novel MALAT1/miR-1-3p/BRF2/LKB1/AMPK regulatory axis in HCC, which may provide new molecular therapeutic targets for HCC in the future.

Abstract Introduction This study aimed to investigate the presentations and survival outcomes of the distant metastatic non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without lymph node involvement to obtain a clearer picture of this special subgroup of metastatic NSCLC. Method A least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) penalized Cox regression analysis was used to select the prognostic variables. A nomogram and corresponding risk‐classifying systems were constructed. The C‐index and calibration curves were used to evaluate the performance of the model. Overall survival (OS) curves were plotted using the Kaplan–Meier method, and the log‐rank test was used to compare OS differences between groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to reduce bias. Result A total of 12 610 NSCLC patients with M1 category (N0 group: 3045 cases; N1‐3 group: 9565 cases) were included. Regarding the N0 group, multivariate analysis demonstrated that age, sex, race, surgery, grade, tumor size, and M category were independent prognostic factors. A nomogram and corresponding risk‐classifying systems were formulated. Favorable validation results were obtained from the C‐index, calibration curves, and survival comparisons. Survival curves demonstrated that N0 NSCLC patients had better survival than N1‐3 NSCLC patients both before and after PSM. Furthermore, the survival of resected N0M1 patients was superior to that of those without surgery. Conclusion In this study, a prognostic nomogram and risk‐classifying systems designed for the T1‐4N0M1 NSCLC patients showed acceptable performance. Primary lung tumor resection might be a feasible treatment for this population subset. Additionally, we proposed that lymph node stage might have a place in the forthcoming tumor‐node‐metastasis (TNM) staging proposal for NSCLC patients with M1 category.