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Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) induces a change in serum HIF-1α level in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study investigated the prognostic value of change in serum HIF-1α following TACE treatment in HCC patients. A total of 61 hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with TACE were included. Peripheral blood samples were collected within 1 week before and after TACE to determine the serum levels of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serum HIF-1α change was calculated as follows: ∆HIF-1α = (HIF-1α (pre-TACE) - HIF-1α (post-TACE))/HIF-1α (pre-TACE). Likewise, serum VEG-F change was calculated as follows: ∆VEG-F = (VEG-F (pre-TACE) - VEG-F(post-TACE))/VEG-F (pre-TACE). Based on the cutoffs (0.25) determined by the maximum Youden's index in receiver operating characteristic analysis, the patients were grouped into the low ∆HIF-1α group ( 0.25) and the high ∆HIF-1α group ( 0.25). After TACE treatment, HIF-1α was significantly decreased (pre-TACE 1901.62 vs. post-TACE 621.82 pg/ml, P 0.01) but VEGF-A was significantly increased (pre-TACE 60.80 vs. post-TACE 143.81 pg/ml, P 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that ∆HIF-1α was a prognostic factor (OR = 58.09, 95% CI: 1.59-2127.32, P = 0.027) for the TACE treatment response. Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that ∆HIF-1α was a prognostic factor for progression-free survival (PFS) (HR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.14-0.66, P = 0.003) and overall survival (OS) (estimated HR = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.16-0.93, P = 0.034). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the high ∆HIF-1α group was more likely to have longer PFS (log-rank test, P = 0.004) and OS (log-rank test, P = 0.002) than the low ∆HIF-1α group. The change in serum HIF-1α level following TACE is a prognostic factor associated with the TACE treatment response, PFS, and OS in HCC patients following TACE.

Aims: We aimed to further evaluate the effectiveness and safety between high-power short-duration (HPSD) radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and conventional RFA in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods: Studies comparing HPSD and conventional applications from inception through December 2021 were searched on Pubmed, Medline, Cochrane and Clinicaltrials.gov. Results: The meta-analysis included seventeen studies with a total of 4934 patients. HPSD group decreased procedure duration [mean difference (MD) -38.28 min, 95% confidence interval (CI) -47.08 to -29.49, P＜0.001], RF duration (MD -20.51 min, 95% CI -25.96 to -15.06, P＜0.001) and fluoroscopy duration (MD -5.19 min, 95% CI -8.02 to -2.37, P＜0.001), while improving the rates of first-pass isolation [Odds Ratio (OR) 8.92, 95% CI 2.40-33.09, P=0.009]. Compared with conventional group, freedom from atrial arrhythmia at 1-year-followup was higher in the HPSD group with a power setting of 40-50W (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.27-2.91, P=0.002), nevertheless, two groups had similar effectiveness with a power setting of 50W in the HPSD RFA (OR 1.10, 95% CI 0.83-1.46, P=0.52). Acute pulmonary vein reconnection (P＜0.001) was significantly lower in the HPSD group. There was no difference in complications between the two groups (P=0.71). Conclusion: HPSD RFA was associated with shorter procedure duration, higher freedom from atrial arrhythmia and comparable safety when compared with conventional RFA.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the difference in effectiveness and safety of high-power, short-duration (HPSD) radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFA) guided by relatively low ablation index (AI) values and conventional RFA in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) patients. Methods: The HPSD RFA strategy (40–50 W, AI 350–400 for anterior, 320–350 for posterior wall; n = 547) was compared with the conventional RFA strategy (25–40 W, without AI; n = 396) in PAF patients who underwent their first ablation. Propensity-score matching analyses were used to compare the outcomes of the two groups while controlling for confounders. Results: After using propensity-score matching analysis, the HPSD group showed a higher early recurrence rate (22.727% vs. 13.636%, p = 0.003), similar late recurrence rate, and comparable safety (p = 0.604) compared with the conventional group. For late recurrent atrial arrhythmia types, the rate of regular atrial tachycardia was significantly higher in the HPSD group (p = 0.013). Additionally, the rate of chronic pulmonary vein reconnection and non-pulmonary vein triggers during repeat procedures was similar in both groups. Conclusions: For PAF patients, compared with the conventional RFA strategy, the HPSD RFA strategy at relatively low AI settings had a higher early recurrence rate, similar long-term success rate, and comparable safety.

Objectives This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of congenital heart disease (CHD) among school children in Qinghai province, a high-altitude region in China. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among school-aged children in 2019. All subjects completed a survey with a structure questionnaire and underwent CHD screening. CHD was screened by standard physical examination and further confirmed by echocardiography. Multivariate logistic regression were used to estimate the association of CHD prevalence with gender, nationality, and altitude. Results A total of 43,562 children aged 3–19 years participated in the study. The mean (SD) age was 11.2 (3.3) years. 49.7% were boys, and 80.0% were of Tibetan. CHD was identified in 293 children, with an overall prevalence of 6.73 ‰. Among them, 239 were unrecognized CHD, yielding a prevalence of 5.49 ‰. Atrial septal defect accounted for 51.9% of the CHD, followed by patent ductus arteriosus (31.1%), ventricular septal defect (9.9%). The CHD prevalence was significantly higher in female (8 ‰), Han race (18 ‰), children lived in Qumalai county (13 ‰), and children lived in a higher altitude (13 ‰). Female had greater prevalence of total CHD, atrial septal defect, and patent ductus arteriosus, but insignificant difference was observed in ventricular septal defect prvalence than male. In multivariable logistic regression analyses, female (OR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.17–1.87, P = 0.001), Han population (OR, 3.28; 95% CI, 1.67–6.42, P = 0.001), and higher altitudes (OR, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.74–3.00, P Conclusions The prevalence of CHD in Qinghai province was 6.73 ‰. Altitude elevation, female, and Han population were independently association with CHD prevalence.

Aim. The present study was aimed at investigating the prevalence, incidence, progression, and prognosis of degenerative valvular heart disease (DVHD) in permanent residents aged ≥65 years from Guangzhou, China. Methods. This was a prospective study based on community population. Over a 3-year span, we conducted repeated questionnaires, blood tests, and echocardiographic and electrocardiogram examinations (2018) of a random sample of initially 3538 subjects. Results. The prevalence of DVHD increased with age, average values being 30.6%, 49.2%, and 62.9% in 65-74, 75-84, and ≥85 years of age, respectively. The incidence rate was 1.7%/year. Aortic stenosis was the result of DVHD, and the mean transvalvular pressure gradient increased by 5.6 mmHg/year. The increase of mild aortic stenosis was lower than that of more severe disease, showing a nonlinear development of gradient, but with great individual variations. Mortality was significantly increased in the DVHD group ( HR = 2.49 ). Risk factors for higher mortality included age ( χ 2 = 1.9 , P < 0.05 ), renal insufficiency ( χ 2 = 12.5 , P < 0.01 ), atrial fibrillation ( χ 2 = 12.2 , P < 0.01 ), mitral regurgitation ( χ 2 = 1.8 , P < 0.05 ), and tricuspid regurgitation ( χ 2 = 6.7 , P < 0.05 ) in a DVHD population. Conclusions. DVHD was highly prevalent among residents in southern China. With the progression of the disease, the mean transvalvular pressure gradient accelerated. DVHD was an independent predictor of death, and the mortality was higher in those with older age, renal insufficiency, atrial fibrillation, mitral regurgitation, and tricuspid regurgitation.

Traditional texture synthesis methods usually emphasized the final effect of the target textures. However, none of them focus on auto-extraction of the source texture exemplar. In this paper, we present a novel textureness metric based on Gist descriptor to accurately extract texture exemplar from an arbitrary image including texture regions. Our method emphasizes the importance of the exemplar for the example-based texture synthesis and focus on ideal texture exemplar auto-extraction. To improve the efficiency of the texture patch searching, we perform a Poisson disk sampling to crop exemplar randomly and uniformly from images. To improve the accuracy of texture recognition, we also use a SVM for the UIUC database to distinguish the texture regions and non-texture regions. The proposed method is evaluated on a variety of images with different kinds of textures. Convincing visual and statistics results demonstrated its effectiveness.

Background This study aimed to assess the prognostic value of the serum albumin to globulin ratio (AGR) in cholangiocarcinoma patients after surgery. Methods We retrospectively enrolled 123 cholangiocarcinoma patients who underwent surgical treatment between June 2003 and September2014 at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. Univariate and multivariate analyses using the Cox regression model were performed to determine the prognostic value of AGR. Results Univariate analysis suggested that AGR was a predictive factor for (overall survival) OS but not for recurrence free survival (RFS). After adjustment for other risk factors, multivariate analysis showed that AGR remained independently associated with OS. The optimal cut-off point for AGR was determined to be 1.44. Kaplan–Meier curves showed that there was a significantly lower mean survival time in the low AGR group compared to the high AGR group. A low AGR was found to be significantly associated with high alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, total bilirubin levels and an advanced American Joint Committee on Cancer TNM stage, but a low hemoglobin level. Conclusion In summary, patients with higher AGRs have better outcomes than those with lower AGRs. Preoperative AGR can be a reliable marker for evaluating the prognosis of cholangiocarcinoma patients.

1082Background: Current guidelines lack definitive evidences about the relative benefits of locoregional surgery for the primary tumor in de novo stage IV breast cancer. The aim of this study was t...

e13093Background: Accurate prediction of survival in a newly diagnosed stage IV breast cancer patient is one of the most difficult challenges that physicians face. This study aimed to develop a nom...

Kinetics of 2-chlorobiphenyl (2-Cl BP) catalytic reductive dechlorination by Pd-Fe 0 nanoparticles were investigated. Experimental results showed that ultrafine bimetallic Pd-Fe 0 e nanoparticles were synthesized in the presence of 40 kHz ultrasound in order to enhance disparity and avoid agglomeration. The application of ultrasonic irradiation during the synthesis of Pd-Fe 0 nanoparticles further accelerated the dechlorinated removal ratio of 2-Cl BP. Up to 95.0% of 2-Cl BP was removed after 300 min reaction with the following experimental conditions: initial 2-Cl BP concentration 10 mg L -1 , Pd content 0.8 wt. %, bimetallic Pd-Fe 0 nanoparticles prepared in the presence of ultrasound available dosage 7g L -1 , initial pH value in aqueous solution 3.0, and reaction temperature 25°C. The catalytic reductive dechlorination of 2-Cl BP followed pseudo-first-order kinetics and the apparent pseudo-first-order kinetics constant was 0.0143 min -1 .

Highly dispersed Pd-Fe 0 bimetallic nanoparticles were prepared in the presence of 40 kHz ultrasonic irradiation in order to enhance disparity and reactivity, and simultaneously avoid agglomeration. Influential factors of 2-chlorobiphenyl (2-Cl BP) reductive dechlorination by highly dispersed Pd-Fe 0 nanoparticles were investigated. Experimental results showed that highly dispersed Pd-Fe 0 nanoparticles prepared in the in the presence of ultrasound could further improve the dechlorination efficiency of 2-Cl BP, meanwhile the biphenyl (BP) formation rates increased obviously and increased from 47.4% (in the absence of ultrasound) to 95.3% (in the presence of ultrasound) within 300 min. The catalytic reductive dechlorination effciency of 2-Cl BP was dependent on Pd-Fe 0 nanoparticles prepared methods, Pd-Fe 0 nanoparticles dosage, Pd loading percentage over Fe 0 and initial pH values

e15605Background: Cholangiocarcinoma is a highly malignance with poor prognosis. To date,the prognostic factors remained unclear. Prior studies have demonstrated the prognostic value of pretreatmen...

In the title compound, C11H11ClN4O, the tetrazine ring adopts a non-symmetrical boat conformation. The crystal packing exhibits relatively short intermolecular C...N contacts of 3.118 (3) Å.