Search

Purpose Axillary lymph node (ALN) involvement is an important prognostic factor of early invasive breast cancer. The objective of this study was to establish simple nomograms for predicting ALN involvement based on ultrasound (US) characteristics and evaluate the predictive value of US in the detection of ALN involvement. Patients and methods A total of 1328 patients with cT1-2N0 breast cancer by physical exam were retrospectively analyzed. Univariate analysis was used for the comparison of variables, and multivariate analysis was performed by binary logistic regression analysis. The R software was used to establish simple nomograms based on the US characteristics alone. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of the prediction model and the verification group were drawn, and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated to evaluate the discrimination of the prediction model. A calibration curve was plotted to assess the nomogram predictions vs the actual observations of the ALN metastasis rate and axillary tumor burden rate. Results The ALN metastasis rates of the training group and the validation group were 35.1% and 34.1%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that molecular subtype, lymphovascular invasion, mass descriptors (size, margin, microcalcification and blood flow signal) and LN descriptors (shape, cortical thickness and long-to-short ratio) were independent impact factors in early breast cancer. The AUC of ALN metastasis rate of prediction model based on US features was 0.802, the AUC of high tumor burden rate was 0.873, and the AUC of external validation group was 0.731 and 0.802, respectively. The calibration curve of the nomogram showed that the nomogram predictions are consistent with the actual metastasis rate and the high tumor burden rate. The results showed that preoperative US had a sensitivity of 59.4% and a specificity of 88.9% for predicting the ALN metastasis rate. Conclusion The successfully established nomograms based on US characteristics to predict ALN metastasis rate and high axillary tumor burden rate in early breast cancer can achieve individual prediction. Compared with other nomogram predictions, it is more intuitive, and can help clinical decision-making; thus, it should be promoted. However, at this time US features alone are insufficient to replace sentinel lymph node biopsy.

Purpose Axillary lymph node (ALN) involvement is an important prognostic factor of early invasive breast cancer. The objective of this study was to establish simple nomograms for predicting ALN involvement based on ultrasound (US) characteristics and evaluate the predictive value of US in the detection of ALN involvement. Patients and Methods A total of 1328 patients with cT1-2N0 breast cancer by physical exam were retrospectively analyzed. Univariate analysis was used for the comparison of variables, and multivariate analysis was performed by binary logistic regression analysis. The R software was used to establish simple nomograms based on the US characteristics alone. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of the prediction model and the verification group were drawn, and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated to evaluate the discrimination of the prediction model. A calibration curve was plotted to assess the nomogram predictions vs the actual observations of the ALN metastasis rate and axillary tumor burden rate. Results The ALN metastasis rates of the training group and the validation group were 35.1% and 34.1%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that molecular subtype, lymphovascular invasion, mass descriptors (size, margin, microcalcification and blood flow signal) and LN descriptors (shape, cortical thickness and long-to-short ratio) were independent impact factors in early breast cancer. The AUC of ALN metastasis rate of prediction model based on US features was 0.802, the AUC of high tumor burden rate was 0.873, and the AUC of external validation group was 0.731 and 0.802, respectively. The calibration curve of the nomogram showed that the nomogram predictions are consistent with the actual metastasis rate and the high tumor burden rate. The results showed that preoperative US had a sensitivity of 59.4% and a specificity of 88.9% for predicting the ALN metastasis rate. Conclusion The successfully established nomograms based on US characteristics to predict ALN metastasis rate and high axillary tumor burden rate in early breast cancer can achieve individual prediction. Compared with other nomogram predictions, it is more intuitive, and can help clinical decision-making; thus, it should be promoted. However, at this time US features alone are insufficient to replace sentinel lymph node biopsy.

Previous studies produced mixed results with respect to the correlation between title length and number of citations. This research aims to provide a new explanation for this controversy by examining one of the largest pools of papers to date, containing over 300,000 economics papers spanning a much longer time period (1956–2012). The results show that correlation between title length and the number of citations is negative between 1956 and 2000, but becomes positive after 2000, when online searches became the predominant method for literature retrieval. Moreover, heterogeneity analyses show that longer titles are especially crucial for papers with relatively lower influence, which researchers can typically only access using online searches.

How gender diversity affects the innovation performance under different innovation contexts has been a complex and unsolved puzzle in the innovation literature. This study aims to examine the effect of gender diversity within research and development (R&D) teams on firms’ innovation efficiency, which is defined as their capability to generate new product sales per unit of R&D investment. We argue that gender diversity in R&D teams can promote innovation efficiency by providing informational and social benefits throughout the innovation process. More importantly, we propose that this positive effect will be enhanced when task intensity or complexity is high as well as when market competition or market uncertainty is high. With a unique dataset of manufacturing firms in a coastal province of China from 2009 to 2013, we find strong empirical evidence for our theoretical framework. Ultimately, our study provides several managerial and policy implications to the issues related with female R&D employees.

This paper aims to examine how subnational individualism-collectivism affect the outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) establishment mode in a host country, greenfield versus acquisition. We pro...

This study aims to examine how informal financing, particularly interpersonal lending, affects small business social responsibility. Interpersonal lending, though a personal-level lending, is actua...