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Purpose: Cavotricuspid isthmus (CTI) ablation is an effective procedure for typical atrial flutter (AFL), but patients remain at an elevated risk for developing new atrial fibrillation (AF). Currently, there are limited data on the utility of CHA2DS2-VASc score to predict new-onset AF after typical AFL ablation. In this study, we assessed whether the CHA2DS2-VASc score is a useful predictor of new-onset AF after CTI ablation in typical AFL patients without a prior history of AF. Methods: This was a retrospective study of 103 typical AFL patients with no prior history of AF, who underwent successful CTI ablation. The endpoint was occurrence of new-onset AF during follow-up. Results: During a mean follow-up period of 24.6 ± 16.9 months, at least one episode of AF occurred in 33 (32%) patients. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that CHA2DS2-VASc score (hazard ratio = 1.736; 95% confidence interval = 1.370–2.201; P < 0.001) was significantly associated with postablation new-onset AF (area under the curve = 0.797). A cutoff value of three stratified these patients into two groups with different incidences of postablation new-onset AF (67.9 vs. 18.7%, P < 0.001). Conclusion: The CHA2DS2-VASc score is a useful tool for the prediction of new-onset AF after ablation of typical AFL. Patients with CHA2DS2-VASc score ≥3 are more likely to develop new-onset AF and should be monitored more closely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COL17A1 (collagen type XVII alpha 1 chain) is known to be upregulated and has a prognostic role in many malignancies, as well as contributing to cell proliferation, apoptosis, and invasion. However, little knowledge is available on the expression and prognostic value of COL17A1 in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC). In our study, we searched the public database and found that mRNA and protein levels of COL17A1 are commonly upregulated in PDAC tissues. The immunohistochemical analysis conducted by us revealed enhanced expression of COL17A1 protein in 169 PDAC samples compared with that in 67 adjacent normal tissues. We also observed a significantly positive correlation between COL17A1 expression and lymph node metastasis ( p < 0.0001), TNM clinical stage ( p < 0.0001), and pathology differentiation ( p < 0.01). The KM-plot results indicated that PDAC patients with a high COL17A1 expression have a poorer overall survival ( p < 0.001) than those with a low COL17A1 expression. The result of the Cox regression analysis of multivariate data suggested COL17A1 is an independent prognostic indicator of PDAC patients' overall survival. CCK-8, wound healing, and transwell assays suggested that COL17A1 knockdown markedly inhibited tumor proliferation and invasion in PDAC cells, and cells with COL17A1 overexpression had a prominently higher proliferative and invasive capacity. Knockdown of COL17A1 significantly upregulated the apoptosis rate. We deduce that upregulated COL17A1 activated the NF- κ B pathway in PDAC cells. In summary, our studies showed the prognostic value of COL17A1 in PDAC and that COL17A1 may act as a molecular therapeutic target for PDAC treatment., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Feiyu Mao et al.)

Purpose: Cavotricuspid isthmus (CTI) ablation is an effective procedure for typical atrial flutter (AFL), but patients remain at an elevated risk for developing new atrial fibrillation (AF). Currently, there are limited data on the utility of CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score to predict new-onset AF after typical AFL ablation. In this study, we assessed whether the CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score is a useful predictor of new-onset AF after CTI ablation in typical AFL patients without a prior history of AF., Methods: This was a retrospective study of 103 typical AFL patients with no prior history of AF, who underwent successful CTI ablation. The endpoint was occurrence of new-onset AF during follow-up., Results: During a mean follow-up period of 24.6 ± 16.9 months, at least one episode of AF occurred in 33 (32%) patients. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score (hazard ratio = 1.736; 95% confidence interval = 1.370-2.201; P < 0.001) was significantly associated with postablation new-onset AF (area under the curve = 0.797). A cutoff value of three stratified these patients into two groups with different incidences of postablation new-onset AF (67.9 vs. 18.7%, P < 0.001)., Conclusion: The CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score is a useful tool for the prediction of new-onset AF after ablation of typical AFL. Patients with CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score ≥3 are more likely to develop new-onset AF and should be monitored more closely., (Copyright © 2020 Liu, Xin, Bin Waleed, Lin, Tse, Luhanga, Sun, Gao, Yin and Xia.)

When the skin barrier is damaged, surgical dressings are often used to cover wounds, sustain skin barrier, protect the injured area, prevent bacterial infection, and promote wound healing. However, at present, traditional dressings will be come stiffing as it absorbs the exudates of wound and sometimes cause secondary injury to the wound during the application process, which aggravate the pain of patients without analgesic effect. For this reason, the medical staff from Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital designed a new antibacterial analgesic dressing that can reduce the pain and increase the antibacterial ability. The dressings provide a sterile, moist environment to facilitate wound healing. Meanwhile, this dressing has the advantages of low cost, safeness and effectiveness, which can reduce the frequency of dressing changes, the possibility of wound infection, the pain and the medical expenses, which is worthy of clinical promotion.