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Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disorder that is characterized by keratinocyte hyperproliferation in response to immune cell infiltration and cytokine secretion in the dermis. γδ T cells expressing the Vγ4 TCR chain are among the highest contributors of IL-17A, which is a major cytokine that drives a psoriasis flare, making Vγ4 + γδ T cells a suitable target to restrict psoriasis progression. In this study, we demonstrate that mitochondrial translation inhibition within Vγ4 + γδ T cells effectively reduced erythema, scaling, and skin thickening in a murine model of psoriatic disease. The antibiotic linezolid, which blocks mitochondrial translation, inhibited the production of mitochondrial-encoded protein cytochrome c oxidase in Vγ4 + γδ T cells and systemically reduced the frequencies of IL-17A + Vγ4 + γδ T cells, effectively resolving IL-17A-dependent inflammation. Inhibiting mitochondrial translation could be a novel metabolic approach to interrupt IL-17A signaling in Vγ4 + T cells and reduce psoriasis-like skin pathophysiology., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose of Review: Treatment of rectal cancer patients of advanced age should be modulated by life expectancy and tolerance. Due to the rapid advance of this field, we aim to conduct an updated review of this topic., Recent Findings: The field of elderly rectal cancer has advanced a lot. This review covers all the treatment aspects of elderly rectal cancer, including the prognostic factor, surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and palliative treatment. We also provide the future aspect of the management of elderly rectal cancer. The advancement of prognostic factor research, surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and palliative treatment has made the care of elderly rectal cancer patients better. The future of these fields should focus on the definition of the elderly and the application of particle therapy., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Recurrent intracranial aneurysm carries a risk of rupture and retreatment is often necessary. However, there is no consensus on the best retreatment modality of choice. Flow diverter has emerged as a promising option for this population in recent years. Given its high cost, patient selection to optimize outcomes is very important., Purpose: To identify patient factors predisposing to failure of flow diverter retreatment., Method: We conducted a systematic search on PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Ovid/Medline, and ClinicalTrial.gov from 2000 to 2021. Studies regarding flow diverter retreatment of recurrent aneurysms were analyzed if they meet the inclusion criteria., Results: A total of twenty-six studies were identified. Among 374 patients retreated with flow diverters, about 0.86 [0.81; 0.92] were successfully occluded and only 0.06 [0.02; 0.10] had unfavorable neurological outcomes. Major complications included intracranial hemorrhage (n = 7), ischemic stroke or thromboembolic event (n = 12), and death (n = 2). In-stent stenosis was reported in 10 of the cases. Saccular aneurysms are associated with a higher occlusion rate while aneurysm location, size, status, and prior treatment modality have no significant impact on retreatment efficacy., Conclusions: We demonstrated that flow diverter is an effective retreatment strategy except in patients with non-saccular aneurysms. It should be considered as a first-line option for patients with recurrent intracranial aneurysm., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Introduction: Compare the anatomical and functional outcomes, operation duration, and complication rates between standard scleral buckling (SSB) and chandelier-assisted scleral buckling (CSB) for phakic eyes with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD)., Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were searched from inception to June 2024. The primary endpoint will be set as a final success. The secondary endpoint will be primary success, operation time, and final BCVA., Results: Our meta-analysis showed that there is no statistical difference between CSB and SSB for the final success rate (RR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.97-1.03). For the primary success rate, there is no statistical difference between CSB and SSB (RR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.94-1.06). For operation time, our meta-analysis showed that the CSB group is less than the SSB group (pooled MD = -15.8, 95% CI = -22.60 to -9.00). For postoperative complications, our study shows that the CSB group presented with lower pooled risk than the SSB group (RR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.41-0.89). There is a trend that the ERM formation risk is higher in the CSB group if there is no routine suture for the sclerotomy (p = 0.08)., Conclusion: CSB showcases a significantly reduced operation duration and less postoperative complication in contrast to the SSB group, maintaining comparable primary and ultimate anatomical success rates as well as final BCVA., (© 2024 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Introduction: Head and neck cancer ranks as the seventh most common cancer worldwide. Proton therapy is widely used in head and neck cancer. Osteoradionecrosis(ORN) is currently a commonly investigated side effect of proton therapy. A meta-analysis is needed to investigate this topic., Material/methods: Two authors searched three databases, including PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library; the search period was from inception to June 2023. The search keyword was set to be ((("osteoradionecrosis") OR ("osteonecrosis")) AND ("proton"))., Results: We initially collected 410 articles, and after article selections, 22 articles remained in our systematic reviews. Due to the overlapping of patient populations, 17 studies were finally included in our meta-analysis. The pooled grade 3 or more ORN rate is 0.01(95 % CI = 0.01-0.03). Subgroup analysis showed that IMPT didn't reduce grade 3 or more ORN compared with 3DCPT (p = 0.15)., Conclusions: Our meta-analysis showed that severe ORN rarely occurred in proton therapy for head and neck cancer patients., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease driven by the IL-23/IL-17 axis. It results from excessive activation of effector T cells, including T helper (Th) and cytotoxic T (Tc) cells, and is associated with dysfunctional regulatory T cells (Tregs). Acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1), a rate-limiting enzyme of fatty acid synthesis (FAS), directs cell fate decisions between Th17 and Tregs and thus could be a promising therapeutic target for psoriasis treatment. Here, we demonstrate that targeting ACC1 in T cells by genetic ablation ameliorates skin inflammation in an experimental model of psoriasis by limiting Th17, Tc17, Th1, and Tc1 cells in skin lesions and increasing the frequency of effector Tregs in skin-draining lymph nodes (LNs). KEY MESSAGES : ACC1 deficiency in T cells ameliorates psoriatic skin inflammation in mice. ACC1 deficiency in T cells reduces IL-17A-producing Th17/Tc17/dysfunctional Treg populations in psoriatic lesions. ACC1 deficiency in T cells restrains IFN-γ-producing Th1/Tc1 populations in psoriatic skin lesions and skin-draining LNs. ACC1 deficiency promotes activated CD44 + CD25 + Tregs and effector CD62L - CD44 + Tregs under homeostasis and psoriatic conditions., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Because of an aging population worldwide, the increasing prevalence of falls and their consequent injuries are becoming a safety, health, and social-care issue among elderly people. We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the benchmark of prediction power when using the EHR with artificial intelligence to predict risk of falls in hospitalized patients. The CHARMS guideline was used in this meta-analysis. We searched PubMed, Cochrane, and EMBASE. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were calculated, and the summary receiver operating curve was formed to investigate the predictive power of artificial intelligence models. The PROBAST table was used to assess the quality of the selected studies. A total of 132 846 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled area under the curve of the collected research was estimated to be 0.78. The pooled sensitivity was 0.63 (95% confidence interval, 0.52-0.72), whereas the pooled specificity was 0.82 (95% confidence interval, 0.73-0.88). The quality of our selected studies was high, with most of them being evaluated with low risk of bias and low concern for applicability. Our study demonstrates that using the EHR with artificial intelligence to predict the risk of falls among hospitalized patients is feasible. Future clinical applications are anticipated., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background/aim: Radiation dermatitis is a common complication of radiation therapy in breast cancer patients. Severe dermatitis may alter treatment schedules and clinical outcomes. The topical prevention strategy is the widely used option to prevent radiation dermatitis. However, the comparison between the current topical prevention strategies is insufficient. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the topical prevention efficacy of radiation dermatitis in patients with breast cancer through a network meta-analysis., Patients and Methods: This study followed The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Network Meta-Analyses guidelines. A random effects model was used to compare different treatments. The treatment modality ranking was evaluated using the P-score. I2 and Cochran's Q test were used to evaluate the heterogeneity among studies., Results: Forty-five studies were analyzed in this systematic review. A total of 19 studies were finally included in this meta-analysis for grade 3 or higher radiation dermatitis, which included 18 treatment arms and 2,288 patients. The forest plot showed that none of the identified regimens were superior to standard care., Conclusion: A more effective regimen than standard care for the prevention of grade 3 or higher radiation dermatitis in breast cancer patients was not identified. Our network meta-analysis showed that current topical prevention strategies are similarly efficacious. However, since preventing severe radiation dermatitis is an important clinical challenge, further trials should be conducted to address this issue., (Copyright © 2023, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The neoadjuvant radiotherapy is now standard treatment in soft tissue sarcoma. Using ultra-hypofractionation radiotherapy shorten the treatment time. In the era of COVID pandemic, using less fraction to treat patient is an urgent need. Thus, we aim to use meta-analysis to investigate the clinical efficacy of preoperative stereotactic body radiotherapy., Material and Methods: PRISMA guideline was used in this study. PubMed, Cochrane and Embase were used. We include only prospective study. The main endpoint was set as wound complication rate. Other endpoints include R0 resection rate, overall survival, local control, and distant metastasis free survival., Results: Seven studies were included. The pooled wound complication rate is 0.30 (95% CI=0.26-0.35). The pooled R0 resection rate is 0.87(95%CI: 0.74-0.94). The pooled 2-year overall survival is 0.86 (95%CI: 0.72-0.94). The pooled 2-year local control rate is 0.96(95%CI: 0.89-0.99). The pooled 2-year distant metastasis free survival is 0.60 (95%CI=0.50-0.70)., Conclusion: Neoadjuvant ultra-hypofractionation radiotherapy in soft tissue sarcoma is a feasible and well tolerable treatment., (Copyright © 2022 Société française de radiothérapie oncologique (SFRO). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Nasopharyngeal cancer is a common cancer in East and South Asia. The radiotherapy and chemotherapy regimen has advanced in recent years. However, many patients still suffer from local recurrence and distant metastasis; thus, identifying medication that can be combined with standard treatment to improve the treatment outcomes in nasopharyngeal cancer patients is an unmet need., Methods: We included nasopharyngeal cancer patients from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database (NHIRD). The primary endpoint was set as the cancer-specific mortality rate. Metformin cohorts and non-Metformin cohorts were matched by sex, age, and the year of the index date. Propensity score matching with a ratio of 1:1 was applied., Results: A total of 6078 subjects were included in the study, with 3039 patients in each group. Male participants outnumbered female participants. Most of the patients were aged 50 to 64; the mean age was 60.4 ± 10.4 years in Metformin non-users, and that of Metformin users was 59.9 ± 10.5 years. Metformin users had a lower risk of death due to nasopharyngeal cancer (adjusted HR = 0.80; 95% CI = 0.71, 0.90) than controls., Conclusions: We concluded that Metformin might be effective at reducing the cancer-specific mortality rate in nasopharyngeal cancer patients. Further randomized control trials should be completed.

Dengue virus (DENV) infection can induce life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome in infected patients. DENV is a threat to global health due to its growing numbers and incidence of infection in the last 50 years. During infection, DENV expresses ten structural and nonstructural proteins modulating cell responses to benefit viral replication. However, the lack of knowledge regarding the cellular proteins and their functions in enhancing DENV pathogenesis impedes the development of antiviral drugs and therapies against fatal DENV infection. Here, we identified that integrin-linked kinase (ILK) is a novel enhancing factor for DENV infection by suppressing type I interferon (IFN) responses. Mechanistically, ILK binds DENV NS1 and NS3, activates Akt and Erk, and induces NF-κB-driven suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) expression. Elevated SOCS3 in DENV-infected cells inhibits phosphorylation of STAT1/2 and expression of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). Inhibiting ILK, Akt, or Erk activation abrogates SOCS3 expression. In DENV-infected mice, the treatment of an ILK inhibitor significantly reduces viral loads in the brains, disease severity, and mortality rate. Collectively, our results show that ILK is a potential therapeutic target against DENV infection., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Kao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The risk of cancer and dementia increases with age, raising complex questions about whether it is appropriate to continue cancer treatment in older patients. There is emerging research suggesting the association between cancer and dementia. However, the mechanistic underpinnings are still under investigation. Progress has already been made toward understanding the cognitive effects associated with cancer therapy. Such associations raise awareness about the need to establish better prevention methods and early screening in clinical practice. Additionally, recent studies have suggested possible therapeutic strategies for better preserving cognitive function and reducing the risk for dementia before patients start cancer treatment. We review the current literature and summarize the incidence and mechanisms of cognitive impairment in patients with lung cancer, breast cancer, head and neck cancer, gastric cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and brain tumor/brain metastasis following different kinds of therapies. Possible risk factors are suggested to identify the early onset of cognitive changes in cancer patients and provide more insight into the pathophysiological process of dementia.

This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic crisis affects the interactions between the stock, oil, gold, currency, and cryptocurrency markets. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis on the optimal asset allocation and optimal hedged strategy are also discussed. Empirical results show that the volatility spillover significantly exists in most of the ten paired markets whereas the return spillover and correlation are significant only for the few paired markets. Moreover, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the return spillover is the greatest followed by the correlation whereas the volatility spillover is not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the Quantitative easing (QE) implemented after the COVID-19 pandemic crisis increases the risk-adjusted return for each asset and minimum variance portfolio (MVP) and raises the correlation between two assets. In addition, most of the pairs of assets are not suitable to hedge each other except for a few pairs of assets. Regarding these few pairs of assets, the optimal hedge asset with the fewer hedge cost is accompanied by less risk reduction and vice versa. Finally, the investors should choose the euro to construct a portfolio to achieve risk diversification and to hedge gold or WTI to get the risk reduction. The above findings can help investors and fund managers make a useful investment strategy, optimal asset allocation, and effective hedged strategy. For example, the investors can use the volatility of one market to predict the volatility of another market and they can take a long position during the post-COVID-19 period but they should withdraw capital from the market when the QE tapering is executed., Jel Classification: C52; C53; G15., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Su and Kao.)

Capecitabine-induced hand-foot syndrome (HFS) is common in clinical practice. There are many regimens used to prevent HFS. However, the most effective preventive regimen has not yet been identified. Thus, we conducted a network meta-analysis to investigate the best preventive regimen for HFS. The PRISMA-NMA guidelines were used in this study. The PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase databases were searched. The main endpoint was set as HFS of National Cancer Institute grade 2 or more. We included only randomized control trials. The P-score was used to rank the regimens. Among all the regimens, topical silymarin had the best preventive ability compared with the placebo (OR: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.01-0.71). The other identified effective regimen included pyridoxine (400 mg) and celecoxib; compared with the placebo, the odds ratio was 0.27 (95% CI: 0.08-0.91) and 0.41 (95% CI: 0.18-0.95), respectively. Topical silymarin is the most useful regimen for preventing capecitabine-induced HFS., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: A total esophagectomy with gastric tube reconstruction is the mainstream procedure for esophageal cancer. Colon interposition and free jejunal flap for esophageal reconstruction are the alternative choices when the gastric tube is not available. However, to date, a solution for the high anastomosis leakage rates among these three types of conduits has not been reported. The aim of this network meta-analysis was to investigate the rate of anastomotic leakage (AL) among the three procedures to determine the best esophageal substitute or the future direction for improving the conventional gastric pull-up (GPU)., Methods: We searched PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase databases. We included esophageal cancer patients receiving esophagectomy and excluded patients with other cancer. The random effect model was used in this network meta-analysis. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used for the quality assessment of studies in the network meta-analysis, and funnel plots were used to evaluate publication bias. The primary outcome is anastomosis leakage; the secondary outcomes are stricture formation, length of hospital stays, and mortality rate., Results: Nine studies involving 1613 patients were included in this network meta-analysis. The trend results indicated the following. Regarding anastomosis leakage, free jejunal flap was the better procedure; regarding stricture formation, colon interposition was the better procedure; regarding mortality rate, free jejunal flap was the better procedure; regarding length of hospital stay, gastric pull-up was the better treatment., Discussion: Overall, if technically accessible, free jejunal flap is a better choice than colon interposition when gastric conduit cannot be used, but further study should be conducted to compare groups with equal supercharged patients. In addition, jejunal flap (JF) cannot replace traditional gastric pull-up (GPU) due to technical complexities, more anastomotic sites, and longer operation times. However, the GPU method with the supercharged procedure would be a possible solution to lower postoperative AL. The limitation of this meta-analysis is that the number of articles included was low; we aim to update the result when new data are available., Funding: None., Registration: N/A.

A gene upregulated in Nicotiana benthamiana after Bamboo mosaic virus (BaMV) infection was revealed as 1-deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase (NbDXR). DXR is the key enzyme in the 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) pathway that catalyzes the conversion of 1-deoxy-d-xylulose 5-phosphate to 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol-4-phosphate. Knockdown and overexpression of NbDXR followed by BaMV inoculation revealed that NbDXR is involved in BaMV accumulation. Treating leaves with fosmidomycin, an inhibitor of DXR function, reduced BaMV accumulation. Subcellular localization confirmed that DXR is a chloroplast-localized protein by confocal microscopy. Furthermore, knockdown of 1-hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)-butenyl-4-diphosphate reductase, one of the enzymes in the MEP pathway, also reduced BaMV accumulation. The accumulation of BaMV increased significantly in protoplasts treated with isopentenyl pyrophosphate. Thus, the metabolites of the MEP pathway could be involved in BaMV infection. To identify the critical components involved in BaMV accumulation, we knocked down the crucial enzyme of isoprenoid synthesis, NbGGPPS11 or NbGGPPS2. Only NbGGPPS2 was involved in BaMV infection. The geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP) synthesized by NbGGPPS2 is known for gibberellin synthesis. We confirmed this result by supplying gibberellic acid exogenously on leaves, which increased BaMV accumulation. The de novo synthesis of gibberellic acid could assist BaMV accumulation., (© 2022 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2022 New Phytologist Foundation.)

Introduction: According to the Chinese Health Commission guidelines, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity is classified as mild, moderate, severe, or critical. The mortality rate of COVID-19 is higher among patients with severe and critical diseases; therefore, early identification of COVID-19 prevents disease progression and improves patient survival. Computed tomography (CT) radiomics, as a machine learning method, provides an objective and mathematical evaluation of COVID-19 pneumonia. As CT-based radiomics research has recently focused on COVID-19 diagnosis and severity analysis, this meta-analysis aimed to investigate the predictive power of a CT-based radiomics model in determining COVID-19 severity., Materials and Methods: This study followed the diagnostic version of PRISMA guidelines. PubMed, Embase databases and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched to identify relevant articles in the meta-analysis from inception until July 16, 2021. The sensitivity and specificity were analyzed using forest plots. The overall predictive power was calculated using the summary receiver operating characteristic curve. The bias was evaluated using a funnel plot. The quality of the included literature was assessed using the radiomics quality score and quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies tool., Results: The radiomics quality scores ranged from 7 to 16 (achievable score: 2212 8 to 36). The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.800 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.662-0.891) and 0.874 (95% CI 0.773-0.934), respectively. The pooled area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.908. The quality assessment tool showed favorable results., Conclusion: This meta-analysis demonstrated that CT-based radiomics models might be helpful for predicting the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia., (© 2022. Italian Society of Medical Radiology.)

Background/aim: Head and neck cancer is a major malignancy worldwide. The treatment strategy for head and neck cancer usually involves radiotherapy. The main side effect of radiotherapy is radiation dermatitis. Thus, determining the most effective topical regimen for the prevention of radiation dermatitis in head and neck cancer patients is a critical issue., Patients and Methods: PRISMA-NMA guidelines were used in this network meta-analysis. We included only randomized control trials. A random effects model was used. Heterogeneity was evaluated by I 2 and Cochran's Q tests., Results: We included a total of 1,304 patients in the network meta-analysis. Among them, olive oil was the only effective regimen when compared with usual care (OR=0.18, 95%CI=0.03-0.95). The I 2 value was 56%. The test of heterogeneity yielded a p-value of 0.10., Conclusion: Olive oil was the most effective regimen for the prevention of radiation dermatitis., (Copyright © 2022, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Dengue virus (DENV) which infects about 390 million people per year in tropical and subtropical areas manifests various disease symptoms, ranging from fever to life-threatening hemorrhage and even shock. To date, there is still no effective treatment for DENV disease, but only supportive care. DENV nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) has been shown to play a key role in disease pathogenesis. Recent studies have shown that anti-DENV NS1 antibody can provide disease protection by blocking the DENV-induced disruption of endothelial integrity. We previously demonstrated that anti-NS1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) protected mice from all four serotypes of DENV challenge. Here, we generated humanized anti-NS1 mAbs and transferred them to mice after DENV infection. The results showed that DENV-induced prolonged bleeding time and skin hemorrhage were reduced, even several days after DENV challenge. Mechanistic studies showed the ability of humanized anti-NS1 mAbs to inhibit NS1-induced vascular hyperpermeability and to elicit Fcγ-dependent complement-mediated cytolysis as well as antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity of cells infected with four serotypes of DENV. These results highlight humanized anti-NS1 mAb as a potential therapeutic agent in DENV infection., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

There is an urgent need for a safe and effective vaccine against dengue virus (DENV) which infects about 390 million humans per year. In the present study we combined modifications of two DENV proteins, the nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) and the envelope (E) protein, to produce a DENV vaccine candidate with enhanced features. One of these modified proteins was a C-terminal-deleted fragment of NS1 called ΔC NS1 which we have shown previously to be protective without the potentially harmful effects of cross-reactive epitopes common to surface antigens on platelets and endothelial cells. The other modified protein was an envelope protein domain III (cEDIII) containing a consensus amino acid sequence among the four serotypes of DENV, which induces neutralizing antibody against all four DENV serotypes. The cEDIII and ΔC NS1 were expressed as a fusion protein cEDIII-ΔC NS1 and its protective effects against DENV were evaluated in a mouse model. C3H/HeN mice were immunized three times with cEDIII-ΔC NS1 fusion protein mixed with alum as adjuvant. Sera collected from cEDIII-ΔC NS1-immunized mice neutralized four serotypes of DENV and also caused complement-mediated cytolysis of HMEC-1 cells infected with each of the four different DENV serotypes. Mice immunized with cEDIII-ΔC NS1 and challenged with DENV showed reduced serum virus titer, soluble NS1 and bleeding time, compared with mice infected with DENV alone. The results reveal that antibodies induced by cEDIII-ΔC NS1 not only show anti-viral efficacy by in vitro assays but also provide protective effects against DENV infection in a mouse model. The cEDIII-ΔC NS1 thus represents a novel, effective DENV vaccine candidate., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background/aim: Oral cavity cancer is a major health problem worldwide. The herpes zoster vaccine is an effective method to protect against herpes zoster infection. In this study we aimed to determine the relationship between herpes zoster and oral cavity cancer., Patients and Methods: The Longitudinal Generation Tracking Database in Taiwan was used to select oral and non-oral cavity cancer patients. The primary endpoint was herpes zoster., Results: We included 3131 oral cavity cancer patients and 3131 non-oral cavity cancer patients. Patients with oral cavity cancer [adjusted hazard ratio (HR)=1.66, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.27-2.16] had a significantly higher risk of herpes zoster compared to the control group. The oral cavity patients who received radiotherapy (adjusted HR=1.79, 95%CI=1.12-2.86) had a significantly higher risk of herpes zoster compared to the oral cavity patients who did not receive radiotherapy., Conclusion: Radiotherapy increases the incidence of herpes zoster infection in oral cavity cancer patients., (Copyright © 2021 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Ultrasound-guided tracheostomy (UGT) and bronchoscope-guided tracheostomy (BGT) have been well compared. However, the differences in benefits between UGT and landmark tracheostomy (LT) have not been addressed and, in particular, lack a detailed meta-analysis. We aimed to compare the first-pass success, complication rate, major bleeding rate, and tracheostomy procedure time between UGT and LT., Methods: In a systematic review, relevant databases were searched for studies comparing UGT with LT in intubated patients. The primary outcome was the odds ratio (OR) of first-pass success. The secondary outcomes were the OR of complications, OR of major bleeding, and standardized mean difference (SMD) of the total tracheostomy procedure time., Results: The meta-analysis included three randomized controlled studies (RCTs) and one nonrandomized controlled study (NRS), comprising 474 patients in total. Compared with LT, UGT increased first-pass success (OR: 4.287; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.308 to 7.964) and decreased complications (OR: 0.422; 95% CI: 0.249 to 0.718). However, compared with LT, UGT did not significantly reduce major bleeding (OR: 0.374; 95% CI: 0.112 to 1.251) or the total tracheostomy placement time (SMD: -0.335; 95% CI: -0.842 to 0.172)., Conclusions: Compared with LT, real-time UGT increases first-pass success and decreases complications. However, UGT was not associated with a significant reduction in the major bleeding rate. The total tracheostomy placement time comparison between UGI and LT was inconclusive., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) led to a global pandemic. Although reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of viral nucleic acid is the gold standard for COVID-19 diagnosis, its sensitivity was found to not be high enough in many reports. As radiomics-based diagnosis research has recently emerged, we aimed to use computerized tomography (CT)-based radiomics models to differentiate COVID-19 pneumonia from other viral pneumonia infections., Materials and Methods: This study was performed according to the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis diagnostic test accuracy studies (PRISMA-DTA) guidelines. The Pubmed, Cochrane, and Embase databases were searched. The pooled sensitivity and pooled specificity were calculated. A summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) curve was constructed. The study quality was evaluated based on the radiomics quality score., Results: A total of 10,300 patients were involved in this meta-analysis. The radiomics quality score ranged from 13 to 16 (maximum score: 36). The pooled sensitivity was 0.885 (95% CI: 0.818-0.929), and the pooled specificity was 0.811 (95% CI: 0.667-0.902). The pooled AUC was 906. Conclusion: Our meta-analysis showed that CT-based radiomics feature models can successfully differentiate COVID-19 from other viral pneumonias.

Background: Preservation of organ function is important in cancer treatment. The 'watch-and-wait' strategy is an important approach in management of esophageal cancer. However, clinical imaging cannot accurately evaluate the presence or absence of residual tumor after neoadjuvant chemoradiation. As a result, using radiomics to predict complete pathological response in esophageal cancer has gained in popularity in recent years. Given that the characteristics of patients and sites vary considerably, a meta-analysis is needed to investigate the predictive power of radiomics in esophageal cancer., Patients and Methods: PRISMA guidelines were used to conduct this study. PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase were searched for literature review. The quality of the selected studies was evaluated by the radiomics quality score. I 2 score and Cochran's Q test were used to evaluate heterogeneity between studies. A funnel plot was used for evaluation of publication bias., Results: A total of seven articles were collected for this meta-analysis. The pooled area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of the seven selected articles for predicting pathological complete response in eosphageal cancer patient was quite high, achieving a pooled value of 0.813 (95% confidence intervaI=0.761-0.866). The radiomics quality score ranged from -2 to 16 (maximum score: 36 points). Three out of the seven studies used machine learning algorithms, while the others used traditional biostatistics methods. One of the seven studies used morphology class features, while four studies used first-order features, and five used second-order features., Conclusion: Using radiomics to predict complete pathological response after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in esophageal cancer is feasible. In the future, prospective, multicenter studies should be carried out for predicting pathological complete response in patients with esophageal cancer., (Copyright© 2021, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Whether contralateral neck irradiation should be administered for oral cavity cancer is a critical question because patients receiving bilateral neck irradiation experience more adverse effects. Patients not receiving contralateral neck irradiation are at risk of contralateral neck recurrence of oral cavity cancer MATERIALS AND METHODS: Meta-analysis and subgroup analysis were performed for the rates of contralateral neck recurrence of oral cavity cancer in patients receiving no contralateral neck radiation. We aimed to identify the patient group suitable for contralateral neck radiotherapy omission. The PRISMA guideline was used for this study. We extracted data including the first author, country, sample size, numbers of patients receiving ipsilateral neck radiotherapy and experiencing contralateral neck recurrence, participant characteristics, and details of cancer types RESULTS: The rate of contralateral neck recurrence is extremely low, 3.4% (95% confidence interval: 2.2%-5.4%). Isolated contralateral neck recurrence occurred in 18 of 524 patients receiving radiotherapy to the primary tumor site with or without ipsilateral irradiation. The subgroup analysis was conducted to investigate pathological lymph node stage and subsite. Subgroup analysis showed that the N2-3 group was more likely to exhibit recurrence in contralateral neck than the N0-1 group was (14.4% versus 1.5%, p = 0.0008). In addition, the contralateral neck recurrence rate was 6.3% (95% CI = 2.3%-13.1%) and 2.8% (95% CI = 1.5%-4.8%), in the tongue cancer patient group and the non-tongue cancer patient group, respectively. Meta-regression showed that the rate of contralateral recurrence was not different between both groups (p = 0.08). Only 2 exhibited isolated contralateral neck recurrence (5.1%) in pN0-1 tongue cancer patient. Most of them (>90%) are lateralized., Conclusion: In conclusion, the omission of contralateral irradiation is reasonable in pN0-1, well lateralized oral cavity cancer., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)