Primary lung cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in China. Approximately 60% of lung cancer patients have distant metastasis at the initial diagnosis, so it is necessary to find new tumor markers for early diagnosis and individualized treatment. Tumor markers contribute to the early diagnosis of lung cancer and play important roles in early detection and treatment, as well as in precision medicine, efficacy monitoring, and prognosis prediction. The pathological diagnosis of lung cancer in small biopsy specimens determines whether there are tumor cells in the biopsy and tumor type. Because biopsy is traumatic and the compliance of patients with multiple biopsies is poor, liquid biopsy has become a hot research direction. Liquid biopsies are advantageous because they are nontraumatic, easy to obtain, reflect the overall state of the tumor, and allow for real-time monitoring. At present, liquid biopsies mainly include circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, exosomes, microRNA, circulating RNA, tumor platelets, and tumor endothelial cells. This review introduces the research progress and clinical application prospect of liquid biopsy technology for lung cancer.

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) acts as a potent neuroprotective agent in multiple retinal degeneration animal models. Recently, CNTF has been evaluated in clinical trials for the inherited degenerative disease retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and for dry agerelated macular degeneration (AMD). Despite its potential as a broad-spectrum therapeutic treatment for blinding diseases, the target cells of exogenous CNTF and its mechanism of action remain poorly understood. We have shown previously that constitutive expression of CNTF prevents photoreceptor death but alters the retinal transcriptome and suppresses visual function. Here, we use a lentivirus to deliver the same secreted human CNTF used in clinical trials to a mouse model of RP. We found that low levels of CNTF halt photoreceptor death, improve photoreceptor morphology, and correct opsin mislocalization. However, we did not detect corresponding improvement of retinal function as measured by the electroretinogram. Disruption of the cytokine receptor gp130 gene in Müller glia reduces CNTF-dependent photoreceptor survival and prevents phosphorylation of STAT3 and ERK in Müller glia and the rest of the retina. Targeted deletion of gp130 in rods also demolishes neuroprotection by CNTF and prevents further activation of Müller glia. Moreover, CNTF elevates the expression of LIF and endothelin 2, thus positively promoting Müller and photoreceptor interactions. We propose that exogenous CNTF initially targets Müller glia, and subsequently induces cytokines acting through gp130 in photoreceptors to promote neuronal survival. These results elucidate a cellular mechanism for exogenous CNTF-triggered neuroprotection and provide insight into the complex cellular responses induced by CNTF in diseased retinas.C iliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) belongs to a small subfamily of cytokines and has long been recognized as a potent neuroprotective molecule in the vertebrate retina (1). Enhancement of photoreceptor survival by CNTF has been demonstrated in multiple animal models of retinal degeneration, ranging from zebrafish to canine (2). Interestingly, CNTF is effective in rescuing retinal degeneration due to various causes, including mutations in genes expressed by photoreceptors or the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), as well as those induced by strong light, neurotoxins, or antibodies. In addition, CNTF prolongs the survival of retinal ganglion cells (3-5) and promotes axonal growth in optic nerve crush or transection models (6-8). Furthermore, CNTF may affect the physiology and survival of RPE cells (9, 10), which are critical in normal vision and retinal degenerative diseases. Based on its significant and broad neuroprotective effects in damaged retinas, a secreted form of human CNTF delivered from an encapsulated cell device has been tested in clinical trials and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and geographic atrophy (GA), a subset of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (11-14). However, despite its clinical signifi...

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This study aims at developing a single numerical measure that represents a depressed patient's individual burden of illness. An exploratory study examined depressed outpatients (n = 317) followed by a hypothesis confirmatory study using the NIMH STAR*D trial (n = 2,967). Eigenvalues/eigenvectors were obtained from the Principal Component Analyses of patient-reported measures of symptom severity, functioning, and quality of life. The study shows that a single principal component labeled as the Individual Burden of Illness Index for Depression (IBI-D) accounts for the vast majority of the variance contained in these three measures providing a numerical z score for clinicians and investigators to determine an individual's burden of illness, relative to other depressed patients.

Background: Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) of the limb has been shown to induce ischemic tolerance in basic and clinical studies that focused on sustained large artery occlusion rather than small vessel disease (SVD). This study aimed to evaluate the protective effects of brief repetitive limb RIPC on patients with cerebral SVD. Methods: Seventeen patients with cerebral SVD were enrolled. Patients underwent 5 ischemia-reperfusion cycles of preconditioning/sham preconditioning on both upper limbs twice a day for 1 year. Cerebral hemodynamic indexes, brain lesions, cognitive functions and assessment outcomes of dizziness handicap inventory (DHI) were analyzed. Results: In the RIPC group, the mean flow velocity (MFV) of the left middle cerebral artery (MCA) was accelerated (57.33 (52.33-61.34) vs. 51.33 (48.83-58.33), respectively; p = 0.038), and the post-treatment DHI score was reduced (18 (13-19) vs. 34 (21-45), respectively; p = 0.043). The post-treatment volume of the white matter lesions (WMLs) was also reduced (4.19 (2.96-7.25) vs. 6.06 (4.67-10.95), respectively; p = 0.050). There was no remarkable difference between the 2 groups either before or after treatment. Conclusion: The present study indicates that RIPC has potential beneficial effects on cerebral SVD by increasing the MFV of MCA, decreasing the DHI score as well as the volume of WMLs in patients with SVD.

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BackgroundAlthough international guideline recommended routine intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring for patients with severe traumatic brain injury(TBI), there were conflicting outcomes attributable to ICP monitoring according to the published studies. Hence, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ICP monitoring in patients with TBI.MethodsBased on previous reviews, PubMed and two Chinese databases (Wangfang and VIP) were further searched to identify eligible studies. The primary outcome was mortality. Secondary outcomes included unfavourable outcome, adverse events, length of ICU stay and length of hospital stay. Weighted mean difference (WMD), odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and pooled using fixed-effects or random-effects model.Resultstwo randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and seven cohort studies involving 11,038 patients met the inclusion criteria. ICP monitoring was not associated with a significant reduction in mortality (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.87–1.54), with substantial heterogeneity (I2 = 80%, P<0.00001), which was verified by the sensitivity analyses. No significant difference was found in the occurrence of unfavourable outcome (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 0.99–1.98; I2 = 4%, P = 0.35) and advese events (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.64–1.70; I2 = 78%, P = 0.03). However, we should be cautious to the result of adverse events because of the substantial heterogeneity in the comparison. Furthermore, longer ICU and hospital stay were the consistent tendency according to the pooled studies.ConclusionsNo benefit was found in patients with TBI who underwent ICP monitoring. Considering substantial clinical heterogeneity, further large sample size RCTs are needed to confirm the current findings.