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Background The objective of the present research was to explore the prevalence, risk, and prognostic factors associated with bone metastases (BM) in newly diagnosed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Material/Methods From 36 507 HCC patients who were registered in Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, we enrolled 1263 with BM at the initial diagnosis of HCC from 2010 to 2014. Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests were used to estimate overall survival for different subgroups. Univariate and multivariate logistic and Cox regression analyses were performed to identify risk factors and independent prognostic factors for BM. Results A total of 1567 (4.29%) HCC patients were detected with BM at initial diagnosis. Male sex, unmarried status, higher T stage, lymph node involvement, intrahepatic metastases, and extrahepatic metastases (lung or brain) were positively associated with BM. The median survival of the patients was 3.00 months (95% CI: 2.77–3.24 months). Marital status and primary tumor surgery were independently associated with the better survival. Conclusions A list of factors associated with BM occurrence and the prognosis of the advanced HCC patients with BM were found. These associated factors may provide a reference for BM screening in HCC and guide prophylactic treatment in clinical settings.

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The invasion of the muscularis propria is defined as T2 stage in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Evidence is lacking regarding whether the T2 substage based on anatomy may serve as a prognostic indicator. This study aims to confirm the prognostic value of the T2 substage. The clinicopathological characteristics of 120 patients who had pathologically verified T2 tumors between 2006 and 2011 at the Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital were retrospectively studied. Based on the invasion depth, tumors that had penetrated the circular muscle layer were defined as T2a, while T2b disease referred to those that had invaded the longitudinal muscle layer. Factors potentially related to survival were analyzed with univariate and multivariate analyses. The logistic regression model was used to examine the factors associated with lymph node metastasis. To verify the prognostic value of the T2 substage further, patients with T1b and T3 stage disease during the same period were selected for comparisons. The univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that the T2 substage and N stage were independent prognostic factors. The T2 substage was highly relevant to lymph node metastasis in the logistic regression model (P = 0.044). When T1b and T3 was considered, the survival of T2a patients was closer to that of T1b patients, while the survival of T2b patients was closer to that of T3 disease (P = 0.000). The T2 substage was an independent prognostic factor. Patients with T2a tumors displayed a favorable survival, while the prognosis of T2b patients was closer to that of T3 patients.

Two-dimensional (2D) ternary compounds (2DTCs) have attracted intensive attention due to the new degree of freedom of modulating physical and chemical properties. However, the controllable synthesis of 2DTCs still remains a great challenge impeding further research and applications. Here, for the first time, ultrathin (≈7.4 nm) ε-CaTe 2 O 5 flakes with high anisotropy are obtained by a chemical vapor deposition method using soda-lime glass as the capture substrate. The molten glass adsorbs Te vapor in the gas flow to its surface, which reacts with CaO in the molten substrate leading to the precipitation of ε-CaTe 2 O 5 . Interestingly, ε-CaTe 2 O 5 flakes display highly anisotropic band structures and optical properties. Furthermore, low-temperature electrical measurements show that the metal-semiconductor/ insulator transition of ε-CaTe 2 O 5 is exhibited at about 130 K, and optical phonon assisted hopping of small polarons becomes dominant within the temperature range of 130-300 K. Employing soda-lime glass as the capture substrate may provide a new approach for the synthesis of 2DTCs.freedom endows 2DTCs novel physical and chemical properties such as the tunable band gap and variable crystal structure, which may lead to great applications in electronics and optoelectronics. As an important member of 2DTCs, CaTe 2 O 5 has excellent ionic conductivity, [14,15] ferroelastic [16] and optical properties. [17] Owing to the special electronic configuration of tellurium (VI), its electron lone pair will trigger several coordination and unusual structures. Furthermore, the in-plane low symmetric structure may lead to some interesting phenomena such as anisotropic optical and electrical properties. However, there are few reports on 2D CaTe 2 O 5 structures to the best of our knowledge, thus their optical and electrical properties remain unexplored. The synthesis of 2D CaTe 2 O 5 is a huge challenge due to the coexisting hybrid phases in the products such as α, β, γ, ε, δ-phases. [18,19] Thus it is highly desirable to explore an effective way to realize the controllable synthesis of 2D CaTe 2 O 5 structures, which may promote its applications in electronics and optoelectronics.In this work, for the first time, ultrathin (≈7.4 nm) ε-CaTe 2 O 5 flakes are realized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method using soda-lime glass as the trapping substrate. The band structure of ε-CaTe 2 O 5 shows different strain-dependence along three directions (a, b, and c axes). The angle-resolved polarized Raman spectra indicate strong in-plane anisotropy in the ε-CaTe 2 O 5 flakes, and the Raman peaks at 124 cm −1 decrease linearly with increasing temperature. Impressively, low-temperature electrical measurements show metal-semiconductor/ insulator transition of ε-CaTe 2 O 5 at about 130 K. These characterizations prove the high anisotropy of ε-CaTe 2 O 5 indicating promising applications in novel electronics and optoelectronics. Results and DiscussionUltrathin, single-crystalline ε-CaTe 2 O 5 flakes were synthesized by CVD method, empl...