Astrocyte elevated gene 1 (AEG-1), a novel oncoprotein, has been implicated in oncogenesis and cancer progression in various types of human cancers. The clinical significance and biological role of AEG-1 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), however, remain unclear. In the present study, we found that the expression of AEG-1 was markedly up-regulated in NSCLC cell lines and NSCLC tissues at the level of both transcription and translation. Ectopically expressed AEG-1 enhanced the migratory and invasive abilities of NSCLC cells, whereas knockdown of endogenous AEG-1 by specific shRNAs significantly inhibited these abilities. The function of AEG-1 on metastasis modulation was associated with the activation of the PI3K-Akt and NF-kappaB signalling pathways. Furthermore, we showed high expression of AEG-1 in 99/200 (49.5%) paraffin-embedded archival NSCLC specimens. Moreover, statistical analysis displayed a significant correlation in AEG-1 expression with the clinical stage (p < 0.001), T classification (p = 0.001), N classification (p = 0.015), distant metastasis (p = 0.004) and differentiation (p = 0.027). Patients with higher AEG-1 expression had an overall shorter survival time, whereas patients with lower expression of AEG-1 had a better survival time. Multivariate analysis suggested that AEG-1 expression might be an independent prognostic indicator for the survival of NSCLC patients. Taken together, our results suggest that elevated expression of AEG-1 plays an important role in the aggressiveness of NSCLC, leading to a poor clinical outcome.

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To compare the diagnostic performance of the Ovarian-Adnexal Reporting and Data System (O-RADS), the risk of malignancy index 4 (RMI4), the International Ovarian of Tumor Analysis logistic regression model 2 (IOTA LR2) and IOTA simple rule (IOTA SR) in predicting the malignancy of adnexal masses (AMs).Methods: This was a retrospective study of 575 women with AMs between 2017 and 2020. All clinical messages, ultrasound images, and pathological findings were collected. Two senior doctors (Group I) and two junior doctors (Group II) used the four systems to classify AMs. The postoperative pathological diagnosis was used as the gold standard to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency. Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to test the diagnostic performance.The interrater agreement between the two groups was tested by the kappa value.Results: Of all 592 AMs, 447 (75.5%) tumors were benign, 123 (20.8%) were malignant, and 22 (3.7%) were borderline. The intergroup consistency test yielded kappa values of 0.71, 0.92, 0.68 and 0.77 for the O-RADS, RMI4, IOTA LR2 and IOTA SR, respectively. To predict malignant lesions, the areas under the curve of the O-RADS, RMI4, IOTA LR2 and IOTA SR systems were 0.90, 0.89, 0.90 and 0.86 for Group I and 0.89, 0.87, 0.88 and 0.84 for Group II, respectively. The O-RADS had the highest sensitivity of 91.0% in Group I and 84.8% in Group II. Conclusion:The four diagnostic systems could compensate for junior doctors' inexperience in predicting malignant adnexal lesions. The O-RADS performed best with the highest sensitivity.

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Introduction and hypothesis The objective was to describe the behaviour of the bladder neck and proximal urethra during urine leaking in the cough stress test (CST) in supine and standing positions using transperineal ultrasound (TPUS). Method We carried out prospective data collection and a retrospective data analysis of 102 women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) who had a positive CST with TPUS in the supine and/or standing position. On TPUS, the behaviour of the bladder neck and proximal urethra was described by the urethral length, urethral funnelling, bladder neck descent (BND), retrovesical angle (RVA) and urethral rotation angle (URA). Differences between the ultrasound findings in the two positions were evaluated. Results In the 102 women, the mean age was 48 years and mean BMI was 23.8 kg/m 2. On TPUS, urine leakage was detected in the supine or standing position in 102 women and in both positions in 81. Between the two positions, significant differences were found in the URA and RVA. In the standing position, the median RVA of 166°was significantly larger than that of 133°in the supine position (p < 0.001), and the median URA of 35°was significantly smaller than that of 64°in the supine position (p < 0.001). Conclusions TPUS in both positions can be used to detect the real-time behaviour of the bladder neck and urethra in the CST. In the standing position, less rotation and more straightening of the bladder neck and proximal urethra occurred during urine leakage.

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