Background MicroRNAs have been implicated in many biological pathways involved in tumourigenesis and can serve as prognostic biomarkers in many cancer types. The present study aims at evaluating the prognostic significance of miR-425-5p in cervical cancer. Methods Real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to assess the expression levels of miR-425-5p in 35 pairs of cervical cancer tissues and their matched normal tissues as well as serum samples from 40 cervical cancer patients, 13 benign cervical disease patients and 32 healthy controls. The association between miR-425-5p expression levels in tissue and serum, and clinicopathological factors was examined. The correlation between serum miR-425-5p expression levels and overall survival of cervical cancer patients was assessed by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards model. Results MiR-425-5p expression levels were significantly increased in cervical cancer tissues compared with matched non-cancerous tissues. Higher expression of miR-425-5p was positively associated with high tumour stage ( P = 0.0003) and positive lymph node metastasis ( P = 0.0107). Serum concentrations of miR-425-5p in cervical cancer patients were significantly higher compared with benign cervical disease and healthy controls. Moreover, the up-regulation of serum miR-425-5p occurred more frequently in cervical cancer patients with high TNM stage ( P = 0.0003) and positive lymph node metastasis ( P = 0.0037). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that high serum miR-425-5p expression levels predicted poor survival ( P = 0.0571). Cox proportional hazards risk analysis demonstrated that miR-425-5p was an independent prognostic factor for cervical cancer. Conclusion Our study suggests that miR-425-5p is up-regulated in cervical cancer and serum miR-425-5p may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker for cervical cancer.

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The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of high versus low progesterone (P4) during the pre-dominance or dominance phase (or both) of ovulatory follicle development on follicular dynamics and fertility of lactating dairy cows. Progesterone (P4) was manipulated to reach high (H) or low (L) serum concentrations during the pre-dominance phase (d 0 to 4 of the wave) and dominance phase (d 5 to 7 of the wave) of a second follicular wave ovulatory follicle, creating 4 treatments: H/H, H/L, L/H, and L/L. Luteolysis was induced with PGF on d 7 of the wave and ovulation was induced with GnRH 56 h after PGF. Cows (n = 558) received artificial insemination (AI) 16 h following GnRH. Pregnancy was determined at 6 intervals during gestation and at calving to quantify pregnancy loss beginning at d 23 post-AI utilizing pregnancy-specific protein B (PSPB) in novel within-cow comparisons. Cows with single ovulations assigned to the L/L treatment had greater pre-ovulatory follicle diameter compared with cows assigned to the L/H or H/L treatments. Cows with single ovulations had greater pre-ovulatory follicle diameter compared with cows with double ovulations. Low P4 in H/L, L/H, and L/L increased double ovulation rate compared with H/H. Cows with double ovulations had greater pregnancies per AI (P/AI) on d 23 post-AI compared with cows with single ovulations but had greater losses if ovulations were unilateral. Cows with low P4 during the entire period of the ovulatory follicle development also had greater P/AI on d 23 post-AI compared with cows with high P4 during both phases. However, full-term P/AI was not different between treatments. This was a result of the greater incidence of pregnancy losses between d 35 and 56 of gestation for cows with unilateral double ovulations compared with bilateral double ovulations and single ovulatory cows. Cows with single ovulation and low circulating P4 during the dominance period of follicle development had increased pregnancy losses between d 35 and 56 of gestation compared with cows with single ovulations and high P4. The PSPB measurements on d 16 and 23 post-AI were highly accurate in the prediction of pregnancy at d 28. The PSPB differed on d 23 and 28 between cows that had versus cows that did not have pregnancy losses between d 28 and 35 of gestation. In summary, circulating concentrations of P4 during ovulatory follicle development affected numbers of follicles ovulated and timing of subsequent pregnancy losses.

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The early diagnosis of blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) is of great clinical significance for prognostication and treatment. Here, we report a new strategy for early bTBI diagnosis through serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) based on terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). The spectral differences of serum and CSF for different degrees of experimental bTBI in rats have been demonstrated in the early period. In addition, the THz spectra of total protein in the hypothalamus and hippocampus were investigated at different time points after blast exposure, which both showed clear differences with time increasing compared with that in the normal brain. This might help to explain the neurological symptoms caused by bTBI. Moreover, based on the THz absorption spectra of serum and CSF, the principal component analysis and machine learning algorithms were performed to automatically identify the degree of bTBI. The highest diagnostic accuracy was up to 95.5%. It is suggested that this method has potential as an alternative method for high-sensitive, rapid, label-free, economical and early diagnosis of bTBI.

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Background: The significance of uncommon epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and brain metastasis (BM) remains unclear. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) liquid biopsy is a novel tool for assessing EGFR mutations in BM. This study aimed to evaluate the EGFR mutations in patients with NSCLC and newly diagnosed BM and to examine the effect of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) on BM harboring CSF-tested uncommon EGFR mutations. Methods: This was a prospective study of 21 patients with NSCLC and BM diagnosed between 04/2018 and 01/2019. CSF was obtained to detect the BM EGFR mutations by next-generation sequencing. BM characteristics at magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and EGFR-TKI response were examined. Results: Of 21 patients with NSCLC, 10 (47.6%) had leptomeningeal metastasis (LM), while 11 (52.4%) had brain parenchymal metastasis (BPM); 13 (61.9%) had confirmed EGFR mutation-positive primary tumors. The uncommon mutation rate in CSF ctDNA was 33.3% (7/21). Among those with EGFR mutation-positive primary tumors, the rate of uncommon EGFR mutations in CSF was 53.8% (7/13). Uncommon EGFR mutations were more common in patients with LM than in patients with PBM (6/11, 54.5% vs. 1/10, 10%), and included G719A, L861Q, L703P, and G575R. TKI was effective for four patients with BMs harboring uncommon EGFR mutations. Conclusion: In patients with NSCLC and LM, the rate of uncommon EGFR mutation was high. The BMs with uncommon EGFR mutations seem to respond to EGFR-TKI treatment. CSF liquid biopsy could reveal the EGFR genetic profile of the BM and help guide treatment using small-molecule TKI.

The attenuated total reflection spectroscopy system with the Si container attached on the prism has been demonstrated as an efficient technique to obtain the dielectric properties of living cells in the THz range. We proposed a method to determine the dielectric responses of living cells based on the combination of the single-interface and two-interface ATR models without cell thickness. The experimental results for living glial-like cells (PC12, SVG P12 and HMO6) showed the dielectric responses in the THz region were related significantly to cell number, intracellular fluid, and cell structure. Moreover, the glioma cells (C6 and U87) exhibited different dielectric properties compared with the glial-like cells, which could be one reason for the glioma tissue diagnosis using THz wave.