Purpose: Depression is common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and is correlated with the severity of motor deficits and quality of life. The present study aimed to investigate alterations in the structural brain network related to depression in Parkinson's disease (d-PD) and their correlations with structural impairments of white matter (WM).Materials and Methods: Data were acquired from the Parkinson Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) database. A total of 84 de novo and drug-naïve PD patients were screened and classified into two groups according to the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15): d-PD (n = 28) and nondepression in PD (nd-PD, n = 56). Additionally, 37 healthy controls (HC) were screened. All subjects underwent DTI and 3D-T1WI on a 3.0 T MR scanner. Individual structural brain networks were constructed and analyses were performed using graph theory and network-based statistics (NBS) at both global and local levels. Differences in global topological properties were explored among the three groups. The association models between node and edge changes and the GDS-15 were constructed to detect regions that were specifically correlated with d-PD. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) was used to detect structural impairments of WM between the d-PD and nd-PD groups. The correlations between altered global topological properties and structural impairments were analyzed in the d-PD group.Results: The global efficiency and characteristic path length of the structural brain network were impaired in the d-PD group compared with those in the nd-PD and HC groups. Thirteen nodes and 1 subnetwork with 10 nodes and 12 edges specifically correlated with d-PD were detected. The left hippocampus, left parahippocampal, left lingual, left middle occipital, left inferior occipital, left fusiform, left middle temporal, and left inferior temporal regions were all involved in the results of node and edge analysis. No WM microstructural impairments were identified in the d-PD group.Conclusion: Our study suggests that the integration of the structural brain network is impaired with disrupted connectivity of limbic system and visual system in the de novo and drug-naïve d-PD patients.The topological properties assessing integration of the structural brain network can serve as a potential objective neuroimaging marker for early diagnosis of d-PD.

Objectives. Lung cancer is a common malignant tumor with high morbidity and mortality rate. Lung cancer stem cells are crucial in the development of lung cancer. In this study, we investigate WD repeat-containing protein 72 (WDR72) on lung cancer cell stemness and explore its underlying mechanism. Methods. WDR72 expression was investigated in lung cancer tissues and lung cancer stem cells by Western blot and RT-qPCR. The stemness of lung cancer stem cells was verified by the sphere-forming experiment and the abundance of stem cell markers. For the purpose of determining lung cancer stem cell growth, metastasis, and apoptosis, the CCK-8 assay, colony formation, Transwell migration, and flow cytometry were carried out. The ability of tumorigenesis in vivo was explored by xenograft tumor mouse models. Results. Up-regulation of WDR72 was found in lung cancer tissues and lung cancer stem cells. WDR72 overexpression significantly activated the AKT/HIF-1α signaling pathway. Application of PI3K/AKT pathway inhibitor LY29004 was able to counteract the impacts of WDR72 upregulation on genes related to stemness, growth, migration, and apoptosis in lung cancer stem cells. The sphere formation of lung cancer stem cells was significantly diminished after inhibiting the AKT/HIF-1α pathway. The promotion of WDR72 overexpression on lung cancer stem cell proliferation and metastasis was also eliminated by LY29004 treatment. Conclusion. WDR72 activates the AKT/HIF-1α signaling pathway to enhance the stemness of lung cancer stem cells and promote the growth and metastasis of lung cancer.

Hypertriglyceridemic waist phenotype (HTWP) and its quantitative indicator, waist circumference-triglyceride index (WTI), are common quantitative indices of visceral obesity and are closely related to metabolic diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between fatty pancreas (FP) and HTWP in China. FP was diagnosed using trans-abdominal ultrasonography in all participants. According to the waist circumference and serum triglyceride levels, the participants were divided into four phenotype groups: normal waist circumference-normal triglyceride, normal waist circumference-elevated triglyceride, elevated waist circumference-normal triglyceride, and elevated waist circumference-elevated triglyceride (indicating HTWP). Clinical characteristics and biochemical indices were compared among the groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the utility of WTI as a reference factor for FP screening. The HTWP group had a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome (84.2%), FP (10.4%), fatty liver (64.5%), and hypertension (15.8%) than the other three phenotype groups. The occurrence rate of HTWP and the median WTI were significantly higher in participants with FP than in those without FP (54.7% vs 21.0%, 222 ± 135 vs 142 ± 141, p < 0.001). In the ROC curve analysis, when the maximum area under the curve was 0.746, the WTI was 107.09 and the corresponding sensitivity and specificity were 90.6% and 51.9%, respectively. HTWP is closely associated with FP and can be used as a reference factor for FP screening.

Departmental sources Background: There is little information in the literature available on lung adenosquamous carcinoma (LASC). The association between tumor location and survival outcomes in LASC is poorly understood. Our study was designed to probe the effect of tumor location on survival outcomes of LASC. Material/Methods: Patients with LASC between 2004 and 2015 were identified using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) databases. The patients were divided into 2 groups, a main bronchus group and a peripheral group, according to their primary sites. The Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method was used to reduce possible bias between groups. The primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). Results: A total of 3176 patients, afflicted with LASC between 2004 and 2015, were extracted from the SEER databases. Of these, 212 patients were found to be eligible for analysis after a propensity 1: 1 nearest neighbor matched analysis. After PSM, multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that primary site, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage, T stage and surgery were independent predictors of LASC in both OS and CSS. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that patients with LASC located in a peripheral site had better survival outcomes than those with LASC located in the main bronchus. In subgroup analysis, the advantages of tumor located in a peripheral site were more pronounced in female patients and AJCC stage I patients. Conclusions: Tumor location may have an impact on the survival outcomes of patients with LASC. Patients with LASC located in a peripheral site had better survival outcomes than patients with LASC located in the main bronchus, particularly in female patients and AJCC stage I patients.

Sarcosine has been shown to be a new biomarker for prostate cancer that is superior to prostate-specific antigen (PSA). By detecting the concentration of sarcosine in the human body, accurate screening and diagnosis of prostate cancer can be achieved in clinical practice. However, the sarcosine level is extremely low in human serum or urine, and accurate detection of sarcosine concentration is difficult. More work is needed to prepare sarcosine biosensors with good anti-interference performance. Here, we prepared a sarcosine biosensor using a highly electrocatalytically active nanocomposite comprising platinum/carbon nitride (Pt/g-C3N4) as the electrode modification material. The porous lamellar graphite phase carbon nitride (g-C3N4) prevents the agglomeration of Pt nanoparticles and keeps the Pt nanoparticles in a highly dispersed state. The constructed sarcosine biosensor achieves high sensitivity and can selectively detect low concentrations of sarcosine. Its linear detection range is 2-70 μM, and the limit of detection (LOD) is 0.8 μM (S/N=3). The prepared sarcosine biosensor shows relatively good performance in terms of resistance to interference caused by electroactive substances and provides the potential to be applied in serum for accurate detection of sarcosine.

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Purpose: To create an effective survival nomogram for patients with primary gastric mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma (GML).Methods. All data of patients with primary GML from 2004 to 2015 were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Based on the LASSO and COX regression, we created and further verified the accuracy and effectiveness of the survival nomogram model by the concordance index (C-index), calibration curve and time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (td-ROC) curves.Results. A total of 2604 patients diagnosed with primary GML were selected for this study. A total of 1823 and 781 people were randomly distributed into the training and testing sets at a ratio of 7:3. The median follow-up of all patients was 71 months, and the 3- and 5-year OS rates were 87.2% and 79.8%, respectively. Age, sex, race, Ann Arbor stage and radiation were independent risk factors for OS of primary GML (all p<0.05). The C-index values of the nomogram were 0.751 (95% CI: 0.729-0.773) and 0.718 (95% CI: 0.680-0.757) in the training and testing cohorts, respectively, showing the good discrimination ability of the nomogram model. Td-ROC curves and calibration plots also indicated satisfactory predictive power and good agreement of the model. Overall, the nomogram shows favorable performance in discriminating and predicting the OS of patients with primary GML.Conclusions. A nomogram was developed and validated to have good survival predictive performance based on five clinical independent risk factors for OS for patients with primary GML. Nomograms are a low-cost and convenient clinical tool in assessing individualized prognosis and treatment for patients with primary GML.

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