Preoperative α1-adrenoceptor antagonist has no benefit in maintaining intraoperative hemodynamic stability in patients with normotensive pheochromocytoma. It may increase the use of vasoactive drugs and colloid infusion.

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Background The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading worldwide with an uncertain ultimate impact on every aspect of human society. Recognizing the groups with higher susceptibility and fatality are in urgent need. Methods We retrieved the total number of confirmed incident and death cases of COVID-19 in 177 countries/territories from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Data of age and gender composition were collected from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Spearman's correlation analysis was used to explore the association between the composition of age and gender and the incidence rate (IRC), case fatality rate (CFRC), and mortality rate of COVID-19 (MRC). Multiple comparisons were adjusted by the Bonferroni method, and the threshold p-value was set as p < 0.01. Software SPSS 23.0, ArcGIS Dingtao Hu and Xiaoqi Lou contributed equally to this work and should be considered as co-first authors. Data availability statement Data is available to authorized users.

Background and Aims This updated meta-analysis aimed to further quantify the risk of endometrial, ovarian, and breast cancer in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), thus providing updated and more reliable estimates. Methods and Results We identified relevant articles by searching electronic databases of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Chinese Biological Medical Literature (CBM) published up to March 20, 2021. The pooled effect estimates and their 95% confidence intervals ( CIs) were calculated using the random-effect model or the fixed-effect model. A total of 26 eligible studies were included. We found that PCOS was significantly associated with endometrial cancer (odds ratios [ OR]: 3.66, 95% CI: 2.05–6.54, P < 0.001), but not with ovarian or breast cancer ( OR: 1.23, 95% CI: 0.99–1.53, P = 0.059; OR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.78–1.14, P = 0.551, respectively). However, in subgroups of high-quality studies, cohort studies, younger women (54 years or less or premenopausal), and studies with unadjusted body mass index (BMI), PCOS patients had a significantly higher risk of ovarian cancer. Conclusion These results indicated that PCOS is a significant risk factor for endometrial cancer independent of BMI, but not for breast cancer. PCOS may increase the risk of ovarian cancer in younger women.

Introduction The early diagnosis and detection could greatly improve the clinical outcome of gastric cancer (GC) patients. However, the non-invasive biomarkers for GC detection remain to be identified. Method We used online databases (GEPIA, UALCAN, Kaplan-Meier plotter, TIMER, and MEXPRESS) to explore the association between H19 or metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) expression in tissues and the occurrence, development, prognosis, the levels of immune cell infiltration, and methylation of GC; the correlation between mRNA expression and DNA methylation levels of genes were also examined. Methylation levels of H19 or MALAT1 in peripheral blood were compared between 150 GC patients and 100 healthy controls (HCs). Predictive nomograms were constructed among female and male groups for GC diagnosis. The calibration curves, Hosmer–Lemeshow test, and decision curve analysis were also used to examine the nomograms’ predictive ability and clinical values. Results Using multiple online databases, we found that the mRNA expressions of H19 and MALAT1 in tissues were related to the occurrence of GC, and such expressions were associated with immune cell infiltration of GC and negatively correlated with DNA methylation levels of H19 and MALAT1. H19 gene, H19C island, and MALAT1B island, as well as 20 CpG sites were hypermethylated in peripheral blood of GC patients compared with HCs; similar results were also found in female and male groups ( P < .05 for all). The combination of H19c3, H19c4, MALAT1b12, and age, as well as the combination of H19b7, H19c1, H19c5, and age in the nomograms could distinguish GC patients from HCs in the female group and male group, respectively. Conclusion We found statistically significant hypermethylation of H19 and MALAT1 promoters in GC patients, and meaningful sensitivity and specificity of MALAT1 and H19 methylation in discriminating GC and HCs were observed in both female and male groups, which indicates that the peripheral blood-based DNA methylation of H19 and MALAT1 could act as potential non-invasive biomarkers for the diagnosis of GC.