Objective To study the role of esophageal dynamic double contrast radiography(DDCR) in diagnosing early esophageal carcinoma(EEC).Methods The patients with clinical suspected EEC underwent conventional double contrast radiography(CDCR) and DDCR using digital fluoroscopic imaging unit.The radiographic materials including CDCR and DDCR in 40 cases of EEC proved by endoscopy or pathologic histology were analyzed by a blind study,and the reliability of CDCR and DDCR was evaluated.Results The major findings of EEC included the mucosal irregularity and tortuous,small niches and filling defect,the soft and expansive extent of esophageal wall reduced or disappeared.In showing the esophageal function,DDCR was significantly superior to CDCR(?~2=4.50,?

Objective To explore the imaging characteristics of testicular germ cell tumors and to improve the MRI diagnostic level. Methods MRI and clinical data of 25 cases confirmed testicular germ cell tumor by pathological examination were retrospectively analyzed. All the 25 cases were performed plain scan of MRI,and 16 patients underwent MRI enhanced scan.The size,morphology,signal intensity, adjacent structures,enhancement figure and tumor supplying artery were assessed and the histopathological findings were servered as the standard of reference.Results In the all 25 testicular germ cell tumors,10 cases were seminoma,8 cases showed homogeneous low signal intensity,2 cases of seminoma were low signal intensity on T2 WI,furthermore 5 cases performed poor nodular enhance-ment,2 cases performed homogeneous enhancement,4 cases performed fibrous septa enhancement.4 cases were yolk sac tumor ap-peared equal-low signal on T1 WI,slightly high signal intensity on T2 WI and progressive enhancement.Mature teratoma,pidermoid cyst and mixed germ cell tumor were 3 cases respectively,the MRI demonstrated mixed low signal intensity on T1 WI and mixed high signal on T2 WI.2 cases were embryonal carcinoma demonstrated middle-low signal intensity on T1 WI,and mixed low signal intensity on T2 WI.The two cases revealed bleeding signal intensity and septa enhancement.Conclusion MRI can be used to diagnose germ cell tumors with high accuracy,and provides essential information for pathological type,stage and differential diagnosis.

Objective To evaluate the quality of Isatidis Radix from different ecotypes by using projection pursuit model. Methods Totally 11 batches of Isatidis Radix from different ecotypes in Gansu Province were used as evaluation samples. With the contents of epigoitrin, uridine, guanosine, adenosine, benzoic acid, salicylic acid, indigo, indirubin, and alcohol extract as evaluating indexes, combined with projection pursuit model established by DPS V 9.50 statistics software, the quality of Isatidis Radix was evaluated. Results Based on the evalution of nine main indexes, quality order of the 11 batches of Isatidis Radix was acquired: S2>S1>S9>S7>S8>S3>S5>S10>S11>S4>S6. Conclusion The projection pursuit model was available for the quality evaluation of different ecotype Isatidis Radix. The quality of Isatidis Radix from different ecotypes is different significantly, and the quality of tetraploid Isatidis Radix of Shijiazhuang is the best.

A label-free electrochemical immunosensor using hollow structure nanomaterials based on its ordered porous and big surface area was designed. Au nanocage, with good conductivity, catalysis, and biocompatibility, was prepared and modified on the surface of glassy carbon electrode with graphene to immobilize antibody of microcystin directly. In the absence of microcystin, biosensor can obtain high current response signal of electrochemical probe ( [ Fe( CN) 6 ] 3-/4-. When microcystin was combined with its antibody specifically, the charge density and mass transfer resistance on the surface of electrode increased, resulting in a decrease of the corresponding peak current of [ Fe ( CN ) 6 ] 3-/4-. This change was in proportion to the concentration of microcystin indirectly. Experiment conditions such as cultivation time of antigen and concentration of antibody were optimized. The results showed wide linear range of 0. 05 μg/L-1. 0 mg/L and the detection limit of 0. 017 ng/mL. This sensor has good stability and simple production procedure. This sensor provides a new and simple means for the ultrasensitive determination of microcystins in real water samples.

Objective To prospectively determine the feasibility of high-resolution in vivo MR imaging in the evaluation of esophageal carcinoma invasion at 3.0 T.Methods One hundred and eighteen patients with esophageal carcinoma,proven by the gastroscopic biopsy,were prospectively studied using 3.0 T MR.The esophageal specimens were sectioned transversely to keep consistent in the orientation with the MR images,the histopathological stage was made and the thickness of the tumor on the largest diameter of the slice were measured.The MR images were reviewed in the transverse plane.According to the seventh American joint committee on cancer,the MR stage was made and the tumor's thickness was measured.The MR images and the histopathological slices were matched.The staging diagnostic efficacy of the MR imaging was evaluated with the histopathological results as the standard reference,Kappa test was used to compare the stage of MR imaging with that at the histopathological analysis.Bland-Altman scatterplots were used to compare the thickness of tumor measured on the MR images with that at the histopathological measurement.Results Ninety seven cases(82.2％,97/118) of MR stage were accurately made,including 7 T1a,15 T1b,18 T2,25 T3 and 32 T4a cases,furthermore,14 cases were over staged and 7 cased were underestimated.The MR stage was highly consistent with the histopathological stage (Kappa=0.772).The sensitivity for the staging of high-resolution MR imaging at 3.0 T was 58.3％(7/12) to 100.0％(32/32),the specificity was 95.3％ (82/86) to 98.1％ (104/106),and the accuracy was 91.5％ (108/118) to 96.6％ (114/118),respectively.Bland-Altman scatterplots demonstrated that the discrepancy of the mean thickness between the value obtained by three radiologists respectively and the histopathological analysis were 2.0,2.6 and 2.1 mm,which demonstrated a good consistency.Conclusion High-resolution MR images obtained at 3.0 T can be used to evaluate the depth of carcinoma invasion and provide excellent diagnostic accuracy for preoperative staging.

Objective:To investigate the influencing factors for microvascular invasion (MVI) in hepatocellular carcinoma based on three-dimensional visualization and the construction of its nomogram model.Methods:The retrospective cohort study method was conducted. The clinico-pathological data of 190 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who were admitted to Henan University People′s Hospital from May 2018 to May 2021 were collected. There were 148 males and 42 females, aged (58±12)years. The 190 patients were randomly divided into the training set of 133 cases and the validation set of 57 cases by the method of random number table in the ratio of 7:3. The abdominal three-dimensional visualization system was used to characterize the tumor morphology and other imaging features. Observation indicators: (1) analysis of influencing factors for MVI in hepatocellular carcinoma; (2) construction and evaluation of nomogram model of MVI in hepatocellular carcinoma. Measurement data with normal distribution were expressed as Mean± SD, and independent sample t test was used for comparison between groups. Measurement data with skewed distribution were expressed as M( Q1, Q3), and non-parametric rank sum test was used for comparison between groups. Count data were expressed as absolute numbers, and the chi-square test was used for comparison between groups. Corresponding statistical methods were used for univariate analysis. Binary Logistic regression model was used for multivariate analysis. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted, and the nomogram model was assessed by area under the curve (AUC), calibration curve, and decision curve. Results:(1) Analysis of influencing factors for MVI in hepatocellular carcinoma. Among 190 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, there were 97 cases of positive MVI (including 63 cases in the training set and 34 cases in the validation set) and 93 cases of negative MVI (including 70 cases in the training set and 23 cases in the validation set). Results of multivariate analysis showed that alpha-fetoprotein, vascular endothelial growth factor, tumor volume, the number of tumors, and tumor morphology were independent factors affecting the MVI of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma ( odds ratio=5.06, 3.62, 1.00, 2.02, 2.59, 95% confidence interval as 1.61-15.90, 1.28-10.20, 1.00-1.01, 1.02-3.98, 1.03-6.52, P<0.05). (2) Construction and evaluation of nomogram model of MVI in hepatocellular carcinoma. The results of multivariate analysis were incorporated to construct a nomogram prediction model for MVI of hepatocellular carcinoma. ROC curves showed that the AUC of the training set of nomogram model was 0.85 (95% confidence interval as 0.79-0.92), the optimal fractional cutoff based on the Jordon′s index was 0.51, the sensitivity was 0.71, and the specificity was 0.84. The above indicators of validation set were 0.92 (95% confidence interval as 0.85-0.99), 0.50, 0.90, and 0.82, respectively. The higher total score of the training set suggested a higher risk of MVI in hepatocellular carcinoma. The calibration curves of both training and validation sets of nomogram model fitted well with the standard curves and have a high degree of calibration. The decision curve showed a high net gain of nomogram model. Conclusions:Alpha-fetoprotein, vascular endothelial growth factor, tumor volume, the number of tumors, and tumor morphology are independent influencing factors for MVI in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. A nomogram model constructed based on three-dimensional visualized imaging features can predict MVI in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective:To investigate the value of serum miR-143 level combined with MRI in predicting the early response to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in cervical cancer.Methods:A total of 85 patients with pathologically confirmed cervical cancer underwent conventional MRI, intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging (IVIM-DWI), and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) before CCRT. The biopsy tissues and serum samples were collected. The differential expression of miRNA in the biopsy tissues was determined by microarray chip. The expression level of miR-143 in the serum samples was analyzed by qRT-PCR. All patients were divided into the non-residual and residual tumor groups according to post-treatment MRI. Pre-treatment clinical factors, MRI parameters and miR-143 between two groups were statistically analyzed by the univariate and multivariate analyses. The optimal thresholds and predictive performance for post-treatment incidence of residual tumors were estimated by drawing the ROC curve.Results:At one month after CCRT, there were 52 patients in the non-residual tumor group and 33 patients in the residual tumor group. In the residual tumor group, pre-treatment FIGO staging, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), D and V e were significantly higher (all P<0.05), whereas K trans value was significantly lower ( P<0.001) when compared to those in the non-residual tumor group. The miRNA array analysis showed that there were 16 miRNAs with differential expression levels between two groups (all P<0.05). Among them, the increase of miR-143 was the most significant in the residual tumor group. Compared with the residual tumor group, the expression level of serum miR-143 was significantly down-regulated in the non-residual tumor group ( P=0.002). Compared with the SiHa cells, the expression level of miR-143 in the SiHa-R cells was significantly up-regulated ( P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that only miR-143, D, K trans and V e were the independent prognostic factors. The combination of multi-parametric MRI and miR-143 exhibited the highest predictive performance (AUC=0.975), with a sensitivity of 84.8% and a specificity of 96.2%. Conclusion:The combination of multi-parametric MRI with miR-143 further improves the predictive performance for residual tumors after CCRT, which contributes to the personalized treatment of cervical cancer.

BACKGROUND: Flubendazole is an anthelmintic and categorized in benzimidazole. Previous evidence indicates its suppression on proliferation of colon cancer and breast cancer cells. Our study aims to explore the effects of flubendazole on non-small cell lung cancer A549 and H460 cell lines and the underlying mechanism. METHODS: CCK-8 assay was used to detect the effect of flubendazole at different concentrations on viability of both cell lines A549 and H460. We used western blot to detect the expression levels of autophagy-related proteins p62 and LC3 after flubendazole treatment. Cells were transfected with tandem fluorescent adenovirus (mRFP-GFP-LC3), and the impact of flubendazole treatment on autophagic flux were analyzed. RESULTS: Cell viability analysis showed a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on proliferation of both A549 and H460, comparing to cells without flubendazole treating (P<0.001). Level of p62 decreased and LC3 II/I ratio increased in cells treated with 2 μmol/L flubendazole for 24 h and 48 h, compared to control groups (P<0.005). Red fluorescence signals increased in mRFP-GFP-LC3 transfected cells after flubendazole treating, suggesting an elevation in autophagic flux. CONCLUSIONS Flubendazole may inhibit the proliferation of A549 and H460 cells and promote autophagy.

Objective To investigate the effect of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) LNC01309 on the proliferation and migration abilities of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and its mechanism of action. Methods HCC samples and corresponding adjacent tissue samples were collected from 12 patients with HCC who underwent surgical treatment in The Sixth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from February 2018 to June 2019, and quantitative real-time PCR was used to measure the relative expression level of LNC01309. Quantitative real-time PCR was also used to measure the expression level of LNC01309 in human hepatoma cell lines (HepG2, SNU-398, and Hep3B) and the human immortalized normal liver cell line THLE-2. After LNC01309 was overexpressed in HepG2 cells, the cells were divided into plasmid control group (pEXP-control) and overexpression group (pEXP-LNC01309). CCK-8 assay was used to observe the change in cell proliferation, and wound healing assay and Transwell assay were used to observe migration ability. RNA co-immunoprecipitation was used to detect the interaction between LNC01309 with RBM38, with cells divided into IgG group and RBM38 antibody group, and cycloheximide chase assay was used to analyze the effect of LNC01309 on the stability of RBM38 protein. RBM38 was overexpressed in HepG2 cells to conduct the recovery experiment, and CCK-8 assay, wound healing assay, and Transwell assay were used to observe the changes in cell proliferation and migration abilities. The t -test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups. Results The mean expression level of LNC01309 in HCC tissue was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissue (4.225±2.285 vs 1.541±0.530, t =3.618, P =0.004), and the relative expression level of LNC01309 in hepatoma cells (HepG2, SNU-398, and Hep3B) was also significantly higher than that in normal hepatocytes (THLE-2) ( t =4.231、6.489、14.480, all P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, HepG2 cells with the overexpression of LNC01309 had significant increases in growth rate (OD 450 value at 96 hours: 1.885±0.107 vs 2.527±0.234, t =4.330, P =0.012) and migration ability (11.65%±2.40% vs 35.66%±4.90%, t =9.837, P < 0.001; 100.00%±3.11% vs 161.00%±35.93%, t =4.399, P =0.005); however, the upregulated proliferation and migration abilities of hepatoma cells induced by LNC01309 overexpression were partially inhibited by RBM38 (OD 450 value at 96 hours: 2.500±0.227 vs 1.913±0.282, t =2.812, P =0.048; 168.00%±9.43% vs 117.20%±18.03%, t =6.622, P < 0.001). Compared with the IgG control group, RBM38 antibody significantly enriched the precipitation of LNC01309 ( t =3.846, P =0.031). The results of cycloheximide chase assay showed that the LNC01309 overexpression group had a significant reduction in the stability of RBM38 protein ( t =8.038, P =0.001). Conclusion The newly identified LNC01309 reduces the stability of RBM38 protein through interaction with RBM38 and promotes the proliferation and migration of HCC cells.

Purpose: Reduced quality of life after cystectomy has made bladder preservation a popular research topic for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). Previous research has indicated significant tumor downstaging after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). However, maximal transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) was performed before NAC to define the pathology, impacting the real evaluation of NAC. This research aimed to assess real NAC efficacy without interference from TURBT and apply combined modality therapies guided by NAC efficacy. Materials and Methods: Patients with cT2-4aN0M0 MIBC were confirmed by cystoscopic biopsy and imaging. NAC efficacy was assessed by imaging, urine cytology, and cystoscopy with multidisciplinary team discussion. Definite responders (≤ T1) underwent TURBT plus concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Incomplete responders underwent radical cystectomy or partial cystectomy if feasible. The primary endpoint was the bladder preservation rate. Results: Fifty-nine patients were enrolled, and the median age was 63 years. Patients with cT3-4 accounted for 75%. The median number of NAC cycles was three. Definite responders were 52.5%. The complete response (CR) was 10.2%, and 59.3% of patients received bladder-sparing treatments. With a median follow-up of 44.6 months, the 3-year overall survival (OS) was 72.8%. Three-year OS and relapse-free survival were 88.4% and 60.0% in the bladder-sparing group but only 74.3% and 37.5% in the cystectomy group. The evaluations of preserved bladder function were satisfactory. Conclusion After stratifying MIBC patients by NAC efficacy, definite responders achieved a satisfactory bladder-sparing rate, prognosis, and bladder function. The CR rate reflected the real NAC efficacy for MIBC. This therapy is worth verifying through multicenter research.