Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), as the most common type (>90%) of head and neck cancer, includes various epithelial malignancies that arise in the nasal cavity, oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx. In 2020, approximately 878 ‍ 000 new cases and 444 000 deaths linked to HNSCC occurred worldwide (Sung et al., 2021). Due to the associated frequent recurrence and metastasis, HNSCC patients have poor prognosis with a five-year survival rate of 40%-50% (Jou and Hess, 2017). Therefore, novel prognostic biomarkers need to be developed to identify high-risk HNSCC patients and improve their disease outcomes.
Biomarkers, Tumor/genetics* ; Head and Neck Neoplasms/genetics* ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; RNA ; Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck ; Survival Analysis ; Survival Rate

Objective:To investigate the correlation between paraspinal muscle atrophy, morphological changes of facet joints and adjacent segment disease (ASDis) after lumbar fusion operation.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted among 195 patients who underwent posterior lumbar fusion again for ASDis at this institution from January 2014 to December 2020, including 29 patients with ASDis whose initial surgical fusion segment was L 4,5. According to Roussouly's staging, there were 5 cases of type I, 9 cases of type II, 10 cases of type III, and 5 cases of type IV. Another 29 cases were selected from patients without ASDis after lumbar fusion as a control group. The control group was paired 1∶1 with the ASDis group according to gender, fusion segment, and Roussouly typing of the lumbar spine. The cross-sectional area (CSA) and fat infiltration (FI) of paravertebral muscle, facet joint angle (F-J) and pedicle facet (P-F) angle before the first (second) operation were measured and compared between the two groups. Then logistic regression analysis was used to determine the predictors of ASDis after posterior lumbar fusion. Finally, the receiver operation characteristic (ROC) curve was described, and the area under the curve (AUC) and cut-off point were calculated. At the same time, the paraspinal muscle atrophy before the second operation in ASDis group was measured. Results:The average follow-up time of 98 patients was 59.25±6.38 months (range, 49-73 months). The average body mass index (BMI) of ASDis group was 24.76±3.64 kg/m 2, which was higher than that in control group (22.24±2.92 kg/m 2) ( t=2.481, P=0.041). The average CSA and relative cross-sectional area (rCSA) of paraspinal muscle in ASDis group were 3 214.32± 421.15 mm 2 and 1.69±0.36 respectively, which were less than 3 978.91±459.87 mm 2 and 2.26±0.29 in control group ( t=10.22, P=0.012; t=9.47, P=0.038). The FI degree of paraspinal muscle in ASDis group (21.95%±5.89%) was significantly higher than that in control group (14.64%±7.11%) ( t=7.32, P=0.002). The F-J angle in ASDis group was 35.06°±3.45°, which was less than 38.39°±4.67° in control group ( t=4.76, P=0.027). The P-F angle in ASDis group was 117.39°±8.13°, which was greater than 111.32°±4.78° in control group ( t=5.25, P=0.031). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that higher BMI ( OR=1.34, P=0.038), smaller rCSA of paraspinal muscle ( OR=0.02, P=0.017) and higher FI of paraspinal muscle ( OR=1.58, P=0.032) were the risk factors of postoperative ASDis. The ROC curve showed that the AUC of BMI was 0.680 and the cut-off point was 22.58 kg/m 2; The AUC of the FI of paraspinal muscle was 0.716 and the cut-off point was 15.69%; The AUC of rCSA of paraspinal muscle was 0.227 and the cut-off point was 1.92. For ASDis patients, the paraspinal muscle before the second operation had a higher degree of FI (25.47%±6.59% vs. 21.95%±5.89%, t=3.99, P=0.042) and a smaller rCSA (1.52±0.28 vs. 1.69±0.36, t=3.85, P=0.038) than that before the first operation. The difference between the FI degree of paraspinal muscle before the second operation and the first operation was negatively correlated with the occurrence time of ASDis ( r=-0.53, P=0.039) , and the difference of rCSA was positively correlated with the occurrence time of ASDis ( r=0.64, P=0.043) . Conclusion:When BMI >22.58 kg/m 2, FI of paraspinal muscle >15.69%, and rCSA of paraspinal muscle <1.92, it suggests that ASDis is more likely to occur after operation. And the more obvious paraspinal muscle atrophy after the first operation, the earlier ASDis may occur. Morphological changes of facet joints cannot be used as an index to predict the occurrence of ASDis.

Objective:To investigate the influence of interbody cage height during oblique lumbar interbody fusion (OLIF) on lumbar biomechanics with different degrees of degeneration and to provide a reference for cage choice.Methods:The finite element model of normal lower lumbar spine (L 3-S 1) was built and validated, then constructed three different degenerative segments in L 3, 4, and the cages with different height (8, 10,12, 14 mm) were implanted into L 4, 5 disc. All the twelve models were loaded with pure moment of 7.5 N·m to produce flexion, extension, lateral bending and axial rotation motions on lumbar spine, and the effects of cage height on range of motion (ROM), intervertebral pressure in adjacent segments and stress in facet joints were investigated. Results:The ROM of adjacent segments and the maximum stress of intervertebral discs increased with the increase of cage height, but this trend was not obvious in moderate and severe degeneration groups. After implantation of 4 different height cages (8, 10, 12, 14 mm), the ROM of L 3, 4 segment reached the maximum during extension. The ROM of mild degeneration group was 2.68 °, 2.71 °, 2.94 °, 2.98 °, moderate degeneration group was 2.33°, 2.37°, 2.41°, 2.49°, and severe degeneration group was 1.94 °, 1.99 °, 2.14 °, 2.21 °. The stress of L 3, 4 intervertebral disc reached the maximum during right bending. The maximum stress of L 3, 4 intervertebral disc was 23.95 MPa, 24.60 MPa, 24.90 MPa and 25.34 MPa in mild group, 25.57 MPa, 25.60 MPa, 25.82 MPa and 25.89 MPa in moderate group, and 25.95 MPa, 25.99 MPa, 26.48 MPa and 27.13 MPa in severe group. The maximum stress of L 3, 4 facet joint was 15.87 MPa, 15.78 MPa, 16.29 MPa and 16.43 MPa in mild group, 15.97 MPa, 16.31 MPa, 16.53 MPa and 16.79 MPa in moderate group, and 16.17 MPa, 16.49 MPa, 16.95 MPa and 17.35 MPa in severe group. Conclusion:For patients with mild lumbar degeneration requiring OLIF surgery, the intervertebral height of the surgical segment should not be overstretched. But for patients with moderate to severe lumbar degenerative disease who need to undergo OLIF surgery, it is recommended that the cage height be 0-2 mm higher than the original intervertebral space height.

The vagina contains at least a billion microbial cells,dominated by lactobacilli.Here we perform metagenomic shotgun sequencing on cervical and fecal samples from a cohort of 516 Chinese women of reproductive age,as well as cervical,fecal,and salivary samples from a second cohort of 632 women.Factors such as pregnancy history,delivery history,cesarean section,and breastfeeding were all more important than menstrual cycle in shaping the microbiome,and such information would be necessary before trying to interpret differences between vagino-cervical micro-biome data.Greater proportion of Bifidobacterium breve was seen with older age at sexual debut.The relative abundance of lactobacilli especially Lactobacillus crispatus was negatively associated with pregnancy history.Potential markers for lack of menstrual regularity,heavy flow,dysmenor-rhea,and contraceptives were also identified.Lactobacilli were rare during breastfeeding or post-menopause.Other features such as mood fluctuations and facial speckles could potentially be predicted from the vagino-cervical microbiome.Gut and salivary microbiomes,plasma vitamins,metals,amino acids,and hormones showed associations with the vagino-cervical microbiome.Our results offer an unprecedented glimpse into the microbiota of the female reproductive tract and call for international collaborations to better understand its long-term health impact other than in the settings of infection or pre-term birth.

Collectively migrating tumor cells have been recently implicated in enhanced metastasis of epithelial malignancies. In oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), v integrin is a crucial mediator of multicellular clustering and collective movement ; however, its contribution to metastatic spread remains to be addressed. According to the emerging therapeutic concept, dissociation of tumor clusters into single cells could significantly suppress metastasis-seeding ability of carcinomas. This study aimed to investigate the anti-OSCC potential of novel endostatin-derived polypeptide PEP06 as a cluster-dissociating therapeutic agent . Firstly, we found marked enrichment of v integrin in collectively invading multicellular clusters in human OSCCs. Our study revealed that metastatic progression of OSCC was associated with augmented immunostaining of v integrin in cancerous lesions. Following PEP06 treatment, cell clustering on fibronectin, migration, multicellular aggregation, anchorage-independent survival and colony formation of OSCC were significantly inhibited. Moreover, PEP06 suppressed v integrin/FAK/Src signaling in OSCC cells. PEP06-induced loss of active Src and E-cadherin from cell-cell contacts contributed to diminished collective migration of OSCC . Overall, these results suggest that PEP06 polypeptide 30 inhibiting v integrin/FAK/Src signaling and disrupting E-cadherin-based intercellular junctions possesses anti-metastatic potential in OSCC by acting as a cluster-dissociating therapeutic agent.

Objective To investigate the values of serum thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) and soluble NKG2D (natural killer cell group 2D) ligand (soluble major histocompatibility complex class Ⅰ-related chain A,sMICA) in predicting the prognosis of colorectal cancer patients undergoing radical resection.Methods 45 patients and 45 healthy subjects were included.Perioperative serum TK1 and NKG2D ligand levels were measured in 45 patient and 45 healthy controls.Patients were divided into high TK1 group and low TK1 group,and high sMICA group and low sMICA group according to the ROC.Results Perioperative TK1 were (4.42 ± 1.42) and (2.98 ± 0.54) pmol/L,sMICA were (135 ± 79) and (100 ± 81)pg/ml,which were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (P =0.000).The postoperative TKI and sMICA levels decreased significandy (P =0.000 and 0.042).The 3 and 5 years cumulative survival rates in the high TK1 group were 84％ and 34％,compared with that of 90％ and 75％in the low TK1 group (P =0.023).The 3 year and 5 year cumulative survival rates in high sMICA group were 61％ and 31％,compared with 71％ and 52％ in low sMICA group (P =0.148).Conclusion Patients serum thymidine kinase levels were negatively corelated with the prognosis of colorectal cancer after radical resection.

Objective To investigate clinical efficacy and prognostic factors of hilar cholangiocarcinoma.Methods The retrospective case-control study was conducted.The clinicopathological data of 322 patients with hilar cholangiocarcinoma who were admitted to the Xiangya Hospital of Central South University between December 2005 and November 2015 were collected.Preoperative staging and classification of tumor and treatment planning were carried out according to the results of laboratory and imaging examinations.Observation indexes:(1) clinical features and results of assisted examinations;(2) treatments and results of pathological examination;(3) followup and survival;(4) prognostic factors analysis:gender,age,preoperative highest total bilirubin (TBil),preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA),preoperative CA19-9,preoperative CA242,preoperative CA125,treatment methods and TNM staging.The follow-up of outpatient examination and telephone interview was perfornmed to detect patients' survival up to November 2016.Survival curve was drawn using the Kaplan-Meier method.Survival and univariate analyses were done using the Log-rank test,and multivariate analysis was done using the Cox proportional hazard model.Results (1) Clinical features and results of assisted examinations:among the 322 patients,there were 301 patients with a chief complaint of jaundice.Of the 322 patients,the preoperative highest levels of TBil,DBil,ALT and AST in 322 patients were 3.9-785.2 μmol/L,1.6-410.2 μ mol/L,14.8-484.5 U/L and 21.4-539.8 U/L,respectively.Levels of ALP and GGT in 272 patients were 93.8-1 890.0 U/L and 2.0-1 832.8 U/L,respectively.Seventy-seven of 292 patients had an elevated CEA level,272 of 298 patients had an elevated CA19-9 level,153 of 260 patients had an elevated CA242 level and 86 of 260 patients had an elevated CA125 level.According to Bismuth-Corlette type,24 patients were detected in type Ⅰ,115 in type Ⅱ,55 in type Ⅲa,63 in type Ⅲb and 65 in type Ⅳ.(2) Treatments and results of pathological examination:Of the 322 patients,104 patients underwent radical resection,including 79 with hilar bile duct resection (9 combined with vascular resection and reconstruction) and 25 with extended hepatic lobectomy (16 combined with caudate lobectomy),and 218 patients underwent palliative treatments,including 134 with external biliary drainage and 84 with internal biliary drainage.Five patients were dead in the perioperative period,of which 2 died of acute liver failure,1 died of systemic infection and multiple organ failure,1 died of acute renal failure and 1 died of acute suppurative cholangitis,septic shock and disseminated intravascular coagulation.Of 263 patients receiving pathological examination,adenocarcinoma was detected in 253 patients (12 with high-differentiated adenocarcinoma,85 with moderate-differentiated adenocarcinoma,33 with low-differentiated adenocarcinoma and 123 with indefinite differentiation),mucinous adenocarcinoma in 5 patients,cholangiocarcinoma in 3 patients and neuroendocrine carcinoma in 2 patients.TNM staging of 322 patients:stage Ⅰ was detected in 8 patients,stage Ⅱ in 53 patients,stage Ⅲ in 132 patients,stage Ⅳ in 96 patients and indefinite stage in 33 patients.(3) Follow up and survival:among the 322 patients,296 were followed up for 12-132 months,with a median follow-up time of 65 months,including 94 with radical resection and 202 with palliative treatments.Among the 296 patients,the median survival time and 1-,3-,5-year survival rates were 10 months,47.1％,20.2％ and 9.5％,respectively.0f296 patients with follow-up,median survival time and 1-,3-,5-year survival rates were 31 months,84.0％,46.2％,25.0％ in 94 patients receiving radical resection and 7 months,29.9％,8.1％ and 2.3％ in 202 patients receiving palliative treatment,respectively,with a statistically significant difference between the 2 groups (x2=78.777,P＜ 0.05).Among the 94 patients receiving follow-up and radical resection,the median survival time and 1-,3-,5-year survival rates were 31 months,82.1％,45.1％,25.7％ in 73 patients undergoing hilar bile duct resection and 35 months,90.5％,49.8％,22.1％ in 21 patients undergoing hepatic lobectomy,respectively,with no statistically significant difference (x2=0.186,P＞0.05).Among the 73 patients undergoing hilar bile duct resection,median survival time and 1-,3-,5-year survival rates were 16 months,57.1％,0,0 in 7 patients combined with vascular resection and reconstruction and 34 months,84.6％,49.5％,27.5％ in 66 patients undergoing simplex hilar bile duct resection,respectively,showing a statistically significant difference (x2 =11.977,P＜ 0.05).(4) Prognostic factors analysis:results of univariate analysis showed that preoperative highest TBil,preoperative CEA,preoperative CA242,preoperative CA125,treatment methods and TNM staging were related factors affecting prognosis of patients with hilar cholangiocarcinoma (x2=25.009,18.671,9.359,33.628,94.729,77.136,P＜0.05).Multivariate analysis showed that preoperative highest TBil ≥ 342.0 μmol/L,preoperative CEA ≥ 5.00 μg/L,palliative treatments,TNM stage Ⅲ and Ⅳ were the independent risk factors affecting the poor prognosis of patients with hilar cholangiocarcinoma (HR =2.270,2.147,3.166,2.351,95％ confidence interval:1.587-3.247,1.446-3.188,2.117-4.734,1.489-3.712,P＜0.05).Conclusions Prognosis of hilar cholangiocarcinoma is still unsatisfactory.The R0 resection is the key in radical surgery.Preoperative highest TBil≥342.0 μmol/L,preoperative CEA ≥ 5.00 μg/L,palliative treatments,TNM stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ are independent risk factors affecting the poor prognosis of patients with hilar cholangiocarcinoma.

Objective: To explore sarcoplasmic reticulum ryanodine receptor2 (RyR 2) expression and calcium releasing function in chronic heart failure (CHF) rabbits and to study the impact of long term valsartan treatment in relevant animals. Methods: HF model was established by volume overloading with pressure overloading in experimental rabbits. 27 rabbits were divided into 3 groups: Sham group, HF group and HF+valsartan group. n=9 in each group and the animals were treated for 7 weeks. Left ventricular structure, hemodynamic parameters, expression and functional changes of myocardiocyte sarcoplasmic reticulum RyR 2 were observed and compared among different groups. Results: Compared with Sham group, HF group had increased left ventricular mess index (LVMI), left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and decreased left ventricular shortening fraction, LVEF, all P<0.05. Compared with HF group, HF+valsartan group showed decreased LVMI, LVEDP and increased left ventricular shortening fraction, LVEF, all P<0.05. Sarcoplasmic reticulum RyR 2 expression and calcium releasing function were lower in HF group than Sham group, P<0.05; while they were both higher in HF+valsartan group than HF group, P<0.05. Conclusion: Long term application of valsartan could improve the cardiac function which might be related to increased myocardial sarcoplasmic reticulum RyR 2 expression and calcium releasing function in experimental CHF rabbits.

Objective: To explore the changes of protein expression and activity of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase-II (CaMK-II) in myocardium nucleus and sarcoplasmic reticulum in experimental rabbits with heart failure (HF).
Methods: A total of 16 rabbits were divided into 2 groups: Sham group and HF group, the HF model was established by volume overload plus pressure overload.n=8 in each group and all animals were treated for 7 weeks. Left ventricular structure, hemodynamic parameters and protein expression and activity of CaMK-II in myocardium nucleus and sarcoplasmic reticulum were examined and compared between 2 groups.
Results: Compared with Sham group, HF group presented increased left ventricular mass index (LVMI) (1.32 ± 0.06) g/kg vs (3.61 ± 0.09) g/kg, LVEDP (-1.50 ± 0.50) mmHg vs (23.00 ± 2.37) mmHg, allP<0.05; while decreased left ventricular shorten fraction (37.83 ± 3.58) % vs (17.38 ± 3.13) % and LVEF (71.92 ± 4.56) % vs (38.50 ± 6.07) %, allP<0.05. The protein expression and activity of CaMK-II were both higher in HF group than Sham group, allP<0.05.
Conclusion: Increased protein expression and activity of CaMK-II in myocardium nucleus and sarcoplasmic reticulum might be one of the mechanisms for HF occurrence in experimental rabbits.

Objective To investigate the incidence of middle ear barotrauma due to hybaric oxygen therapy by using Health Education Atlas.Methods 100 patients were divided into two groups by random number table. The research group(49 patients)was educated by Health Education Atlas.The control group(51 patients)was educated by traditional education approach.During the first three days,we observed and recorded the eardrum injury and asked patients ear discomfort everyday.Results The incidence rate of middle ear barotrauma of the research group was 6.1%,which of the control group was 19.6%.The eardrum injury of the research group was milder than the control group(χ2 =4.02,P <0.05).Conclusion Education using Health Education Atlascan reduce the incidence of middle ear barotrauma due to hybaric oxygen therapy.