Objective To investigate the expression of Excision repair cross-complementation group 6-like(ERCC6L)in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC),and evaluate its prognostic value.Methods From September 2016 to 2019,144 cases of NSCLC tissues and adjacent tissues(non-tumor tissues at least 5 cm away from cancerous tissues)were admitted.The expression of ERCC6L protein in NSCLC tissues and their adjacent tissues were detected using immunohistochemistry(IHC)method.The clinicopathological data of patients with high and low expression of ERCC6L were compared,and the Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards regression model were used to evaluate the relationship between ERCC6L expression and overall survival(OS)of NSCLC patients.Results The data of IHC staining showed that high expression of ERCC6L was detected in 42.4％(61/144)of NSCLC tissues,which was higher than in their adjacent tissues(37.7,％,37/144)(x2=8.909,P＜0.05).High expression of ERCC6L was frequently detected in poorly differentiated carcinoma(x2=38.660,P＜0.001),T2/T3 stage(x2=6.528,P=0.011)and TNM stage Ⅲ(x2=12.522,P＜0.05).In addition,patients with high expression of ERCC6L had higher rates of lymph node metastasis(x2=5.802,P＜0.05),lymphovascular invasion(x2=29.899,P＜0.05)and pleural invasion(x2=7.942,P＜0.05)than those with low expression(P＜0.05).Survival analysis revealed that patients with high expression of ERCC6L had a worse prognosis than those with low expression,and the 5-year overall survival(OS)rate of two patient groups was 44.8％and 70.5％,respectively(x2=15.919,P＜0.05).Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that high expression of ERCC6L(HR=2.106,95％CI=1.087-4.079,P＜0.05)was an independent prognostic factor for NSCLC patients.Conclusion High expression of ERCC6L is closely correlated to tumor aggressive features,and it might be a valuable prognostic biomarker for NSCLC patients.

Objective To investigate the expression of Excision repair cross-complementation group 6-like(ERCC6L)in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC),and evaluate its prognostic value.Methods From September 2016 to 2019,144 cases of NSCLC tissues and adjacent tissues(non-tumor tissues at least 5 cm away from cancerous tissues)were admitted.The expression of ERCC6L protein in NSCLC tissues and their adjacent tissues were detected using immunohistochemistry(IHC)method.The clinicopathological data of patients with high and low expression of ERCC6L were compared,and the Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards regression model were used to evaluate the relationship between ERCC6L expression and overall survival(OS)of NSCLC patients.Results The data of IHC staining showed that high expression of ERCC6L was detected in 42.4％(61/144)of NSCLC tissues,which was higher than in their adjacent tissues(37.7,％,37/144)(x2=8.909,P＜0.05).High expression of ERCC6L was frequently detected in poorly differentiated carcinoma(x2=38.660,P＜0.001),T2/T3 stage(x2=6.528,P=0.011)and TNM stage Ⅲ(x2=12.522,P＜0.05).In addition,patients with high expression of ERCC6L had higher rates of lymph node metastasis(x2=5.802,P＜0.05),lymphovascular invasion(x2=29.899,P＜0.05)and pleural invasion(x2=7.942,P＜0.05)than those with low expression(P＜0.05).Survival analysis revealed that patients with high expression of ERCC6L had a worse prognosis than those with low expression,and the 5-year overall survival(OS)rate of two patient groups was 44.8％and 70.5％,respectively(x2=15.919,P＜0.05).Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that high expression of ERCC6L(HR=2.106,95％CI=1.087-4.079,P＜0.05)was an independent prognostic factor for NSCLC patients.Conclusion High expression of ERCC6L is closely correlated to tumor aggressive features,and it might be a valuable prognostic biomarker for NSCLC patients.

Objective To investigate associations between three-dimensional(3D)morphology of cervical vertebrae and skeletal mat-uration by cone-beam computed tomography(CBCT)and establish corresponding regression models for quantitatively evaluating cervical vertebral maturation(CVM).Methods The analyzed sample consisted of 358 CBCT images(175 male,183 female),of which 277 images were randomly selected as the model development group and 81 as the performance test group.Twenty-one 3D morphological pa-rameters were defined and measured,incorporating all parts of the cervical vertebrae,including the cervical vertebral bodies,transverse processes,spinous processes,pedicles,lamina,and articular processes.The cervical vertebral maturation index(CVMI)was determined by experienced orthodontists as reference standard.Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and multivariable stepwise regression analysis were used to identify the associations and build regression models.The performance test group was employed to ex-amine each model's reliability.Paired-samples Wilcoxon signed-rank test compared the CVMI of the model prediction with the reference standard.Results Three-dimensional morphological changes in various parts of the cervical vertebrae correlated with CVMI(P＜0.05).Six 3D morphometric parameters were each recognized for male and female models,three of which were identical.The adjusted R2 was 0.899 for males and 0.902 for females,with corresponding accuracies of 85.0%and 85.4%,respectively.These models showed no difference as compared with the reference standard(P＞0.05).Con-clusion New associations were found between 3D morphology of cer-vical vertebrae and skeletal maturation.The 3D-driven morphometric CVM assessment method and corresponding regression models exhibited good credibility and high consistency with experts.