Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of follicular lymphoma (FL) patients with different primary sites using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.Methods:Clinical data of 7167 patients with early-stage FL (stage I-II) from the SEER database between 2000 and 2015 were respectively analyzed. Primary sites were divided into intranodal and extranodal types. Intranodal primary sites included supradiaphragmatic lymph nodes (LN), subphrenic lymph nodes and Waldeyer's ring. Extranodal primary sites consisted of skin, gastrointestinal tract, duodenum, head and neck, other sites. Prognostic factors and overall survival (OS) in patients with different primary sites were analyzed. OS rate was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier method and survival difference between primary sites was compared with log-rank test. Inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) and multi-variable analysis were applied to adjust for confounding factors. Multivariate Cox regression analysis of influencing factors of OS was performed.Results:The median age was 63 years old, with the median follow-up time of 63 months. There was no difference in prognosis among the intranodal groups or between the intranodal and extranodal groups. The 10-year OS rates of the supradiaphragmatic lymph LN ( n=2146), subdiaphragmatic LN ( n=2811), and the Waldeyer's ring ( n=151) groups were 70.7%, 69.9% and 73.4%, respectively ( P=0.422 for infradiaphragmatic LN vs. supradiaphragmatic LN, P=1.000 for Waldeyer's ring vs. supradiaphragmatic LN), and 70.3% and 68.9% for intranodal ( n=5108) and extranodal ( n=2059), respectively. There was no significant difference in OS between the groups ( P=0.581) after IPTW adjustment. The most common primary sites in extranodal disease were skin, gastrointestinal tract, head and neck, and duodenum. The 10-year OS for skin, gastrointestinal tract, and cutaneous was 74.2%, 74.7%, and 87.3%, respectively, significantly higher than 55.6% for other sites (duodenum vs. others sites, gastrointestinal vs. others sites, skin vs. others sites: all P<0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that difference in OS was not significant among the intranodal groups or between the intranodal and extranodal groups. However, different extranodal primary site was an independent prognostic factor for OS. Conclusions:Early FL patients with supradiaphragmatic LN, subdiaphragmatic LN and Waldeyer's ring, and between the intranodal and extranodal primary sites obtain similar prognosis. However, early-stage FL patients with different extranodal primary sites have prognostic differences. The prognosis of primary skin, gastrointestinal tract and duodenum is significantly better than that of other extranodal primary sites.

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of follicular lymphoma (FL) patients with different primary sites using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.Methods:Clinical data of 7167 patients with early-stage FL (stage I-II) from the SEER database between 2000 and 2015 were respectively analyzed. Primary sites were divided into intranodal and extranodal types. Intranodal primary sites included supradiaphragmatic lymph nodes (LN), subphrenic lymph nodes and Waldeyer's ring. Extranodal primary sites consisted of skin, gastrointestinal tract, duodenum, head and neck, other sites. Prognostic factors and overall survival (OS) in patients with different primary sites were analyzed. OS rate was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier method and survival difference between primary sites was compared with log-rank test. Inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) and multi-variable analysis were applied to adjust for confounding factors. Multivariate Cox regression analysis of influencing factors of OS was performed.Results:The median age was 63 years old, with the median follow-up time of 63 months. There was no difference in prognosis among the intranodal groups or between the intranodal and extranodal groups. The 10-year OS rates of the supradiaphragmatic lymph LN ( n=2146), subdiaphragmatic LN ( n=2811), and the Waldeyer's ring ( n=151) groups were 70.7%, 69.9% and 73.4%, respectively ( P=0.422 for infradiaphragmatic LN vs. supradiaphragmatic LN, P=1.000 for Waldeyer's ring vs. supradiaphragmatic LN), and 70.3% and 68.9% for intranodal ( n=5108) and extranodal ( n=2059), respectively. There was no significant difference in OS between the groups ( P=0.581) after IPTW adjustment. The most common primary sites in extranodal disease were skin, gastrointestinal tract, head and neck, and duodenum. The 10-year OS for skin, gastrointestinal tract, and cutaneous was 74.2%, 74.7%, and 87.3%, respectively, significantly higher than 55.6% for other sites (duodenum vs. others sites, gastrointestinal vs. others sites, skin vs. others sites: all P<0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that difference in OS was not significant among the intranodal groups or between the intranodal and extranodal groups. However, different extranodal primary site was an independent prognostic factor for OS. Conclusions:Early FL patients with supradiaphragmatic LN, subdiaphragmatic LN and Waldeyer's ring, and between the intranodal and extranodal primary sites obtain similar prognosis. However, early-stage FL patients with different extranodal primary sites have prognostic differences. The prognosis of primary skin, gastrointestinal tract and duodenum is significantly better than that of other extranodal primary sites.

Aiming at the problems of missing important features, inconspicuous details and unclear textures in the fusion of multimodal medical images, this paper proposes a method of computed tomography (CT) image and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image fusion using generative adversarial network (GAN) and convolutional neural network (CNN) under image enhancement. The generator aimed at high-frequency feature images and used double discriminators to target the fusion images after inverse transform; Then high-frequency feature images were fused by trained GAN model, and low-frequency feature images were fused by CNN pre-training model based on transfer learning. Experimental results showed that, compared with the current advanced fusion algorithm, the proposed method had more abundant texture details and clearer contour edge information in subjective representation. In the evaluation of objective indicators, Q ^AB/F, information entropy (IE), spatial frequency (SF), structural similarity (SSIM), mutual information (MI) and visual information fidelity for fusion (VIFF) were 2.0%, 6.3%, 7.0%, 5.5%, 9.0% and 3.3% higher than the best test results, respectively. The fused image can be effectively applied to medical diagnosis to further improve the diagnostic efficiency.
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods* ; Neural Networks, Computer ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods* ; Algorithms

Objective:To investigate the correlation of Staphylococcus aureus superantigens and human ear keloid formation. Methods:The retrospective case-control study method was used. The discarded keloid tissue was collected from 10 patients (9 females and 1 male, aged 19-59 years) with ear keloid after core excision of ear keloid, and the discarded normal skin tissue was collected from 3 female patients (aged 20-24 years) with pigmented nevus after operation, who were admitted to affiliated Hospital of Nantong University from June 2017 to March 2018. The exudation from ear keloid surface was collected for bacteria culture and identification. The keloid and normal skin tissue were collected to detect the protein expression of Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin A+enterotoxin B+toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) by Western blotting, and the keloid was divided into superantigen positive group and superantigen negative group according to the protein expression of Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin A+enterotoxin B+TSST-1. The protein expressions of T cell receptor (TCR) V β of keloid in 2 groups were detected by Western blotting. Collagen fibers formation and inflammatory cells infiltration in keloid dermis of 2 groups were observed by Masson and hematoxylin eosin staining, respectively. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method was used to detect expression of Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin A, enterotoxin B, and TSST-1 in keloids with superantigen positive. Data were statistically analyzed with paired sample t test. Results:Bacteria were cultured from the exudation on ear keloid surface, hemolysis was observed around the dominant bacteria after being cultured for 24 hours, and the colony was white or golden yellow, which was identified as Staphylococcus aureus. The protein expression of Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin A+enterotoxin B+TSST-1 of normal skin was negative in 3 patients, and the protein expression was 0.267±0.016. The protein expression of Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin A+enterotoxin B+TSST-1 of keloid was positive in 4 patients, with the protein expression of 0.472±0.016, which was included into superantigen positive group, and the protein expression of Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin A+enterotoxin B+TSST-1 of keloid was negative in 6 patients, with the protein expression of 0.255±0.004, which was included into superantigen negative group. The protein expression of Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin A+enterotoxin B+TSST-1 of keloid in superantigen positive group was obviously higher than that of keloid in superantigen negative group and that in normal skin ( t=15.22, 8.63, P＜0.01). The protein expression of TCR Vβ in keloid of superantigen positive group was 0.389±0.023, which was significantly higher than 0.169±0.014 in superantigen negative group ( t=8.62, P＜0.01). Masson staining showed that a large number of collagen fibers existed in dermis of keloid in 2 groups. HE staining showed that there were a small number of inflammatory cells infiltration around the blood vessels of keloid dermis in superantigen negative group and a large number of inflammatory cells infiltration around the blood vessels of keloid in superantigen positive group. Among the 4 patients with superantigen positive keloid, Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin A was positive in 2 patients, Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B was positive in 2 patients, and among that Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin A and enterotoxin B were both positive in 1 patient, with no TSST-1 detected in any patient. Conclusions:The superantigen secreted by Staphylococcus aureus is one of the many causes of ear keloid, which may be related to the activation of keloid signal pathway by superantigen of Staphylococcus aureus.

Objective:To evaluate the effects of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) LEF1-AS1 on proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma cells, and to explore their mechanisms.Methods:Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma SCC13 cells were divided into si-LEF1-AS1 group transfected with lncRNA LEF1-AS1 interference oligonucleotides (si-LEF1-AS1) , si-NC group transfected with lncRNA LEF1-AS1 nonsense oligonucleotides (si-NC) , miR-612 group transfected with miR-612-overexpressing oligonucleotides, miR-NC group transfected with miR-612 nonsense oligonucleotides (miR-NC) , si-LEF1-AS1+anti-miR-612 group transfected with si-LEF1-AS1 and oligonucleotides against miR-612, and si-LEF1-AS1+anti-miR-NC group transfected with si-LEF1-AS1 and miR-612 nonsense oligonucleotides. Quantitative reverse transcription (qRT) -PCR was performed to determine the relative expression of miR-612 in SCC13 cells, cell counting kit-8 (CCK8) assay to evaluate cellular proliferative activity, flow cytometry to detect cell apoptosis, Transwell assay to assess migratory and invasive abilities of SCC13 cells, and Western blot analysis to determine protein expression of cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (cyclinD1) , cyclinD1 inhibitor p21, Bcl-2 family protein (Bcl-2) , Bcl-2 related X protein (Bax) , matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9. The online bioinformatics database LncBase predicted v.2 was employed to predict the complementary sequence between lncRNA LEF1-AS1 and miR-612, and luciferase reporter gene plasmids were constructed by using the complementary/non-complementary sequence, which were co-transfected with miR-612-overexpressing oligonucleotides (miR-612 overexpression group) or miR-NC (overexpression control group) into SCC13 cells in order to verify the binding ability of lncRNA LEF1-AS1 to miR-612. Statistical analysis was carried out by using t test for comparison between two groups, one-way analysis of variance for comparison among multiple groups, and least significant difference (LSD) - t test for multiple comparisons. Results:Compared with the miR-NC group, miR-612 group showed significantly decreased cellular proliferative ability, number of migratory cells and invasive cells (all P < 0.05) , but a significantly increased apoptosis rate ( P < 0.05) . The relative expression of miR-612 ( F = 150.78, P < 0.001) , cellular proliferative activity at 24, 48, 72 hours (all P < 0.05) , apoptosis rate and number of migratory and invasive cells (all P < 0.05) significantly differed among the si-LEF1-AS1 group, si-NC group, si-LEF1-AS1+anti-miR-612 group and si-LEF1-AS1+anti-miR-NC group. Compared with the si-NC group, the si-LEF1-AS1 group showed significantly increased expression of miR-612 and apoptosis rates, but significantly decreased cellular proliferative activity at 48, 72 hours, and number of migratory and invasive cells (all P < 0.05) ; compared with the si-LEF1-AS1+anti-miR-NC group, the si-LEF1-AS1+anti-miR-612 group showed significantly decreased expression of miR-612 and apoptosis rates, but significantly increased cellular proliferative activity at 48, 72 hours, and number of migratory and invasive cells (all P < 0.05) . Western blot analysis showed that the relative protein expression of cyclinD1, p21, Bcl-2, Bax, MMP-2 and MMP-9 significantly differed among the si-LEF1-AS1 group, si-NC group, si-LEF1-AS1+anti-miR-612 group and si-LEF1-AS1+anti-miR-NC group (all P < 0.001) ; compared with the si-NC group, the si-LEF1-AS1 group showed significantly increased protein expression of cyclinD1, Bcl-2, MMP-2 and MMP-9, but significantly decreased protein expression of p21 and Bax (all P < 0.05) ; compared with the si-LEF1-AS1+anti-miR-NC group, the si-LEF1-AS1+anti-miR-612 group showed significantly increased protein expression of cyclinD1, Bcl-2, MMP-2 and MMP-9, but significantly decreased protein expression of p21 and Bax (all P < 0.05) . After co-transfection with complementary sequences, the fluorescence activity was significantly lower in the miR-612 overexpression group than in the overexpression control group ( t = 21.19, P < 0.001) ; after co-transfection with non-complementary sequences, no significant difference was observed in the fluorescence activity between the miR-612 overexpression group and overexpression control group ( t = 0.28, P = 0.78) . Conclusion:lncRNA LEF1-AS1 regulates the proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma cells, likely by targeting miR-612.

Objective:To investigate effects of long non-coding growth stasis specific protein 6 antisense RNA1 (lncRNA DLX6-AS1) on the proliferation, migration and invasion of a cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma cell line A431, and to explore the underlying mechanisms.Methods:A dual-luciferase reporter system was used to verify the targeting relationship between lncRNA DLX6-AS1 and miR-16-5p, as well as between miR-16-5p and nuclear ubiquitous casein and cyclin-dependent kinase substrate 1 (NUCKS1) mRNA. Cultured A431 cells were divided into several groups: si-DLX6-AS1 group and DLX6-AS1-NC group transfected with lncRNA DLX6-AS1 inhibitor and its negative control respectively; anti-miR-16-5p group and anti-miR-NC group transfected with miR-16-5p inhibitor and its negative control respectively; si-NUCKS1 group and NUCKS1-NC group transfected with NUCKS1 inhibitor and its negative control respectively; si-DLX6-AS1+ anti-miR-16-5p group transfected with lncRNA DLX6-AS1 inhibitor followed by miR-16-5p inhibitor, and si-DLX6-AS1+ anti-miR-NC group transfected with lncRNA DLX6-AS1 inhibitor followed by anti-miR-NC; si-DLX6-AS1+ anti-miR-16-5p+ si-NUCKS1 group transfected with lncRNA DLX6-AS1 inhibitor, miR-16-5p inhibitor and NUCKS1 inhibitor, and si-DLX6-AS1+ anti-miR-16-5p+ NUCKS1-NC group transfected with lncRNA DLX6-AS1 inhibitor, miR-16-5p inhibitor and NUCKS1-NC. After the above treatment, real-time fluorescence-based quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was performed to measure the mRNA expression of lncRNA DLX6-AS1, miR-16-5p and NUCKS1 in A431 cells, Western blot analysis to determine the protein expression of NUCKS1, Cyclin D1 antibody, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 2 and MMP9, cell counting kit-8 (CCK8) assay to detect cell survival rate, and Transwell assay to evaluate cell migratory and invasive abilities. Two-independent-sample t test was used for comparisons between two groups. Results:Dual-luciferase reporter assay showed targeted binding of lncRNA DLX6-AS1 to miR-16-5p, as well as of miR-16-5p to NUCKS1. Compared with the DLX6-AS1-NC group, the si-DLX6-AS1 group showed significantly increased miR-16-5p expression in A431 cells (3.01 ± 0.31 vs. 1.02 ± 0.10, t = 18.33, P < 0.001) , but significantly decreased protein expression of NUCKS1, Cyclin D1, MMP2 and MMP9 (all P < 0.05) , and significantly decreased cell survival rate and numbers of migratory and invasive cells (all P < 0.05) . Compared with the NUCKS1-NC group, the si-NUCKS1 group showed significantly decreased protein expression of NUCKS1, Cyclin D1, MMP2 and MMP9 in A431 cells (all P < 0.05) , and significantly decreased cell survival rate and numbers of migratory and invasive cells (all P < 0.05) . After inhibition of lncRNA DLX6-AS1 expression, the si-DLX6-AS1+ anti-miR-16-5p group showed significantly decreased miR-16-5p expression in A431 cells (0.34 ± 0.04) compared with the si-DLX6-AS1+ anti-miR-NC group (1.00 ± 0.12, t = 15.65, P < 0.05) , but significantly increased protein expression of Cyclin D1, MMP2 and MMP9, cell survival rate and numbers of migratory and invasive cells compared with the si-DLX6-AS1+ anti-miR-NC group (all P < 0.05) . After inhibition of lncRNA DLX6-AS1 expression and knockdown of miR-16-5p, the si-DLX6-AS1+ anti-miR-16-5p+ si-NUCKS1 group showed significantly decreased protein expression of NUCKS1, Cyclin D1, MMP2 and MMP9 in A431 cells, as well as cell survival rate and numbers of migratory and invasive cells, compared with the si-DLX6-AS1+ anti-miR-16-5p+ NUCKS1-NC group (all P < 0.05) . Conclusion:lncRNA DLX6-AS1 can regulate the proliferation, migration and invasion of A431 cells by targeting miR-16-5p/NUCKS1, suggesting that lncRNA DLX6-AS1 may be a potential molecular target for the treatment of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

Objective To investigate the value of renal CT volumetric texture analysis with machine learning radiomics in assessment of pathological grade of clear cell renal cell carcinoma(ccRCC). Methods Thirty-four biopsy-confirmed ccRCC subjects who had four-phase CT scanning (NC:non-contrast, CM: Corticomedullary, N: Nephrographic, E: Excretory) were collected retrospectively from June 2013 to October 2017 for the study.Non-rigid registration was performed on multi-phase CT images in reference to CM-phase.Each lesion was segmented on CM-phase CT images using our in-house volumetric image analysis platform,"3DQI".A set of fifty-nine volumetric textures,including histogram,gradient,gray level co-occurrence matrix(GLCM),run-length(RL),moments,and shape,was calculated for each segment lesion in each phase as parameters for the training/testing of Random Forest (RF) classifier. Four groups according to pathological Fuhrman grade on a scaleⅠtoⅣ,these tumors were then divided into low(Ⅰ+Ⅱ) and high grade ( Ⅲ + Ⅳ) groups. Feature selection was performed by Boruta algorithm. A 10-fold cross-validation method was applied to validate the RF performance by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves analysis to determine the diagnostic accuracy of the model. Results Subjects were divided into four groups by Fuhrman grade on a scaleⅠtoⅣ:3 cases gradeⅠ,19 cases gradeⅡ,8 cases gradeⅢand 4 cases gradeⅣ.In CM-phase,kurtosis and long-run-emphasis(RLE)were selected the most important textures for ccRCC staging among 59 features. The area under curve (AUC) of ROC was 0.88 (79% sensitivity and 82% specificity)by using kurtosis and RLE textures.The mean values of kurtosis and RLE were(-20.00±22.00)×10-2and(3.00±0.40)×10-2for low group,whereas(31.00±32.00)×10-2and(5.00± 0.02)×10-2for high group.Within the mean±SD range of statistics,radiomics can distinguish between low and high grade tumors.In multi-phase analysis,three most important features were selected among 236(59× 4) textures: kurtosis (CM-phase), GLCM homogeneity I (HOMO 1) (E-phase), and GLCM homogeneity 2 (HOMO2)(E-phase).The mean values of HOMO 1(E-phase)and HOMO 2(E-phase)were(19.00±0.03)× 10-2and(11.00±0.02)×10-2for low group,whereas(22.00±0.03)×10-2and(14.00±0.02)×10-2for high group. The AUC was 0.92(93% sensitivity and 87% specificity)by using these three textures. Conclusion This study has demonstrated that renal CT volumetric texture analysis with machine learning radiomics could preoperative accurately perform cancer staging for ccRCC.

Despite the fact that the patency rate of saphenous vein graft(SVG) is less than those of arterial grafts,SVG is fully appreciated by cardiac surgeons and remains the most widely-used conduit for coronary artery bypass grafting(CABG).Recently,thanks to the growing understanding of the pathogenesis of vein graft failure(VGF),the emergence of new drugs and the improvement of surgical techniques,the patency rate of SVG has been well improved.This article reviews the history and the current understanding of SVG,the pathogenesis of VGF,the clinical strategies that may improve the patency rate and the research prospects in this filed.

Objective One of the major challenges to emergency department is to provide high quality and time sensitive service under limitation of human/material resources,along with patients population with extremely complex conditions.We presented a study that based on a big data got from real world and used wavelet transform technique to analyze time-dependent diseases spectrum patterns and evolution patterns,which will provide solid methodological support for optimizing resources configuration for acute care surgery service.Methods Record data of patients admitted to acute care surgery from 2007-2014 were collected by using data management tool (Avaintec,Helsinki,Finland).The data were cleansed and were transformed to continuing spectrum according to time series of admission time points (per 9 hours).Matlab was used for wavelet transform,and applied five levels of wavelet decomposition and calculated the best decomposition levels by K-mean algorithm for each level.Then we used aprori algorithm for data mining (frequent patterns mining).Results A total of 23 795 cases were enrolled and acute abdomens were made up biggest proportion of admission.Meanwhile,it is found that the spectrum of acute care surgery admission frequency was a complex rising sequence.After wavelet decomposition,signal wave A reflexed trends evolution in a given time scale,and noise wave D reflexed minutia at relevant time scale.In another words,a principal wave A1 represented fluctuation at a cycle of 16 days.Noise wave D1 reflected intensity level in this 16 days' cycle.For example,the 5 · 12 episodes of massive earthquake in 2008 were included in the study,it is found that a significant noise wave at D3 level that indicated a 4 days' cycle.Clinically,it indicated explosive admissions to acute care surgery in 4 days.Conclusions The admission spectrum to acute care surgery is a phenomenon of multi-scale.Based on wavelet decomposing,we can easily analyze the rule of admission spectrum from electronic records of patients and can be used for optimization the emergency medicine resources.

BACKGROUND:Calcium phosphate has the similar mineral component of natural bones with good bioactivity, osteoconductivity and degradability. It has been widely used in bone defect repair and coatings of implants. OBJECTIVE:To review the major properties of different-phase calcium phosphate and to summarize the application of calcium phosphate in scaffolds for osteochondral tissue engineering. METHODS:A computer-based search of PubMed, CNKI and VIP database was performed for relevant articles published from January 2000 to February 2015 with the key words of “osteochondral; calcium phosphate (including hydroxyapatite, tricalcium phosphate, calcium polyphosphate); tissue engineering” in Chinese and English, respectively. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Since the calcium phosphate has a variety of phases and crystaline types, a variety of materials with different structure and size can be obtained using different techniques, such as hydroxyapatite, tricalcium phosphate, calcium polyphosphate, amorphous calcium phosphate. These materials have some differences in their biological and mechanical properties, and hydroxyapatite is the most widely used. Biocomposite scaffolds with calcium phosphates appeared to have promising potential in osteochondral tissue engineering.