Negative Expression Research Articles

Facial emotion recognition in individuals with mild cognitive impairment: An exploratory study.

Understanding facial emotions is fundamental to interact in social environments and modify behavior accordingly. Neurodegenerative processes can progressively transform affective responses and affect social competence. This exploratory study examined the neurocognitive correlates of face recognition, in individuals with two mild cognitive impairment (MCI) etiologies (prodromal to dementia - MCI, or consequent to Parkinson's disease - PD-MCI). Performance on the identification and memorization of neutral and emotional facial expressions was assessed in 31 individuals with MCI, 26 with PD-MCI, and 30 healthy controls (HC). Individuals with MCI exhibited selective impairment in recognizing faces expressing fear, along with difficulties in remembering both neutral and emotional faces. Conversely, individuals with PD-MCI showed no differences compared with the HC in either emotion recognition or memory. In MCI, no significant association emerged between the memory for facial expressions and cognitive difficulties. In PD-MCI, regression analyses showed significant associations with higher-level cognitive functions in the emotional memory task, suggesting the presence of compensatory mechanisms. In a subset of participants, voxel-based morphometry revealed that the performance on emotional tasks correlated with regional changes in gray matter volume. The performance in the matching of negative expressions was predicted by volumetric changes in brain areas engaged in face and emotional processing, in particular increased volume in thalamic nuclei and atrophy in the right parietal cortex. Future studies should leverage on neuroimaging data to determine whether differences in emotional recognition are mediated by pathology-specific atrophic patterns.

Valence and Intensity of Emotional Expression in Autistic and Non-Autistic Toddlers.

Differences in emotional experience and expression have long been recognized as common in the presentation of autism, yet research examining emotional expression in early childhood is limited, with mixed findings. Understanding emotional reactivity and expression in autism in early life is an essential step towards uncovering the mechanisms of these risks and identifying targets for intervention. The present study examined emotional expression in autistic (N = 17) and non-autistic (N = 20) toddlers (mean age = 25.27; SD = 1.88) during emotion elicitation tasks aimed at eliciting joy, frustration, and unease. Video recorded tasks were coded in ten second intervals for emotional valence and intensity, and the following variables were computed: proportion of time in positive, neutral, and negative affect; maximum intensity of positive and negative affect; and range of affect (i.e., most negative to most positive intensity). Autistic toddlers spent more time in neutral facial expressions, less time displaying positive affect, and had somewhat less intense positive emotional expression than non-autistic peers. Small differences were apparent in intensity of negative affect expression, while no differences emerged in duration of time spent in negative affect. Findings emphasize that differences may be more apparent in duration, rather than intensity of emotional expression, and that it may be particularly important to examine periods of "neutral" affect in young autistic children. Future research should consider the best ways to understand emotional reactivity in this population considering their unique interests, challenges, and communication styles.

Immunotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer with negative programmed death-ligand 1 expression: a literature review.

Lung cancer, mainly non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), is a serious threat to human life. In particular, the prognosis for advanced patients is poor, with the 5-year survival rate being exceedingly low. In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibition has changed the pattern of the treatment of a variety of cancers, including lung cancer; however, not all patients can benefit from immunotherapy, and thus finding the right biomarkers is particularly important for guiding precise treatment. Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression is one of the most valuable biomarkers for predicting the efficacy of lung cancer immunotherapy. Several studies have confirmed that patients with high PD-L1 expression are more likely to benefit from immunotherapy, but there is a high proportion of people with negative PD-L1 expression constituting a patient population that cannot be ignored. This article reviews the distribution of PD-L1 expression, the methods for evaluating PD-L1, and the effectiveness of immunotherapy for advanced NSCLC with negative PD-L1 expression. We performed a literature review to identify relevant data published until September 2022. In order to organize related information, we searched for literature in PubMed; abstracts and reports published in the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), and other congresses; and clinical trial information registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. Information on the distribution of PD-L1 expression, detection of PD-L1, and immunotherapy efficacy for NSCLC with negative PD-L1 expression was collated and reviewed. The incidence of PD-L1 expression in patients with stage IIIB/IV NSCLC is similar in all regions of the world, but PD-L1 expression level is associated with certain clinicopathological features. The expression of PD-L1 can be evaluated by various detecting methods. Some immunotherapy regimens have better efficacy than traditional chemotherapy in patients with negative PD-L1 expression. Patients with NSCLC and negative PD-L1 expression can receive better survival benefits under some immunotherapy types, and these may represent a better treatment option for this relatively small patient population.

Maternal contingent responses to distress facilitate infant soothing but not in mothers with depression or infants high in negative affect.

Depression in mothers is consistently associated with reduced caregiving sensitivity and greater infant negative affect expression. The current article examined the real-time behavioral mechanisms underlying these associations using Granger causality time series analyses in a sample of mothers (N = 194; 86.60% White) at elevated risk for depression and their 3-month-old infants (46.40% female) living in a major metropolitan area in the United States. Overall, mothers contingently responded to infant distress, and mothers' responses to infant distress increased the likelihood of infant soothing in real time. However, there was no evidence for maternal contingent responding or facilitation of infant soothing in subsamples of mothers who were currently experiencing elevated depression symptoms or in mothers of highly negative infants. These findings suggest real-time behavioral mechanisms by which risks for maladaptive self-regulation may develop. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Biomarker characterization in endometrial cancer in Europe: first survey data analysis from 69 pathological academic and hospital labs.

Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is the commonest gynecological cancer affecting women in Western populations. To predict patient risk, the 2020 edition of the World Health Organization (WHO) Classification of Tumors of the Female Genital Tract stressed the importance of integrated histo-molecular classification of the disease. This survey analysis poses attention on the most frequently used immunohistochemical and molecular markers adopted in daily categorization of ECs in European laboratories. We analyzed data collected through questionnaires administered to 40 Italian, 20 Spanish, 3 Swiss and 6 United Kingdom (UK) laboratories. We collected information regarding daily practice in EC evaluation, specifically concerning mismatch repair status (MMR) and microsatellite instability (MSI). Summary and descriptive statistical analyses were carried out to evaluate the current practice of each laboratory. The results show that MMR status is mainly evaluated by using immunohistochemistry (IHC) on most EC samples. The most frequent approach for the analysis of MMR status is IHC of four proteins (PMS2, MSH6, MSH2, MLH1). MSI analysis by molecular methods is uncommon but useful as a supplemental tool in specific conditions. MLH1 promoter hypermethylation and BRAF V600 mutations analysis are performed in case of negative expression of MLH1/PMS2. Other markers (mainly p53 followed by POLE and PTEN) are investigated in particular in Spain and Switzerland in a consistent number of cases. Guidelines consultation and standardization of laboratory procedures are efficient means for EC prognostic risk stratification and improving the quality of care.

Positive Expression of Paired Box 5 (Pax5) was Associated with Age, Tumor Location, and Tumor Size of Patients with Gastrointestinal Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs)

Background: Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) can occur in most human epithelial organs, however, there are few studies on digestive system NETs. Aims: The study aims to analyze Pax5 expression in digestive tract NETs and discuss its diagnostic significance. Methods: This study included 64 cases of NETs diagnosed from 2019 to 2020. Expressions of paired box 5 (Pax5), CD56, synaptophysin (Syn), and chromogranin (CgA) were detected using the immunohistochemical assay. Clinicopathological parameters, including tumor location, histological classification, depth of infiltration, tumor diameter, lymph node metastasis, vascular tumor thrombus, and nerve invasion, were determined in Pax5 positive and negative patients. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to analyze the correlation between Pax5 and CD56, Syn, and CgA. Results: The positive rate of Pax5 expression in patients with NETs was 46.9% (30/64). There were more patients ≥60 years illustrating positive expression of Pax5 compared to those patients <60 years (χ2=8.438, P=0.004). There were significant differences in histological classification between Pax5 positive expression patients and Pax5 negative expression patients (χ2=17.639, P=0.011). Significant Pax5 positive expression patients demonstrated tumor size ≥3 cm, compared to Pax5 negative expression patients (χ2=6.764, P=0.009). Therefore, positive Pax5 expression was related to age, histological classification, and tumor size of NETs patients. Pax5 expression in digestive system NETs was not correlated with CD56 (χ2=0.233, r=0.024, P=0.853), Syn (χ2=0.635, r=0.047, P=0.715), CgA (χ2=2.346, r=0.170, P=0.179). Conclusions: Positive expression of Pax5 was related to age, tumor location, and tumor size of NETs patients. Pax5 can be used in combination with common immune markers (CD56/Syn/CgA) and can improve the diagnostic accuracy of digestive system NETs.

Abnormal p16 expression and prognostic significance in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

The purpose of this study was to analyze p16 expression status and evaluate whether abnormal p16 expression was associated with prognosis in a large-scale esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cohort of patients. We retrospectively evaluated p16 expression status of 525 ESCC samples using immunohistochemistry. Associations between abnormal p16 expression and survival were analyzed. P16 negative, focal expression and overexpression were found in 87.6%, 6.9% and 5.5% of ESCC patients. No significant association was observed between abnormal p16 expression and age, sex, tumor site and location, differentiation, vessel and nerve invasion, T stage and lymph node metastasis. In all patients, the survival of p16 focal expression group tended to be better compared with negative group (disease free survival/DFS P=0.040 and overall survival/OS P=0.052) and overexpression group (DFS P=0.201 and OS P=0.258), and there was no survival difference between negative group and overexpression group. The multivariate analysis for OS and DFS found that only clinical stage was a significantly independent prognostic factor (P<0.001). When patients were divided into I-II stage (n=290) and III-IVa stage (n=235), the survival of focal expression group was better compared with negative group (DFS P=0.015 and OS P=0.019), and tended to be better compared with overexpression group (DFS P=0.405 and OS P=0.432) in I-II stage ESCC, which was not found in III-IVa stage ESCC. P16 overexpression or negative expression tend to be associated with unfavorable outcomes, especially in I-II stage ESCC. Our study will help to identify a subgroup of ESCC patients with excellent prognosis after surgical therapy.

Expression of EGFR and p16 in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of External Auditory Canal.

The expression of EGFR and p16 in the external auditory canal squamous cell carcinoma (EACSCC) and their impacts on oncological outcomes were not well studied. Seventeen-one consecutive patients who were treated for EACSCC at Kobe University Hospital from 1995 to 2018 were enrolled in this study. The expression of EGFR, and p16 were evaluated and their impacts on oncological outcomes were statistically analyzed. Positive expression of EGFR was observed in 62 patients (87%). Strong positive expression of p16 were observed in 18 patients (32.4%), and weakly positive expression in 30 patients (42.3%), respectively. While the number of the patients with negative EGFR expression were limited, all the surgically treated patients with negative EGFR expression have been alive without disease. In the patients with T3 & T4a EACSCC, prognosis of the patients with positive p16 expression EACSCC tended to be better than those with negative p16 expression. These results suggest the clinical significance of EGFR and p16 expressions in the patients with advanced EACSCC to predict oncological outcomes.

Elevating Academic Advising: Natural Language Processing of Student Reviews

Academic advising is often pivotal in shaping students’ educational experiences and choices. This study leverages natural language processing to quantitatively evaluate reviews of academic advisors, aiming to provide actionable insights on key feedback phrases and demographic factors for enhancing advising services. This analysis encompassed a comprehensive evaluation of 1151 reviews of undergraduate students for academic advisors, which were collected within a European University alliance consisting of five universities, offering a diverse pool of feedback from a wide range of academic interactions. Employing sentiment analysis powered by artificial intelligence, we computed compound sentiment scores for each academic advisor’s reviews. Subsequently, statistical analyses were conducted to provide insights into how demographic factors may or may not influence students’ sentiment and evaluations of academic advisory services. The results indicated that advisor’s gender had no substantial influence on the sentiment of the reviews. On the contrary, the academic advisors’ age showed a notable impact, with younger advisors surprisingly receiving more favorable evaluations. Word frequency analyses, both for positive and negative expressions, were also performed to contextualize the language used in describing academic advisors. The prevalent word combinations in reviews of highly rated academic advisors emphasized attributes like empathy, approachability, and effectiveness in guiding students towards achieving their academic goals. Conversely, advisors with less favorable reviews were often perceived as inadequate in addressing students’ concerns related to their academic journey, revealing persistent challenges in the student–advisor interaction that impacted their evaluation. This analysis of academic advisor reviews contributes to the body of literature by highlighting the significance of managing student expectations and enhancing advisor skills and qualities to foster positive interactions and academic success.

Secretion of osteocalcin in chitosan–hydroxyapatite scaffold with seeding of cryopreserved human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells

In recent years, regenerative therapy using tissue engineering has rapidly developed. One of the applications is for alveolar bone tissue engineering in prosthodontics. Currently, the most widely developed biomaterial in bone tissue engineering is a scaffold. The incorporation of chitosan and hydroxyapatite (CS-HA) improves osteoconductive ability. Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hUCMSCs) are capable of acting as osteoprogenitors and promoting bone formation. Purpose: To determine the influence of osteocalcin secretion in the CS[1]HA scaffold with seeding of cryopreserved hUCMSCs in vitro. Methods: The thawing process was carried out on frozen hUCMSCs, which were then examined for characterization using immunocytochemistry. The hUCMSCs were seeded on the CS-HA scaffold. Finally, examination of osteocalcin secretion levels was carried out by collecting cell culture supernatant on the 14th and 21st days of observation groups using the human osteocalcin ELISA kit. Results: Immunocytochemistry testing revealed that the hUCMSCs had the characteristics of the MSCs marker, namely positive expression on the CD90 marker and negative expression on the CD45 marker. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation revealed that the CS-HA scaffold had a structure with many pores and hUCMSCs could be attached and proliferation among the porosity of the scaffold. Based on the ELISA result, there was a significant difference in the average amount of osteocalcin secretion on days 14 and 21 which indicated osteogenic differentiation. Conclusion: Osteocalcin secretion in the CS-HA scaffold using the seeding of in vitro hUCMSCs demonstrated a bone regeneration process that showed a significant increase on day 21.

Abdomen Malignant Myxoid Leiomyosarcoma with PDGFRA and TP53 Missense Mutation: A Case Report

Background: Malignant myxoid leiomyosarcoma (MMLS) is most commonly found in the uterus but can also occur in other areas, such as the extremities, vulva, chest wall, and abdominal cavity. This cancer is more prevalent in women and has a poor prognosis with a high rate of recurrence and a significant percentage of metastasis. Case Representation: Herein, we report the case of a 64-year-old female patient who presented with 3-month history of left lower abdominal mass. The patient underwent abdominal malignancy resection and was subsequently diagnosed with myxoid leiomyosarcoma. The patient experienced a recurrence and metastasis with significant ascites after the initial surgery and did not respond to treatment with oral Anrotinib in combination with Tislelizumab immunotherapy. Further genetic testing using next-generation sequencing (NGS) identified missense mutations in the PDGFRA and TP53 genes in the patient's plasma, but no mutations in the KIT gene were detected. Immunohistochemical analysis of the tumor tissue also revealed a negative expression of PD-L1. As a result, we altered her targeted therapy to Avapritinib, which resulted in significant improvement in her symptoms, including abdominal distension and pain, a decrease in ascites, and the KPS score increased from 60 points before treatment to 90 points after treatment SD (stable disease) was achieved for three months after treatment. Conclusion: In this case report, we present the instance of a patient with malignant myxoid leiomyosarcoma with a missense mutation in both the PDGFRA and TP53 genes. We found that targeted therapy with Avapritinib was effective in achieving a positive outcome in this patient. Our findings suggest that genetic detection is possible to better understand the biological behavior, genetic characteristics, and patient's response and tolerance to certain drugs, thus selecting the best treatment plan for the patient. Avapritinib may be a promising new treatment option for leiomyosarcoma patients with similar genetic mutations.

PD-L1 expression and its significance in advanced NSCLC: real-world experience from a tertiary care center

BackgroundTargeted therapies against programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have revolutionized the management in recent years. There is paucity of data on the significance of PD-L1 expression in NSCLC from India. We aimed to study the prevalence of PD-L1 expression and its relation with different clinico-pathological parameters in advanced NSCLC from a tertiary care center in Eastern India.MethodsAll consecutive patients with advanced NSCLC diagnosed from January 2020 to December 2021 were prospectively evaluated for PD-L1 expression in formalin fixed-paraffin embedded tumor tissue specimens using immunohistochemistry analysis. A PD-L1 expression of < 1%, 1–49%, and ≥ 50% were considered negative, low, and high expression positive respectively, and association with various parameters was performed.ResultsOut of the 94 patients (mean age 59.6 ± 14 years and 63.8% males), PD-L1 positivity was seen in 42 (44.7%) patients, with low positivity (1–49%) in 29 patients and high positivity (≥ 50%) in 13 patients. Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) mutations were seen in 28 patients (29.8%). There were no significant differences in PD-L1 positivity with respect to gender, age, and molecular mutation status. PD-L1 positivity was significantly associated with tobacco use (p = 0.04), advanced tumor stage (p < 0.001), and higher nodal stage (p < 0.001). Median overall survival in the cohort was 17 months and it was not significantly different between the PD-L1 positive and negative groups.ConclusionsForty-five percent of advanced NSCLC patients in our cohort showed positive PD-L1 expression and it is associated with tobacco use and aggressive tumor characteristics.

Identification of FOXP1 as a favorable prognostic biomarker and tumor suppressor in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

BackgroundForkhead-box protein P1 (FOXP1) has been proposed to have both oncogenic and tumor-suppressive properties, depending on tumor heterogeneity. However, the role of FOXP1 in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) has not been previously reported.MethodsImmunohistochemistry was performed to detect FOXP1 expression in ICC and normal liver tissues. The relationship between FOXP1 levels and the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with ICC was evaluated. Finally, in vitro and in vivo experiments were conducted to examine the regulatory role of FOXP1 in ICC cells.ResultsFOXP1 was significantly downregulated in the ICC compared to their peritumoral tissues (p < 0.01). The positive rates of FOXP1 were significantly lower in patients with poor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, invasion into surrounding organs, and advanced stages (p < 0.05). Notably, patients with FOXP1 positivity had better outcomes (overall survival) than those with FOXP1 negativity (p < 0.05), as revealed by Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Moreover, Cox multivariate analysis showed that negative FOXP1 expression, advanced TNM stages, invasion, and lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic risk factors in patients with ICC. Lastly, overexpression of FOXP1 inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ICC cells and promoted apoptosis, whereas knockdown of FOXP1 had the opposite role.ConclusionOur findings suggest that FOXP1 may serve as a novel outcome predictor for ICC as well as a tumor suppressor that may contribute to cancer treatment.

Automated facial expression measurement in a longitudinal sample of 4- and 8-month-olds: Baby FaceReader 9 and manual coding of affective expressions.

Facial expressions are among the earliest behaviors infants use to express emotional states, and are crucial to preverbal social interaction. Manual coding of infant facial expressions, however, is laborious and poses limitations to replicability. Recent developments in computer vision have advanced automated facial expression analyses in adults, providing reproducible results at lower time investment. Baby FaceReader 9 is commercially available software for automated measurement of infant facial expressions, but has received little validation. We compared Baby FaceReader 9 output to manual micro-coding of positive, negative, or neutral facial expressions in a longitudinal dataset of 58 infants at 4 and 8 months of age during naturalistic face-to-face interactions with the mother, father, and an unfamiliar adult. Baby FaceReader 9's global emotional valence formula yielded reasonable classification accuracy (AUC = .81) for discriminating manually coded positive from negative/neutral facial expressions; however, the discrimination of negative from neutral facial expressions was not reliable (AUC = .58). Automatically detected a priori action unit (AU) configurations for distinguishing positive from negative facial expressions based on existing literature were also not reliable. A parsimonious approach using only automatically detected smiling (AU12) yielded good performance for discriminating positive from negative/neutral facial expressions (AUC = .86). Likewise, automatically detected brow lowering (AU3+AU4) reliably distinguished neutral from negative facial expressions (AUC = .79). These results provide initial support for the use of selected automatically detected individual facial actions to index positive and negative affect in young infants, but shed doubt on the accuracy of complex a priori formulas.

Acceptability Study of Emotional Expressions of In-Vehicle Virtual Assistant

Abstract We analyzed the differences in drivers’ preferences for emotional expressions from an in-vehicle virtual assistant based on data collected from 823 respondents in five countries categorized into three different cultural settings: collectivism (Korea, China and Brazil), individualism (USA) and a mixture of both (Russia). To quantify the degree of acceptance, we used a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree) on four emotion types categorized based on Thayer’s two-dimensional emotion model. Analysis revealed that respondents in all five countries preferred emotion type 1 (pleased, happy, excited) and emotion type 4 (calm, peaceful, relaxed), that is, positive emotions under Thayer’s two-dimensional emotion model expressions, and they showed low acceptance for emotion type 2 (nervous, angry, annoying) and emotion type 3 (sad, bored, sleepy), negative emotional expressions. In a cross-cultural comparative analysis, Brazil and China ranked highest in both positive emotion types (1 and 4), and Korea ranked highest in negative emotion types.

P1117 Molecular and clinical characterization of metabolic associated steatotic liver disease in the setting of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: a link with cancer risk in IBD?

Abstract Background Growing evidence suggests an increased prevalence of metabolic associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) in the context of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs). The risk of incident extrahepatic cancers is higher in MASLD. We aimed to clinically and mechanistically characterize IMID-MASLD patients compared to classic-MASLD, and its relation to cancer risk in IBD. Methods Ambidirectional, case‒control study including a prospective cohort of IMID patients (IBD, psoriasis, hidradenitis, and spondyloarthritis). MASLD and advanced-MASLD was established by the controlled attenuation parameter and transient elastography, respectively. Controls from the general population were age-, sex-, type 2 diabetes-, and BMI-matched in a 1:2 ratio. Liver biopsies were collected when significant liver fibrosis was suspected. Total RNA was obtained from freshly frozen cases and analyzed by RNA-seq. Differential gene expression was performed with‘limma-voom’. Gene set enrichment analysis was performed using the fgsea R package with a preranked “limma t-statistic” gene list. Data on global cancer prevalence was retrospectively collected on a multicenter IBD cohort. Results 1435 IMID patients and 2918 controls were initially included. Advanced-MASLD prevalence was significantly higher among IMID patients than controls(p&amp;lt;0.0001). In multivariate analysis, concomitant IMID was an independent and the strongest predictor of advanced-MASLD (adjusted OR 2.587; &amp;lt; 0.001).Transcriptomic data was obtained in 109 patients and showed 87 significant genes differentially expressed between IMID- and classic-MASLD. IMID-MASLD cases displayed an enriched expression of genes implicated in pro-tumoral activities or the control of the cell cycle concomitant with a negative expression of genes related to metabolism (figure 1). A comparable transcriptomic signature was observed in IBD-MASLD, involving genes as IGFBP2, PLEKHA4, or metallothioneins, all of them associated to pour prognosis in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). In the multicentre IBD cohort (n=1905; female 50.5%; mean age 50.7 years, mean follow up: 13.3 years) we observed a global cancer prevalence of 9.0%, with a higher-than-expected RCC prevalence (table 1). Whereas RCC represents 3.2% of all cancers in the general population, it accounts for 8.7% in our IBD cohort, in agreement with our molecular data. Conclusion Advanced MASLD has a disproportionately high prevalence in IMID populations. Both conditions can trigger a protumoral condition that can lead to an accelerated form of MASLD independent of classic metabolic pathways and a higher cancer risk, as is the case of RCC in the IBD population.

Differentiation Potential Analysis of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Guizhou Miniature Pigs

In this study, different growth characteristics of hematopoietic stem cells and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were used to isolate and culture BMSCs by whole bone marrow adhesion method, and RT-PCR was used to detect cell surface markers CD29, CD31, CD34, CD44, CD71, CD73, CD90. The differentiation of osteocytes into adipocytes and osteoblasts was induced in vitro, and the differentiation ability was observed by staining with oil red O and rubinin. To investigate the isolation and culture methods of BMSCs from Guizhou miniature pigs (Sussa lvanius) in vitro, and to study their biological characteristics and potential for multi-differentiation. The results showed that a small number of adherent cells could be seen in the primary BMSCs cultured in vitro within 48 hours, and the confluent cells reached 90% in 5~6 days. The cell growth state was good, and the shape was spindle and polygonal. RT-PCR was used to detect the positive expression of CD29, CD44, CD71, CD73 and CD90 on the cell surface, and the negative expression of CD31 and CD34. Oil red O staining showed the formation of lipid droplets in the cells, and alizarine red staining showed calcium nodules in the cells, indicating that the cells isolated and cultured in this experiment had the ability of multidirection differentiation. It is consistent with the characteristics of BMSCs. The growth of BMSCs cultured in vitro was stable, and the expanded BMSCs had multidirectional differentiation potential, which was an ideal seed cell for tissue engineering.

Combined average standard uptake value and rate constant can predict expression of EGFR in hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: A pilot study with integrated PET/MRI

PurposeTo investigate whether the quantitative multiparameters of 18F-FDG PET/MRI can predict expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) of hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC). MethodsTwenty-one patients with HSCC confirmed by biopsy underwent neck integrated 18F-FDG PET/MRI and EGFR expression detection. Quantitative parameters derived from 18F-FDG PET, difusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and dynamic contrast enhanced-magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) were measured. The efficacies of quantitative multiparameters derived from 18F-FDG PET/MRI for predicting the expression of EGFR of HSCC were evaluated. ResultsThe patients were divided into positive expression group (PEG, n = 14) and negative expression group (NEG, n = 7). Mann-Whitney U nonparametric test showed that SUVmean and Kep had statistical difference between PEG and NPG, while other parameters had no statistical difference. Using 14.50 and 2.10 min−1 as the threshold values, areas under the curve (AUCs) for SUVmean and Kep were 0.786 with specificity of 92.9 % and sensitivity of 57.1 %. The combined use of SUVmean and Kep had better efficacy to evaluate the expression of EGFR with AUC of 0.980, sensitivity of 92.9 %, and specificity of 100.0 %. ConclusionCombined use of SUVmean and Kep showed good performance in predicting the expression of EGFR in HSCC. Integrated 18F-FDG PET/MRI enables simultaneous acquisition of SUVmean and Kep, so it represents as a powerful tool to noninvasively and repeatably evaluate the expression of EGFR during the management of HSCC.

Establishment and characterization of DPC-X4: a novel mixed-type ampullary cancer cell line.

Mixed-type ampullary cancer is a distinct subtype of ampullary cancer that manifests a merging of the biological characteristics of both intestinal and pancreaticobiliary subtypes. The absence of established cell lines specific to this subtype has resulted in a concomitant scarcity of research on its tumorigenic mechanisms and the development of novel therapeutic modalities. The present study achieved the successful establishment of a novel mixed-type ampullary cancer cell line, designated DPC-X4 through primary culture techniques. Subsequent analyses pertaining to phenotypic characteristics, molecular profiling, biomarker identification, and histological features validated the DPC-X4 cell line as a potent model for delineating the pathogenesis of mixed-type ampullary cancer and facilitating the development of new pharmacological agents. This newly established cell line was subjected to continuous cultivation for 1year, with stable passaging for over 50 generations. Notably, the DPC-X4 cell line manifested typical morphological features associated with epithelial tumors. Furthermore, the population doubling time for the DPC-X4 cell line was determined at 70h. Short tandem repeat (STR) analysis confirmed that the DPC-X4 cell line exhibited a high genetic concordance with the primary tumor from the patient. Karyotypic profiling indicated an abnormal sub-triploid karyotype, with representative karyotypes of 57, XXY inv (9), 14p + , 15p + , der (17), + mar. The DPC-X4 cell line demonstrated a high capacity for efficient organoid formation under suspension culture conditions. In addition, the subcutaneous inoculation of DPC-X4 cells into NXG mice led to the formation of xenografted tumors. The results of drug sensitivity testing indicated that DPC-X4 cells were sensitive to paclitaxel and resistant to oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil, and gemcitabine. Immunohistochemistry revealed positive expression of CK7, CK19, and CK20 in DPC-X4 cells, while CDX2 demonstrated negative expression. In addition, positive expression of E-cadherin and vimentin was identified in DPC-X4 cells, with a proliferation index indicated by Ki-67 at 70%. The findings of our study establish DPC-X4 as a novel mixed-type ampullary cancer cell line, which can serve as a potential experimental model for exploring the pathogenesis of ampullary cancer and the development of therapeutic drugs.

Nomograms predict survival in elderly women with triple-negative breast cancer: A SEER population-based study.

The effective treatment of breast cancer in elderly patients remains a major challenge. To construct a nomogram affecting the overall survival of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and establish a survival risk prediction model. A total of 5317 TPBC patients with negative expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) who were diagnosed and received systematic treatment from 2010 to 2015 were collected from the American Cancer Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. They were randomly divided into training set (n= 3721) and validation set (n= 1596). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were used to identify prognostic features, and a nomogram was established to predict the probability of 1-year, 3-year and 5-year OS and BCSS. We used consistency index (C-index), calibration curve, area under the curve (AUC) and decision curve analysis (DCA) to evaluate the predictive performance and clinical utility of the nomogram. The C-indices of the nomograms for OS and BCSS in the training cohort were 0.797 and 0.825, respectively, whereas those in the validation cohort were 0.795 and 0.818, respectively. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves had higher sensitivity at all specificity values as compared with the Tumor Node Metastasis (TNM) system. The calibration plot revealed a satisfactory relationship between survival rates and predicted outcomes in both the training and validation cohorts. DCA demonstrated that the nomogram had clinical utility when compared with the TNM staging system. This study provides information on population-based clinical characteristics and prognostic factors for patients with triple-negative breast cancer, and constructs a reliable and accurate prognostic nomogram.