Uncertainty quantification for the random HIV dynamical model driven by drug adherence.

In HIV drug therapy, the high variability of CD4 T cells and viral loads brings uncertainty to the determination of treatment options and the ultimate treatment efficacy, which may be the result of poor drug adherence. We develop a dynamical HIV model coupled with pharmacokinetics, driven by drug adherence as a random variable, and systematically study the uncertainty quantification, aiming to construct the relationship between drug adherence and therapeutic effect. Using adaptive generalized polynomial chaos, stochastic solutions are approximated as polynomials of input random parameters.

Vaginal microbial profile of cervical cancer patients receiving chemoradiotherapy: the potential involvement of Lactobacillus iners in recurrence.

The vaginal microbiome is an immune defense against reproductive diseases and can serve as an important biomarker for cervical cancer. However, the intrinsic relationship between the recurrence and the vaginal microbiome in patients with cervical cancer before and after concurrent chemoradiotherapy is poorly understood. Here, we analyzed 125 vaginal microbial profiles from a patient cohort of stage IB-IVB cervical cancer using 16S metagenomic sequencing and deciphered the microbial composition and functional characteristics of the recurrent and non-recurrent both before and after chemoradiotherapy.

Randomness accelerates the dynamic clearing process of the COVID-19 outbreaks in China.

During the implementation of strong non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), more than one hundred COVID-19 outbreaks induced by different strains in China were dynamically cleared in about 40 days, which presented the characteristics of small scale clustered outbreaks with low peak levels. To address how did randomness affect the dynamic clearing process, we derived an iterative stochastic difference equation for the number of newly reported cases based on the classical stochastic SIR model and calculate the stochastic control reproduction number (SCRN). Further, by employing the Bayesian technique, the change points of SCRNs have been estimated, which is an important prerequisite for determining the lengths of the exponential growth and decline phases.

Statistical Analysis of Two-Compartment Pharmacokinetic Models with Drug Non-adherence.

Poor drug adherence is considered one of major barriers to achieving the clinical and public health benefits of many pharmacotherapies. In the current paper, we aim to investigate the impact of dose omission on the plasma concentrations of two-compartment pharmacokinetic models with two typical routes of drug administration, namely the intravenous bolus and extravascular first-order absorption. First, we reformulate the classical two-compartment pharmacokinetic models with a new stochastic feature, where a binomial random model of dose intake is integrated.

Threshold conditions for curbing COVID-19 with a dynamic zero-case policy derived from 101 outbreaks in China.

By 31 May 2022, original/Alpha, Delta and Omicron strains induced 101 outbreaks of COVID-19 in mainland China. Most outbreaks were cleared by combining non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) with vaccines, but continuous virus variations challenged the dynamic zero-case policy (DZCP), posing questions of what are the prerequisites and threshold levels for success? And what are the independent effects of vaccination in each outbreak? Using a modified classic infectious disease dynamic model and an iterative relationship for new infections per day, the effectiveness of vaccines and NPIs was deduced, from which the independent effectiveness of vaccines was derived. There was a negative correlation between vaccination coverage rates and virus transmission.

Statistical analysis of one-compartment pharmacokinetic models with drug adherence.

Pharmacokinetics is a scientific branch of pharmacology that describes the time course of drug concentration within a living organism and helps the scientific decision-making of potential drug candidates. However, the classical pharmacokinetic models with the eliminations of zero-order, first-order and saturated Michaelis-Menten processes, assume that patients perfectly follow drug regimens during drug treatment, and the significant factor of patients' drug adherence is not taken into account. In this study, therefore, considering the random change of dosage at the fixed dosing time interval, we reformulate the classical deterministic one-compartment pharmacokinetic models to the framework of stochastic, and analyze their qualitative properties including the expectation and variance of the drug concentration, existence of limit drug distribution, and the stochastic properties such as transience and recurrence.

The risk of future waves of COVID-19: modeling and data analysis.

After a major outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) starting in late December 2019, there were no new cases reported in mainland China for the first time on March 18, 2020, and no new cases reported in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on April 20, 2020. However, these places had reported new cases and experienced a second wave since June 11, 2020. Here we develop a stochastic discrete-time epidemic model to evaluate the risk of COVID-19 resurgence by analyzing the data from the beginning of the outbreak to the second wave in these three places.

Impact of media reports on the early spread of COVID-19 epidemic.

Media reports can modify people's knowledge of emerging infectious diseases, and thus changing the public attitudes and behaviors. However, how the media reports affect the development of COVID-19 epidemic is a key public health issue. Here the Pearson correlation and cross-correlation analyses are conducted to find the statistically significant correlations between the number of new hospital notifications for COVID-19 and the number of daily news items for twelve major websites in China from January 11th to February 6th 2020.

Prognostic factors affecting survival and recurrence in patients with early cervical squamous cell cancer following radical hysterectomy.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the clinical and histological features affecting the survival of patients with early cervical squamous cell cancer treated with radical hysterectomy.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed clinical and histological data for patients with stage IB-IIA cervical cancer treated by radical hysterectomy at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital from August 2008 to January 2013.

Results: A total of 1435 patients were included in the study.

Association between the location of transposed ovary and ovarian dose in patients with cervical cancer treated with postoperative pelvic radiotherapy.

Background And Purpose: How to protect the ovarian function during radiotherapy is uncertain. The purpose of this study was to explore the association between the location of the transposed ovary and the ovarian dose in patients with cervical cancer received radical hysterectomy, ovarian transposition, and postoperative pelvic radiotherapy.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of 150 young patients with cervical cancer who received radical hysterectomy, intraoperative ovarian transposition, and postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital.

Prognostic value of the 2018 FIGO staging system for cervical cancer patients with surgical risk factors.

To determine the predictive value of the 2018 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging system for cervical cancer patients with surgical risk factors. Data of 662 cervical cancer patients (stages IB and IIA) with surgical risk factors treated at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital between 2008 and 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. Univariate log-rank test and multivariate Cox regression models were adopted to evaluate the relationship between 2018 FIGO stage and survival.

A comprehensive analysis of the factors of positive pelvic lymph nodes on survival of cervical cancer patients with 2018 FIGO stage IIIC1p.

To evaluate the factors associated with positive pelvic lymph nodes (LNs) on the survival of patients with 2018 FIGO stage IIIC1p cervical cancer. We retrospectively analyzed 155 patients with pelvic lymph node metastasis (LNM) confirmed by pathology after radical resection of cervical cancer treated at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, China, between March 2008 and October 2011. We analyzed the influence of the factors associated with positive pelvic LNs on the survival of patients.

Management Of Synchronous Krukenberg Tumors From Gastric Cancer: a Single-center Experience.

Whether metastasectomy improves prognosis of gastric cancer patients with ovarian metastases (Krukenberg tumors) is not clear. In this study, we examined the survival benefit of metastasectomy combined with chemotherapy for treatment of synchronous Krukenberg tumors from gastric cancer and identified the prognostic factors. The subjects of this study were patients diagnosed as synchronous Krukenberg tumors of gastric origin in the period between December 2004 and December 2015.

Cisplatin concurrent chemoradiotherapy vs adjuvant radiation in stage IB/IIA cervical cancer with intermediate risk factors, treated with radical surgery: a retrospective study.

Purpose: To determine if postoperative cisplatin concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) improves the outcome in stage IA/IIB cervical cancer patients with intermediate risk factors, when compared with radiation therapy (RT) alone, and identify the potential eligible populations for this treatment.

Patients And Methods: We reviewed medical records of 1,240 patients with stage IA/IIB cervical cancer who underwent radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy in our hospital between January 2008 and December 2011. Of the 1,240 patients, 436 displayed 1 or more intermediate risk factors.

LncRNA-MEG3 inhibits cell proliferation of endometrial carcinoma by repressing Notch signaling.

Background: The long non-coding RNA MEG3 has shown functional role as a tumor suppressor in many cancer types, excluding endometrial carcinoma (EC). Thus, this study tried to reveal the MEG3 dysregulation in EC samples and potential functional mechanism due to its regulation on Notch signaling pathway.

Methods: The expression profiles of MEG3 and two Notch signaling molecules, Notch1 and Hes1, were detected in both EC tissues and cell lines through real time PCR and western blot analysis.

Circulating MicroRNA-21 Is Involved in Lymph Node Metastasis in Cervical Cancer by Targeting RASA1.

The aims of this study were to discover if increased circulating microRNA-21 (miR-21) expression in serum is associated with lymph node metastasis in patients with cervical cancer and look further into the molecular mechanism of these. Whole-blood samples from 89 patients who have been histopathologically confirmed as having cervical cancer and 20 control subjects were collected, and then the association between lymph node metastasis and the level of circulating miR-21 was compared. Then cervical cancer cell lines HeLa (HPV-18 DNA, E6/E7RNA) and HT-3 (HPV DNA, E6/E7RNA) were used to confirm the interaction between miR-21 and RASA1.

MicroRNA-130a promotes the metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of osteosarcoma by targeting PTEN.

MicroRNAs, which serve as post-transcriptional modulators of numerous genes, have been found to be important regulators during the pathogenesis of osteosarcoma. This study demonstrates for the first time that microRNA-130a (miR-130a) is significantly upregulated in osteosarcoma, and associated with the metastasis of osteosarcoma. Elevated level of miR-130a was closely correlated with poor clinical features and prognosis of osteosarcoma patients.

Intra-operative frozen section analysis of common iliac lymph nodes in patients with stage IB1 and IIA1 cervical cancer.

Introduction: To evaluate frozen section analysis of common iliac lymph nodes for developing the accuracy of para-aortic lymphadenectomy and detection of para-aortic lymph node metastasis in patients with stage IB1 and IIA1 cervical cancer treated by surgical intent.

Methods: Three hundred and ninety-two patients with stage IB1 and IIA1 cervical cancer who underwent radical hysterectomy with pelvic and/or para-aortic lymphadenectomy were retrospectively analyzed. Among those patients, 183 (group A) underwent para-aortic lymphadenectomy when para-aortic lymph nodes were identified as suspicious by visualization and palpation.