Elevated rates of horizontal gene transfer in the industrialized human microbiome.

Industrialization has impacted the human gut ecosystem, resulting in altered microbiome composition and diversity. Whether bacterial genomes may also adapt to the industrialization of their host populations remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the extent to which the rates and targets of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) vary across thousands of bacterial strains from 15 human populations spanning a range of industrialization.

Lymphocyte to monocyte ratio-based nomogram for predicting outcomes of hepatocellular carcinoma treated with sorafenib.

Background: The ability of the pretreatment lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) to predict outcomes of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) receiving sorafenib is not conclusively determined.

Methods: We retrospectively studied patients treated with sorafenib for HCC in two tertiary referral centres in Asia and North America. Primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS).