Predictive value and optimal cut-off level of high-sensitivity troponin T in patients with acute pulmonary embolism.

Background/aims: Elevated troponin levels predict in-hospital mortality and influence decisions regarding thrombolytic therapy in patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). However, the usefulness of high-sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT) regarding PE remains uncertain. We aimed to establish the optimal cut-off level and compare its performance for precise risk stratification.

VCSAP: Online reinforcement learning exploration method based on visitation count of state-action pairs.

In the domain of online reinforcement learning, strategies that leverage inherent rewards for exploration tend to achieve commendable outcomes within contexts characterized by deceptive or sparse rewards. Counting through the visitation of states is an efficient count-based exploration method to get the proper intrinsic reward. However, only the novelty of the states encountered by the agent is considered in this exploration method, resulting in the over-exploration of a certain state-action pair and falling into a locally optimal solution.

Lymph Node Metastasis for pN+ Superficial Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze lymph node metastasis (LNM) distribution in superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its impact factors on survival.

Methods: We reviewed 241 pT1N+ ESCC cases between February 2012 and April 2022 from 10 Chinese hospitals with a high volume of esophageal cancer (EC). We analyzed clinicopathological data to identify overall survival (OS) risk factors and LNM distribution in relation to tumor invasion depth.

-polarized M2-like tumor-associated macrophages accelerate colorectal cancer development via IL-8 secretion.

(), a periodontal pathogen, has been implicated in the impairment of anti-tumor responses in colorectal cancer (CRC). The tumor microenvironment in CRC involves tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), which are pivotal in modulating tumor-associated immune responses. The polarization of TAMs towards an M2-like phenotype promotes CRC progression by suppressing the immune system.

Prognostic effect of CEA, AFP, CA19‑9 and CA242 for recurrence/metastasis of gastric cancer following radical gastrectomy.

The present study aimed to determine the potential of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), carbohydrate antigen (CA)19-9 and CA242 in predicting recurrence/metastasis of gastric cancer in patients following radical gastrectomy. The clinical data of 368 patients with stage I-III gastric cancer who underwent radical gastrectomy were analyzed, and CEA, AFP, CA19-9 and CA242 levels were detected prior to surgery and 6-12 months following surgery. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to evaluate the potential risk factors for post-operative recurrence/metastasis of gastric cancer, and the predictive value of CEA, AFP, CA19-9 and CA242 levels was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC).