Efficacy and safety of glucocorticoids in the treatment of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs.

In the realm of acute respiratory infections, coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), poses a global public health challenge. The application of corticosteroids (CSs) in COVID-19 remains a contentious topic among researchers. Accordingly, our team performed a comprehensive meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to meticulously evaluate the safety and efficacy of CSs in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Comprehensive Collection of Whole-Slide Images and Genomic Profiles for Patients with Bladder Cancer.

Bladder cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality in the urinary system. Understanding genomic information is important in the treatment and prognosis of bladder cancer, but the current method used to identify mutations is time-consuming and labor-intensive. There are now many novel and convenient ways to predict cancerous genomics from pathological slides.

Surgical resection of soft tissue metastasis in cancers: A single-center study of 77 cases over a 7-year period.

Introduction: Soft tissue metastasis (STM) of cancers, encompassing skeletal muscle and subcutaneous tissue metastasis, is less common due to unique homeostatic conditions. With longer life expectancy and the advent of new imaging modalities, clinical physicians will increasingly encounter and manage such cases. This study retrospectively reviewed cases of STM in visceral cancers who underwent surgery at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center over a 7-year period.

Differentiation between lung allograft rejection and infection using donor-derived cell-free DNA and pathogen detection by metagenomic next-generation sequencing.

Background: In lung transplant recipients (LTRs), the primary causes of mortality are rejection and infection, which often present similar symptoms, making differentiation challenging. This study aimed to explore the diagnostic efficacy of plasma donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) in conjunction with metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) for pathogen detection in differentiation between lung allograft rejection and infection in LTRs experiencing new-onset pulmonary complications.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study on 188 LTRs who underwent lung or heart-lung transplantation at our institution from 2015 to 2021.

Prediction and related genes of cancer distant metastasis based on deep learning.

Cancer metastasis is one of the main causes of cancer progression and difficulty in treatment. Genes play a key role in the process of cancer metastasis, as they can influence tumor cell invasiveness, migration ability and fitness. At the same time, there is heterogeneity in the organs of cancer metastasis.

FGFR3 mutation characterization identifies prognostic and immune-related gene signatures in bladder cancer.

Background: Immunotherapy and FGFR3-targeted therapy play an important role in the management of locally advanced and metastatic bladder cancer (BLCA). Previous studies indicated that FGFR3 mutation (mFGFR3) may be involved in the alterations of immune infiltration, which may affect the priority or combination of these two treatment regimes. However, the specific impact of mFGFR3 on the immunity and how FGFR3 regulates the immune response in BLCA to affect prognosis remain unclear.

Histopathological bladder cancer gene mutation prediction with hierarchical deep multiple-instance learning.

Gene mutation detection is usually carried out by molecular biological methods, which is expensive and has a long-time cycle. In contrast, pathological images are ubiquitous. If clinically significant gene mutations can be predicted only through pathological images, it will greatly promote the widespread use of gene mutation detection in clinical practice.

Comparison of pneumonitis risk between immunotherapy alone and in combination with chemotherapy: an observational, retrospective pharmacovigilance study.

Checkpoint inhibitor pneumonitis (CIP) is a rare but serious adverse event that may impact treatment decisions. However, there is limited information comparing CIP risks between immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) monotherapy and combination with chemotherapy due to a lack of direct cross-comparison in clinical trials. To determine whether ICI combination with chemotherapy is superior to ICI in other drug regimens (including monotherapy) in terms of CIP risk.

Unitary p-wave interactions between fermions in an optical lattice.

Exchange-antisymmetric pair wavefunctions in fermionic systems can give rise to unconventional superconductors and superfluids. The realization of these states in controllable quantum systems, such as ultracold gases, could enable new types of quantum simulations, topological quantum gates and exotic few-body states. However, p-wave and other antisymmetric interactions are weak in naturally occurring systems, and their enhancement via Feshbach resonances in ultracold systems has been limited by three-body loss.

Gut-derived fungemia due to Kodamaea ohmeri combined with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis: a case report.

Background: Kodamaea ohmeri is a rare pathogen with high mortality and is found among blood samples in a considerable proportion; however, gastrointestinal infection of K. ohmeri is extremely rare. Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is also an uncommon fungal; these two fungal infections reported concomitantly are unprecedented.

Cardiovascular outcomes in obstructive sleep apnoea and implications of clinical phenotyping on effect of CPAP treatment.

Background: There is a growing awareness of the heterogeneity of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Clinical trials of CPAP treatment on cardiovascular protection have been mostly negative. We aimed to assess the association between polysomnographic parameters and incident major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), and to investigate if the CPAP effect could be better delineated among clinical subgroups.

A rapid and durable response to cabozantinib in an osimertinib-resistant lung cancer patient with D1228N mutation: a case report.

Osimertinib has efficacy superior to that of standard epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for the first-line treatment of patients with EGFR-mutant advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, patients treated with osimertinib eventually acquire drug resistance. missense mutations have been demonstrated to mediate resistance to MET-TKIs, such as crizotinib.

Detecting ALK Rearrangement with RT-PCR: A Reliable Approach Compared with Next-Generation Sequencing in Patients with NSCLC.

Background: Precise detection of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement guides the application of ALK-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (ALK-TKIs) in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been widely used in clinics, but DNA-based NGS used to detect fusion genes has delivered false-negative results. However, fusion genes can be successfully detected at the transcription level and with higher sensitivity using RNA-based reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

Intravesical Recurrence After Radical Nephroureterectomy of Upper Urinary Tract Urothelial Carcinoma: A Large Population-Based Investigation of Clinicopathologic Characteristics and Survival Outcomes.

Of patients with upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC), 22-47% developed bladder recurrence after radical nephroureterectomy. Furthermore, the effect of surgery for UTUC-bladder cancer (BC) has not been well validated. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of standard primary BC surgical strategy on survival of patients diagnosed with UTUC-BC.

Prognostic value of primary tumor surgery in seminoma patients with distant metastasis at diagnosis: a population-based study.

The aims of this study were to determine the prognostic value of primary tumor surgery and identify optimal candidates for such surgery among patients with seminoma and distant metastasis at diagnosis. We identified 521 patients with seminoma and distant metastasis at diagnosis between 2004 and 2014 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Among these patients, 434 had undergone surgery, whereas 87 had not.

Prognosis of Patients With Testicular Carcinoma Is Dependent on Metastatic Site.

Existing data on the association of metastatic sites and prognosis of patients with metastatic testicular malignancy are limited. In this study, the association of survival outcome and the prognostic value of different metastatic sites in patients with metastatic testicular cancer was investigated. A dataset from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) survey was selected for a retrospective metastatic testicular cancer cohort study.

Comparison of different lymph node staging schemes in prostate cancer patients with lymph node metastasis.

Purpose: In addition to standard TNM N staging, lymph node ratio (LNR) and log odds of metastatic lymph node (LODDS) staging methods have been developed for cancer staging. We compared the prognostic performance of the total number of lymph nodes examined (TNLE), number of metastatic lymph node (NMLN), LNR, and LODDS in prostate cancer.

Methods: Data from 1400 patients diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2004 and 2009 who underwent lymphadenectomy were extracted from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database.

Conductivity Spectrum of Ultracold Atoms in an Optical Lattice.

We measure the conductivity of neutral fermions in a cubic optical lattice. Using in situ fluorescence microscopy, we observe the alternating current resultant from a single-frequency uniform force applied by displacement of a weak harmonic trapping potential. In the linear response regime, a neutral-particle analog of Ohm's law gives the conductivity as the ratio of total current to force.

Log Odds Could Better Predict Survival in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer Patients Compared with pN and Lymph Node Ratio.

The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic value of lymph node-associated variables, pN, lymph node ratio (LNR) and log odds (LODDS), in patients with bladder cancer. In the discovery cohort, 3358 patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) and treated with radical cystectomy were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. A total of 173 patients with MIBC who underwent radical cystectomy at Shanghai Cancer Center between 2010 and 2013 were enrolled in the validation cohort.

An Exceptionally Water Stable Metal-Organic Framework with Amide-Functionalized Cages: Selective CO /CH Uptake and Removal of Antibiotics and Dyes from Water.

As the main organic pollutants in wastewater, antibiotics and organic dyes are harmful to the environment and public health, and their removal is important but challenging. In this work, highly porous 3D metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) [M (PDAD)(H O)] (PCN-124-stu; M=Cu, Zn; H PDAD = 5,5'-(pyridine-3,5-dicarbonyl)bis(azanediyl)diisophthalic acid) were synthesized, and PCN-124-stu(Cu) shows excellent chemical and thermal stability. PCN-124-stu(Cu) was used as a host for efficient extraction of various organic dyes, especially the large-molecule dye Coomassie brilliant blue, and fluoroquinolones from water, in comparison with five common MOFs, zeolite 13X, and activated carbon.