Study areas, population densities, and distributions of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) cases and hospitals in Kaohsiung, 2011–2013.

<p>Purple points indicate that patients with OHCA were transported to the closest emergency hospital while green points represent bypassing it.</p

Interpolation of the interval from the call to hospital admission by using the Kriging method.

<p>Areas marked with red indicate a prolonged interval of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) case from the call to hospital admission, while areas marked with green show a short interval (<30 min). Uncolored areas are locations without sufficient interpolation information (sparse OHCA event points).</p

Flow chart of the study design.

<p>Abbreviations: CPR: cardiopulmonary resuscitation; AED: automated external defibrillator; LMA: laryngeal mask airway.</p

Survival percentages of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) by district in areas with high (> = 5,000 persons/km²) and low (< 5,000 persons/km²) population densities of Kaohsiung City, 2011–2013.

<p>Survival percentages of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) by district in areas with high (> = 5,000 persons/km²) and low (< 5,000 persons/km²) population densities of Kaohsiung City, 2011–2013.</p

Kaplan-Meier disease-free survival curves.

<p>The curves depicting the effects on postoperative recurrence of LINE-1 methylation when divided into patients with “low” versus “high” methylation.</p

Scatter plot of Body weight and age both labelled by OSTA undex.

<p>The scatter plot displayed no significant correlation between body weight and age in our study cohort. (Pearson’s r = -0.064, <i>p</i> = 0.515). The size of the symbol indicates the OSTA value.</p

A histogram of patient LINE-1 methylation levels.

<p>A histogram of patient LINE-1 methylation levels.</p

LINE-1 Methylation Status Correlates Significantly to Post-Therapeutic Recurrence in Stage III Colon Cancer Patients Receiving FOLFOX-4 Adjuvant Chemotherapy

<div><p>Background</p><p>Methylation levels of long interspersed nucleotide elements (LINE-1) are representative of genome-wide methylation status and crucial in maintaining genomic stability and expression. Their prognostic impact on colon cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy has not been well established. We evaluated the association between LINE-1 methylation status and clinicopathologic features and postoperative oncological outcomes in stage III colon cancer patients.</p><p>Materials and Methods</p><p>129 UICC stage III colon cancer patients who had received radical resection and FOLFOX adjuvant chemotherapy were enrolled. Global methylation was estimated by analyzing tumor LINE-1 methylation status using bisulfite-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and pyrosequencing assay. Demographics, clinicopathological data, and postoperative outcomes were recorded by trained abstractors. Outcome measurements included postoperative recurrence and disease-free survival. Univariate, multivariate, and survival analyses were conducted to identify prognostic factors of oncological outcomes.</p><p>Results</p><p>The LINE-1 methylation of all 129 patients was measured on a 0–100 scale (mean 63.3; median 63.7, standard deviation 7.1), LINE-1 hypomethylation was more common in patients aged 65 years and above (61.7%±7.6% vs. 64.6±6.4, <i>p</i>=0.019) and those with post-therapeutic recurrence (61.7±7.4 vs 64.3±6.7, <i>p</i>=0.041). Considering risk adjustment, LINE-1 hypomethylation was found to be an independent risk factor of post-therapeutic recurrence (Adjusted OR=14.1, <i>p</i>=0.012). Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that patients in the low methylation group had shorter period of disease free survival (<i>p</i>=0.01). In a stratified analysis that included 48 patients with post-therapeutic recurrence, it was found that those who experienced shorter period of disease free survival (≦6 months) appeared to have lower LINE-1 methylation levels than patients who reported of recurrence after 6 months (56.68±15.75 vs. 63.55±7.57, <i>p</i>=0.041)</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>There was a significantly greater risk of early postoperative recurrence and a shorter period of disease-free survival in Stage III colon cancer patients exhibiting LINE-1 hypomethylation status after being treated with radical resection and FOLFOX chemotherapy.</p></div

Additional file 1: of How to effectively obtain informed consent in trauma patients: a systematic review

Appendix 1. Data extraction form. (DOCX 15 kb

Independent factors for secondary outcome (complications) in the multivariate analyses.

<p>*Adjusted for gender, age, body weight, OSTA index, GCS, ISS, NISS, AIS-H and exposure of neurosurgery.</p><p>Independent factors for secondary outcome (complications) in the multivariate analyses.</p