Long-term care need, loneliness, and perceived social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from the German Ageing Survey

There is a complete lack of studies focusing on the association between care degree (reflecting the long-term care need) and loneliness or social isolation in Germany. Aims: To investigate the association between care degree and loneliness as well as perceived social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We used data from the nationally representative German Ageing Survey, which covers community-dwelling middle-aged and older individuals aged 40 years or over. We used wave 8 of the German Ageing Survey (analytical sample: n = 4334 individuals, mean age was 68.9 years, SD: 10.2 years; range 46–100 years). To assess loneliness, the De Jong Gierveld instrument was used. To assess perceived social isolation, the Bude and Lantermann instrument was used. Moreover, the level of care was used as a key independent variable (absence of care degree (0); care degree 1–5). Results: After adjusting for various covariates, regressions showed that there were no significant differences between individuals without a care degree and individuals with a care degree of 1 or 2 in terms of loneliness and perceived social isolation. In contrast, individuals with a care degree of 3 or 4 had higher loneliness (β = 0.23, p = 0.034) and higher perceived social isolation scores (β = 0.38, p < 0.01) compared to individuals without a care degree. Discussion/conclusions: Care degrees of 3 or 4 are associated with higher levels of both loneliness and perceived social isolation. Longitudinal studies are required to confirm this association

Reduced RBM3 expression is associated with aggressive tumor features in esophageal cancer but not significantly linked to patient outcome

Abstract Background RBM3 expression has been suggested as prognostic marker in several cancer types. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and clinical significance of altered RBM3 expression in esophageal cancer. Methods RBM3 protein expression was measured by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarrays containing samples from 359 esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and 254 esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) patients with oncological follow-up data. Results While nuclear RBM3 expression was always high in benign esophageal epithelium, high RBM3 expression was only detectable in 66.4% of interpretable EACs and 59.3% of ESCCs. Decreased RBM3 expression was linked to a subset of EACs with advanced UICC stage and presence of distant metastasis (P = 0.0031 and P = 0.0024). In ESCC, decreased RBM3 expression was associated with advanced UICC stage, high tumor stage, and positive lymph node status (P = 0.0213, P = 0.0061, and P = 0.0192). However, RBM3 expression was largely unrelated to survival of patients with esophageal cancer (EAC: P = 0.212 and ESCC: P = 0.5992). Conclusions In summary, the present study shows that decreased RBM3 expression is associated with unfavourable esophageal cancer phenotype, but not significantly linked to patient prognosis

Melatonin treatment of pigs with acute pancreatitis reduces inflammatory reaction of pancreatic tissue and enhances fitness score of pigs: experimental research

Abstract Background Severe acute pancreatitis is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Melatonin is known as the activator of antioxidant enzymes. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical effect of melatonin treatment in a pig model with induced acute pancreatitis. Methods In this study, acute pancreatitis was induced in 38 German domestic pigs (German Hybrid). After induction of acute pancreatitis, 18 animals were treated with melatonin. Intraoperative clinical data, postoperative blood parameters, fitness, and Porcine Well-being (PWB) score, and post-mortal histopathological data were analyzed in both study groups. Results The matching procedure created two groups (melatonin group and control group) which were very similar. The fitness and PWB score were postoperative significantly enhanced in the melatonin group as compared to the control group (p = 0.005 and p = 0.003). Additionally, histological analysis revealed that acinar necrosis, fat tissue necrosis, and edema were significantly reduced in the melatonin group as compared to the non-melatonin group (p = 0.025, p = 0.003, and p = 0.028). Conclusions Pigs, which were treated with melatonin, were characterized by higher fitness and PWB scores than those of the control group. Moreover, melatonin treatment reduces the acinar necrosis, fat tissue necrosis, and edema of pancreatic tissue. Thus, melatonin might be a useful therapeutic option in severe acute pancreatitis

Increased lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 1 expression is unrelated to prognosis of esophageal cancer patients

Introduction!#!Lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 1 (LPCAT1) has repeatedly been suggested to be associated with tumorigenesis. To evaluate the role of LPCAT1 in esophageal cancer, LPCAT1 immunostaining was analyzed on a tissue microarray containing samples from esophageal cancer patients.!##!Results!#!In benign esophageal tissue, LPCAT1 staining was detectable in low intensities. LPCAT1 staining was increased in malignant as compared to benign esophageal tissue and was found in high intensity in 26.4% of 288 interpretable esophageal adenocarcinomas (EACs) and in 23.2% of 211 squamous cell carcinomas (ESCCs). Increased LPCAT1 staining was linked to undifferentiated tumor grading in both subtypes of EACs and ESCCs (p = 0.0273 and p = 0.0085).!##!Conclusion!#!However, LPCAT1 was not associated with prognosis of EAC and ESCC patients (p = 0.6838 and p = 0.4695) and thus cannot be considered a prognostic biomarker in esophageal cancers

p53 overexpression is a prognosticator of poor outcome in esophageal cancer

Immunohistochemistry studies on p53 inactivation in esophageal cancer are available with inconclusive results. Data on the combined effect of p53 protein accumulation and TP53 genomic deactivation in large scale studies for esophageal cancer are currently lacking. A tissue microarray with 691 esophageal cancer samples was analyzed by p53 immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Nuclear p53 accumulation was observed in 45.9% of patients with adenocarcinoma (AC) and in 40.0% in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Heterozygous TP53 deletions occurred in 40.9% in AC and in 19.4% in SCC. Homozygous deletions did not occur at all. High-level p53 immunostaining was associated with shortened overall survival in AC and SCC while TP53 deletions alone showed no correlation with survival. High-level p53 immunostaining in patients with AC was associated with advanced tumor (P=0.019) and Union for International Cancer Control stages (P=0.004), grading (P=0.027) and the resection margin status (P=0.006). Associations between p53 immunostaining and SCC were not found. TP53 deletions were found to be associated with advanced tumor stages (P=0.028) and the presence of lymph node metastasis (P=0.009) in SCC. In conclusion, strong p53 immunostaining, but not TP53 deletion alone, is associated with unfavorable outcomes and may therefore represent a clinically useful molecular marker in esophageal cancer

High BCAR1 expression is associated with early PSA recurrence in ERG negative prostate cancer

Abstract Background Breast cancer anti-estrogen resistance 1 (BCAR1/p130cas) is a hub for diverse oncogenic signaling cascades and promotes tumor development and progression. Methods To understand the effect of BCAR1 in prostate cancer, we analyzed its expression on more than 11,000 prostate cancer samples. BCAR1 expression levels were compared with clinical characteristics, PSA recurrence, molecular subtype defined by ERG status and 3p, 5q, 6q and PTEN deletion. Results BCAR1 staining was barely detectable in normal prostate glands but seen in 77.6% of 9472 interpretable cancers, including strong expression in 38.5%, moderate in 23.2% and weak in 15.9% of cases. BCAR1 up regulation was associated with positive ERG status (p < 0.0001), high Gleason score (p < 0.0001), advanced pathological tumor stage (p = 0.0082), lower preoperative PSA level (p < 0.0001), increased cell proliferation (p < 0.0001), early PSA recurrence (p = 0.0008), and predicted prognosis independently from clinico-pathological parameters available at the time of the initial biopsy. However, subset analyses revealed that the prognostic impact of BCAR1 expression was limited to ERG-negative cancer. That BCAR1 up regulation was linked to almost all analyzed deletions (p < 0.0001 each for PTEN, 5q, 6q deletion) may suggest a functional link to genomic instability. Conclusion The results of our study identify BCAR1 as a prognostic biomarker with potential clinical value for risk stratification of ERG-negative prostate cancer