A nomogram based on inflammation and nutritional biomarkers for predicting the survival of breast cancer patients

BackgroundWe aim to develop a new prognostic model that incorporates inflammation, nutritional parameters and clinical-pathological features to predict overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) of breast cancer (BC) patients.MethodsThe study included clinicopathological and follow-up data from a total of 2857 BC patients between 2013 and 2021. Data were randomly divided into two cohorts: training (n=2001) and validation (n=856) cohorts. A nomogram was established based on the results of a multivariate Cox regression analysis from the training cohorts. The predictive accuracy and discriminative ability of the nomogram were evaluated by the concordance index (C-index) and calibration curve. Furthermore, decision curve analysis (DCA) was performed to assess the clinical value of the nomogram.ResultsA nomogram was developed for BC, incorporating lymphocyte, platelet count, hemoglobin levels, albumin-to-globulin ratio, prealbumin level and other key variables: subtype and TNM staging. In the prediction of OS and DFS, the concordance index (C-index) of the nomogram is statistically greater than the C-index values obtained using TNM staging alone. Moreover, the time-dependent AUC, exceeding the threshold of 0.7, demonstrated the nomogram’s satisfactory discriminative performance over different periods. DCA revealed that the nomogram offered a greater overall net benefit than the TNM staging system.ConclusionThe nomogram incorporating inflammation, nutritional and clinicopathological variables exhibited excellent discrimination. This nomogram is a promising instrument for predicting outcomes and defining personalized treatment strategies for patients with BC

Microstructure evolution and thermal properties of Al-5%Fe-xNi alloys

Al-5%Fe-xNi alloys （x=0%，1.5%，5%，7.5%，10%， mass fraction，the same below） were prepared by the traditional casting method， and the morphology and size changes of the primary phase in the alloys after Ni addition were observed. The transformation of the solidification process of the alloys and the effect of Ni addition on the primary phase and eutectic structure were analyzed， and the influence of Ni content on the microstructure and thermal properties of the alloys was discussed. The results show that with the increase of Ni content， the primary phase changes from irregular bulk to needle-like. As the Ni content exceeds 5%， the eutectic structure decreases， and the primary phase changes to a regularly arranged Al9FeNi phase. The addition of Ni significantly changes the solidification process of the alloys， resulting in the precipitation reaction of the primary phase from L→Al13Fe4 to L→Al9FeNi or L+Al13Fe4→Al9FeNi， and the eutectic precipitation reaction from L→α-Al+Al13Fe4 to L+Al13Fe4→α-Al+Al9FeNi and L→Al3Ni+α-Al+Al9FeNi. With the increase of Ni content， the volume fraction of the precipitated phase increases， and the thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient of the alloys decrease. The thermal expansion coefficient of the alloys decreases from 19.9×10-6 K-1 （@25-200 ℃） of Al-5%Fe to 17.6×10-6 K-1 （@25-200 ℃） of Al-5%Fe-10%Ni. The thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient of the alloys are predicted by using the general effective medium theory （GEMT） model and the modified Turner model， respectively. It is found that the simulated values are in good agreement with the experimental values

Correlation of Preoperative Gd-EOB-DTPA-Contrast-Enhanced MRI With TGF-β1 Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of preoperative gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) -enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) related signs in predicting transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1) gene expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Materials and methods: Sixty patients with HCC (55 males, mean age 52.6±12 years) who underwent preoperative MRI enhancement were retrospectively analyzed. Qualitative and quantitative features of Gd-EOBDTPA-enhanced MRI in these pathologically confirmed HCC patients were analyzed. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were performed to determine the mRNA and protein levels of TGF-β1 in HCC. The relationship between these imaging features and TGF-β1 expression level in HCC was evaluated by rank sum test, correlation analysis and logistic regression analysis.Results: RT-PCR indicated that the expression level of TGF-β1 mRNA was statistically significant with the change of hepatobiliary signal (P=0.009). Immunohistochemical results indicated that the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value of tumor was statistically significant at the protein level (P=0.038).There was no statistical significance in the distribution of other image features. Binary logistic regression analysis suggested that heterogeneous signals in hepatobiliary phase were independent risk factors for high TGF-β1 expression in HCC (P=0.012,OR=5.333,95%CI:1.437-19.801). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that ADC value was not an independent risk factor for TGF-β1 expression.Conclusions: heterogeneous signal performance in the hepatobiliary phase and/or ADC values of HCC are potential indicators of high expression of TGF-β1. Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI may be useful in the selection of targeted therapies for patients with HCC.</jats:p

A Novel Correlation of Preoperative Gd-EOB-DTPA-contrast-enhanced MRI with FGFR4 Expression and Its Value in Targeted Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract Purpose: To assess the relationship between preoperative gadolinium ethoxy-benzyl diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features and fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) gene expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Materials and methods: Fifty-nine HCC patients (54 males, 5 females) who underwent preoperative enhanced MRI were retrospectively enrolled in this study. Quantitative and qualitative features of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI were analyzed in these pathologically confirmed HCC patients. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were performed to determine the mRNA and protein levels of FGFR4 in HCC. The relationship between these image features and the level of FGFR4 gene expression in HCC was evaluated by correlation analysis.Results: The FGFR4 mRNA and protein expression has significant correlation with the change of signal intensity in the phase of hepatobiliary, IHC analysis revealed significant correlation between the protein expression of FGFR4 and the qualitative enhanced MRI feature, mainly the manifestation of the intratumoral vessels at the arterial phase. Furthermore, the presence of intratumoral vessels (P =0.034, OR=4.71) and heterogeneous 3 signal performance in the hepatobiliary phase (P =0.008, OR=4.2) were identified as independent indicators for high FGFR4 expression in HCC. Conclusions: The findings demonstrate novel correlation between enhanced MRI features and FGFR4 gene expression, suggesting the heterogeneous signal intensity at the phase of hepatobiliary and the present of intratumoral vessels in the arterial phase as indicators for high FGFR4 expression in HCC. Our study may have clinical implication that enhanced MRI holds promise as useful modality in treatment selection of targeted therapies to HCC patients.</jats:p

Presentation of stimuli and dependent measures in Experiment 1.

Encoding time is measured as the gaze duration on the middle word. Decision time is the time from the onset of the last word until the indication of a response by a speeded key-press. A gaze-contingent display technique was used in which the words were masked except when the participant looked at them during the first reading pass from left to right. This eliminated preview and rereading of the first and middle word.</p