Diversifying search in bee algorithms for numerical optimisation

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018. Swarm intelligence offers useful instruments for developing collective behaviours to solve complex, ill-structured and large-scale problems. Efficiency in collective behaviours depends on how to harmonise the individual contributions so that a complementary collective effort can be achieved to offer a useful solution. The harmonisation helps blend diversification and intensification suitably towards efficient collective behaviours. In this study, two renown honeybees-inspired algorithms were analysed with respect to the balance of diversification and intensification and a hybrid algorithm is proposed to improve the efficiency accordingly. The proposed hybrid algorithm was tested with solving well-known highly dimensional numerical optimisation (benchmark) problems. Consequently, the proposed hybrid algorithm has demonstrated outperforming the two original bee algorithms in solving hard numerical optimisation benchmarks

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte as a prognostic biomarker in stage IV colorectal cancer should take into account the metastatic status and operation modality

Qian-Kun Xie,1,* Wen-Zhuo He,1,* Wan-Ming Hu,2–4 Lin Yang,1 Chang Jiang,1 Peng-Fei Kong,1 Yuan-Zhong Yang,2 Qiong Yang,1,5 Hui-Zhong Zhang,2 Bei Zhang,1 Liang-Ping Xia1 1VIP Region, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China; 2Department of Pathology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, SunYat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China; 3Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China; 4Department of Pathology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China; 5Department of Oncology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Guangzhou, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Although tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have been understood for years as a favorable prognostic factor for colorectal cancers (CRCs) after complete surgical resection, its prognostic role in metastatic CRC (mCRC) remains poorly defined, and it is largely unknown how this prognostic benefit relates to the metastatic status and operation modality. Materials and methods: After reviewing 2215 consecutive cases of surgically resected CRC, 332 patients newly diagnosed with stage IV CRC and treated at the Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center between 2009 and 2014 were included. H&E-stained (HES) slides from surgical specimens were evaluated for the extent of TILs. The primary end point was overall survival (OS). Cox proportional hazards regression was conducted to determine the prognostic significance of TILs. All statistical tests were 2-sided. Results: HES slides from primary tumor samples were evaluable for 302 of the 332 included cases. Among the 302 patients, 105 patients (34.8%) were classified as high TIL, the remaining 197 (65.2%) were defined as low TIL. In the univariate analysis, TILs were significantly associated with better OS (P=0.015). Multivariable analysis confirmed that high TIL strongly predicted better survival (hazard ratio =0.62, 95% CI: 0.44–0.89, P=0.008), independent of other patients’ clinicopathological characteristics. Stratified analysis revealed a prognostic benefit of high TIL for patients in the subgroup with non-oligometastatic disease (P=0.002), ≥2 metastatic organs (P=0.006), and non-metastasectomy (P=0.005). By contrast, oligometastatic disease, 1 metastatic organ, or metastasectomy fully abrogated the prognostic effect of TIL. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the level of TILs can be used to predict the outcome for patients with mCRC; however, the operation modality and the metastatic status of patients should also be taken into account. Keywords: colorectal cancer, stage IV, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, metastatic status, surviva

An increased number of negative lymph nodes is associated with a higher immune response and longer survival in colon cancer patients

Wen-Zhuo He,1,* Qian-Kun Xie,1,* Wan-Ming Hu,2–4,* Peng-fei Kong,1 Lin Yang,1 Yuan-Zhong Yang,2 Chang Jiang,1 Chen-Xi Yin,1 Hui-Juan Qiu,1 Hui-Zhong Zhang,2 Bei Zhang,1 Liang-Ping Xia1 1VIP Region, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pathology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Pathology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship among the number of negative lymph nodes (LNs), the local and systemic immune response, and survival in patients with colon cancer. Patients and methods: One thousand one hundred and fifty-seven patients with colon cancer who underwent surgery at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between 2009 and 2014 were included. We examined negative LNs in relation to the local and systemic immune response, including percentage carcinoma, neutrophil and lymphocyte infiltration, Crohn’s-like reaction, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, platelets, and C-reactive protein (CRP). Disease-free survival and overall survival were also examined. We performed subgroup analysis based on the distribution of negative LNs. Results: An increased number of negative LNs was associated with greater neutrophil invasion (p=0.001), more lymphocyte invasion (p=0.001), and more Crohn’s-like reaction (p=0.001). No significant correlation was observed between negative LNs and the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio. More than 12 negative LNs were associated with increased platelets and CRP levels. A higher number of negative LNs was independently associated with longer disease-free survival in stage I+II patients (p=0.004) and stage III patients (p=0.015), while negative LNs were also independent prognostic factors in stage IV patients (p=0.007). Conclusion: Our study suggests that negative LNs are indicators of the immune response and are associated with a better prognosis in patients with colon cancer. Keywords: colon cancer, negative lymph nodes, immune response, surviva

Anterolateral minithoracotomy versus median sternotomy for the treatment of congenital heart defects: a meta-analysis and systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Anterolateral Minithoracotomy (ALMT) for the radical correction of Congenital Heart Defects is an alternative to Median Sternotomy (MS) due to reduce operative trauma accelerating recovery and yield a better cosmetic outcome after surgery. Our purpose is to conduct whether ALMT would bring more short-term benefits to patients than conventional Median Sternotomy by using a meta-analysis of case–control study in the published English Journal.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>6 case control studies published in English from 1997 to 2011 were identified and synthesized to compare the short-term postoperative outcomes between ALMT and MS. These outcomes were cardiopulmonary bypass time, aortic cross-clamp time, intubation time, intensive care unit stay time, and postoperative hospital stay time.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>ALMT had significantly longer cardiopulmonary bypass times (8.00 min more, 95% CI 0.36 to 15.64 min, p = 0.04). Some evidence proved that aortic cross-clamp time of ALMT was longer, yet not significantly (2.38 min more, 95% CI −0.15 to 4.91 min, p = 0.06). In addition, ALMT had significantly shorter intubation time (1.66 hrs less, 95% CI −3.05 to −0.27 hrs, p = 0.02). Postoperative hospital stay time was significantly shorter with ALMT (1.52 days less, 95% CI −2.71 to −0.33 days, p = 0.01). Some evidence suggested a reduction in ICU stay time in the ALMT group. However, this did not prove to be statistically significant (0.88 days less, 95% CI −0.81 to 0.04 days, p = 0.08).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>ALMT can bring more benefits to patients with Congenital Heart Defects by reducing intubation time and postoperative hospital stay time, though ALMT has longer CPB time and aortic cross-clamp time.</p