Case Report Unclassified mixed germ cell-sex cord-stromal tumor with multiple malignant cellular elements in a young woman: a case report and review of the literature

Abstract: Unclassified mixed germ cell-sex cord-stromal tumor composed of germ cells and sex cord derivatives is a rare neoplasm. Approximately 10% of such tumors have malignant germ cell components. We report the case of a 28 year-old female with a right adnexal mass measuring 8 cm in greatest dimension, containing areas with both germ cell and sex cord components. The germ cell portion contained multiple growth patterns with a malignant appearance, while the sex cord element consisted mainly of annular tubules. Within the malignant germ cell elements was a dysgerminoma that accounted for approximately 75% of the tumor volume. Other malignant germ cell elements included yolk sac tumor, embryonal carcinoma, and choriocarcinoma, which comprised about 15% of the tumor volume. The annular tubule structures comprised about 10% of the total tumor volume. To our knowledge, this is the first case reported in the literature of an unclassified mixed germ cell-sex cord-stromal tumor associated with embryonal carcinoma components. The patient had a 46XX karyotype, regular menstrual periods, and no evidence of gross abnormalities in the contralateral ovary. The patient remained clinically well and disease-free 2 years after surgery. In addition to a thorough case description, the literature concerning this entity is reviewed and discussed

Ruminal microbiota and muscle metabolome characteristics of Tibetan plateau yaks fed different dietary protein levels

IntroductionThe dietary protein level plays a crucial role in maintaining the equilibrium of rumen microbiota in yaks. To explore the association between dietary protein levels, rumen microbiota, and muscle metabolites, we examined the rumen microbiome and muscle metabolome characteristics in yaks subjected to varying dietary protein levels.MethodsIn this study, 36 yaks were randomly assigned to three groups (n = 12 per group): low dietary protein group (LP, 12% protein concentration), medium dietary protein group (MP, 14% protein concentration), and high dietary protein group (HP, 16% protein concentration).Results16S rDNA sequencing revealed that the HP group exhibited the highest Chao1 and Observed_species indices, while the LP group demonstrated the lowest. Shannon and Simpson indices were significantly elevated in the MP group relative to the LP group (P < 0.05). At the genus level, the relative abundance of Christensenellaceae_R-7_group in the HP group was notably greater than that in the LP and MP groups (P < 0.05). Conversely, the relative abundance of Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group displayed an increasing tendency with escalating feed protein levels. Muscle metabolism analysis revealed that the content of the metabolite Uric acid was significantly higher in the LP group compared to the MP group (P < 0.05). The content of the metabolite L-(+)-Arabinose was significantly increased in the MP group compared to the HP group (P < 0.05), while the content of D-(-)-Glutamine and L-arginine was significantly reduced in the LP group (P < 0.05). The levels of metabolites 13-HPODE, Decanoylcarnitine, Lauric acid, L-(+)-Arabinose, and Uric acid were significantly elevated in the LP group relative to the HP group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, our observations disclosed correlations between rumen microbes and muscle metabolites. The relative abundance of NK4A214_group was negatively correlated with Orlistat concentration; the relative abundance of Christensenellaceae_R-7_group was positively correlated with D-(-)-Glutamine and L-arginine concentrations.DiscussionOur findings offer a foundation for comprehending the rumen microbiome of yaks subjected to different dietary protein levels and the intimately associated metabolic pathways of the yak muscle metabolome. Elucidating the rumen microbiome and muscle metabolome of yaks may facilitate the determination of dietary protein levels

Case Report Low-grade endometrioid carcinoma of the ovary associated with undifferentiated carcinoma: case report and review of the literature

Abstract: The association of low-grade endometrioid carcinoma with undifferentiated carcinoma (UC) was first reported in endometrium carcinoma, termed with dedifferentiated carcinoma (DC). However, the coexistence of lowgrade endometrioid carcinoma (LGEC) or serous carcinoma (LGSC) with UC has received minimal attention in ovary, and the behavior of this kind of neoplasm remains at further discussion. In this study, we reported a case of lowgrade ovarian endometrioid carcinoma associated with UC and reviewed another four cases previously reported. We found a histological continuity between the LGEC and UC components in H&E section, which suggested a dedifferentiation from LGEC to UC components. In summary, this kind of pathological type has aggressive behavior and these patients have very poor prognosis regardless of the amount of undifferentiated carcinoma

Expression and clinical value of CXCR4 in high grade gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms

BackgroundCXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) is associated with the progression and metastasis of numerous malignant tumors. However, its relationship with Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasms Grade 3 (GEP-NENs G3) is unclear. The aim of this study was to characterize the expression of CXCR4 in GEP-NENS and to explore the clinical and prognostic value of CXCR4.MethodsThis study retrospectively collected clinical and pathological data from patients with GEP-NENs who receiving surgery in Qilu Hospital of Shandong University from January 2013 to April 2021, and obtained the overall survival of the patients based on follow-up. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed on pathological paraffin sections to observe CXCR4 staining. Groups were made according to pathological findings. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) curve was used to evaluate prognosis. SPSS 26.0 was used for statistical analysis.Results100 GEP-NENs G3 patients were enrolled in this study. There was a significant difference in primary sites (P=0.002), Ki-67 index (P<0.001), and Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) elevation (P=0.008) between neuroendocrine tumor (NET) G3 and neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC). CXCR4 was highly expressed only in tumors, low or no expressed in adjacent tissues (P<0.001). The expression level of CXCR4 in NEC was significantly higher than that in NET G3 (P=0.038). The K-M curves showed that there was no significant difference in overall survival between patients with high CXCR4 expression and patients with low CXCR4 expression, either in GEP-NEN G3 or NEC (P=0.920, P=0.842. respectively).ConclusionDifferential expression of CXCR4 was found between tumor and adjacent tissues and between NET G3 and NEC. Our results demonstrated that CXCR4 can be served as a new IHC diagnostic indicator in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of GEP-NENs G3. Further studies with multi-center, large sample size and longer follow-up are needed to confirm the correlation between CXCR4 expression level and prognosis

An Integrated Quantitative Safety Assessment Framework Based on the STPA and System Dynamics

With the complexity of the socio-technical system, the requirement for safety analysis is growing. In actuality, system risk is frequently created by the interaction of numerous nonlinear-related components. It is essential to use safety assessment methods to identify critical risk factors in the system and evaluate the safety level of the system. An integrated safety assessment framework combining the system theoretic process analysis (STPA), the analytic network process (ANP) and system dynamics (SD) is suggested to analyze the safety level of socio-technical systems to achieve qualitative and quantitative safety evaluation. Our study constructs an STPA and SD integration framework to demonstrate the practical potential of combining STPA and SD approaches in terms of risk factors and causality. The framework uses the STPA method to define the static safety control structure of the system and analyzes the primary risk factors. The unsafe control actions (UCAs) from the STPA method are transformed into network layer elements of ANP. The ANP method is used to calculate the element weights, which are the impact coefficients between the system dynamics (SD) variables. The SD method is used to assess the safety level of the system. Finally, a specific coal mining system is used to demonstrate how the proposed hybrid framework works. The results indicated that the safety level of the system was low on days 38 and 120 of the simulation cycle (one quarter). Our work can overcome the limitations of conventional STPA quantitative analysis and simplify SD qualitative modeling to serve as a reference for complicated system safety/risk analysis work

Glassy Ni-Ta-Ti-Zr(-Co) Alloys with High Thermal Stability and High Corrosion Resistance

Glassy Ni-based alloys with high thermal stability and high corrosion resistance were synthesized in Ni-Ta-Ti-Zr(-Co) alloy system. Glassy Ni60Ta40xyTixZry alloys exhibit supercooled liquid region exceeding 50K in a wide composition range and the largest supercooled liquid region of 67K was obtained at Ni60Ta20Ti15Zr5. Glassy Ni55Ta20Ti10Zr8Co7 alloy exhibits the highest thermal stability among the Ni-based glassy alloys reported up to date, which is evidenced by its high Tg and Tx of 899K and 977K, respectively, and a larger supercooled liquid region of 78K. Bulk glassy Ni55Ta20Ti10Zr8Co7 alloy in a rod form with a diameter of 1mm can be prepared by copper mold casting. The glassy Ni-Ta-Ti-Zr(-Co) alloys are spontaneously passivated with low passive current density in 1N H2SO4 and 1N HCl solutions and their corrosion rate was less than 0.1mm/year in the above solutions