Latent profile analysis of adverse effects associated with endocrine therapy in prostate cancer patients based on the theory of unpleasant symptoms

Objective·Based on the theory of unpleasant symptoms, to investigate the current status of adverse effects associated with endocrine therapy in prostate cancer patients, and identify the difference of population specificity in each latent category.Methods·From June 2022 to September 2022, 274 patients with endocrine therapy for prostate cancer in the Urology Department of Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine were selected by convenience sampling method. Adverse reactions associated with endocrine therapy were investigated by basic information questionnaire and simplified Chinese version of the aging male′s symptoms scale. Latent profile analysis was conducted and the differences of population characteristics among categories were assessed based on t-test, variance analysis and multiple Logistic regression. Perform latent profile analysis was performed by using Mplus 8.3 to identify latent classes of endocrine treatment-related adverse events in prostate cancer patients.Results·Adverse reactions associated with endocrine therapy in patients with prostate cancer could be divided into three groups: mild-symptom group (n=96, 35.0%), moderate-symptom group (n=111, 40.5%) and severe-symptom group (n=67,24.5%). Compared to patients with mild symptoms, those in the moderate-symptom group had significant differences in psychosocial adaptation (OR=1.038, 95%CI 1.018‒1.060, P=0.000), and whether genetic detection was performed (OR=0.336, 95%CI 0.129‒0.879, P=0.026). Compared to patients with mild symptoms, those in the severe-symptom group had significant differences in psychosocial adaptation (OR=1.027, 95%CI 1.003‒1.051, P=0.024), disease uncertainty (OR=1.021, 95%CI 1.005‒1.038, P=0.011), M stage (OR=0.354, 95%CI 0.136‒0.924, P=0.034), and prostate specific antigen (PSA) (OR=0.142, 95%CI 0.042‒0.480, P=0.002; OR=0.275, 95%CI 0.083‒0.914, P=0.035).Conclusion·The incidence of adverse reactions associated with endocrine therapy for prostate cancer is high. Adverse effects associated with endocrine therapy in prostate cancer patients can be classified into three categories. There are significant differences in disease metastasis, PSA levels, genetic testing, disease uncertainty, and psychosocial adaptation among prostate cancer patients receiving endocrine therapy in different categories. Healthcare professionals should assess the diverse sociodemographic background, disease-specific factors, and psychosocial status of prostate cancer patients receiving endocrine therapy, and provide targeted support according to their characteristics to help them acquire self-management skills and cope with adverse treatment effects proactively, in line with the precision medicine framework

Deep learning for dense Z-spectra reconstruction from CEST images at sparse frequency offsets

A direct way to reduce scan time for chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST)-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is to reduce the number of CEST images acquired in experiments. In some scenarios, a sufficient number of CEST images acquired in experiments was needed to estimate parameters for quantitative analysis, and this prolonged the scan time. For that, we aim to develop a general deep-learning framework to reconstruct dense CEST Z-spectra from experimentally acquired images at sparse frequency offsets so as to reduce the number of experimentally acquired CEST images and achieve scan time reduction. The main innovation works are outlined as follows: (1) a general sequence-to-sequence (seq2seq) framework is proposed to reconstruct dense CEST Z-spectra from experimentally acquired images at sparse frequency offsets; (2) we create a training set from wide-ranging simulated Z-spectra instead of experimentally acquired CEST data, overcoming the limitation of the time and labor consumption in manual annotation; (3) a new seq2seq network that is capable of utilizing information from both short-range and long-range is developed to improve reconstruction ability. One of our intentions is to establish a simple and efficient framework, i.e., traditional seq2seq can solve the reconstruction task and obtain satisfactory results. In addition, we propose a new seq2seq network that includes the short- and long-range ability to boost dense CEST Z-spectra reconstruction. The experimental results demonstrate that the considered seq2seq models can accurately reconstruct dense CEST images from experimentally acquired images at 11 frequency offsets so as to reduce the scan time by at least 2/3, and our new seq2seq network contributes to competitive advantage

The complete plastome and phylogenetic analysis of Rhoiptelea chiliantha (Juglandaceae)

The complete plastome of Rhoiptelea chiliantha was sequenced and assembled in this study. The circular plastome of R. chiliantha is 161,702 bp in size, which contains a large single-copy region (LSC, 90,447 bp), a short single-copy region (SSC, 19,081 bp) and two inverted repeat sequences (IRs, 26,087 bp, each). It is totally comprised of 133 genes, including 88 protein-coding genes, eight ribosomal RNA, and 37 transfer RNA. The phylogenetic analysis shows that R. chiliantha is sister to the clade including remaining Juglandaceae species

Complete plastome of Houttuynia cordata (Saururaceae), a medicinal and edible plant

The complete plastome of Houttuynia cordata, an important medicinal and edible plant, was identified and sequenced in this study. The circular plastome is 160,217 bp in length and consists of a pair of inverted repeats (IRs 26,854 bp each), which is separated by a large single-copy region (LSC, 88,189 bp) and a small single-copy region (SSC, 18,320 bp). It encodes 132 genes, of which 114 are unique genes (80 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNAs, and 4 rRNAs). The phylogenetic analysis strongly reveals the sister group between H. cordata and the clade including Piper kadsura, Piper cenocladum, Saruma henryi, and Asarum sieboldii

The complete plastome of Gymnotheca chinensis (Saururaceae) and its phylogenetic analysis

The complete plastome of Gymnotheca chinensis, an important medicinal herb, was firstly elucidated and analyzed in this study. The plastome is 161,621 bp in size, which comprises of one large single-copy (LSC) region and one small single-copy (SSC) region of 89,291 bp and 18,592 bp, respectively, separated by a pair of IR regions of 26,869 bp each. It encodes a total of 132 genes, including 87 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA, and 8 rRNA. The phylogeny robustly supports that G. chinensis is sister to the clade including Piper kadsura, Piper cenocladum, Saruma henryi, Asarum sieboldii

Characterization of the complete plastome of medicinal plant Saururus chinensis (Saururaceae)

Saururus chinensis is an important medicinal plant in Southeast Asia. Here, we determined the first complete plastome of S. chinensis using high throughput Illumina sequencing technology. The S. chinensis plastome is 161,494 bp in length and presents a typical quadripartite structure consisting of one large single-copy region (LSC, 88,863 bp), one small single-copy region (SSC, 18,679 bp), and a pair of inverted repeat regions (IRs, 26,976 bp each). The phylogenetic analysis robustly supports that S. chinensis is sister to the group including the Saruma henryi, Asarum sieboldii, Piper kadsura, Piper cenocladum

Polymerases Leave Fingerprints: Analysis of the Mutational Spectrum in Escherichia coli rpoB To Assess the Role of Polymerase IV in Spontaneous Mutation

We compared the distribution of mutations in rpoB that lead to rifampin resistance in strains with differing levels of polymerase IV (Pol IV), including strains with deletions of the Pol IV-encoding dinB gene, strains with a chromosomal copy of dinB, strains with the F′128 plasmid, and strains with plasmid amplification of either the dinB operon (dinB-yafNOP) or the dinB gene alone. This analysis identifies several hot spots specific to Pol IV which are virtually absent from the normal spontaneous spectrum, indicating that Pol IV does not contribute significantly to mutations occurring during exponential growth in liquid culture

Sex differences in the association between serum BDNF and cognitive impairment in schizophrenia patients using various antipsychotics

Background: Cognitive impairment is one of the core symptoms of schizophrenia patients. There are often various differences in the efficacy of different antipsychotics in the treatment of cognitive impairment by sex. The purpose of this study was to explore whether there are gender differences in the association between serum BDNF levels and cognitive performance in patients with schizophrenia taking different antipsychotics. Methods: We used Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) to assess the cognitive function of three groups of schizophrenia patients (420 on clozapine, 183 on risperidone, 215 on typical antipsychotic drugs) and 467 healthy controls. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to assess schizophrenia symptoms of patients. Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay was used to measure serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. Results: Among the patients taking clozapine and typical antipsychotic drugs, the RBANS total score, immediate memory, attention, and delayed memory subscores in females were higher than those in males (all p &lt; 0.05). The RBANS total score and the delayed memory subscores in female patients taking risperidone were higher than those in male patients (all p &lt; 0.05). Significant correlation between BDNF and cognition only existed in male patients taking clozapine, male patients taking risperidone, and male and female patients taking typical antipsychotic drugs (all p &lt; 0.05). Conclusion: Regardless of antipsychotic effect, the cognitive function of female patients is better compared to that of male patients. For male patients, the association between BDNF and cognitive performance exists in each medication group. For female patients, this significant association was only shown in the typical antipsychotic group, but not in the clozapine and risperidone groups.</p

Quasi-Steady-State CEST Prediction Based on TCN-LSTM

An important topic in chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST)-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is that certain CEST effects (such as amide proton transfer effects) require sufficiently long saturation time to reach steady state, which makes CEST imaging less practical in clinical application. To address this issue, we develop a deep learning-based model to predict quasi-steady-state (QUASS) CEST from experimentally acquired CEST images with short saturation time. The study described in this paper are outlined as follows: 1) Bloch-McConnell equation is designed to obtain simulated CEST Z-spectra data, in which all possible parameters of the equation were optimized to automatically acquire large amount of training data for reflecting metabolite combinations; 2) tumor-bearing rat model was established on a 7T horizontal diameter small animal MRI scanner, allowing ground-truth generation; 3) by combining the advantages of temporal convolutional network (TCN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) in temporal modelling, a TCN-LSTM model is developed to predict QUASS CEST data. (4) To evaluate the performance of TCN-LSTM, the multilayer perceptron (MLP), recurrent neural network (RNN), LSTM, gated recurrent unit (GRU), BiLSTM and TCN are included in comparison experiment. In terms of absolute error modulus, mutual information (MI), structural similarity (SSIM) and feature similarity (FSIM), the results show that TCN-LSTM provides better prediction results than its counterparts