Category: Statistics

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2024 Jul 1;25(7):2415-2420. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.7.2415.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: MiR-34b/c takes an important role in various aspects of carcinogenesis. Notably, pri miR34b/c (rs4938723) T>C polymorphism has been identified as a significant biomarker in various kinds of cancer. The objective of this study was to explore whether pri-miR34b/c rs4938723) T>C was associated with breast cancer susceptibility. Moreover, the association of pri-miR34b/c (rs4938723) T>C and clinicopathologic data, including survival outcomes, were studied in Thai breast cancer patients.

METHODS: DNA extracted from the blood of 100 Thai female breast cancer patients and 100 Thai healthy women were investigated for pri-miR34b/c (rs4938723) T>C polymorphism using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment-length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).

RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference between the frequency of pri miR34b/c (rs4938723) T>C genotype between Thai breast cancer patients and normal subjects. This study showed that there is no association between pri-miR34b/c (rs4938723) genotypes and breast cancer susceptibility, clinicopathologic parameters, and survival time. However, age greater than 50 and histologic grade III were the prognostic factors affecting survival in breast cancer patients (p=0.017, p=0.010, respectively).

CONCLUSION: The pri-miR34b/c (rs4938723) genotypes had no association with cancer susceptibility and clinicopathologic parameters in Thai breast cancer patients. Patients with older age and patients with higher histologic grade, but not the pri miR34b/c (rs4938723) genotype, affected survival time among breast cancer patients.

PMID:39068575 | DOI:10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.7.2415

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2024 Jul 1;25(7):2361-2369. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.7.2361.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Accurate estimation of body composition, particularly, Body Cell Mass (BCM), which is independent of hydration status is important in children with cancer. This study aimed to accurately measure the anthropometry and body composition of children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) at diagnosis and compare them with healthy children from South India.

METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study in children aged 2 to 8 y with ALL from St. John’s Medical College Hospital, Bengaluru, and age and sex-matched, normal-weight children recruited as controls from communities. Anthropometry (weight, height, circumferences), skinfolds and body composition measurements using a whole-body potassium counter were performed. Body mass index-for-age, weight and height for age z-scores were calculated using WHO child growth standards. Biochemical markers, dietary intake and physical activity details were recorded. Categorical and continuous variables were analyzed by chi-square and independent t-tests respectively. Results: The mean age of the children with ALL (n = 39) was 4.6±1.9 y and control group (n=39) was 4.7±1.9 y; 61.5% were boys. The prevalence of underweight, overweight/obesity and stunting were 17.9%, 7.7%, and 10.3% respectively. The mean weight and height, of children with ALL and children in the control group were 16.8±6.2 kg and 16.4±4.1 kg, 104.3±14.9 cm and 105.1±12.2 cm, respectively with no statistical difference. Children with ALL showed lower body cell mass index kg/m2 (4.6± 0.8), compared to children in the control group (4.7±0.9) p=0.527, but higher fat mass index kg/m2 (3.6±1.1 vs. 3.4±0.8) p=0.276.

CONCLUSION: At diagnosis, anthropometric and body composition measurements were similar between children with ALL and children in the control group. The BCM showed a non-significant trend of being lower in children with ALL, which requires close monitoring during treatment. Evaluating early-stage nutritional status and body composition can help in planning appropriate interventions during treatment to prevent long term non-communicable diseases.

PMID:39068569 | DOI:10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.7.2361

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2024 Jul 1;25(7):2319-2327. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.7.2319.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is the most common tumor in men worldwide with a poor prognosis. In recent years, studies have revealed that pyroptosis can affect the tumor immune microenvironment. However, the relationship between the immune microenvironment regulated by pyroptosis-related genes and the prognosis of prostate cancer is still unclear.

METHODS: Thirty-three cell death-associated genes were selected from a literature review. The “DESeq2” R package was used to identify differentially expressed cell death-associated genes between normal prostate tissue (GTEx) and prostate cancer tissue (TCGA) samples. Biological functional enrichment analysis of differentially expressed cell death genes was performed using R statistical software packages, such as “clusterProfiler,” “org.Hs.eg.db,” “enrichplot,” “ggplot2,” and “GOplot.” Univariate Cox and LASSO Cox regression analyses were conducted to identify prognostic genes associated with the immune microenvironment using the “survival” package. Finally, a predictive model was established based on Gleason score, T stage, and cell death-associated genes.odel was established based on Gleason score, T stage, and cell death-associated genes.

RESULTS: Seventeen differentially expressed genes related to pyroptosis were screened out. Based on these differentially expressed genes, biological function enrichment analysis showed that they were related to pyroptosis of prostate cells. Based on univariate Cox and (LASSO) Cox regression analysis, four pyroptosis-related genes (CASP3, PLCG1, GSDMB, GPX4) were determined to be related to the prognosis of prostate cancer, and the immune correlation analysis of the four pyroptosis-related genes was performed. The expression of CASP3, PLCG1 and GSDMB was positively correlated with the proportion of immune cells, and the expression of GPX4 was negatively correlated with the proportion of immune cells. A predictive nomogram was established by combining Gleason score, T and pyroptosis genes. The nomogram was accompanied by a calibration curve and used to predict 1 -, 2 -, and 5-year survival in PAAD patients.

CONCLUSION: Cell death-associated genes (CASP3, PLCG1, GSDMB, GPX4) play crucial roles in modulating the immune microenvironment and can be used to predict the prognosis of prostate cancer.

PMID:39068564 | DOI:10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.7.2319

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2024 Jul 1;25(7):2311-2317. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.7.2311.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Investigation of diagnostic and prognostic relevance of BRCA1 immunohistochemistry (IHC) in endometrial carcinoma.

METHODS: Ninty four specimens of endometrial carcinomas were evaluated. Full sections stained with hematoxylin & eosin were revaluated for assessment of tumor type, grade, myometrial, & lympho-vascular invasion (LVI). Tissue microarray blocks were constructed using the pencil tip method and immunostained with Anti-BRCA1 antibody. BRCA1 was correlated with clinicopathological parameters as well as disease free survival and overall survival.

RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference (P=0.001) between serous and endometroid carcinomas regarding BRCA1 expression where most cases of serous carcinoma showed negative expression. No statistically significant difference was found between BRCA1 positive and negative cases regarding disease free survival (DFS) or overall survival. Serous histotype, high grade, advanced stage, and omental deposits were the parameters significantly associated with decreased DFS.

CONCLUSION: Results of this study can support inclusion of BRCA1 IHC in a panel to differentiate both endometroid and serous carcinomas. The current study found no prognostic relevance for BRCA1 in terms of overall survival and disease-free survival.

PMID:39068563 | DOI:10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.7.2311

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2024 Jul 1;25(7):2305-2310. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.7.2305.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to update data on the morbidity and mortality rate of colorectal cancer (CRC) among the population of Mongolia by province between 2018 and 2022.

METHODS: This study was designed using a descriptive method. The data were collected from 21 general hospitals of provinces, 9 general hospitals of districts, and the National Cancer Center in 2018-2022. The incidence and mortality were calculated as mean annual numbers per 100,000 populations. The age-standardized rate (ASR) was utilized by the direct method, and it was rated by weighted average of age-specific incidence rates against the world population.

RESULT: In the country, a total of 1316 new cases were diagnosed and 782 deaths were caused by CRC in the last 5 years (2018-2022). The incidence of CRC in the last 5 years (2018-2022) was 7.9 per 100,000 populations, and the mortality rate was 4.7 per 100,000. The provinces of Orkhon (12), Khentii (11), and Central (10) reported the highest incidences of CRC, whereas the provinces of Sukhbaatar (6.9), Selenge (6.6), Dornod (6), and Darkhan-Uul (6) had the highest death rates (per 100,000 populations). The incidence of CRC didn’t differ statistically significantly between men and women. Additionally, the estimated incidence has grown dramatically with patients’ ages.

CONCLUSION: Our study presents evidence of a steadily increasing CRC incidence in Mongolia over the past five years. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the distribution of risk factors, learn from.

PMID:39068562 | DOI:10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.7.2305

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2024 Jul 1;25(7):2291-2295. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.7.2291.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Fatigue is an immune-related adverse event (irAE) associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) used for cancer treatment. Chinese herbal medicines (Ho-zai) are used to treat cancer-related fatigue. However, no interactions between ICIs and Ho-zai have been reported. Herein, we investigated the risk of irAEs associated with the concomitant use of ICIs and Ho-zai.

METHODS: We extracted data of patients who used ICI and Ho-zai from the Japanese Adverse Event Reporting Database. The proportional reporting ratio (PRR) was calculated for patients using ICI, Ho-zai, or both. We focused on cases of interstitial lung disease (ILD) and colitis, which were among the most severe cases of irAEs among these patients. The shrinkage method used by the World Health Organization-Uppsala Monitoring Center was used to detect the interactions.

RESULTS: Of the 799,670 patients in the database, 77,219, 2060, and 92 were using ICIs, Ho-zai, and combination treatment, respectively. The ILD and colitis groups included 39,388 and 17,522 patients, respectively. ILD signals were detected for both ICIs and Ho-zai. There were 24 cases of patients treated with concomitant ICIs and Ho-zai who developed ILD. For all combinations of all ICIs and all Ho-zai, Ω025 was negative, which suggested no ILD-related interactions. Colitis signals were detected for ICIs except for atezolizumab, avelumab, and durvalumab. There were eight patients treated with concomitant ICI and Ho-zai who developed colitis. For all combinations of all ICIs and all Ho-zai, Ω025 was negative, which suggested no colitis-related interactions.

CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate interactions between ICIs and Ho-zai. Signals were detected for ILD in both ICI and Ho-zai groups, and colitis in the ICI group. However, the combined use of these treatments did not increase the risk of irAEs.

PMID:39068560 | DOI:10.31557/APJCP.2024.25.7.2291

Lang Speech. 2024 Jul 27:238309241261702. doi: 10.1177/00238309241261702. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Fundamental frequency (F0) has been widely studied and used in the context of speaker discrimination and forensic voice comparison casework, but most previous studies focused on long-term F0 statistics. Lexical tone, the linguistically structured and dynamic aspects of F0, has received much less research attention. A main methodological issue lies on how tonal F0 should be parameterized for the best speaker discrimination performance. This paper compares the speaker discriminatory performance of three approaches with lexical tone modeling: discrete cosine transform (DCT), polynomial curve fitting, and quantitative target approximation (qTA). Results show that using parameters based on DCT and polynomials led to similarly promising performance, whereas those based on qTA generally yielded relatively poor performance. Implications modeling surface tonal F0 and the underlying articulatory processes for speaker discrimination are discussed.

PMID:39066631 | DOI:10.1177/00238309241261702

J Evol Biol. 2024 Jul 27:voae093. doi: 10.1093/jeb/voae093. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

While the shell of the land snail Cepaea nemoralis is typically classed as yellow, pink or brown, the reality is that colour variation is continuously distributed. To further understand the origin of the continuous variation we used crosses of C. nemoralis to compare quantitative measures of the colour with the inferred genotype of the underlying supergene locus. We also used a recently developed linkage map to find quantitative trait loci (QTL) that may influence colour. The results show that the colour locus of the supergene – at around 31.385 cM on linkage group 11 – is involved in determining the quantitative chromatic differences that are perceptible to human vision. We also found some evidence that variation within colour classes may be due to allelic variation at or around the supergene. There are likely other unlinked loci involved in determining colour within classes, but confirmation will require greater statistical power. Although not investigated here, environmental factors, including diet, may also impact upon variation within colour types.

PMID:39066609 | DOI:10.1093/jeb/voae093

Cell J. 2024 Jul 13;26(5):277-284. doi: 10.22074/cellj.2024.2019885.1481.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Trimethyltin (TMT) chloride is an organotin compound used in industry. It has been linked to generating reactive oxygen species (ROS), inflammatory processes, and neuronal death. Carvacrol is a monoterpene phenol found in the Lamiaceae plant family, modulating inflammatory conditions and necroptosis in neural tissue. This study aimed to investigate the neuroprotective effects of carvacrol in a rat model of hippocampal neuronal injury induced by TMT.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this experimental study, sixty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups (n=12): group 1 receiving saline, group 2 received dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a vehicle for 21 days, group 3 receiving a single dose of TMT (8 mg/kg) and groups 4 and 5 receiving carvacrol 40 and 70 mg/kg daily for 21 days after a single dose of TMT. All injections were intraperitoneal (I.P.). Caspase-3, Bax, Bcl-2, and Bdnf gene expression and the number of pyknotic neurons in the hippocampus were quantified. Spatial memory was assessed with a radial arm maze.

RESULTS: Statistical analysis of histological data revealed the carvacrol significantly attenuated cognitive dysfunction and the number of pyknotic neurons in the hippocampal CA1 region of rats treated with TMT. Based on real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), carvacrol modulated the expression of genes involved in apoptosis (Bax and Caspase-3) and upregulated anti-apoptotic (Bcl-2) and brain derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) genes in the hippocampal tissue.

CONCLUSION: These findings revealed neuroprotective effects of carvacrol which might be mediated by apoptotic and anti-apopetotic factors.

PMID:39066592 | DOI:10.22074/cellj.2024.2019885.1481