Background: In order to minimize the injury reaction during the surgery and reduce the morbidity rate, hence reducing the mortality rate of esophagectomy, minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) was introduced. The aim of this study was to compare the postoperative outcomes in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma undergoing minimally invasive or open esophagectomy (OE). Methods: The medical records of 176 consecutive patients, who underwent minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) between January 2009 and August 2013 in Cancer Institute & Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, were retrospectively reviewed. In the same period, 142 patients who underwent OE, either Ivor Lewis or McKeown approach, were selected randomly as controls. The clinical variables of paired groups were compared, including age, sex, Charlson score, tumor location, duration of surgery, number of harvested lymph nodes, morbidity rate, the rate of leak, pulmonary morbidity rate, mortality rate, and hospital length of stay (LOS). Results: The number of harvested lymph nodes was not significantly different between MIE group and OE group (median 20 vs. 16, P=0.740). However, patients who underwent MIE had longer operation time than the OE group (375 vs. 300 minutes, P <0.001). Overall morbidity, pulmonary morbidity, the rate of leak, in-hospital death, and hospital LOS were not significantly different between MIE and OE groups. Morbidities including anastomotic leak and pulmonary morbidity, in-hospital death, hospital LOS, and hospital expenses were not significantly different between MIE and OE groups as well. Conclusions: MIE and OE appear equivalent with regard to early oncological outcomes. There is a trend that hospital LOS and hospital expenses are reduced in the MIE group than the OE group.

CXCR4 is a key regulator of the development of NK cells and DCs, both of which play an important role in early placental development and immune tolerance at the maternal-fetal interface. However, the role of CXCR4 in pregnancy is not well understood. Our study demonstrates that adult-induced global genetic CXCR4 deletion, but not uterine-specific CXCR4 deletion, was associated with increased pregnancy resorptions and decreased litter size. CXCR4-deficient mice had decreased NK cells and increased granulocytes in the decidua, along with increased leukocyte numbers in peripheral blood. We found that CXCR4-deficient mice had abnormal decidual NK cell aggregates and NK cell infiltration into trophoblast areas beyond the giant cell layer. This was associated with low NK cell expression of granzyme B, a NK cell granule effector, indicative of NK cell dysfunction. Pregnancy failure in these mice was associated with abnormalities in placental vascular development and increased placental expression of inflammatory genes. Importantly, adoptive BM transfer of WT CXCR4 ⁺ BM cells into CXCR4-deficient mice rescued the reproductive deficits by normalizing NK cell function and mediating normal placental vascular development. Collectively, our study found an important role for maternal CXCR4 expression in immune cell function, placental development, and pregnancy maintenance.

Aim: To determine the accuracy of miRNA as a biomarker in male infertility diagnosis. Methods: After a systematic literature search was performed in several databases, 1263 participants in eight studies through May 2020 were included. Publication bias was identified by Deeks funnel plot asymmetry test. Likelihood ratio scattergram and Fagan's nomogram were employed to judge the application value of a diagnosis. Threshold effect, sensitivity and regression analysis were performed to explore possible sources of potential heterogeneity. Results: Subgroup analysis demonstrated that the use of multiple miRNAs and seminal plasma-derived miRNAs showed high sensitivity and diagnostic odds ratios. Conclusion: miRNAs show great potential as novel diagnostic biomarkers for infertility.

Objective: To investigate the accuracy of miRNA in the diagnosis of patients with Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled trials. Setting: Not applicable. Patient(s): Individuals with PCOS and control. Intervention(s): Summary sensitivity and specificity and positive and negative likelihood ratios (LRs) a random effects model were employed. Main Outcome Measure(s): Accuracy of miRNAs as diagnostic indicators. Result(s): The analysis showed that miRNA significantly increased the accuracy of the diagnosis of PCOS, which included 9 articles with 1303 patients. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of miRNAs in the diagnosis of PCOS were 0.73 and 0.81, respectively. Multiple RNAs as biomarkers in qRT-PCR (SYBR) method showed higher sensitivity when compared to a single RNA and the Area Under Curve (AUC) was up to 0.88. Conclusions: MiRNAs may increase the accuracy of diagnosis and short the time required for diagnosis. Multiple miRNAs in SYBR method have good discriminating ability as biomarker for diagnosis.