Bacterial infections related to medical devices can cause severe problems, whose solution requires in-depth understanding of the interactions between bacteria and surfaces. This work investigates the influence of surface physicochemistry on bacterial attachment and detachment under flow through both empirical and simulation studies. We employed polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates having different degrees of crosslinking as the model material and the extended Derjaguin - Landau - Verwey - Overbeek model as the simulation method. Experimentally, the different PDMS materials led to similar numbers of attached bacteria, which can be rationalized by the identical energy barriers simulated between bacteria and the different materials. However, different numbers of residual bacteria after detachment were observed, which was suggested by simulation that the detachment process is determined by the interfacial physicochemistry rather than the mechanical property of a material. This finding is further supported by analyzing the bacteria detachment from PDMS substrates from which non-crosslinked polymer chains had been removed: similar numbers of residual bacteria were found on the extracted PDMS substrates. The knowledge gained in this work can facilitate the projection of bacterial colonization on a given surface.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to analyze clinicopathological features and to investigate the prognostic determinants in patients with uterine papillary serous carcinoma (UPSC). Materials and methods: A cohort of 106 UPSC patients diagnosed and treated at Peking Union Medical College Hospital between 2000 and 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. The Kaplan–Meier method and Cox regression analysis were used for survival analysis. Differences between categorical data were calculated by using the chi-squared test. Results: The median follow-up was 29.0 months (range =2–170 months), with an overall recurrence rate of 35.8%. The coincidence rate between preoperative endometrial sampling and postoperative definitive pathology of hysteroscopy group was significantly higher than that of the dilation and curettage group (88.5% vs 65.0%, P=0.019). Adjuvant therapy-treated patients with stage I UPSC experienced significantly fewer recurrences than those receiving observation (P=0.003). Patients with advanced-stage UPSC who received combination therapy demonstrated a lower risk of local recurrence compared with those who received chemotherapy alone with a borderline significance (P=0.051). Elevated serum cancer antigen 125 level was associated with advanced-stage disease and recurrence (P<0.001). In multivariate analysis, tumor stage and optimal cytoreduction were independent predictors of survival. In substage analysis, complete surgical staging was associated with better overall survival (OS; yes vs no, HR: 0.05 [95% CI: 0.01–0.51], P=0.037) in patients with stage I UPSC. As for advanced stage, paclitaxel–platinum chemotherapy regimen and optimal cytoreduction were independent favorable prognostic factors for progression-free survival (paclitaxel–carboplatin [TC] vs other; HR =0.38, P=0.010; yes vs no, HR =0.45, P=0.032) and OS (TC vs other, HR =0.38, P=0.022; yes vs no, HR =0.54, P=0.013). Conclusion: In patients with stage I UPSC, complete staging was associated with better OS, and therefore, it should be performed in all patients. Tumor stage and optimal cytoreduction are the most significant prognostic factors. Recurrence can be improved in stage I patients treated with adjuvant therapy and in patients with advanced-stage disease treated with combined therapy. TC regimen may be the preferred regimen for chemotherapy.

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common malignant tumor of the female reproductive tract in developed countries and the second most common gynecologic malignancy in China. Although EC is most often diagnosed in postmenopausal women, the increase in obesity rates and other lifestyle changes has been accompanied by an increase in the prevalence of EC among younger women. Approximately 4% of patients are diagnosed before the age of 40 years and before having given birth. Such patients may have a strong desire to preserve their fertility despite oncologic risks and thus may be reluctant to undergo standard treatment for EC, which includes hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and surgical staging. Therefore, more conservative treatment approaches may need to be discussed, along with their associated oncologic and reproductive outcomes. In fact, various studies have confirmed the effectiveness and safety of conservative treatment in EC. This review aimed to provide a concise yet informative overview of the current status of fertility-preserving treatment for EC in China, as well as to summarize the latest and ongoing research efforts in this area.

Yolk sac tumors (YSTs) are a major histological subtype of malignant ovarian germ cell tumors with a relatively poor prognosis. The molecular basis of this disease has not been thoroughly characterized at the genomic level. Here we perform whole-exome and RNA sequencing on 41 clinical tumor samples from 30 YST patients, with distinct responses to cisplatin-based chemotherapy. We show that microsatellite instability status and mutational signatures are informative of chemoresistance. We identify somatic driver candidates, including significantly mutated genesKRASandKITand copy-number alteration drivers, including deletedARID1AandPARK2, and amplifiedZNF217,CDKN1B, andKRAS. YSTs have very infrequentTP53mutations, whereas the tumors from patients with abnormal gonadal development contain bothKRASandTP53mutations. We further reveal a role ofOVOL2overexpression in YST resistance to cisplatin. This study lays a critical foundation for understanding key molecular aberrations in YSTs and developing related therapeutic strategies.

Ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) is resistant to chemotherapy, with limited treatment options for advanced and recurrent disease. The prevalence of OCCC differs by region. Assessing the expression of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1), PD-1, and CD8⁺T cell infiltration in OCCC is crucial, as their correlation with patient survival may provide valuable prognostic insights. We collected data from 36 samples from 18 OCCC patients, including 18 pairs of tumors and adjacent nonneoplastic samples. The optimized multiplex immunofluorescence technique was used to stain paraffin sections for immune factors related to the immune microenvironment of OCCC and clinical prognosis. The expression of PDL1 and PD1 in the tumor cells and tumor stromal cells was not significantly correlated with prognosis. Professional quantitative pathological analysis software was used to count the CD8⁺ cytotoxic T-cells in tumor regions and adjacent nonneoplastic regions in postoperative specimens. There were more CD8⁺ cytotoxic T-cells in the adjacent nonneoplastic areas than in the tumor tissue samples (p < 0.001). Further analysis revealed that a difference in cell density between CD8⁺ non-tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (NTILs) and CD8⁺ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) exceeding 70 cells/mm² was associated with poorer progression-free survival (PFS) (p = 0.042). In adjacent nonneoplastic regions, worse PFS was significantly observed in patients with high CD8⁺ T-cell expression in both total and stromal cells than those with low expression (p = 0.012 vs p = 0.007). The presence of CD8⁺ T-cells had significant potential for predicting the prognosis of patients with OCCC, which lays a foundation for the development of biomarkers for immune checkpoint blockade treatment response in OCCC patients.