ABO blood types are associated with the prognosis of several malignancies. However, the role of the ABO blood type in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains elusive. Here, we evaluated the prognostic role of the ABO blood group in 691 HCC patients after hepatectomy by Cox regression analysis. A prognostic nomogram was generated to predict the 3 and 5-year overall survival (OS). A total of 262 HCC patients (37.9%) had blood group O, 199 (28.8%) had blood group A, 165 (23.9%) had blood group B, and 65 (9.4%) had blood group AB. The median OS was 55 months in patients with blood group O, 39 months for blood group A, 34 months for blood group B, and 34 months for blood group AB patients (P = 0.001, log-rank test). There were significant differences in OS between patients with blood groups O and A [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.416; 95% CI, 1.101–1.820;P = 0.007], blood group B (HR = 1.736; 95% CI, 1.333–2.262;P < 0.001), blood group AB (HR = 1.739; 95% CI, 1.210–2.499;P = 0.003) and non-O blood groups (HR = 1.485; 95% CI, 1.204–1.830;P < 0.001). Our constructed nomogram (c-index = 0.687) predicted the prognosis more accurately than the TNM stage alone(c-index = 0.601). In conclusion, non-O blood groups are poor prognostic indicators for HCC following hepatectomy. Our findings justify further external validation in larger cohorts.

Background: Interleukin-27 (IL-27) has been recognized as a pleiotropic cytokine with both pro- and anti-inflammatory properties. Patients and methods: A case-control study was conducted to investigate the possible associations of IL-27 gene polymorphisms with susceptibility to cervical cancer and clinical outcome. Results: Our results suggested that the IL-27 2905T/G was significantly associated with a decreased risk of cervical cancer. Further analysis showed IL-27 2905T/G genotypes were associated with advanced tumor stages of cervical cancer patients. More interestingly, the IL-27 2905T/G genotypes were statistically significantly associated with the survival in cervical cancer patients. Conclusion: Our results showed that the IL-27 2905T/G genotypes were associated with decreased the susceptibility and development of cervical cancer in Chinese Han population.

Experiments showed that bacterial biofilms are heterogeneous, for example, the density, the diffusion coefficient, and mechanical properties of the biofilm are different along the biofilm thickness. In this paper, we establish a multi-layer composite model to describe the biofilm mechanical inhomogeneity based on unified multiple-component cellular automaton (UMCCA) model. By using our model, we develop finite element simulation procedure for biofilm tension experiment. The failure limit and biofilm extension displacement obtained from our model agree well with experimental measurements. This method provides an alternative theory to study the mechanical inhomogeneity in biological materials.