Objective: Detection of aberrant methylated genes in feces has been developed as an early screening method for colorectal cancer. The aim of this study was to probe the methylation status of SEPT9, BMP3, NDRG4, and SDC2 in stool and study whether methylation of these genes is associated with colorectal cancer.

Anastomotic leakage is one of the most serious complications after colorectal surgery, and a reliable method for early diagnosis is urgently needed. Procalcitonin (PCT) is recently considered a potential biomarker by many studies, but their conclusions in detail are controversial. This meta-analysis was conducted to further explore and verify the diagnostic value of the procalcitonin level on postoperative day 3 (POD3) in patients undergoing colorectal surgery. This review was performed using the Preferred Reporting Items for a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Diagnostic Test Accuracy (PRISMA-DTA) statement. Studies were searched in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Wanfang, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) until August 2021. Quality of the studies was scored based on the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QUADAS-2) tool. Sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and a summary receiver operating characteristics (SROC) curve were used to estimate the diagnostic value. Meta-regression and subgroup analyses were performed to further explore the primary source of heterogeneity and the influence of various factors on diagnostic accuracy. Eleven studies and 3393 patients were included in our meta-analysis. The derived cutoff value of PCT was 1.12 ng/ml by geometric mean and the pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR and DOR were 0.768 (0.704-0.825), 0.788 (0.774-0.802), 4.600 (3.129-6.763), 0.339 (0.267-0.431) and 18.114 (9.872-33.239), respectively. The computed AUC from the SROC curve was 0.8714, and the Q* index was 0.8019. The results of meta-regression and subgroup analyses showed that the usage of laparoscopic surgery was the major factor in improving the reliability of PCT data, and 0.7-1.3 ng/ml may be the appropriate interval for PCT with the DOR (38.610 (16.324-91.321)) well above the average. The PCT level on POD3 has potential clinical value in the early diagnosis of AL and exhibits a better diagnostic accuracy in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery. Cut-off values are recommended at the interval range of 0.7-1.3 ng/ml to ensure accurate diagnosis and safe discharge. Research Registry Registration Number: reviewregistry 1282.

Liver Metastasis of Hepatoid Colonic Adenocarcinoma: A Rare and Unusual Entity With Poor Prognosis and Review of the Literature

Introduction. Colorectal cancer (CRC), a common digestive tract tumor that contains colon and rectal cancer, is one of the three most common cancers globally. circRNAs are involved in the occurrence and development of CRC, but the mechanism of how they participate in this process remains unclear. Methods. We adopted PCR for expression measure, CCK-8 for cell proliferation detection, Transwell for cell migration and invasion detection, and dual-luciferase reporter assays to detect the potential downstream targets of CCDC66 in CRC. Results. This study showed that circRNA CCDC66 was overexpressed in CRC tissues, and after knockdown, it inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of CRC cells (RKO and HCT-116) in vitro. In addition, the dual-luciferase reporter assay showed that there was a binding site between circCCDC66 and miR-370, as well as between miR-370 and murine double minute 4 (MDM4). That is, circCCDC66 upregulated the expression of MDM4 through competitively binding to miR-370. The expression of circCCDC66 in CRC tissues was positively correlated with MDM4 and negatively correlated with miR-370. Conclusion. In summary, our results indicate that circCCDC66 is a key upregulation of CRC. circCCDC66 upregulates MDM4 through competitive binding to miR-370, thereby enhancing the metastatic ability of CRC cells and promoting the development of CRC.

Purpose: The performance and clinical accuracy of combined SDC2/NDRG4 methylation were evaluated in diagnosing colorectal cancer (CRC) and advanced adenoma. Methods: A total of 2333 participants we... Plain language summary Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most malignant tumors of the digestive system and second only to breast cancer and lung cancer in terms of global incidence. Early CRCs ... Tweetable abstract SDC2/NDRG4 methylation showed excellent performance for CRC detection in a real-world setting. Its sensitivity for detecting CRC, early CRC and advanced adenoma were 92.06%, 91.4...

This work studied the relationship between biodegradation rate and grain size itself, excluding other structural factors such as segregations, impure inclusions, second phase particles, sub-structures, internal stresses and textures caused by alloying additions and deformation processing for pure Mg. A spectrum of grain size was obtained by annealing through changing the annealing temperature. Grain boundary influenced the hardness and the biodegradation behavior. The hardness was grain size-dependent, following a typical Hall–Petch relation: $\mathrm{HV}=18.45+92.31d^{-}{}^{\frac{1}{2}}$. The biodegradation rate decreased with decreasing grain size, following a similar Hall–Petch relation: $P_{\mathrm{i}}=0.17-0.68d^{-}{}^{\frac{1}{2}}$ or $P_{\mathrm{w}}=1.34-6.17d^{-}{}^{\frac{1}{2}}$. This work should be helpful for better controlling biodegradation performance of biodegradable Mg alloys through varying their grain size.