Postgraduate medical journal
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Prostate cancer is a common malignancy in men that is difficult to treat and carries a high risk of death. miR-219-5p is expressed in reduced amounts in many malignancies. However, the prognostic value of miR-219-5p for patients with prostate cancer remains unclear. ⋯ miR-219-5p can be used as a biomarker to predict death risk in prostate cancer patients. The mortality risk prediction model constructed based on miR-219-5p has good consistency and validity in assessing patient prognosis.
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Elevated ferritin levels are associated with a variety of infectious, malignant and inflammatory diseases. We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of markedly elevated ferritin levels in hospitalised patients with various medical conditions. ⋯ In hospitalised patients, ferritin levels higher than 2000 ng/mL are mainly associated with infectious and malignant diseases but do not predict mortality.
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Deleterious mutations would be rapidly purged from natural populations along with the extinction of their carriers. The currently observed mutations in existing species are mostly neutral. The inaccessibility of deleterious mutations impedes the functional studies on how these mutations affect the fitness at individual level. ⋯ Deleterious mutations are suppressed in functionally important genes as well as in normal populations. This work deepened our understanding on how natural selection act on deleterious mutations by analogising the cancer evolution to species evolution, which are essentially the same molecular process but at different time scales.
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The conflict between Ukraine and Russia significantly influences the healthcare sector. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the armed conflict have badly devastated the established healthcare system. Only 36.08% of the Ukrainian population has received the COVID-19 vaccination, with the majority receiving two doses, and currently, Ukraine records the highest mortality rate in the world. ⋯ In the current circumstances, the broken healthcare system needs to be rebuilt, and the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), doctors and all the front-line workers should extend their humanitarian support to the Ukrainian population. Conclusion: It is an arduous task for healthcare organisations to supply vaccines and medicines in this 'armed conflict' between Russia and Ukraine. This can only happen when both parties extend their support to rebuild the shattered healthcare infrastructure.
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Corin, a physical activator of atrial natriuretic peptide, has been associated with hypertension with unclear mechanisms. Here, we aimed to examine whether CORIN gene methylation was involved in the underlying molecular mechanisms. ⋯ These results suggest that hypermethylation in the CORIN gene is associated with a lower odds of prevalent hypertension and may be involved in the role of corin in blood pressure regulation.