Despite extensive progress in treatment for cancer in recent decades, the early diagnosis for gastric cancer (GC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) remains poor. In this study, we explore the diagnostic value of joint detection of thymidine kinase 1 (TK1), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) and carbohydrate antigen 72-4 (CA 72-4) in the diagnosis of GC and CRC, and to evaluated the relationship between TK1 expression and clinical pathological characteristics in the patients. Serum TK1, CA 19-9, CA 72-4 and CEA levels were measured in 169 patients with GC, 344 patients with CRC and 75 healthy controls using electro-chemiluminescence. The TK1 concentration was significantly higher in patients with cancer than in healthy controls and patients with clinical stage Ⅲ+Ⅳ had higher TK1 levels than clinical stage Ⅰ+Ⅱ (P<0.05). The levels of TK1 is significantly associated with tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, tumor differentiation and age (P<0.05). When the tumor markers (TK1, CA 19-9 and CA 72-4) were detected respectively, the area under receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) of TK1 for three cancers was the highest (0.823-0.895). However, the combination of AUC was higher than that for each tumor marker detected respectively (0.934-0.953), and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed an adequate model of calibration (P>0.05). Moreover, the AUCs varied significantly between the combination tests and single biomarker tests (Z test, P<0.01). In conclusion, serum TK1 may be an independent tumor marker for GC and CRC patients, and the combination of TK1, CA 19-9 and CA 72-4 and CEA performed even better. This study suggests that combination detection of four tumor markers may prove to be useful for the diagnosis of GC and CRC.

ObjectiveTo determine whether the visceral adiposity index (VAI) was linked to the risk of kidney stones (KS) in the representative U.S. adults.MethodsWe investigated 59842 participants who joined the 2007–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The association between the visceral adiposity index (VAI) and KS was identified by logistic regression analysis. Meanwhile, the subgroup analysis as well as the calculation of dose−response curves were also utilized to identify sensitive groups.ResultsData from 29384 participants were available, including 2781 self-reported ever experiencing KS diseases. Overall, the VAI was 0.74 (0.70, 0.78) in the KS group, while 0.55 (0.52, 0.57) in the control group. After adjusting for confounders, the prevalence of KS increased by 13% for each unit of VAI increment (OR = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.19). Moreover, a linear relationship was found between the VAI and the prevalence of KS. By subgroup analysis, we found that a positive correlation between VAI and the risk of KS both in male (OR=1.14, 95%CI:1.07, 1.22) and female (OR=1.14, 95%CI:1.05, 1.24), White (OR=1.20, 95%CI:1.11, 1.28) and other race, all aged subgroups, nonhypertensive (OR=1.06, 95%CI:1.08, 1.25) and nondiabetic subgroups (OR=1.14, 95%CI:1.07, 1.21).ConclusionsElevated VAI was strongly associated with KS in representative U.S. adults, which may be a promising indicator for the risk of kidney stones.

Nanoparticles of Prussian blue (PB) and its cyanometallate structural analogues are validated as multienzyme mimetics, while there remains a need for improved activities of PB-based nanozymes through rational atomic engineering on the species and amount of doping metal. Herein, we find that the doping of a second divalent 3d metal ion (Co 2+ , Ni 2+ , and Cu 2+ ) into the PB framework results in discriminated peroxidase-like activity, by catalyzing the oxidation reaction of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) with H 2 O 2 . The order of the catalyzed reaction generally follows Cu 2+ -doped PB (CuPB) > PB > Co 2+ -doped PB (CoPB) > Ni 2+ -doped PB (NiPB). Besides the atomic preference over Cu doping, the amount of doped Cu 2+ is rationally engineered for the optimization of peroxidase-like activity. By coupling the optimized CuPB nanoparticles with natural uricase, we develop a cascade reaction system for measuring the uric acid level in human urine specimens, the results of which are well correlated with the standard values determined on instrumentation (R 2 = 0.975). Due to the simplicity of the platform and capability of preparing CuPB nanozyme in a large scale, we envisage the method to be translated into urinalysis of uric acid, especially packaged as a type of assay kits for point-of-care testing.