Lung cancer (LC) is one of the most prevalent causes of cancer death with a high mortality rate worldwide. While various sets of microRNAs (miRNAs) have been found to be highly sensitive and specific biomarkers for the early diagnosis of LC (the first word of abstract), conflicting results on their diagnostic accuracy are still present in individual studies. Thus, we aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the published literature to comprehensively assess the diagnostic value of miRNAs for predicting LC. The sensitivity and specificity of each included study were used to plot the summary receiver operator characteristic (SROC) curve and to calculate the area under the SROC curve (AUC). All analyses were performed using the Stata 12.0 software. Twenty-six articles were involved in our meta-analysis, 18 of which focused on single miRNA assays and 15 on multiple miRNA assays. For single miRNA profiling, the pooled parameters calculated from all studies are as follows: sensitivity (SEN), 0.72; specificity (SPE), 0.74; positive likelihood ratio (PLR), 2.7; negative likelihood ratio (NLR), 0.39; and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), 7. For multiple miRNA profiling, the pooled estimates for the overall studies are as follows: SEN, 0.81; SPE, 0.84; PLR, 4.9; NLR, 0.23; and DOR, 22, which are significantly better than the diagnostic performance of the single miRNA profiling. In addition, subgroup analyses based on sample types suggested that blood-based multiple miRNA assays were more accurate than non-blood-based studies. In conclusion, the current meta-analysis shows that multiple miRNA assays were more accurate in diagnosing LC than single miRNA assays. However, further large-scale investigations are urgently needed to confirm our results and verify the feasibility of routine clinical utilization.

The present study aimed to explore the mechanisms underlying sepsis-induced acute lung injury (ALI) and identify more effective therapeutic strategies to treat it. The gene expression data set GSE10474 was downloaded and assessed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Principal component analysis, functional enrichment analysis and differential co-expression analysis of DEGs were performed. Furthermore, potential target drugs for key DEGs were assessed. A total of 209 DEGs, including 107 upregulated and 102 downregulated genes were screened. A number of DEGs, including zinc finger and BTB domain containing 17 (ZBTB17), heat shock protein 90 kDa β, member 1 (HSP90B1) and major histocompatibility complex, class II, DR α were identified. Furthermore, gene ontology terms including antigen processing and presentation, glycerophospholipid metabolism, transcriptional misregulation in cancer, thyroid hormone synthesis and pathways associated with diseases, such as asthma were identified. In addition, a differential co-expression network containing ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 D4, putative and tubulin, γ complex associated protein 3 was constructed. Furthermore, a number of gene-drug interactions, including between HSP90B1 and adenosine-5′-diphosphate and radicicol, were identified. Therefore, DEGs, including ZBTB17 and HSP90B1, may be important in the pathogenesis of sepsis-induced ALI. Furthermore, drugs including adenosine-5′-diphosphate may be novel drug candidates to treat patients with ALI.

BackgroundThe goal of the study was to compare surgical rib fixation using claw-type titanium plate with conservative treatment in the management of patients with flail chest.MethodsThe study retrospectively studied 23 patients suffering from flail chest injury, who admitted to our hospital from October, 2010 to February, 2014. The patients received surgical fixation by using claw-type titanium plate (surgical fixation group). A age and sex-matched cohort of 29 patients received conservative treatment and defined as conservative treatment group. Outcome variables included number of cases undergoing mechanical ventilation, ventilation time, time of hospital stay, incidence of respiratory complications, incidence of thoracic deformity and postoperative forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1).ResultsCompared with conservative treatment group, surgical fixation group had fewer cases undergoing mechanical ventilation, shorter ventilation time, shorter hospital stay, lower incidence of respiratory complications and thoracic deformity and improved pulmonary function. Patients undergoing surgery earlier had shorter time of mechanical ventilation.ConclusionsSurgical rib fixation with claw-type titanium plate is a reliable and efficient method in the management of patients with flail chest.

BackgroundTo identify critical genes and biological pathways in acute lung injury (ALI), a comparative analysis of gene expression profiles of patients with ALI + sepsis compared with patients with sepsis alone were performed with bioinformatic tools.MethodsGSE10474 was downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus, including a collective of 13 whole blood samples with ALI + sepsis and 21 whole blood samples with sepsis alone. After pre-treatment with robust multichip averaging (RMA) method, differential analysis was conducted using simpleaffy package based upon t-test and fold change. Hierarchical clustering was also performed using function hclust from package stats. Beisides, functional enrichment analysis was conducted using iGepros. Moreover, the gene regulatory network was constructed with information from Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and then visualized by Cytoscape.ResultsA total of 128 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, including 47 up- and 81 down-regulated genes. The significantly enriched functions included negative regulation of cell proliferation, regulation of response to stimulus and cellular component morphogenesis. A total of 27 DEGs were significantly enriched in 16 KEGG pathways, such as protein digestion and absorption, fatty acid metabolism, amoebiasis, etc. Furthermore, the regulatory network of these 27 DEGs was constructed, which involved several key genes, including protein tyrosine kinase 2 (PTK2), v-src avian sarcoma (SRC) and Caveolin 2 (CAV2).ConclusionPTK2, SRC and CAV2 may be potential markers for diagnosis and treatment of ALI.Virtual SlidesThe virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/5865162912987143

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