Our aim in this study was to analyze the footprint measurements of flatfoot in a population of preschool-aged children. Three footprint measurements, the Clarke's angle (CA), Chippaux-Smirak index (CSI), and Staheli arch index (AI), were used for comparison with clinical diagnosis. A total of 2,638 static footprints of children aged from 3 to 6 years were recorded. The clinical diagnosis as a gold standard compared with the results of the CA, CSI, and AI and displayed in a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. In order to illustrate the diagnostic accuracy in clinical settings, their likelihood ratios were calculated given their cutoff points, and their pretest/posttest probabilities were plotted as the Fagan nomogram. The optimal cutoff points for CA, CSI, and AI were 14.04°, 62.70%, and 107.42%, respectively, and all of them showed high sensitivity. The areas under curves were 0.91, 0.95, and 0.92, respectively. The positive predictive values were 0.84, 0.91, and 0.85, and the negative predictive values were 0.82, 0.85, and 0.85, respectively. The positive likelihood ratio values for CA, CSI, and AI were 4.09, 7.52, and 4.61, and the negative likelihood ratio values were 0.18, 0.14, and 0.13, respectively. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that footprint analysis methods are suitable for diagnosing flatfoot in preschool-aged children, and that the most appropriate cutoffs are as follows: CA ≤ 14.04°, CSI > 62.70%, and AI > 107.42%. The CSI had a predictive probability of more than 90% and is recommended in screening for flatfoot in preschool-aged children.

Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is an inflammatory molecule that is involved in immune responses, inflammation, and cancer. Recent evidence suggests that PTX3 plays a critical role in tumor progression; however, its impact on the biological function of gliomas remains unknown. In the present study, immunohistochemical staining showed that patients with high-grade gliomas exhibited increased expression levels of PTX3 compared to those with low-grade gliomas (P < 0.001). Furthermore, knockdown of PTX3 in GBM8401 cells inhibits proliferation, increases p21 protein levels, and decreases cyclin D1 protein levels, resulting in cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase. In addition, knockdown of PTX3 significantly decreases GBM8401 cell migration and invasion through the downregulation of matrix metalloproteinase-1 and -2 (MMP-1 and MMP-2) expression. In a GBM8401 xenograft animal model, PTX3 knockdown decreases tumor growth in vivo. In conclusion, PTX3 plays an important role in glioma cell proliferation and invasion, and may thus serve as a novel potential therapeutic target in the treatment of gliomas.

The 6-minute walk test (6MWT) has been applied to assess postsurgical recovery in cardiac populations. This study mainly investigated whether the 6MWT could serve as an indicator for physical functioning in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.Participants completed the 6MWT and the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) at baseline, discharge, and 3 months postoperatively, in order to analyze the construct validity and responsiveness of the 6MWT. The participants in this study were 125 patients (92 males and 33 females) with an average age of 65.1 ± 11.1 years. The mean 6MWT was 308.9 ± 77.3 m in the preoperative phase, decreased to 277.3 ± 85.7 m at discharge, and returned to 378.1 ± 95.2 m at 3-month follow-up. The results showed that the 6-minute walk distances at baseline and at 3-month follow-up were moderately to highly correlated with the physical functioning subscale of the SF-36 (rs = .44 and .54, respectively) and had weak correlation with the nonphysical functioning subscales. The recovery level of physical functioning is meaningfully associated with the 6MWT change from baseline to discharge and from baseline to 3-month follow-up. Patients with higher New York Heart Association (NYHA) Functional Classification levels had lower 6MWT. Additionally, the 6MWT was sensitive to change during the perioperative period (effect sizes from −0.51 to 1.72).The supporting evidence includes the construct validity and responsiveness of the 6MWT. This study supports the feasibility of the 6MWT as an evaluation tool of physical functioning for assessment of postcardiac surgical recovery.