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BackgroundSpinal chordomas are rare primary osseous tumors that arise from the remnants of the notochord. They are commonly considered slow-growing, locally invasive neoplasms with little tendency to metastasize, but the high recurrent rate of spinal chordomas may seriously affect the survival rate and quality of life of patients. The aim of the study is to describe the epidemiological data and determine the prognostic factors for decreased survival in patients with primary spinal chordoma.MethodsThe Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Registry database, a US population-based cancer registry database, was used to identify all patients diagnosed with primary spinal chordoma from 1973 to 2014. We utilized Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis to evaluate the association between patients overall survival and relevant characteristics, including age, gender, race, disease stage, treatment methods, primary tumor site, marital status, and urban county background.ResultsIn the data set between 1973 and 2014, a total of 808 patients were identified with primary spinal chordoma. The overall rate of distant metastatic cases in our cohort was only 7.7%. Spinal chordoma was more common occurred in men (62.6%) than women (37.3%). Majority of neoplasms were found in the White (87.9%), while the incidence of the Black is relatively infrequent (3.3%). Three hundred fifty-seven spinal chordomas (44.2%) were located in the vertebral column, while 451 patients’ tumor (55.8%) was located in the sacrum or pelvis. Age ≥ 60 years (HR = 2.72; 95%CI, 1.71 to 2.89), distant metastasis (HR = 2.16; 95%CI, 1.54 to 3.02), and non-surgical therapy (HR = 2.14; 95%CI, 1.72 to 2.69) were independent risk factors for survival reduction in analysis. Survival did not significantly differ as a factor of tumor site (vertebrae vs sacrum/pelvis) for primary spinal chordoma (HR = 0.93, P = 0.16). Race (P = 0.52), gender (P = 0.11), marital status (P = 0.94), and urban background (P = 0.72) were not main factors which affected overall survival rate.ConclusionThere was no significant difference in overall survival rate between chordomas located in the sacrum and vertebral column. Spinal chordoma patients with an elderly age (age ≥ 60), performing non-surgical therapy, and distant metastasis were associated with worse overall survival. Performing surgery was an effective and reliable treatment method for patients with spinal chordoma, and public health efforts should pay more attention to the elderly patients with spinal chordoma prior to distant metastasis.

We have studied the interactions with neutral phospholipid bilayers of FPI, the 23-residue fusogenic N-terminal peptide of the HIV-1LAI transmembrane glycoprotein gp41, by CD, EPR, NMR, and solid state NMR (SSNMR) with the objective of understanding how it lyses and fuses cells. Using small unilamellar vesicles made from egg yolk phoshatidylcholine which were not fused or permeabilised by the peptide we obtained results suggesting that it was capable of inserting as an alpha-helix into neutral phospholipid bilayers but was only completely monomeric at peptide/lipid (P/L) ratios of 1/2000 or lower. Above this value, mixed populations of monomeric and multimeric forms were found with the proportion of multimer increasing proportionally to P/L, as calculated from studies on the interaction between the peptide and spin-labelled phospholipid. The CD data indicated that, at P/L between 1/200 and 1/100, approximately 68% of the peptide appeared to be in alpha-helical form. When P/L = 1/25 the alpha-helical content had decreased to 41%. Measurement at a P/L of 1/100 of the spin lattice relaxation effect on the 13C nuclei of the phospholipid acyl chains of an N-terminal spin label attached to the peptide showed that most of the peptide N-termini were located in the interior hydrocarbon region of the membrane. SSNMR on multilayers of ditetradecylphosphatidyl choline at P/Ls of 1/10, 1/20 and 1/30 showed that the peptide formed multimers that affected the motion of the lipid chains and disrupted the lipid alignment. We suggest that these aggregates may be relevant to the membrane-fusing and lytic activities of FPI and that they are worthy of further study.

Since December 2019, a novel coronavirus named 2019 coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has emerged in Wuhan of China and spread to several countries worldwide within just one month.Apart from fever and respiratory complications, acute kidney injury has been observed in some patients with 2019-nCoV. In a short period of time, angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2), have been proposed to serve as the receptor for the entry of 2019-nCoV, which is the same for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS). To investigate the possible cause of kidney damage in 2019-nCoV patients, we used both published kidney and bladder cell atlas data and an independent unpublished kidney single cell RNA-Seq data generated in-house to evaluate ACE2 gene expressions in all cell types in healthy kidneys and bladders.Our results showed the enriched expression of all subtypes of proximal tubule cells of kidney and low but detectable levels of expression in bladder epithelial cells. These results indicated the urinary system is a potential route for 2019-nCoV infection, along with the respiratory system and digestion system. Our findings suggested the kidney abnormalities of SARS and 2019-nCoV patients may be due to proximal tubule cells damage and subsequent systematic inflammatory response induced kidney injury. Beyond that, laboratory tests of viruses and related indicators in urine may be needed in some special patients of 2019-nCoV.