Burden and trends of brain and central nervous system cancer from 1990 to 2019 at the global, regional, and country levels

Background

Regularly updated epidemiological data on the burden of brain and central nervous system (CNS) cancers are important in the prioritization of research and the allocation of resources. This study aimed to investigate incidence, mortality, disability, and trends in brain and CNS cancers between 1990 and 2019.

Methods

Epidemiological data, including the cancer incidence, mortality, disability-adjusted life years(DALYs), age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR), age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR), and age-standardized DALY rate (per 100,000 population) stratified by region, country, sex, and age group were retrieved and extracted using the Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx) query tool.

Results

In 2019, there were 347,992(262,084–388,896) global cases of brain and CNS cancers, which showed a significant increase (94.35%) from the period between 1990 to 2019. The global ASIR in 2019 was 4.34 (3.27–4.86) per 100, 000 population, which showed an increasing trend for the years 1990–2019 (13.82% [-27.27–32.83]). In 2019, there were 246,253 (185,642–270,930) global deaths caused by brain and CNS cancers, which showed a significant increase (76.36%) during the study period. The global ASMR in 2019 was 3.05(2.29–3.36) per 100, 000 population, which did not change significantly over the study period (-1.19% [-36.79–13.86]). In 2019, there were 8,659,871 DALYs, which was a 109.04% increase compared with 1990. Similarly, during 1990–2019, the age-standardized DALY rate decreased by 10.39%. Additionally, 76.60% of the incident cases, 72.98% of the deaths, and 65.16% of the DALYs due to brain and CNS cancers occurred in the high-income and upper-middle-income regions.

Conclusions

In conclusion, brain and CNS cancers remain a major public health burden, particularly in high-income regions. The global incidence, deaths, and DALYs of brain and CNS cancers were shown to have increased significantly from 1990 to 2019. The global ASIR kept rising steadily, while the ASMR and age-standardized DALY rate declined over the past three decades.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13690-022-00965-5.

Biomedical Photoacoustic Imaging for Molecular Detection and Disease Diagnosis: "Always-On" and "Turn-On" Probes

Photoacoustic (PA) imaging is a nonionizing, noninvasive imaging technique that combines optical and ultrasonic imaging modalities to provide images with excellent contrast, spatial resolution, and penetration depth. Exogenous PA contrast agents are created to increase the sensitivity and specificity of PA imaging and to offer diagnostic information for illnesses. The existing PA contrast agents are categorized into two groups in this review: "always-on" and "turn-on," based on their ability to be triggered by target molecules. The present state of these probes, their merits and limitations, and their future development, is explored.

Troxerutin Abrogates Ischemic/Reperfusion-Induced Brain Injury through Ameliorating Oxidative Stress and Neuronal Inflammation by Inhibiting the Expression of NLRP3 in Sprague Dawley Rats

Cerebral ischemic reperfusion (I/R) infarction is mostly associated with serious brain injury, cognitive damage, and neurological deficits. The oxidative stress mechanisms in the neurological region lead to higher reactive oxygen species production followed by oxidative stress, inflammation of neurons, and death of brain cells. The current work aims to evaluate the effect of troxerutin (TXN) on cerebral injury stimulated by I/R-induced ischemic stroke and examines the mechanistic effect of TXN on neuroinflammation in the Sprague Dawley model. The experimental rats were randomized in to four groups: (i) sham control, (ii) I/R + vehicle, (iii) I/R + 10 mg/kg bw TXN, and (iv) I/R + 20 mg/kg bw TXN. In the TXN administration and control, groups were injected intraperitoneally 15 min before reperfusion and every day for 7 days, except the sham group. Orally administered TXN (10 and 20 mg/kg/bw) modulated the water content, lowered the infarct volume, and abrogated score defects of neuron and changes in the brain tissue sample. In our study, the TXN-stimulated cerebral injury exhibited leakage of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), lipid hydroperoxides (LOOH) of the neuronal sample of tissues and showed higher antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase, the oxidized form of glutathione peroxidase, and the reduced form of glutathione levels. This biochemical result was additionally proved by histopathological assessment. Changes were made in antioxidant and inflammatory markers expressions interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-4, IL-10, vascular endothelial growth factor, and cerebral induced rats. The overall findings showed that TXN protected the brain tissues from neuroinflammatory oxidative stress by reducing cerebral injury in Sprague Dawley rats. Further, the messenger RNA expression of cerebral I/R-induced animal tissues down-regulated NLRP3, caspase-1, tumor necrosis factor-α, ASC, IL-1β, and Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3). Therefore, the TXN action on TLR3 induced brain stroke is an excellent therapeutic approach for brain damage.

Combined analysis of metagenomic data revealed consistent changes of gut microbiome structure and function in inflammatory bowel disease

AIMS

To reveal the consistency and discrepancy in the gut microbial structure and function in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients from different regions.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Gut microbes, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and virulence factors genes (VFGs) were analysed using metagenome data from three cohorts. The abundance of Escherichia coli extensively increased in IBD patients, whereas Subdoligranulum unclassified decreased dramatically in IBD patients from three countries. Escherichia coli showed a positive correlation with multiple ARGs and VFGs in cohorts from China and the United States, including multidrug-related resistance genes and Capsule and LOS-related virulence factors genes. Escherichia coli biofilm synthesis pathways significantly enriched in IBD patients from three different regions. Notably, Subdoligranulum unclassified and Eubacterium hallii were negatively related to ARGs and VFGs.

CONCLUSIONS

Consistent changes of microbiome structure and function were observed in IBD patients from three different regions. As pathogenic bacteria, E. coli may accelerate IBD progression through encapsulation in biofilms by upregulating antibiotic resistance in Crohn's disease patients. Subdoligranulum unclassified and E. hallii may be beneficial for IBD patients and could serve as potential probiotics for IBD treatment.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

This work dispels worries about the regional differences in gut microbial changes in IBD patients and provides useful guidance for more rational microbiome-based therapies.

Endocrine and genetic factors affecting egg laying performance in chickens: a review

1. Egg-laying performance reflects the overall reproductive performance of breeding hens. The genetic traits for egg-laying performance have low or medium heritability, and, depending on the period involved, usually ranges from 0.16 to 0.64. Egg-laying in chickens is regulated by a combination of environmental, endocrine and genetic factors. 2. The main endocrine factors that regulate egg-laying are gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), prolactin (PRL), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinising hormone (LH). 3. In the last three decades, many studies have explored this aspect at a molecular genetic level. Recent studies identified 31 reproductive hormone-based candidate genes that were significantly associated with egg-laying performance. With the development of genome-sequencing technology, 64 new candidate genes and 108 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to egg-laying performance have been found using genome-wide association studies (GWAS), providing novel insights into the molecular genetic mechanisms governing egg production. At the same time, microRNAs that regulate genes responsible for egg-laying in chickens were reviewed. 4. Research on endocrinological and genetic factors affecting egg-laying performance will greatly improve the reproductive performance of chickens and promote the protection, development, and utilisation of poultry. This review summarises studies on the endocrine and genetic factors of egg-laying performance in chickens from 1972 to 2019.

Making global river ecosystem health assessments objective, quantitative and comparable

Assessing and comparing global river ecosystem health in an objective and quantitative way remains a major challenge. In this study the widely-used semi-quantitative methods Rapid Biological assessment Protocols (RBPs) was used to determine the health of rivers. The findings were then compared to the results derived from our new UAV (Unmanned aerial vehicles) orthophotographic imagery method. This method quantitatively and objectively assesses river ecosystem health. As a comparison, our method was used to quantitatively measure distance and areas of a range of hydrological and biological attributes thus improving the accuracy of distance- and area-related indices, consequently avoiding subjective errors in these estimations that is fraught in methods like the RBPs. To strengthen the objectivity of the assessment the weights of these indices were objectively determined using the entropy weighting method. This new method was then tested using 9551 UAV orthophotographs taken over six field campaigns. It performed satisfactorily, showing that in our study area the health status of mountain rivers was the best with the highest score of 0.94 out of 1.0. Temporally, the health of the river was better in summer (0.65) compared with that in autumn (0.40). Changes in river ecosystem health were driven by variations in biology and water quality. In contrast the outputs of RBPs, especially in relation to distance and area indices, had ~ 20% uncertainty due to visual errors and subjectivity in estimations by observers. The UAV orthophotographic imaging method proposed in this study can improve the ability to compare the health of rivers across different periods and regions throughout the globe.

Operative managements of extracranial carotid artery aneurysms: a report of three cases and literature review

Background

The purpose of this study is to report the treatment approaches and postoperative outcomes of extracranial carotid artery aneurysms (ECAAs) and discuss the symptoms, related risk factors, etiology, diagnostic methods, treatments, and follow-up period complications.

Case presentation

We describe three patients with symptomatic extracranial carotid artery aneurysms; one of them was treated with end-to-end anastomosis of the extracranial internal carotid artery (EICA) after the resection of the aneurysm, while the other two patients were deployed with Willis covered stents in the extracranial internal carotid artery. All of the patients were in good condition when discharged home. After a mean follow-up period of 8 months, all the patients were alive and only one of them had the neurologic deficit. Additionally, we reviewed the relative literatures.

Conclusion

Both of the surgical and endovascular treatments have relatively satisfactory outcomes in ECAA patients. However, it is necessary to provide individualized treatments to different patients according to the characteristics of the aneurysms.

Effects of DISC1 Polymorphisms on Resting-State Spontaneous Neuronal Activity in the Early-Stage of Schizophrenia

Background: Localized abnormalities in the synchrony of spontaneous neuronal activity, measured with regional homogeneity (ReHo), has been consistently reported in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and their unaffected siblings. To date, little is known about the genetic influences affecting the spontaneous neuronal activity in SCZ. DISC1, a strong susceptible gene for SCZ, has been implicated in neuronal excitability and synaptic function possibly associated with regional spontaneous neuronal activity. This study aimed to examine the effects of DISC1 variations on the regional spontaneous neuronal activity in SCZ. Methods: Resting-state fMRI data were obtained from 28 SCZ patients and 21 healthy controls (HC) for ReHo analysis. Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of DISC1 gene were genotyped using the PCR and direct sequencing. Results: Significant diagnosis × genotype interactions were noted for three SNPs (rs821616, rs821617, and rs2738880). For rs821617, the interactions were localized to the precuneus, basal ganglia and pre-/post-central regions. Significant interactive effects were identified at the temporal and post-central gyri for rs821616 (Ser704Cys) and the inferior temporal gyrus for rs2738880. Furthermore, post-hoc analysis revealed that the DISC1 variations on these SNPs exerted different influences on ReHo between SCZ patients and HC. Conclusion: To our knowledge this is the first study to unpick the influence of DISC1 variations on spontaneous neuronal activity in SCZ; Given the emerging evidence that ReHo is a stable inheritable phenotype for schizophrenia, our findings suggest the DISC1 variations are possibly an inheritable source for the altered ReHo in this disorder.