Ye Gao

Background: β‐asarone (β‐as), a compound extracted from Acorus calamus, has been found to have anticancer effects on a variety of human cancers. However, the potential effect of β‐as on bladder cancer (BCa) remains unknown.Methods: After exposure to β‐as, migration, invasion, and epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) of BCa were determined by wound healing, transwell, and Western blot assays. Expression of proteins involved in the EMT and ER stress were explored by Western blot assays. Nude mouse xenograft model was served as the model system in vivo.Results: The migration, invasion, and EMT of BCa were significantly inhibited after β‐as treatment. Further experiments revealed that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is involved in β‐as‐mediated metastasis inhibition. In addition, β‐as significantly up‐regulated activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6), a branch of ER stress, and promoted its Golgi cleavage and nuclear localization. ATF6 silencing attenuated β‐as‐mediated metastasis and EMT inhibition in BCa cells.Conclusion: Our data suggests that β‐as inhibits migration, invasion, and EMT of BCa by activating the ATF6 branch of ER stress. Thus, β‐as represents a potential candidate for BCa treatment.

Background The aim of this study is to determine the incidence trends of urothelial cancer of the bladder (UCB) and to develop a nomogram for predicting the cancer-specific survival (CSS) of postsurgery UCB at a population-based level based on the SEER database. Methods The age-adjusted incidence of UCB diagnosed from 1975 to 2016 was extracted, and its annual percentage change was calculated and joinpoint regression analysis was performed. A nomogram was constructed for predicting the CSS in individual cases based on independent predictors. The predictive performance of the nomogram was evaluated using the consistency index (C-index), net reclassification index (NRI), integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), a calibration plot and the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve. Results The incidence of UCB showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing from 1975 to 2016. However, the overall incidence increased over that time period. The age at diagnosis, ethnic group, insurance status, marital status, differentiated grade, AJCC stage, regional lymph nodes removed status, chemotherapy status, and tumor size were independent prognostic factors for postsurgery UCB. The nomogram constructed based on these independent factors performed well, with a C-index of 0.823 and a close fit to the calibration curve. Its prediction ability for CSS of postsurgery UCB is better than that of the existing AJCC system, with NRI and IDI values greater than 0 and ROC curves exhibiting good performance for 3, 5, and 8 years of follow-up. Conclusions The nomogram constructed in this study might be suitable for clinical use in improving the clinical predictive accuracy of the long-term survival for postsurgery UCB.

To investigate the nonlinear relationship between age and the likelihood of undergoing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, and the difference of factors influencing the test likelihood among subjects aged 40–54, 55–69, and ≥70 years. Data were extracted from the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, with the primary outcome defined as receipt of a PSA test within the previous 12 months. Restricted cubic splines were used to assess the relationship between age and the likelihood of undergoing PSA testing. Backward conditional logistic regression analyses were used to identify the predictors of undergoing PSA testing among subjects aged 40–54, 55–69, and ≥70 years. Finally, 92,177 people were identified. The likelihood of PSA testing increased up to around 71 years old and then decreased rapidly for higher ages, showing a clear nonlinear inverted U-shaped relationship with age (p < .001). Insurance status, shared decision-making, whether a recommendation for PSA testing had been accepted, income level, smoking status, and age were the common predictors of testing in the three age groups. However, the predictors differed somewhat among the three groups: being overweight or obese was only positively associated with increased testing among people aged 40–54 and ≥70 years, being retired only greatly impacted the test likelihood among those aged 40–54 years, and the general health status, marital status, and race affected people aged ≥55 years. The factors influencing PSA screening differ with age, which should be fully considered when screening different target age groups.

Background. The aim of this study is to determine the incidence trends of urothelial cancer of the bladder (UCB) and to develop a nomogram for predicting the cancer-specific survival (CSS) of postsurgery UCB at a population-based level based on the SEER database. Methods. The age-adjusted incidence of UCB diagnosed from 1975 to 2016 was extracted, and its annual percentage change was calculated and joinpoint regression analysis was performed. A nomogram was constructed for predicting the CSS in individual cases based on independent predictors. The predictive performance of the nomogram was evaluated using the consistency index (C-index), net reclassification index (NRI), integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), a calibration plot and the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve. Results. The incidence of UCB showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing from 1975 to 2016. However, the overall incidence increased over that time period. The age at diagnosis, race, insurance status, marital status, differentiated grade, AJCC stage, regional lymph nodes removed status, chemotherapy status and tumor size were independent prognostic factors for postsurgery UCB. The nomogram constructed based on these independent factors performed well, with a C-index of 0.823 and a close fit to the calibration curve. Its prediction ability for CSS of postsurgery UCB is better than that of the existing AJCC system, with NRI and IDI values greater than 0 and ROC curves exhibiting good performance for 3, 5, and 8 years of follow-up. Conclusions. The nomogram constructed in this study might be suitable for clinical use in improving the clinical predictive accuracy of the long-term survival for postsurgery UCB.