The De Ritis ratio, defined as the serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratio, is a widely recognized biochemical marker with significant applications in diagnosing and managing various diseases, particularly liver disorders. This comprehensive review synthesizes current knowledge surrounding the clinical relevance of the De Ritis ratio, examining its historical development, diagnostic utility, and prognostic significance across various medical conditions, including liver diseases, cardiovascular disorders, and muscular pathologies. Through an in-depth analysis of literature spanning several decades, this review highlights the role of the De Ritis ratio not only in differential diagnosis but also as a prognostic indicator for disease progression and patient outcomes. The ratio\'s ability to distinguish between different types of liver pathology, aid in early disease detection, and its potential use in monitoring treatment response are discussed. Additionally, the review addresses the methodological considerations, such as confounding factors and interpretation challenges, that impact the clinical utility of the De Ritis ratio. Given the evolving landscape of clinical diagnostics and the push toward more personalized medicine, the review concludes with recommendations for further research. These include longitudinal studies to explore the ratio\'s changes over time, comparative research across diverse populations, and technological integration to enhance diagnostic accuracy and patient care. This review aims to reaffirm the importance of the De Ritis ratio in modern clinical practice and encourages continued exploration into its potential applications and benefits in healthcare.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. HCC almost exclusively develops in patients with chronic liver disease, driven by a vicious cycle of liver injury, inflammation and regeneration that typically spans decades. A variety of new agents are in development for the treatment of the disease. Polysaccharide is important component of higher plants, membrane of the animal cell and the cell wall of microbes. It is also closely related to the physiological functions. Recently, there has been growing interest in polysaccharides as bioactive natural products, particularly in treating HCC. This paper provides a review of recent experimental and clinical studies on the effects and potential applications of polysaccharides in HCC treatment, aiming to offer theoretical insights and inspiration for further research on the bioactivity mechanisms of polysaccharides in HCC treatment.

UNASSIGNED: Despite numerous reports on the alterations of microRNA-1246 (miR-1246) expression level in digestive system cancers, its role in gastrointestinal cancers (GICs) remains unclear. This meta-analysis aimed to assess the diagnostic potential of circulating miR-1246 in GICs.
UNASSIGNED: Meta-disc version 1.4 and Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) version 3.7 software were used to calculate pooled sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), area under the curve (AUC), Q*index and summary receiver-operating characteristic (SROC). Subgroup analyses were conducted for cancer type, sample type and geographical region. Publication bias was assessed using Begg\'s and Egger\'s tests.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 14 articles involving 18 studies and 1526 participants (972 cases and 554 controls) were included. The diagnostic accuracy of miRNA-1246 in GICs was as follows: pooled sensitivity: 0.81 (95% CI: 0.79 - 0.83), specificity: 0.74 (95% CI: 0.71 - 0.77), PLR: 3.315 (95% CI: 2.33 - 4.72), NLR: 0.221 (95% CI: 0.153 - 0.319), DOR: 16.87 (95% CI: 9.45 - 30.09), AUC: 0.891, and Q*-index: 0.807. No publication bias was found based on Begg\'s (p = 0.172) and Egger\'s (p = 0.113) tests.
UNASSIGNED: Circulating miR-1246 shows promise as a non-invasive biomarker for early detection of GICs.

Despite advancements, prostate cancers (PCa) pose a significant global health challenge due to delayed diagnosis and therapeutic resistance. This review delves into the complex landscape of prostate cancer, with a focus on long-noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). Also explores the influence of aberrant lncRNAs expression in progressive PCa stages, impacting traits like proliferation, invasion, metastasis and therapeutic resistance. The study elucidates how lncRNAs modulate crucial molecular effectors, including transcription factors and microRNAs, affecting signaling pathways such as androgen receptor signaling. Besides, this manuscript sheds light on novel concepts and mechanisms driving PCa progression through lncRNAs, providing a critical analysis of their impact on the disease\'s diverse characteristics. Besides, it discusses the potential of lncRNAs as diagnostics and therapeutic targets in PCa. Collectively, this work highlights state of art mechanistic comprehension and rigorous scientific approaches to advance our understanding of PCa and depict innovations in this evolving field of research.

BACKGROUND: High rates of postoperative infection persist after different surgical procedures, encompassing surgical site infections (SSIs), remote infections, sepsis, and septic shock. Our aim was to assess presepsin\'s diagnostic accuracy for postoperative infections in patients across surgical procedures.
METHODS: We conducted a comprehensive search in seven databases, extracting data independently. Using STATA 14.0, we calculated pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and Under the receiver operator curve and 95 ​% confidence interval (AUC, 95 ​% CI) as primary outcomes, with secondary outcomes involving sensitivity and specificity in subgroup analyses.
RESULTS: This meta-analysis of 14 studies (1891 cases) evaluated presepsin\'s diagnostic value for postoperative infectious complications. Results include sensitivity of 77 ​% (70-83), specificity of 81 ​% (71-88), DOR of 14 (8-26), AUC of 84 (80-87), PLR of 4 (3-6), and NLR of 0.28 (0.21-0.38). Presepsin exhibits promise as a diagnostic tool for postoperative infections.
CONCLUSIONS: In summary, compared to conventional markers like C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT), presepsin demonstrated superior sensitivity and specificity for detecting postoperative infectious complications across various surgical procedures.

Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a disease specific to pregnancy, featuring maternal itching and elevated serum bile acid levels. It leads to a series of adverse pregnancy outcomes as well as increased fetal mortality. Routine biochemical markers fail to fulfill the tremendous clinical requirements, thereby novel effective biomarkers are urgently desired. In our review, the potential novel biomarkers for ICP diagnosis are classified into four categories and elaborated in detail. The concrete diagnostic performances (sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve) of these biomarkers are demonstrated in tables. Moreover, the relationships between some biomarkers and ICP pathogenesis are briefly expounded. Nevertheless, only a few novel biomarkers are ideal, and their clinical applicability requires more evidence from larger multicenter trials.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a severe pregnancy complication for both the woman and the child. Women who suffer from GDM have a greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) later in life. Identification of any potential biomarkers for the early prediction of gestational diabetes can help prevent the disease in women with a high risk. Studies show microRNA (miRNA) as a potential biomarker for the early discovery of GDM, but there is a lack of clarity as to which miRNAs are consistently altered in GDM. This study aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate miRNAs associated with GDM by comparing GDM cases with normoglycemic controls. The systematic review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines with searches in PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect. The primary search resulted in a total of 849 articles, which were screened according to the prior established inclusion and exclusion criteria. Following the screening of articles, the review was based on the inclusion of 35 full-text articles, which were evaluated for risk of bias and estimates of quality, after which data were extracted and relative values for miRNAs were calculated. A meta-analysis was performed for the miRNA species investigated in three or more studies: MiR-29a, miR-330, miR-134, miR-132, miR-16, miR-223, miR-155, miR-122, miR-17, miR-103, miR-125, miR-210, and miR-222. While some miRNAs showed considerable between-study variability, miR-29a, miR-330, miR-134, miR-16, miR-223, and miR-17 showed significant overall upregulation in GDM, while circulating levels of miR-132 and miR-155 were decreased among GDM patients, suggesting further studies of these as biomarkers for early GDM discovery.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs regulating the expression of several target genes. miRNAs play a significant role in cancer biology, as they can downregulate their corresponding target genes by impeding the translation of mRNA (at the mRNA level) as well as degrading mRNAs by binding to the 3\'-untranslated (UTR) regions (at the protein level). miRNAs may be employed as cancer biomarkers. Therefore, miRNAs are widely investigated for early detection of cancers which can lead to improved survival rates and quality of life. This is particularly important in the case of gastrointestinal cancers, where early detection of the disease could substantially impact patients\' survival. MicroRNA-21 (miR-21 or miRNA-21) is one of the most frequently researched miRNAs, where it is involved in the pathophysiology of cancer and the downregulation of several tumor suppressor genes. In gastrointestinal cancers, miR-21 regulates phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4), mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 7 (SMAD7), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase /protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT), matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), β-catenin, tropomyosin 1, maspin, and ras homolog gene family member B (RHOB). In this review, we investigate the functions of miR-21 in pathogenesis and its applications as a diagnostic and prognostic cancer biomarker in four different gastrointestinal cancers, including colorectal cancer (CRC), pancreatic cancer (PC), gastric cancer (GC), and esophageal cancer (EC).

Atherosclerotic disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Atherosclerosis may be present in different arterial territories and as a single- or multi-territorial disease. The different phenotypes of atherosclerosis are attributable only in part to acquired cardiovascular risk factors and genetic Mendelian inheritance. miRNAs, which regulate the gene expression at the post-transcriptional level, may also contribute to such heterogeneity. Numerous miRNAs participate in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis by modulating endothelial function, smooth vascular cell function, vascular inflammation, and cholesterol homeostasis in the vessel, among other biological processes. Moreover, miRNAs are present in peripheral blood with high stability and have the potential to be used as non-invasive biomarkers for the diagnosis of atherosclerosis. However, the circulating miRNA profile may vary according to the involved arterial territory, considering that atherosclerosis expression, including the associated molecular phenotype, varies according to the affected arterial territory. In this review, we discuss the specific circulating miRNA profiles associated with atherosclerosis of different arterial territories, the common circulating miRNA profile of stable atherosclerosis irrespective of the involved arterial territory, and the circulating miRNA signature of multi-territorial atherosclerosis. miRNAs may consist of a simple non-invasive method for discriminating atherosclerosis of different arterial sites. The limitations of miRNA profiling for such clinical application are also discussed.

OBJECTIVE: Brain tumors (BT) are among the most prevalent cancers in recent years. Various studies have examined the diagnostic role of microRNAs in different diseases; however, their diagnostic role in BT has not been comprehensively investigated. This meta-analysis was performed to assess microRNAs in the blood of patients with BTs accurately.
METHODS: Twenty-six eligible studies were included for analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), area under curve (AUC), Q*index, summary receiver-operating characteristic (SROC) were assessed using the Meta-Disc V.1.4 and Comprehensive Meta-Analysis V.3.3 software.
RESULTS: The diagnostic accuracy of microRNA was high in identifying BT based on the pooled sensitivity 0.82 (95%CI: 0.816-0.84), specificity 0.82 (95%CI: 0.817-0.84), PLR 5.101 (95%CI: 3.99-6.51), NLR 0.187 (95%CI: 0.149-0.236), DOR 34.07 (95%CI: 22.56-51.43) as well as AUC (0.92), and Q*-index (0.86). Subgroup analyses were performed for sample types (serum/plasma), reference genes (RNU6, miR-39, and miR-24), and region to determine the diagnostic power of microRNAs in the diagnosis of BT using pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, AUC, and DOR.
CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis suggested that circulating microRNAs might be potential markers for noninvasive early detection of BT.