Saethre-Chotzen syndrome (SCS) is a known craniosynostosis syndrome with a variable presentation of craniofacial and somatic involvement. Congenital coronal craniosynostosis is most commonly observed in SCS; however, progressive postnatal craniosynostosis of other sutures has been reported. The authors present 2 infants with progressive postnatal craniosynostosis and SCS caused by chromosome 7p deletions including the TWIST1 gene. The evolution of their clinical features and a literature review of patients with syndromic, postnatal progressive craniosynostosis illustrate the importance of longitudinal observation and management of these patients.

The anatomy of the adult human left ventricle (LV) is the result of its complex interaction with its environment. From the fetal to the neonatal to the adult form, the human LV undergoes an anatomical transformation that finally results in the most complex of the four cardiac chambers. In its adult form, the human LV consists of two muscular helixes that surround the midventricular circumferential layer of muscle fibers. Contraction of these endocardial and epicardial helixes results in a twisting motion that is thought to minimize the transmural stress of the LV muscle. In the healthy myocardium, the LV twist response to stimuli that alter preload, afterload, or contractility has been described and is deemed relatively consistent and predictable. Conversely, the LV twist response in patient populations appears to be a little more variable and less predictable, yet it has revealed important insight into the effect of cardiovascular disease on LV mechanical function. This review discusses important methodological aspects of assessing LV twist and evaluates the LV twist responses to the main physiological and pathophysiological states. It is concluded that correct assessment of LV twist mechanics holds significant potential to advance our understanding of LV function in human health and cardiovascular disease.

BACKGROUND: Twist is identified as an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) regulator which has been considered to induce metastasis. However, the prognostic value of Twist in patients with lung cancer remains controversial.
METHODS: A search of database including EMBASE, Medline, ISI Web of knowledge and PubMed was performed. Eligible articles studying on the prognostic significance of Twist were included in this meta-analysis. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were assessed to quantify the prognostic role.
RESULTS: A total of five studies were included. The pooled HR for Twist was 1.949 (95% CI: 1.408-2.698, I(2)=42.7%, P<0.001), suggesting high Twist expression is associated with poor prognosis in lung cancer patients. Our sensitivity analyses suggested the robustness of the results. Neither Begg\'s test nor Egger\'s test found publication bias in any analysis.
CONCLUSIONS: Overexpressed Twist in lung cancer tissue indicated poor prognosis.

BACKGROUND: Twist and Snail are considered as key transcriptional repressors of E-cadherin tightly related to epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer progression. Numerous studies have investigated the prognostic value of Twist and Snail. However, the published results were controversial or even opposite. Our article aimed to evaluate the prognostic role of Twist and Snail in patients with cancer.
METHODS: A comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Embase and Web of Science was conducted. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were assessed to quantify the prognostic role.
RESULTS: The pooled HR with 38 studies for Twist was 2·18 (95% CI: 1·77-2·68, I(2) = 69·8%, P = 0·000) and for Snail with 40 studies was 1·58 (95% CI: 1·33-1·87, I(2) = 70·0%, P = 0·000), suggesting high Twist/Snail expression predicted poor prognosis related to all clinical outcomes. For Twist, the pooled HR for overall survival (OS) was 2·07 (95% CI: 1·63-2·63, I(2) = 72·6%, P = 0·000) and for progression-free/recurrence-free/metastasis-free/disease-free/cancer-free survival (PFS/RFS/MFS/DFS/CFS) was 2·36 (95% CI: 1·76-3·17, I(2) = 65·0%, P = 0·000). For Snail, the pooled HR for OS was 1·63 (95% CI: 1·33-1·99, I(2) = 70·8%, P = 0·000) and for PFS/RFS/MFS/DFS/CFS was 1·54 (95% CI: 1·17-2·02, I(2) = 59·1%, P = 0·001). All of those results were suggesting that high Twist/Snail expression was associated with poor prognosis. Furthermore, when grouped into different types of cancers, the pooled HRs were also calculated for the subgroups. No publication bias was found except studies evaluating all clinical outcomes of Twist (P = 0·006 for Begg\'s test and 0·006 for Egger\'s test).
CONCLUSIONS: Elevated Twist or Snail expression in tumour tissue indicated poor prognosis for cancer.