Background Both Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) and tumor regression grade (TRG) play key roles in evaluating tumor response. We analyzed the consistency of TRG and RECIST 1.1 ...for gastric cancer (GC) patients and compared their prognostic values. Methods Patients with GC who received preoperative chemotherapy or chemoimmunotherapy and had records of TRG from December 2013 to October 2021 were enrolled retrospectively. TRG 0-1 and 2-3 are considered as corresponding to complete response (CR)/partial response (PR) and stable disease (SD)/progress disease (PD) in RECIST 1.1, respectively. The primary endpoints were disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The consistency of RECIST and TRG was examined by kappa statistics. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan Meier method. Result One hundred fifty seven GC patients were enrolled, including 125 with preoperative chemotherapy and 32 with chemoimmunotherapy. Among them, 56 patients had measurable lesions. Only 19.6% (11/56) of the patients had consistent results between RECIST 1.1 and TRG. TRG was correlated with both OS and DFS (P = 0.02 and 0.03, respectively) while response according to RECIST1.1 was not (P = 0.86 and 0.23, respectively). The median DFS had not reached in the TRG 0-1 group and was 16.13 months in TRG 2-3 group. TRG 2-3 was associated with young age and peritoneal or liver metastasis. Besides, preoperative chemoimmunotherapy had a significantly higher pCR rate than chemotherapy alone (34.4% vs 8.0%, P < 0.001). Conclusion TRG was in poor agreement with RECIST 1.1. TRG was better than RECIST 1.1 in predicting DFS and OS for GC patients who received preoperative therapy. Keywords: Gastric cancer, Preoperative therapy, Response evaluation criteria in solid tumors, Tumor regression grade, Immunotherapy
Efficient water splitting through electrocatalysis holds great promise for producing hydrogen fuel in modern energy devices. Its real application however suffers from sluggish reaction kinetics due ...to the lack of high-performance catalysts except noble metals such as platinum. Herein, we report an active system of plasmonic-metal Au nanorods/molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets hybrids for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The plasmonic Au–MoS2 hybrids dramatically improve the HER, leading to a ∼3-fold increase of current under excitation of Au localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). A turnover of 8.76 s–1 at 300 mV overpotential is measured under LSPR excitation, which by far exceeds the activity of MoS2 catalysts reported recently. The HER enhancement can be largely attributed to the increase of carrier density in MoS2 induced by the injection of hot electrons of Au nanorods. We demonstrate that the synergistic effect of the hole scavengers can further facilitate electron–hole separation, resulting in a decrease of the overpotential of HER at MoS2 to ∼120 mV. This study highlights how metal LSPR activates the HER and promises novel opportunities for enhancing intrinsic activities of semiconducting materials.
High-performance multifunctional electromagnetic (EM) materials exhibit great potential for development, and have attracted extensive attention from the scientific field. Generally, the dielectric ..."genes", including conductive networks, interfaces, and defects, are the pivotal factors that determine their performance. Herein, multifunctional Ti3C2Tx@polyaniline decorated MWCNT (TPMC) nanocomposites, containing generous dielectric "genes", were synthesized via the electrostatic self-assembly method. Thanks to the regulation of internal dielectric "genes", TPMC exhibited a tunable EM wave absorption (EMA) and EM interference (EMI) shielding performance. TPMC achieved a maximum reflection loss (RL) of −54.7 dB and an effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of nearly 6 GHz at 1.5 mm. Moreover, the complete conductive networks endowed TPMC with a reliable EMI shielding capability. It exhibited a maximum EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of 34 dB, and meanwhile, displayed an absorption-dominated green shielding performance. Furthermore, owing to the integration of the "genes", TPMC showed a high coulomb efficiency (∼98%) and excellent cycling stability (exceeded 95% retation after 8000 cycles), indicating a great potential as outstanding supercapacitor electrode material. This work provides a promising strategy for controlling the EM pollution and alleviating the energy issues.
The Dielectric "genes" are the key core to regulate the multifunction of TPMC, which include defects, interfaces, functional groups and conductive networks. By regulating and patching the dielectric "genes" of TPMC, the multifunctional integration of EM wave absorption, EMI shielding and charge storage can be achieved. Display omitted
Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the pancreas. This study aimed to compare the natural course of alcoholic chronic pancreatitis (ACP) and idiopathic chronic pancreatitis ...(ICP).
CP patients admitted to our center from January 2000 to December 2013 were enrolled. Characteristics were compared between ACP and ICP patients. Cumulative rates of diabetes mellitus (DM), steatorrhea, pancreatic stone, pancreatic pseudocyst, biliary stricture, and pancreatic cancer after the onset and the diagnosis of CP were calculated, respectively. The cumulative rates of DM and steatorrhea after diagnosis of pancreatic stone were also calculated.
A total of 2,037 patients were enrolled. Among them, 19.8% (404/2,037) were ACP and 80.2% (1,633/2,037) were ICP patients. ACP and ICP differs in many aspects, especially in gender, age, smoking, complications, morphology of pancreatic duct, and type of pain. The development of DM, steatorrhea, PPC, pancreatic stone, and biliary stricture were significantly earlier and more common in ACP patients. No significant difference was observed for pancreatic cancer development. There was a rather close correlation between exocrine/endocrine insufficiency and pancreatic stone in ACP patients, which was much less correlated in ICP patients.
The long-term profile of ACP and ICP differs in some important aspects. ACP patients usually have a more severe course of CP. These differences should be recognized in the diagnosis and treatment of CP.
Twenty-one consecutive patients (21 eyes) having proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and fibrovascular proliferation (FVP) with optical coherence tomography (OCT) available before and after ...full-thickness macular hole (FTMH) formation were retrospectively reviewed. Four types of FTMH formation pathways in PDR were identified and were quite different from those in idiopathic conditions. The activity, severity and locations of FVP varied in PDR eyes destined to develop FTMHs. Type 1 was characterized by epiretinal membrane (ERM) and/or vitreomacular traction (VMT) inducing foveoschisis, intraretinal cysts or foveal detachment, followed by formation of a FTMH or macular hole retinal detachment (MHRD). In type 2, ERM and/or FVP induced lamellar macular hole (LMH) with foveoschisis, followed by the formation of FTMH or MHRD. Type 3 was characterized by the initial tractional retinal detachment (TRD) with foveal cysts and/or foveoschisis and the subsequent formation of MHRD. Type 4 was characterized by TRD associated with foveal thinning, ensued by the formation of MHRD. The severity of FVP was grade 2 in 66.7% of eyes in both types 1 and 4, and grade 3 in 75% of eyes in type 3 while the severity of FVP was more evenly distributed in type 2.
Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell damage is implicated in the pathogenesis of age‐related macular degeneration (AMD). An increase of interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) levels was observed in patients with AMD, ...but whether inflammatory factors are causally related to AMD progression is unclear. Here, we demonstrate a direct causal relationship between IFN‐γ and RPE cell death. IFN‐γ induced human retinal pigment epithelial cell (ARPE‐19) death accompanied by increases in Fe2+, reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation, and glutathione (GSH) depletion, which are main characteristics of ferroptosis. Mechanistically, IFN‐γ upregulates the level of intracellular Fe2+ through inhibiting Fe2+ efflux protein SLC40A1 and induces GSH depletion by blocking cystine/glutamate antiporter, System xc‐. At the same time, treatment with IFN‐γ decreases the level of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPx4), rendering the cells more sensitive to ferroptosis. JAK1/2 and STAT1 inhibitors could reverse the reduction of SLC7A11, GPx4 and GSH expression induced by IFN‐γ, indicating IFN‐γ induces ARPE‐19 cell ferroptosis via activation of the JAK1‐2/STAT1/SLC7A11 signaling pathway. The above results were largely confirmed in IFN‐γ‐treated mice in vivo. Finally, we used sodium iodate (NaIO3)‐induced retinal degeneration to further explore the role of ferroptosis in AMD in vivo. Consistent with the role of IFN‐γ, treatment with NaIO3 decreased SLC7A11, GPx4 and SLC40A1 expressions. NaIO3‐induced RPE damage was accompanied by increased iron, lipid peroxidation products (4‐hydroxynonenal, malondialdehyde), and GSH depletion, and ferroptosis inhibitors could reverse the above phenomenon. Taken together, our findings suggest that inhibiting ferroptosis or reducing IFN‐γ may serve as a promising target for AMD.
IFN‐γ downregulates the expression of SLC7A11 via JAK1‐2/STAT1 signaling pathway, which results in decreases in cysteine transport and, subsequently, decreased GSH synthesis. Simultaneously, IFN‐γ increases intracellular Fe2+ levels through the inhibition of SLC40A1. GSH depletion and Fe2+ accumulation cause retinal pigment epithelial cells ferroptosis and accelerate the progression of AMD.
Incidence of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and brain iron accumulation increases with age. Excess iron accumulation in brain tissues post‐ICH induces oxidative stress and neuronal damage. However, ...the mechanisms underlying iron deregulation in ICH, especially in the aged ICH model have not been well elucidated. Ferroportin1 (Fpn) is the only identified nonheme iron exporter in mammals to date. In our study, we reported that Fpn was significantly upregulated in perihematomal brain tissues of both aged ICH patients and mouse model. Fpn deficiency induced by injecting an adeno‐associated virus (AAV) overexpressing cre recombinase into aged Fpn‐floxed mice significantly worsened the symptoms post‐ICH, including hematoma volume, cell apoptosis, iron accumulation, and neurologic dysfunction. Meanwhile, aged mice pretreated with a virus overexpressing Fpn showed significant improvement of these symptoms. Additionally, based on prediction of website tools, expression level of potential miRNAs in ICH tissues and results of luciferase reporter assays, miR‐124 was identified to regulate Fpn expression post‐ICH. Higher serum miR‐124 levels were correlated with poor neurologic scores of aged ICH patients. Administration of miR‐124 antagomir enhanced Fpn expression and attenuated iron accumulation in aged mice model. Both apoptosis and ferroptosis, but not necroptosis, were regulated by miR‐124/Fpn signaling manipulation. Our study demonstrated the critical role of miR‐124/Fpn signaling in iron metabolism and neuronal death post‐ICH in aged murine model. Thus, Fpn upregulation or miR‐124 inhibition might be promising therapeutic approachs for this disease.
Brain iron accumulation following ICH induced secondary brain injury and neuronal death. However, the mechanisms underlying iron deregulation in aged ICH model is poorly understood. miR‐124/Fpn signaling was downregulated in aged ICH model mice and patients as a protection mechanism. Higher serum miR‐124 levels were correlated with poor neurologic scores of aged patients. Targeting miR‐124/Fpn signaling could reduce the iron accumulation post‐ICH in aged murine model, thus ameliorated hematoma volume, cell apoptosis and neurologic dysfunction through inhibiting apoptosis and ferroptosis.
Rhodiola spp. are rare and endangered alpine plants widely used as medicines and food additives by many civilizations since ancient times. Their main effective ingredients (such as salidroside and ...p-tyrosol) are praised to exhibit pharmacologic effects on high-altitude sickness and possess anti-aging and other adaptogenic capacities based on their antioxidant properties. In this study, 347 endophytic fungi were isolated from R. crenulata, R. angusta, and R. sachalinensis, and the molecular diversity and antioxidant activities of these fungi were investigated for the first time. These fungi were categorized into 180 morphotypes based on cultural characteristics, and their rRNA gene ITS sequences were analyzed by BLAST search in the GenBank database. Except for 12 unidentified fungi (6.67%), all others were affiliated to at least 57 genera in 20 orders of four phyla, namely, Ascomycota (88.89%), Basidiomycota (2.78%), Zygomycota (1.11%), and Glomeromycota (0.56%), which exhibited high abundance and diversity. Antioxidant assay showed that the DPPH radical-scavenging rates of 114 isolates (63.33%) were >50%, and those of five isolates (Rct45, Rct63, Rct64, Rac76, and Rsc57) were >90%. The EC50 values of five antioxidant assays suggested significant potential of these fungi on scavenging DPPH•, O2-•, and OH• radicals, as well as scavenging nitrite and chelating Fe2+, which showed preference and selection between endophytic fungi and their hosts. Further research also provided the first evidence that Rac12 could produce salidrosides and p-tyrosol. Results suggested that versatile endophytic fungi associated with Rhodiola known as antioxidants could be exploited as potential sources of novel antioxidant products.
Background and Aim
Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), as well as Western medicine (WM), is an important cause of drug‐induced liver injury (DILI). However, the differences between CHM and WM as agents ...implicated in liver injury have rarely been reported.
Methods
Overall, 1985 (2.05%) DILI cases were retrospectively collected from the 96 857 patients hospitalized because of liver dysfunction in the 302 Military Hospital between January 2009 and January 2014.
Results
In all the enrolled patients with DILI, CHM was implicated in 563 cases (28.4%), while 870 cases (43.8%) were caused by WM and the remaining patients (27.8%) by the combination of WM and CHM. Polygonum multiflorum was the major implicated CHM. Compared with WM, the cases caused by CHM showed more female (51 vs 71%, P < 0.001) and positive rechallenge (6.1 vs 8.9%, P = 0.046), a much greater proportion of hepatocellular injury (62.2 vs 88.5%, P < 0.001), and a higher mortality (2.8 vs 4.8%, P = 0.042); however, no differences in the rates of chronic DILI and ALF were found (12.9 vs 12.4%, P = 0.807; 7.6 vs 7.6%, P = 0.971). Based on Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method, 75.6% of cases caused by CHM were classified as probable and only 16.6% as highly probable, significantly different from WM (38.4 and 60.3%, all P < 0.001).
Conclusions
The causal relationship between CHM and liver injury is much complex, and the clinical characteristics of DILI caused by CHM differ from those caused by WM.