This current research progress on the fabrication of hollow nanostructures by using self‐templating methods is reviewed. After a brief introduction to the unique properties and applications of hollow ...nanostructures and the three general fabrication routes, the discussions are focused on the five main self‐templating strategies, including galvanic replacement, the Kirkendall effect, Ostwald ripening, dissolution–regrowth, and the surface‐protected hollowing process. Some newly developed synthetic routes are selected and discussed in detail. In conclusion, a summary and the perspectives on the directions that might lead the future development of this exciting field are presented.
Self‐templating approaches involving galvanic replacement, the Kirkendall effect, Ostwald ripening, dissolution–regrowth, and surface‐protected hollowing processes show advantages toward the synthesis of hollow nanoparticles, including high reproducibility, low production cost, and great dimensional control. Progress regarding these synthetic routes is discussed, followed by an outlook of the future development of this field.
The aim of the study was to determine the prognostic role of systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).A total of 298 ESCC patients were ...enrolled in the current retrospective study. The SII was calculated by the formula: neutrophil × platelet/lymphocyte. The optimal cut-off value was calculated by the Cutoff Finder. Univariate and multivariate analyses were evaluated for cancer-specific survival (CSS). Additional, we also established a nomogram model to predict the prognosis for patients with ESCC.The optimal cut-off value was 410 × 10/L for SII. Patients with SII ≤ 410 (×10/L) had a significantly better 5-year CSS than patients with SII > 410 (×10/L) (51.9% vs 24.0%, P < 0.001). Multivariate analyses revealed that SII was a significant independent predictive indicator (P = 0.027). A nomogram could be more accuracy for CSS for patients with ESCC (c-index: 0.68).The SII is a useful independent prognostic indicator for patients with resectable ESCC.
Hydrogen‐bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) possess various merits, such as high porosity, tunable structure, facile modification, and ready regeneration. These properties have yet to be explored in ...the context of new functional HOF materials. The facile and inexpensive electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method applied in this study generated a transparent HOF film at room temperature in just 2 min and is applicable to other HOFs. The resulting film exhibited reversible electrochromism with the advantage of long cycle life (>500 cycles). More strikingly, this all‐organic film could be readily regenerated (through rinsing with DMF and redeposition) and showed tunable electrochromic behavior (through low‐cost postsynthetic modification) with the ability to undergo successive color changes, which is difficult to achieve with conventional electrochromic materials. An electrochromic device was manufactured to further demonstrate the application potential of the film.
Facile and efficient electrophoretic deposition was used to prepare an electrochromic hydrogen‐bonded organic framework film (see picture), which exhibited reversible electrochromism with the advantages of long cycle life, ready regeneration, and tunable electrochromic behavior. An electrochromic device was manufactured with the film to further demonstrate its application potential.
To improve the material properties of wood-plastic composite, poplar fiber and polyethylene powder were used as the main components, a hot-press experiment was conducted using response surface ...methodology, and the relationship between processing parameters (wood/plastic ratio, hot-press pressure, and time) and experimental result (internal bond strength and thickness swelling) were explored. According to the experimental results, the increasing wood/plastic ratio led to the lower internal bond strength and higher thickness swelling. However, with the increase of both hot-press pressure and time, internal bond strength increased first and then decreased, and thickness swelling decreased first and then increased. Meanwhile, two mathematical models were developed with high feasibility, and the significance of the influence of each term in the models was also analyzed. The models were able to predict and optimize internal bond strength and thickness swelling. Finally, optimal processing parameters were determined as wood/plastic ratio of 1.09, hot-press pressure of 198.38 MPa, and hot-press time of 8.31 s, with respect to the higher internal bond strength and the lower thickness swelling. This work hopes to provide scientific support for the industrial processing of wood-plastic composite.
Summary Background Platinum chemotherapy has a role in the treatment of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer but its full potential has probably not yet been reached. We assessed whether a ...cisplatin plus gemcitabine regimen was non-inferior to or superior to paclitaxel plus gemcitabine as first-line therapy for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Methods For this open-label, randomised, phase 3, hybrid-designed trial undertaken at 12 institutions or hospitals in China, we included Chinese patients aged 18–70 years with previously untreated, histologically confirmed metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, and an ECOG performance status of 0–1. These patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either cisplatin plus gemcitabine (cisplatin 75 mg/m2 on day 1 and gemcitabine 1250 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8) or paclitaxel plus gemcitabine (paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 on day 1 and gemcitabine 1250 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8) given intravenously every 3 weeks for a maximum of eight cycles. Randomisation was done centrally via an interactive web response system using block randomisation with a size of eight, with no stratification factors. Patients and investigator were aware of group assignments. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival and analyses were based on all patients who received at least one dose of assigned treatment. The margin used to establish non-inferiority was 1·2. If non-inferiority of cisplatin plus gemcitabine compared with paclitaxel plus gemcitabine was achieved, we would then test for superiority. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT01287624. Findings From Jan 14, 2011, to Nov 14, 2013, 240 patients were assessed for eligibility and randomly assigned to treatment (120 in the cisplatin plus gemcitabine group and 120 in the paclitaxel plus gemcitabine group). 236 patients received at least one dose of assigned chemotherapy and were included in the modified intention-to-treat analysis (118 per group). After a median follow-up of 16·3 months (IQR 14·4–26·8) in the cisplatin plus gemcitabine group and 15·9 months (10·7–25·4) in the paclitaxel plus gemcitabine group, the hazard ratio for progression-free survival was 0·692 (95% CI 0·523–0·915; pnon-inferiority <0·0001, psuperiority =0·009, thus cisplatin plus gemcitabine was both non-inferior to and superior to paclitaxel plus gemcitabine. Median progression-free survival was 7·73 months (95% CI 6·16–9·30) in the cisplatin plus gemcitabine group and 6·47 months (5·76–7·18) in the paclitaxel plus gemcitabine group. Grade 3 or 4 adverse events that differed significantly between the two groups included nausea (eight 7% vs one <1%), vomiting (13 11% vs one <1%), musculoskeletal pain (none vs ten 8%), anaemia (39 33% vs six 5%), and thrombocytopenia (38 32% vs three 3%), for the cisplatin plus gemcitabine compared with the paclitaxel plus gemcitabine groups, respectively. In addition, patients in the cisplatin plus gemcitabine group had significantly fewer events of grade 1–4 alopecia (12 10% vs 42 36%) and peripheral neuropathy (27 23% vs 60 51%), but more grade 1–4 anorexia (33 28% vs 10 8%), constipation (29 25% vs 11 9%), hypomagnesaemia (27 23% vs five 4%), and hypokalaemia (10 8% vs two 2%). Serious drug-related adverse events were seen in three patients in the paclitaxel plus gemcitabine group (interstitial pneumonia, anaphylaxis, and severe neutropenia) and four in the cisplatin plus gemcitabine group (pathological bone fracture, thrombocytopenia with subcutaneous haemorrhage, severe anaemia, and cardiogenic syncope). There were no treatment-related deaths. Interpretation Cisplatin plus gemcitabine could be an alternative or even the preferred first-line chemotherapy strategy for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Funding Shanghai Natural Science Foundation.
This paper investigates the average-consensus problem of first-order discrete-time multi-agent networks in uncertain communication environments. Each agent can only use its own and neighbors' ...information to design its control input. To attenuate the communication noises, a distributed stochastic approximation type protocol is used. By using probability limit theory and algebraic graph theory, consensus conditions for this kind of protocols are obtained: (A) For the case of fixed topologies, a necessary and sufficient condition for mean square average-consensus is given, which is also sufficient for almost sure consensus. (B) For the case of time-varying topologies, sufficient conditions for mean square average-consensus and almost sure consensus are given, respectively. Especially, if the network switches between jointly-containing-spanning-tree, instantaneously balanced graphs, then the designed protocol can guarantee that each individual state converges, both almost surely and in mean square, to a common random variable, whose expectation is right the average of the initial states of the whole system, and whose variance describes the static maximum mean square error between each individual state and the average of the initial states of the whole system.
This work is concerned with stochastic consensus conditions of multi-agent systems with both time-delays and measurement noises. For the case of additive noises, we develop some necessary conditions ...and sufficient conditions for stochastic weak consensus by estimating the differential resolvent function for delay equations. By the martingale convergence theorem, we obtain necessary conditions and sufficient conditions for stochastic strong consensus. For the case of multiplicative noises, we consider two kinds of time-delays, appeared in the measurement term and the noise term, respectively. We first show that stochastic weak consensus with the exponential convergence rate implies stochastic strong consensus. Then by constructing degenerate Lyapunov functional, we find the sufficient consensus conditions and show that stochastic consensus can be achieved by carefully choosing the control gain according to the noise intensities and the time-delay in the measurement term.
Recent studies have shown that the presence of systemic inflammation correlates with poor survival in various cancers. The aim of this study was to determinate the prognostic value of the neutrophil ...lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).
Preoperative NLR and PLR were evaluated in 483 patients undergoing esophagectomy for ESCC from January 2005 to December 2008. The prognostic significance of both markers was then determined by both uni- and multivariate analytical methods. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were also plotted to verify the accuracy of NLR and PLR for survival prediction.
High preoperative NLR (≥3.5 versus < 3.5, P = 0.039) and PLR (≥150 versus < 150, P < 0.001) were significantly associated with poor overall survival in multivariate analysis. However, our study demonstrated a better discrimination for the PLR in terms of hazard ratio(HR) than the NLR (HR = 1.840 versus HR = 1.339). Patients with NLR ≥3.5 had significantly poorer overall survival compared to NLR <3.5 (35.4% versus 57.7%, P < 0.001). Patients with PLR ≥150 also had significantly poorer overall survival compared to patients with PLR <150 (32.7% versus 63.5%, P < 0.001). The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.658 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.610 to 0.706, P < 0.001) for NLR and 0.708 (95% CI: 0.662 to 0.754, P < 0.001) for PLR, indicating that PLR was superior to NLR as a predictive factor in ESCC.
Preoperative NLR and PLR were significant predictors of overall survival in patients with ESCC. However, PLR is superior to NLR as a predictive factor in patients with ESCC.
In Asian countries, paclitaxel once per week is used as second-line treatment in advanced gastric cancer, including human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -positive tumors. The role of ...anti-HER2 agents, including lapatinib, in this setting and population is unclear.
TyTAN was a two-part, parallel-group, phase III study in Asian patients. An open-label, dose-optimization phase (n = 12) was followed by a randomized phase (n = 261), in which patients who were HER2 positive by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) received lapatinib 1,500 mg once per day plus once-per-week paclitaxel 80 mg/m(2) or paclitaxel alone. The primary end point was overall survival (OS). Secondary end points included progression-free survival (PFS), time to progression (TTP), overall response rate (ORR), time to response, response duration, and safety. Analyses were based on immunohistochemistry (IHC) and gastrectomy status, prior trastuzumab therapy, and regional subpopulations.
Median OS was 11.0 months with lapatinib plus paclitaxel versus 8.9 months with paclitaxel alone (P = .1044), with no significant difference in median PFS (5.4 v 4.4 months) or TTP (5.5 v 4.4 months). ORR was higher with lapatinib plus paclitaxel versus paclitaxel alone (odds ratio, 3.85; P < .001). Better efficacy with lapatinib plus paclitaxel was demonstrated in IHC3+ compared with IHC0/1+ and 2+ patients and in Chinese compared with Japanese patients. A similar proportion of patients experienced adverse events with each treatment (lapatinib plus paclitaxel, 100% v paclitaxel alone, 98%).
Lapatinib plus paclitaxel demonstrated activity in the second-line treatment of patients with HER2 FISH-positive IHC3+ advanced gastric cancer but did not significantly improve OS in the intent-to-treat population.
Autophagy participates in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the resistance of HCC cells to sorafenib. We investigated the feasibility of sensitising HCC cells to sorafenib by ...modulating miR-541-initiated microRNA-autophagy axis.
Gain- and loss-of-function assays were performed to evaluate the effects of miR-541 on the malignant properties and autophagy of human HCC cells. Autophagy was quantified by western blotting of LC3, transmission electron microscopy analyses and confocal microscopy scanning of mRFP-GFP-LC3 reporter construct. Luciferase reporter assays were conducted to confirm the targets of miR-541. HCC xenograft tumours were established to analyse the role of miR-541 in sorafenib-induced lethality.
The expression of miR-541 was downregulated in human HCC tissues and was associated with malignant clinicopathologic phenotypes, recurrence and survival of patients with HCC. miR-541 inhibited the growth, metastasis and autophagy of HCC cells both in vitro and in vivo. Prediction software and luciferase reporter assays identified autophagy-related gene 2A (ATG2A) and Ras-related protein Rab-1B (RAB1B) as the direct targets of miR-541. Consistent with the effects of the miR-541 mimic, inhibition of ATG2A or RAB1B suppressed the malignant phenotypes and autophagy of HCC cells. Furthermore, siATG2A and siRAB1B partially reversed the enhancement of the malignant properties and autophagy in HCC cells mediated by the miR-541 inhibitor. More interestingly, higher miR-541 expression predicted a better response to sorafenib treatment, and the combination of miR-541 and sorafenib further suppressed the growth of HCC cells in vivo compared with the single treatment.
Dysregulation of miR-541-ATG2A/RAB1B axis plays a critical role in patients' responses to sorafenib treatment. Manipulation of this axis might benefit survival of patients with HCC, especially in the context of the highly pursued strategies to eliminate drug resistance.
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