Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a widely available and environmentally friendly phase change material known for its high energy storage capacity. However, its application in various industries is ...limited due to slow heat absorption and release, poor mechanical properties, and inadequate weather resistance. PEG was blended with waterborne epoxy resin (WER) to improve its mechanical properties and weather resistance. Furthermore, graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and boron nitride (BN) were incorporated into the WER/PEG resin substrate to prepare WER/PEG/BN@GNP coatings, resulting in enhanced thermal conductivity. When the GNP content was 0.5 wt%, the WER/PEG/BN@GNP coatings performed excellent anti‐corrosion. Otherwise, the leakage of PEG under heat‐cool cycling was addressed by the preparation of WER/PEG/BN@GNP coatings, as well as the low rates of heat absorption and release. In this work, the preparation method successfully combines the phase‐change characteristics of PEG, the outstanding mechanical properties of WER, and the high thermal conductivity of BN and GNP. The WER/PEG/BN@GNP coatings present significant potential for practical applications.
Highlights
A new coating is prepared by incorporation of BN/GNP into PEG/WER matrix.
The prepared coating performs phase change and good heat conduction efficiency.
The phase‐transition leakage of PEG is resolved by the combination with WER.
The synergy of BN and GNP fillers can enhance thermal conductivity effectively.
The prepared coating exhibits insulation and anti‐corrosion at low GNP content.
The effect of temperature change on the morphology and thermal conductivity of phase change coatings and the related anti‐corrosion performance.
Background
Recent studies have suggested the suboptimal efficacy of liposomal irinotecan plus 5‐fluorouracil/leucovorin (nal‐IRI+5‐FU/LV) in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC) ...patients previously treated with conventional irinotecan. This study investigated the effect of conventional irinotecan treatment in mPDAC patients receiving nal‐IRI+5‐FU/LV by analyzing a population‐based dataset.
Methods
We reviewed 667 consecutive mPDAC patients treated with nal‐IRI+5‐FU/LV between August 2018 and November 2020 at Taiwanese medical centers. Eighty‐six patients previously treated with conventional irinotecan were matched to 86 patients not treated with conventional irinotecan, following propensity matching for age, sex, performance status, metastatic organ site, pre‐treatment carbohydrate antigen 19‐9 level, lines of prior chemotherapy treatment, and time from first‐line treatment to nal‐IRI+5‐FU/LV therapy.
Results
The median overall survival and time‐to‐treatment failure were 4.8 and 2.6 vs 4.1 and 2.1 months, respectively, for patients who were and were not previously treated with conventional irinotecan. The tumor response and disease control rates were 5.8% and 32.6% vs 5.8% and 37.2%, respectively, for patients previously treated and not treated with conventional irinotecan. No significant differences were observed in survival times and tumor response rates between the two groups.
Conclusions
Previous conventional irinotecan treatment does not compromise the efficacy of subsequent nal‐IRI+5‐FU/LV treatment in mPDAC patients.
HighlightChiu and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of a population‐based dataset in Taiwan to investigate the survival outcomes and safety profiles of conventional irinotecan treatment in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer receiving liposomal irinotecan plus 5‐fluorouracil and leucovorin. Propensity score matching was used to adjust potential confounding variables.
Tryptanthrin, an alkaloid applied in traditional Chinese medicine, exhibits a variety of pharmacological activities. This study aimed to investigate the anti‐tumor activity of the tryptanthrin ...derivative (8‐cyanoindolo2,1‐bquinazoline‐6,12‐dione CIQ) in breast cancer cells. In both MDA‐MB‐231 and MCF‐7 breast cancer cells, CIQ inhibited cell viability and promoted caspase‐dependent apoptosis. At the concentration‐ and time‐dependent ways, CIQ increased the levels of p‐ERK, p‐JNK, and p‐p38 in breast cancer cells. We found that exposure to the JNK inhibitor or the ERK inhibitor partially reversed CIQ's viability. We also observed that CIQ increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and upregulated the phosphorylation and expression of H2AX. However, the pretreatment of the antioxidants did not protect the cells against CIQ's effects on cell viability and apoptosis, which suggested that ROS does not play a major role in the mechanism of action of CIQ. In addition, CIQ inhibited the invasion of MDA‐MB‐231 cells and decreased the expression of the prometastatic factors (MMP‐2 and Snail). These findings demonstrated that the possibility of this compound to show promise in playing an important role against breast cancer.
Dressing change is a significant and inevitable process during wound healing. Possible secondary damage caused through dressing removal may impose a great threat on wound recovery, thus resulting in ...healing delays and ultimately a higher cost of hospitalization. Hence, a non‐contact refreshable dressing with an ease of operation is of great desire, especially for chronic wounds where a long‐term and repeated dressing change would be performed. Herein, an all‐light‐operated hydrogel dressing that would achieve a fast and remote‐controllable dressing change (30 s for gelation/4 min for dissolution upon light irradiation) for chronic wounds is presented. In a diabetic murine model, substantially improved wound healing within 2–3 weeks is observed due to attenuated secondary damage during repeated dressing changes. Moreover, a promising facilitation of the healing processes of epithelialization, collagen deposition, cell proliferation, and inflammatory regulation is also detected, representing a synergistic effect of the photo‐responsive hydrogel dressing for therapeutic efficiency.
An in situ on‐demand gelation/dissolution hydrogel dressing is developed for chronic wounds to reduce the secondary damage from repeated dressing changes. The hydrogel dressing enabled fast wound sealing within 30 s and on‐demand dissolution within 4 min, allowing fast and noninvasive dressing application and removal, as well as healing promotion.
Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is a heterogeneous disease with features that vary by ethnicity. A systematic characterization of the genomic landscape of Chinese ccRCC is lacking, and ...features of ccRCC associated with tumor thrombus (ccRCC-TT) remain poorly understood. Here, we applied whole-exome sequencing on 110 normal-tumor pairs and 42 normal-tumor-thrombus triples, and transcriptome sequencing on 61 tumor-normal pairs and 30 primary-thrombus pairs from 152 Chinese patients with ccRCC. Our analysis reveals that a mutational signature associated with aristolochic acid (AA) exposure is widespread in Chinese ccRCC. Tumors from patients with ccRCC-TT show a higher mutational burden and genomic instability; in addition, mutations in BAP1 and SETD2 are highly enriched in patients with ccRCC-TT. Moreover, patients with/without TT show distinct molecular characteristics. We reported the integrative genomic sequencing of Chinese ccRCC and identified the features associated with tumor thrombus, which may facilitate ccRCC diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the fifth common cause of cancer mortality in Taiwan with high incidence and recurrence and needs new therapeutic strategies. In this study, ursolic acid (UA), ...a triterpenoid, was examined the antitumor potency in OSCC cells. Our results showed that UA inhibited the proliferation of OSCC cells in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner in both Ca922 and SCC2095 oral cancer cells. UA induced caspase‐dependent apoptosis accompanied with the modulation of various biological biomarkers including downregulating Akt/mTOR/NF‐κB signaling, ERK, and p38. In addition, UA inhibited angiogenesis as evidenced by abrogation of migration/invasion and blocking MMP‐2 secretion in Ca922 cells. Interestingly, UA induced autophagy in OSCC cells, as manifested by LC3B‐II conversion and increased p62 expression and accumulation of autophagosomes. Inhibition by autophagy inhibitor enhanced UA‐mediated apoptosis in Ca922 cells. The experiment provides a rationale for using triterpenoid in the treatment of OSCC.
Background
Data on immune checkpoint inhibitor efficacy in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) advanced gastric/gastroesophageal junction (G/GEJ) cancer are ...lacking. Because HER2 status was not captured in the ATTRACTION-2 trial, we used patients with prior trastuzumab use (Tmab+) as surrogate for HER2 expression status to evaluate the efficacy and safety of nivolumab as third- or later-line therapy in these patients.
Methods
In ATTRACTION-2, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 multicenter trial, patients were randomized (2:1) to receive nivolumab (3 mg/kg) or placebo every 2 weeks until disease progression or toxicity requiring study discontinuation. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), and safety were assessed.
Results
Of 493 enrolled patients, 81 (nivolumab,
n
= 59; placebo,
n
= 22) were Tmab+ and 412 (nivolumab,
n
= 271; placebo,
n
= 141) were Tmab−. In both groups, patients receiving nivolumab showed a longer median OS vs placebo (Tmab+, 8.3 95% confidence interval, 5.3–12.9 vs 3.1 1.9–5.3 months, hazard ratio, 0.38 0.22–0.66;
P
= 0.0006; Tmab−, 4.8 4.1–6.0 vs 4.2 3.6–4.9 months, 0.71 0.57–0.88;
P
= 0.0022). PFS was longer in both groups receiving nivolumab vs placebo (Tmab+, 1.6 1.5–4.0 vs 1.5 1.3–2.9 months, 0.49 0.29–0.85;
P
= 0.0111; Tmab−, 1.6 1.5–2.4 vs 1.5 1.5–1.5 months, 0.64 0.51–0.80;
P
= 0.0001).
Conclusions
Nivolumab was efficacious and safe as third- or later-line therapy regardless of prior trastuzumab use in patients with advanced G/GEJ cancer.
Nardosinone, a sesquiterpene peroxide, is one of the main active constituents of the ethnomedicine Nardostachyos Radix et Rhizoma, and it has many bioactivities, such as antiarrhythmia and ...cardioprotection. To elucidate its in vivo existence forms, its metabolism is first studied using mice. All urine and feces are collected during the six days of oral dosing of nardosinone, and blood is collected at one hour after the last dose. Besides, to validate some metabolites, a fast experiment is performed, in which nardosinone was orally administered and the subsequent one-hour urine is collected and immediately analyzed by UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS. In total, 76 new metabolites are identified in this study, including 39, 51, and 12 metabolites in urine, plasma, and feces, respectively. Nardosinone can be converted into nardosinone acid or its isomers. The metabolic reactions of nardosinone included hydroxylation, hydrogenation, dehydration, glucuronidation, sulfation, demethylation, and carboxylation. There are 56 and 20 metabolites with the structural skeleton of nardosinone and nardosinone acid, respectively. In total, 77 in vivo existence forms of nardosinone are found in mice. Nardosinone is mainly excreted in urine and is not detected in the feces. These findings will lay the foundation for further research of the in vivo effective forms of nardosinone and Nardostachyos Radix et Rhizoma.
This study aimed to investigate safety and efficacy of silmitasertib, an oral small molecule casein kinase 2 inhibitor, plus gemcitabine and cisplatin (G+C) versus G+C in locally advanced/metastatic ...cholangiocarcinoma.
This work is a Phase 1b/2 study (S4-13-001). In Phase 2, patients received silmitasertib 1000 mg twice daily for 10 days with G+C on Days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle. Primary efficacy endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) in the modified intent-to-treat population (defined as patients who completed at least one cycle of silmitasertib without dose interruption/reduction) from both phases (silmitasertib/G+C n = 55, G+C n = 29). The response was assessed by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors v1.1. The median PFS was 11.2 months (95% confidence interval CI, 7.6, 14.7) versus 5.8 months (95% CI, 3.1, not evaluable NE) ( p = 0.0496); 10-month PFS was 56.1% (95% CI, 38.8%, 70.2%) versus 22.2% (95% CI, 1.8%, 56.7%); and median overall survival was 17.4 months (95% CI, 13.4, 25.7) versus 14.9 months (95% CI, 9.9, NE) with silmitasertib/G+C versus G+C. Overall response rate was 34.0% versus 30.8%; the disease control rate was 86.0% versus 88.5% with silmitasertib/G+C versus G+C. Almost all silmitasertib/G+C (99%) and G+C (93%) patients reported at least one treatment emergent adverse event (TEAE). The most common TEAEs (all grades) with silmitasertib/G+C versus G+C were diarrhea (70% versus 13%), nausea (59% vs. 30%), fatigue (47% vs. 47%), vomiting (39% vs. 7%), and anemia (39% vs. 30%). Twelve patients (10%) discontinued treatment because of TEAEs during the study.
Silmitasertib/G+C demonstrated promising preliminary evidence of efficacy for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced/metastatic cholangiocarcinoma.
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) UiO-66 and its amine derivative (UiO-66-NH
2
) with high surface area and unprecedented chemical stability were synthesized and first explored for U(VI) capture from ...aqueous solutions. At pH 5.5, U(VI) sorption reach equilibrium in ca. 4 h and the maximum sorption capacity is more than 100 mg g
−1
. Moreover, they show desirable selectivity towards U(VI) over a range of competing metal ions. Sorption results demonstrate that introduction of amino groups into MOFs does not enhance U(VI) sorption, probably result from the lower activity of aromatic amines, decrease of surface area and formation of intermolecular hydrogen bonds.
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