Description: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurs frequently after minimally invasive therapy. This study was to observe the efficiency and safety of the combined treatment of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) with cellular immunotherapy (CIT) for HCC patients. In this study, sixty-two patients with HCC who were treated with radical RFA were divided into two groups: RFA alone (32 patients) and RFA/CIT (30 patients). Autologous mononuclear cells were collected from the peripheral blood and separated by apheresis, and then induced into natural killer (NK) cells, γδT cells and cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells. These cells were identified by flow cytometry with their specific antibodies and then were infused intravenously to RFA/CIT patients for 3 or 6 courses. The tumor recurrent status of these patients was evaluated with computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) every 3 months after RFA. Progression-free survival (PFS), liver function, viral load, and adverse effects were examined. The results implied that PFS was higher in RFA/CIT group than that in RFA group. In RFA/CIT group, six courses had better survival prognosis than three courses. Viral load of hepatitis C was decreased in two of three patients without antiviral therapy in RFA/CIT group, but was increased in RFA group. No significant adverse reaction was found in the patients with CIT. In summary, these preliminary results suggest that combination of sequential CIT with RFA for HCC patients was efficient and safe, and may be helpful in the prevention of the recurrence for the patients with HCC after RFA. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: Marangoni effect induced by interphase mass transfer plays an important role in liquid-liquid extraction and reaction processes. The interaction of Marangoni effect and interphase mass transfer during drop formation at different injection rates and different initial solute concentrations was investigated by experiment and numerical simulation. The extraction fraction was measured and the corresponding correlation was proposed. The level set method coupled with mass transfer equation is for the first time used to simulate the mass transfer induced Marangoni effect during drop formation. The simulated drop volume, shape and extraction fraction are in good accordance with experimental data. Through the numerical simulation, it is found that the mass transfer in the first mass transfer period is the most efficient during drop formation when Marangoni convection occurs. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2013

Description: Background: Our previous studies have suggested that the primary impact of immune cell infiltration into the normal or pre-invasive tissue component is associated with the physical destruction of epithelial capsules, which may promote tumor progression and invasion. Our current study attempted to further verify our previous observations and determine the primary type(s) of infiltrating immune cells and the possible mechanism associated with physical destructions of the epithelial capsules. Methods: In total, the study was conducted with 250 primary breast and prostate tumors, the primary immune cell of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL), Natural killer cells (NK) and Mast cells were analyzed by immunohistochemistry, fluorescent labeling and apoptosis assay. qRT-PCR was used for gene expression analysis. Our current study assessed the physical disruption of these immune cells and potential impact on the epithelial capsule of human breast and prostate tumors. Results: Our study yield several clinically-relevant findings that have not been studied before. (1) A vast majority of these infiltrating immune cells are distributed in the normal-appearing or pre-invasive tissue components rather than in invasive cancer tissues. (2) These cells often form rings or semilunar structures that either surround focally-disrupted basal cell layers or physically attach to the basal cells. (3) Basal cells physically associated with these immune cells generally displayed distinct signs of degeneration, including substantially elevated apoptosis, necrosis, and reduced tumor suppressor p63 expression. In contrast, luminal cells overlying focally disrupted basal cell layers had a substantially increased proliferation rate and elevated expression of stem cell markers compared to their adjacent morphologically similar counterparts that overlie a non-disrupted capsule. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that at the early stage of tumor invasion, CTL, NK and Mast cells are the main types of tumor infiltrating immune cells involved in focal degenerative products in the tumor capsules. The primary impact of these infiltrating immune cells is that they are associated with focal disruptions of the tumor capsule, which selectively favor tumor stem cells proliferation and invasion.

Description: A new mixed laser crystal, Yb 0.005 Y 0.848 Lu 0.147 VO 4 , has been successfully grown using the Czochralski method. An ICP-OES was used to measure the concentrations of elements (Yb, Y, Lu, V) in the crystal, and the chemical formula was determined. X-ray powder diffraction analysis shows that the crystal has ZrSiO 4 structure. A pair of edge dislocations with certain orientation was observed by the HREM, and the orientation was confirmed by the calibration of the diffraction spots. The formation mechanism of this type dislocation was given by analysis on structure and thermal expansion of crystal. The suggestion to avoid these dislocations was also given. A Yb 0.005 Y 0.848 Lu 0.147 VO 4 mixed laser crystal was grown by the Czochralski method. HREM was firstly used to characterize the structure of dislocation in vanadates and observed a new morphology of dislocations. This pair of dislocation forms because of the anisotropy of thermal expansion, the weak connection and relatively big interplanar distance between the atom layers. Appropriately slow cooling rate should be used to avoid the dislocations.

Description: Background: Hirayama disease (HD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or cervical spondylotic amyotrophy (CSA) may result in atrophy of intrinsic hand and forearm muscles. The incidence of HD is low, and it is rarely encountered in the clinical setting. Consequently, HD is often misdiagnosed as ALS or CSA. It is important to differentiate these diseases because HD is caused by a benign focal lesion that is limited to the upper limbs. Methods: The thenar and hypothenar compound muscle action potential (CMAP) amplitude of the upper limbs of 100 HD, 97 ALS and 32 CSA cases were reviewed; 35 healthy individuals were included as controls. Seventy-eight percent, 38% and 69% of patients with HD, ALS or CSA had unilateral involvement; the remaining patients were affected bilaterally. Thenar and hypothenar CMAP amplitude evoked by ulnar stimulation was compared with CMAP evoked by median stimulation. Results: The ulnar/median CMAP ratio was found to be lower in HD (0.55 +/- 0.41, P 〈 0.0001), higher in ALS (2.28 +/- 1.15, P 〈 0.0001) and no different in CSA (1.21 +/- 0.53, P 〉 0.05) compared with the normal range from previous studies (0.89-1.60) and with the healthy controls (1.15 +/- 0.23). Conduction velocities of the sensory and motor nerves, the amplitude of the sensory nerve action potential, and the CMAP amplitude of the unaffected limb were all normal. Conclusions: The hand muscles were differentially affected between patients with HD, ALS and CSA. The ulnar/median CMAP ratio could be used to distinguish these three diseases.

Description: Background: Dementia has been associated with an increased risk of hip fracture. However, little research has been conducted on the impact of dementia on wrist or vertebral fracture development. The aim of this study was to investigate whether dementia is a risk factor for different types of fracture in Taiwan. Methods: The study sample was drawn from Taiwan?s National Health Insurance Research Database of reimbursement claims, and comprised 1408 patients who visited ambulatory care centers or were hospitalized with a diagnosis of dementia. The comparison group consisted of 7040 randomly selected individuals. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to examine associations between dementia and the risk of different types of fracture. Results: During a 3-year follow-up period, 264 patients with dementia (18.75%) and 1098 patients without dementia (15.60%) developed fractures. Dementia was independently associated with increased risk of hip fracture [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.92, 95% CI 1.48?2.49]. Patients with dementia and osteoporosis had the highest risk of developing hip fracture (adjusted HR 2.27, 95% CI 1.28?4.01). Dementia did not increase wrist fracture or vertebral fracture risk when compared to the control group, even in patients with osteoporosis. Conclusions: Individuals with dementia are at greater risk of developing hip fracture, particularly if they also have osteoporosis. Early mental screening programs and health education should be initiated to decrease disability and dependence in patients with dementia.

Description: The monoclonal antibody trastuzumab has brought survival benefit to patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC) that have human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) over expression or amplification. This study was designed to compare the clinical outcomes of HER2-negative and HER2-positive AGC patients with or without trastuzumab treatment. There were three groups of patients enrolled for analysis. Group A was 51 HER2-positive AGC patients treated with trastuzumab and chemotherapy; group B was a matched control group of 47 HER2-positive patients who received chemotherapy only; group C was a matched group of 251 HER2-negative patients who received chemotherapy. All the patients were enrolled at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center or Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University between January 2010 and December 2012. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used for survival analysis. The median duration of follow-up was 13.5 months (range, 5-18.6 months). The median OS of these three groups of patients was 14.8 months, 11.3 months and 14.4 months respectively (P〈0.001). The survival difference between group A and B was significant, P〈0.001. Similarly, there was significant difference between group B and C, P〈0.001. Moreover the survival between group A and C was comparable, P=0.281. The median progression free survival for these three groups was 7.4, 6.0 and 7.2 months. Multivariate analysis confirmed that trastuzumab treatment was an independent prognostic factor in group A and B patients (P=0.017). HER2 positive was an independent adverse prognostic factor in group B and C patients (P=0.013). © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: The purpose of this study is to identify miRNAs involved in the pathology of colorectal cancer (CRC) liver metastasis and investigate their underlying mechanisms. A total of 39 miRNAs were identified to be differentially expressed between 16 primary CRC tissues with liver metastases and 16 CRC tissues without liver metastases from 32 patients by Affymetric miRNA microarrays. A panel of 8 miRNAs were confirmed to be significantly and differentially expressed between CRC tissues with and without liver metastases through quantitative RT-PCR analysis in the 32 patients. In a validated cohort of 99 CRC patients (44 with and 55 without liver metastases), only miR-214 was validated to be significantly down-regulated in CRC with liver metastases, which was associated with an unfavorable prognosis. Ectopic expression of miR-214 suppressed proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro , tumor growth and liver metastasis in an in vivo xenograft mouse model; whereas miR-214 knockdown promoted proliferation, migration, and invasion in CRC cell lines. Further studies indicated that fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) was a potential target of miR-214. Restoring miR-214 expression in CRC cells decreased endogenous FGFR1 mRNA and protein levels. FGFR1 knockdown mimicked the tumor suppressive effect of miR-214 on CRC cells, while reintroduction of FGFR1 abolished the tumor suppressive effect of miR-214 on CRC cells. Moreover, miR-214 expression levels were inversely correlated with FGFR1 in CRC patients. Conclusion: Down-regulation of miR-214 expression was correlated with increased FGFR1 expression levels, which may contribute to increased CRC liver metastasis. miR-214 may serve as a potential marker to predict survival, and the miR-214-FGFR1 axis may be a therapeutic target in CRC patients. (H epatology 2014;)

Description: Background: Rh blood group system is the most complex and immunogenetic blood group system. Prevalent RHD alleles vary in different populations. We conducted the present study to examine the genotype of DEL individuals and to elucidate whether novel alleles exist in the Chinese population. Methods: DEL phenotype was identified by a serologic adsorption-elution method. The nucleotide sequences of ten RHD exons and exon-intron boundary regions were evaluated by RHD gene-specific PCR-SSP and sequencing. Results: Of 42306 samples from individual donors and patients, 165 samples were typed as D-negative. Among these D-negative samples, 41 DEL individuals were observed. Thirty-seven DELs were confirmed to have the RHD1227A allele. Two DELs seemed to have RHD-CE-D hybrid alleles, including one RHD-CE (4-7)-D and one RHD-CE (2-5)-D. Two novel RHD alleles were found among the rest of the DEL samples, including one RHD93T 〉 A and one RHD838G 〉 A. Conclusion: In this study, about 24.85% (41/165) of the apparent D-negative Chinese individuals were DEL. RHD1227G 〉 A is the most frequent allele in Chinese DEL phenotypes, accounting for 90.24% (37/41). The RHD-CE-D hybrid allele might be the second most frequent DEL allele in the Chinese population. Our study would contribute to the understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying D antigen expression of DEL individuals and provide useful information for designing suitable genotyping strategies in RhD-negative individuals in Asia.

Description: [1]  A three-dimensional (3D) magnetic field configuration in force balance with a realistic plasma pressure distribution can provide more accurate evaluation of the role of magnetic field on plasma sheet dynamics and M-I coupling. We used Geotail and THEMIS data to establish an empirical model for nightside equatorial isotropic plasma pressure to r  = 30 R E for Kp = 0–5 and for solar wind dynamic pressure (P SW ) = 1.5 and 3 nPa. The model pressure is used in the companion paper for modeling a 3D force-balanced pressure and magnetic field equilibrium. Larger convection during higher Kp drives the plasma sheet further earthward, resulting in larger increase of pressure and pressure gradient at smaller radial distance. On the other hand, magnetosphere compression by increasing P SW enhances pressure and pressure gradient mainly in the tail plasma sheet. While both pressure and radial gradients are enhanced with increasing Kp or P SW , there is no significant azimuthal pressure variation statistically under all Kp and P SW conditions. The empirical pressures well reproduce these statistical profiles with very high correlation coefficients. Additionally, comparisons with pressure gradients computed using two simultaneous measurements from two THEMIS spacecraft show reasonable agreement. Furthermore, our model provides more accurate pressure gradients than previous empirical models. The model magnetic field distributions obtained in the companion paper from requiring force balance with these empirical pressure profiles are also found to be consistent with the magnetic field observations, indicating that our equilibria well represent realistic 3D pressure and magnetic field configurations.