Gastric cancer with brain metastasis: from molecular characteristics and treatment.

Gastric cancer is one of the cancers with increasing incidence and ranks fourth globally among the most frequent causes of cancer-related mortality. Early gastric cancer is often asymptomatic or presents with atypical symptoms, and the majority of patients present with advanced disease upon diagnosis. Brain metastases are present in approximately 1% of gastric cancer patients at the time of diagnosis, which significantly contributed to the overall mortality of the disease worldwide. Conventional therapies for patients with brain metastases remain limited and the median overall survival of patients is only 8 months in advanced cases. Recent studies have improved our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying gastric cancer brain metastases, and immunotherapy has become an important treatment option in combination with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy and surgery. This review aims to provide insight into the cellular processes involved in gastric cancer brain metastases, discuss diagnostic approaches, evaluate the integration of immune checkpoint inhibitors into treatment and prognosis, and explore the predictive value of biomarkers in immunotherapy.

Platelet count and gastric cancer susceptibility: A Mendelian randomization study.

The objective of this study was to ascertain the potential causal linkage between platelet (PLT) counts and the incidence of gastric cancer (GC). This study employed a 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, utilizing the inverse variance weighting, weighted median, and MR-Egger regression methodologies. The publicly accessible summary statistics dataset from the genome-wide association study pertaining to individuals of European ancestry (n = 145,648) was employed as the foundational resource for the exposure variable. Concomitantly, the non-cancer disease codes for GC (n = 6563), derived from individuals within the UK Biosample Bank, were utilized as the outcome measure. A set of 132 single-nucleotide polymorphisms exhibiting genome-wide significance were selected as instrumental variables, drawn from the genome-wide association studies focused on PLT counts. The application of the weighted median methodology yielded indications suggesting the possible absence of a causal relationship between PLT counts and GC (beta = 0.139, SE = 0.079, P = .077). Contrarily, the implementation of the inverse variance weighting technique produced results indicative of a potential causal relationship between PLT counts and GC (beta = 0.128, SE = 0.049, P = .009). The assessment of Cochran Q test and the scrutiny of funnel plots unveiled no discernible indications of heterogeneity or asymmetry, thus signifying the absence of directional pleiotropy. The outcomes derived from the MR analysis lend credence to the hypothesis that there exists a plausible causal relationship between erythrocyte pressure and an elevated susceptibility to gastric cancer.

Antibody-drug conjugates: the clinical development in gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer (GC) is a prevalent malignant tumor of the digestive system worldwide, ranking among the top five in terms of incidence and mortality. However, the clinical efficacy of conventional treatments for gastric cancer remains limited, with a median overall survival of approximately eight months for advanced cases. In recent years, researchers have increasingly focused on antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) as a promising approach. ADCs are potent chemical drugs that selectively target cancer cells by binding to specific cell surface receptors with antibodies. Notably, ADCs have demonstrated promising results in clinical studies and have made significant strides in the treatment of gastric cancer. Currently, several ADCs are under investigation in clinical trials for gastric cancer patients, targeting various receptors such as EGFR, HER-2, HER-3, CLDN18.2, Mucin 1, among others. This review offers a comprehensive exploration of ADC drug characteristics and provides an overview of the research progress in ADC-based therapies for gastric cancer.

Microstructure Evolution and Mechanical Properties of FeCoCrNiCuTi0.8 High-Entropy Alloy Prepared by Directional Solidification.

A CoCrCuFeNiTi0.8 high-entropy alloy was prepared using directional solidification techniques at different withdrawal rates (50 µm/s, 100 µm/s, 500 µm/s). The results showed that the microstructure was dendritic at all withdrawal rates. As the withdrawal rate increased, the dendrite orientation become uniform. Additionally, the accumulation of Cr and Ti elements at the solid/liquid interface caused the formation of dendrites. Through the measurement of the primary dendrite spacing (λ1) and the secondary dendrite spacing (λ2), it was concluded that the dendrite structure was obviously refined with the increase in the withdrawal rate to 500 µm/s. The maximum compressive strength reached 1449.8 MPa, and the maximum hardness was 520 HV. Moreover, the plastic strain of the alloy without directional solidification was 2.11%, while the plastic strain of directional solidification was 12.57% at 500 µm/s. It has been proved that directional solidification technology can effectively improve the mechanical properties of the CoCrCuFeNiTi0.8 high-entropy alloy.

In Situ Growth of 3D NiFe LDH-POM Micro-Flowers on Nickel Foam for Overall Water Splitting.

Rational design and preparation of efficient and durable bifunctional electrocatalyst is an eternal yet challenging goal for sustainable energy conversion processes, such as water splitting. Herein, 3D NiFe layered double hydroxide-polyoxometalate (LDH-POM; polyoxometalate, i.e., K8 [SiW11 O39 ]·13H2 O) with micro-flower morphology is in situ grown on Ni foam via a facile one-step hydrothermal method, which can be used as a high-efficient bifunctional catalyst for overall water splitting. The as-prepared catalyst achieves overall water splitting current density of 10 mA cm-2 at low overpotentials (oxygen evolution reaction (OER): ≈200 mV; hydrogen evolution reaction (HER): ≈156 mV) in 0.1 m KOH over a period of 20 h operation. Experimental investigation and density functional theory calculation indicate that, compared to pristine NiFe LDH, W6+ in NiFe LDH-POM can effectively minimize the adsorption energy barriers of *OH and therefore improve the kinetics of OER. This result may provide a promising strategy to synthesize 3D LDH micro-flowers by employing POM as a structure-direction agent for catalysis and energy applications.

Electrospun metal-organic frameworks with polyacrylonitrile as precursors to hierarchical porous carbon and composite nanofibers for adsorption and catalysis.

A facile and effective method has been developed to prepare hierarchical porous carbon nanofibers (PCNFs), carbon nanofibers supported nickel nanoparticles (PCNFs-Ni) and carbon nanofibers encapsulating gold nanoparticles (PCNFs-Au). PCNFs or PCNFs-Au were obtained by embedding metal-organic frameworks (e.g. ZIF-8 or ZIF-8-Au) into polyacrylonitrile via electrospinning and subsequent carbonization. In addition, PCNFs-Ni were obtained by impregnating PAN/ZIF-8 nanofibers in Ni(NO3)2·6H2O followed by carbonization. Both PCNF and PCNF-Ni exhibited excellent adsorption activities for methylene blue (MB) and congo red (CR). Especially, PCNF-Ni could be removed and separated via a magnet. PCNFs-Au showed excellent catalytic properties in the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP).

Tannic acid-mediated synthesis of dual-heteroatom-doped hollow carbon from a metal-organic framework for efficient oxygen reduction reaction.

Herein, we report an original strategy to fabricate N/B co-doped hollow carbon (denoted as NB-HC) with the assistance of tannic acid. Inspired by its inherent porous structures, we used ZIF-8 as a structural template and a N-doping source. Tannic acid (TA) as a secondary material is uniformly coated on the surface of ZIF-8 to obtain ZIF-8@TA core-shell composites. The TA-modified shell mediates the post-formation of boron acid-polyol bond, where 1,4-benzene diboronic acid (BDBA) is used as a boron-containing reactant and doping source. After carbonization, the composite successfully turns into hollow N/B co-doped carbon with a high surface area of 936 m2 g-1. It exhibits a pronounced ORR reactivity with an onset potential of -0.12 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) along with superb methanol cross-over tolerance and long-term stability. The first-principles calculation proves that the synergistic effect arising from N and B dopants can create active sites; therefore, the value of free energy change in the rate-determining step decreases. This elucidates that the homogeneously synergistic coupling of B and N in the carbon structure and hierarchical porous structures endow the as-prepared NB-HC with enhanced ORR parameters.

Enhanced oxygen reduction of multi-Fe3O4@carbon core-shell electrocatalysts through a nanoparticle/polymer co-assembly strategy.

This paper reports a facile synthesis of multi-Fe3O4@carbon (mFe3O4@C) core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) using co-assembly of Fe3O4 NPs and polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (PS-b-PEO) as a template. Slow solvent exchange leads to multiple tiny hydrophobic Fe3O4 NPs entrapped within PS-b-PEO micelles. After polydopamine coating and subsequent carbonization, a carbon shell encapsulating multiple Fe3O4 cores is obtained. The significant features of mFe3O4@C lie in the more active Fe3O4 sites and available free space within the carbon shell. As a result, the oxygen reduction performance of the resultant mFe3O4@C shows a higher onset potential than that of single Fe3O4@C. Meanwhile, mFe3O4@C exhibits a larger limiting current density (5.2 mA cm-2 at 1.0 V), long-time stability, and methanol tolerance compared to commercial Pt/C. The generality of the micellar immobilized NPs as a template is expected to boost the fabrication of various core-shell NPs for practical applications.

Silica-polydopamine core-shell self-confined templates for ultra-stable hollow Pt anchored N-doped carbon electrocatalysts.

We present the use of silica-polydopamine (SiO2@PDA) core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) as self-confined templates for the fabrication of ultra-stable hollow Pt anchored N-doped carbon nanospheres (Pt/HN-C). SiO2@PDA nanospheres were fabricated by a facile one-pot process, followed by the deposition of Pt NPs onto the outer shell layer. The confinement and adhesion of the PDA framework ensured the distribution and stability of Pt NPs after carbonization at the carbon shell layer. The converted Pt/HN-C exhibited excellent catalytic performance and durability for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR).

Reformation Capability of Short-Range Order and Their Medium-Range Connections Regulates Deformability of Bulk Metallic Glasses.

Metallic glasses (MGs) typically have high yield strength while low ductility, and the latter is commonly considered as the Achilles' heel of MGs. Elucidate the mechanism for such low ductility becomes the research focus of this field. With molecular level simulations, we show the degree of short-range order (SRO) of atomic structure for brittle Fe-based glass decreases dramatically during the stretch, while mild change occurs in ductile Zr-based glass. The reformation capability for SRO and their medium-range connections is found to be the primary characteristics to differentiate the deformability between the two metallic glasses. We suspect that, in addition to the strength of networks formed by SRO structure, the reformation capability to reform SRO networks also plays the key role in regulating the ductility in metallic glasses. Our study provides important insights into the understanding about the mechanisms accounting for ductility or brittleness of bulk metallic glasses.

Notch strengthening or weakening governed by transition of shear failure to normal mode fracture.

It is generally observed that the existence of geometrical discontinuity like notches in materials will lead to strength weakening, as a resultant of local stress concentration. By comparing the influence of notches to the strength of three typical materials, aluminum alloys with intermediate tensile ductility, metallic glasses with no tensile ductility, and brittle ceramics, we observed strengthening in aluminum alloys and metallic glasses: Tensile strength of the net section in circumferentially notched cylinders increases with the constraint quantified by the ratio of notch depth over notch root radius; in contrast, the ceramic exhibit notch weakening. The strengthening in the former two is due to resultant deformation transition: Shear failure occurs in intact samples while samples with deep notches break in normal mode fracture. No such deformation transition was observed in the ceramic, and stress concentration leads to its notch weakening. The experimental results are confirmed by theoretical analyses and numerical simulation. The results reported here suggest that the conventional criterion to use brittleness and/or ductility to differentiate notch strengthening or weakening is not physically sound. Notch strengthening or weakening relies on the existence of failure mode transition and materials exhibiting shear failure while subjected to tension will notch strengthen.

Hydrothermal synthesis and photoluminescent properties of rod-shape assemblies of LaBO3:Eu3+ nanocrystals.

Uniform and assembled LaBO3 nanocrystals have been successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method. These assemblies exhibit a rod-shape morphology and each of them consists of small LaBO3 nanocrystals which are tightly attached together. The phase, surface and morphology of these assemblies have been characterized. A possible assembly mechanism of such morphology is also proposed through investigation on the formation process. Photoluminescent spectra suggest that these assemblies doped with Eu3+ can give stronger red emissions than the orange one due to its aragonite structure. Such emission has been explained by the Judd-Ofelt theory. It is expected that these well-defined LaBO3 assemblies could find applications in future luminescent displays and lamps.

Synthesis of rhombic hierarchical YF3 nanocrystals and their use as upconversion photocatalysts after TiO2 coating.

A facile method has been developed to synthesize uniform nanoscale YF3 architectures. Interestingly, the unique YF3 nanostructure exhibits a flat and rhombic appearance which is formulated through the hierarchical assembly of YF3 nanocrystals along a specific crystalline orientation. Investigations on the formation process suggest that an assembly disassembly process is responsible for the construction of this novel structure. Enabled by doping with different lanthanides ions, the products can exhibit various down- or up-conversion luminescences, showing their potentials in serving as versatile host matrixes. The tunable luminescent properties allow designing effective upconversion photocatalysts when the doped YF3 nanostructures are coated with a TiO2 shell on their surface. In particular, the YF3@TiO2 hybrid structures have the porous nature that is partially inherited from the YF3 architectures, whose high surface-to-volume ratio facilitates their use as photocatalysts. In this article, we have demonstrated that the YF3:Yb,Tm@TiO2 structures exhibit satisfactory photocatalytic activities under the irradiation of both UV and near IR light. As compared with the conventional TiO2 catalysts, the hybrid structures here offer better performance in photocatalysis in the full solar spectrum. It is anticipated that this work provides a new approach to designing photocatalysts with responses to a broader spectral range.