Ru-Catalyzed Defluorinative Alkylation or Catalyst-Free Hydroalkylation of gem-Difluoroalkenes Enabled by Visible Light.

A catalyst-induced defluorinative, alkylation or metal-free hydroalkylation of gem-difluoroalkenes enabled by visible light was developed. This protocol provided a mild and practical approach to important and novel monofluoroalkenes and difluoromethylene-containing compounds with moderate to excellent yields.

Experimental study on a novel vacuum sublimation-rehydration thawing of frozen potatoes.

To realize a quick thawing of frozen potatoes, the experimental investigation of thawing performance was conducted by using a novel vacuum sublimation-rehydration thawing (VSRT) in this study. Frozen diced potatoes (20 mm × 20 mm × 20 mm) with a total mass of 1.5 kg were selected as the thawing object. The center temperature of the frozen diced potato was raised from -18°C to 5°C to assess the beginning and end of thawing. The effects of sublimation time, heating plate temperature, and rehydration temperature on thawing time of frozen potatoes were experimentally studied. The VSRT and vacuum steam thawing (VST) were compared in terms of thawing time, hardness, and specific energy consumption. The results showed that the conditions of sublimation time of 25 min, heating plate temperature of 30°C, and rehydration temperature of 100°C could effectively shorten the thawing time of VSRT for thawing frozen potatoes. The thawing time of VSRT was only 49% of that of VST. Compared to the hardness of frozen potatoes thawed by VST, the hardness of frozen potatoes thawed by VSRT was closer to that of blanched (unfrozen) potatoes. The specific energy consumption of VSRT was lower than that of VST. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The quality of frozen potatoes is directly affected by the thawing method used. A novel vacuum sublimation-rehydration thawing was conducted in this study, which can provide a new idea for a reasonable, effective, and quick thawing method for frozen potatoes.

The outcome of Kasai portoenterostomy after day 70 of life.

Background: The age at Kasai portoenterostomy (KPE) was reported to correlate with the prognosis of patients with biliary atresia (BA) and that a late KPE is bounded to be failure. Herewith, we reported the outcome of patients receiving KPE after day 70 of life. In addition, the prognostic indicators were evaluated. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective analysis and all BA patients receiving KPE after day 70 of life in a tertiary centre between 1980 and 2018 were evaluated. Results: A total of 164 KPE procedures were performed during the study period and 62 cases were done after day 70 of life which were included in this study. The median follow up period of these patients was 10.6 years (range: 4.5 to 41.5 years). Thirty-nine patients (62.9%) patients were able to achieve jaundice clearance at 6 months after KPE. The NLS rate was 53.2% (n = 33) as recorded at the time of writing. There was no statistical difference in the age at KPE between native liver survivors and patients requiring liver transplant. For complications among the native liver survivors (n = 33), portal hypertension and recurrent cholangitis were found in 63.6% and 30.3% of these patients. There was also no significant difference in the age at KPE between those who developed portal hypertension and recurrent cholangitis (p = 0.451 and p = 0.173 respectively). Regarding the prognostic indicators in predicting NLS, pre-KPE bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) were significantly higher among patients requiring liver transplant (p = 0.012, =0.011 and =0.017 respectively). The bilirubin level at 6 months after KPE was also higher among patients who required liver transplant (p = 0.016). Conclusion: More than half of the BA patients can survive for 10 years with their native liver despite KPE was performed after day 70 of life. However, they have a higher chance to develop BA-related complications. The level of pre-KPE bilirubin and ductal enzymes as well as post-KPE bilirubin are prognostic indicators to predict NLS.

Predicting STAT1 as a prognostic marker in patients with solid cancer.

BACKGROUND: Aberrant activities of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) have been implicated in cancer development. However, the prognostic value of STAT1 remains unclear. This report identified the role of STAT1 in prognosis in patients with solid cancer through open literature and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. METHODS: Published articles were obtained from PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase databases according to a search strategy up to October 2019. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were extracted to assess the prognostic factors of patients. TCGA datasets were used to explore the prognostic value of STAT1 in various cancers. RESULTS: A total of 15 studies incorporating 2839 patients with solid cancers were included. Pooled data showed that overexpressed STAT1 favored long overall survival (OS) (HR = 0.604, 95% CI = 0.431-0.846, p = 0.003) and disease-specific survival (DSS) (HR = 0.650, 95% CI = 0.512-0.825, p = 0.000). In subgroup analyses, highly expressed STAT1 was correlated with long OS of patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer and oral squamous cell carcinoma. Data extracted from TCGA datasets unveiled that STAT1 expression was significantly higher in 12 cancers (e.g. bladder and breast) than their adjacent normal tissues. Again, highly expressed STAT1 favored long OS of patients with ovarian cancer as well as rectum adenocarcinoma, sarcoma, and skin cutaneous melanoma. However, in renal carcinoma, brain lower grade glioma, lung adenocarcinoma, and pancreatic cancer, highly expressed STAT1 was correlated with poor OS of patients. Particularly in renal carcinoma, increased STAT1 expression was associated with high grade, later stage, large tumor size, and lymph node and distant metastasis. CONCLUSION: STAT1 has been identified to have prognostic value in patients with solid cancer. Highly expressed STAT1 may predict prognosis in cancer patients based on their tumor types.

Expression of STAT1 is positively correlated with PD-L1 in human ovarian cancer.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) is related to the immune microenvironment of tumorigenesis. The programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1) have been reported to be important in immunotherapy by mediating tumor immune evasion. Blocking the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway can restore the endogenous anti-tumor immune response. This study aimed to examine the expression of STAT1, PD-1, and PD-L1 and the correlation between selected markers in human epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). The results showed that malignant tumors contained more STAT1, PD-1, and PD-L1 positive cells. The expression of STAT1 and PD-L1 was associated with age, whereas PD-1 and PD-L1 associated with histopathological type, in patients with ovarian tumors. Moreover, the expression of STAT1 was found to be associated with disease stages and the grade of serous carcinoma. STAT1 expression was higher in OC cells than normal ovarian surface epithelial cells and was positively correlated with PD-L1 expression. The knockdown of STAT1 decreased PD-L1 expression, whereas overexpression of STAT1 increased PD-L1 expression. Furthermore, the expression of STAT1, PD-1, and PD-L1 was lower in paclitaxel-resistant cells than sensitive cells. Finally, STAT1 affected the overall survival and progression-free survival of patients with EOC. These findings suggest that STAT1, PD-1, and PD-L1 are the tissue markers of EOC and imply the possibility that the high level of STAT1, PD-1, and PD-L1 may favor the checkpoint immunotherapy in patients with EOC, but may have a limit in paclitaxel-resistant patients because of the low expression of STAT1, PD-1, and PD-L1 in paclitaxel-resistant cells.