Sorafenib as adjuvant therapy following radiofrequency ablation for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma within Milan criteria: a multicenter analysis.

BACKGROUND: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is considered as a convenient treatment with mild damage in treating recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (RHCC). However, for patients with high risk of progression after RFA still needs new strategies to decrease the repeat recurrence. METHODS: A total of 460 patients with RHCC within Milan criteria in four institutions were enrolled. 174 pairs were enrolled after propensity score matching (PSM). Overall survival (OS) and tumor-free survival (TFS) were compared between the two groups. A quantitative score system was established to screen out the beneficial population from RFA-sorafenib treatment. RESULTS: The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates were 97.7%, 83.7%, 54.7% for RFA-sorafenib group, and 93.1%, 61.3%, 30.9% for RFA group after PSM, respectively. Compared with the RFA group, the RFA-sorafenib group had significantly better OS (P < 0.001). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year TFS rates were 90.8%, 49.0%, 20.4% for RFA-sorafenib group, and 67.8%, 28.0%, 14.5% for RFA group after PSM. The difference was observed significantly between RFA-sorafenib group and RFA group (P < 0.001). A quantitative risk score system was established to precisely screen out the beneficial population from RFA-sorafenib treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Adjuvant sorafenib after RFA was superior to RFA alone in improving survival outcomes in patients with recurrent HCC within Milan criteria after initial hepatectomy. Subgroup analyses concluded that patients with high risk score had significantly longer survival from sorafenib administration.

Surface Selenylation Engineering for Construction of a Hierarchical NiSe2/Carbon Nanorod: A High-Performance Nonenzymatic Glucose Sensor.

As glucose (Glu) is an essential substance for metabolism as well as a symbol to diagnose diabetes, the demand of Glu sensors has increased significantly in recent decades. In this work, a hierarchical Ni-based electrochemical enzyme-free Glu sensor, namely, NiSe2/CNR (carbon nanorod), was engineered through a facile thermal treatment using dimethylglyoxime dinickel salt with selenium (Se) powder. The prepared NiSe2/CNR not only subtly introduces a hierarchical structure with rod-like carbon nanorods and rock-like NiSe2 nanoparticles, which are extremely helpful in offering a greater catalytic activity area and more catalytic active sites, but also incorporates the Se element to increase the inherent activity. The fabricated NiSe2/CNR exhibits distinguished performance for Glu detection in alkaline electrolytes with linear ranges of 0.5-411 µM and 411 µM to 6.311 mM, high sensitivities of 3636 µA mM-1 cm-2 at low concentrations, and 2121 µA mM-1 cm-2 at high concentrations, as well as a low detection limit of 380 nM (S/N = 3). It also possesses favorable reproducibility, stability, and long-term storage capacity. The practical feasibility of NiSe2/CNR was also validated by detecting Glu in human serum. Moreover, the prepared hierarchical NiSe2/CNR is of general interest for the construction of hierarchical Ni-based sensors.

Solubilisation of Phosphate and Micronutrients by Trichoderma harzianum and Its Relationship with the Promotion of Tomato Plant Growth.

Trichoderma harzianum strain SQR-T037 is a biocontrol agent that has been shown to enhance the uptake of nutrients (macro- and microelements) by plants in fields. The objective of this study was to investigate the contribution of SQR-T037 to P and microelement (Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn) nutrition in tomato plants grown in soil and in hydroponic conditions. Inoculation with SQR-T037 significantly improved the biomass and nutrient uptake of tomato seedlings grown in a nutrient-limiting soil. So we investigated the capability of SQR-T037 to solubilise sparingly soluble minerals in vitro via four known mechanisms: acidification by organic acids, chelation by siderophores, redox by ferric reductase and hydrolysis by phytase. SQR-T037 was able to solubilise phytate, Fe2O3, CuO, and metallic Zn but not Ca3(PO4)2 or MnO2. Organic acids, including lactic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid and succinic acid, were detected by HPLC and LC/MS in two Trichoderma cultures. Additionally, we inoculated tomato seedlings with SQR-T037 using a hydroponic system with specific nutrient deficiencies (i.e., nutrient solutions deficient in P, Fe, Cu or Zn and supplemented with their corresponding solid minerals) to better study the effects of Trichoderma inoculation on plant growth and nutrition. Inoculated seedlings grown in Cu-deficient hydroponic conditions exhibited increases in dry plant biomass (92%) and Cu uptake (42%) relative to control plants. However, we did not observe a significant effect on seedling biomass in plants grown in the Fe- and Zn-deficient hydroponic conditions; by contrast, the biomass decreased by 82% in the P-deficient hydroponic condition. Thus, we demonstrated that Trichoderma SQR-T037 competed for P (phytate) and Zn with tomato seedlings by suppressing root development, releasing phytase and/or chelating minerals. The results of this study suggest that the induction of increased or suppressed plant growth occurs through the direct effect of T. harzianum on root development, in combination with indirect mechanisms, such as mineral solubilisation (including solubilisation via acidification, redox, chelation and hydrolysis).

Toxicity evaluation of pharmaceutical wastewaters using the alga Scenedesmus obliquus and the bacterium Vibrio fischeri.

The toxicity of pharmaceutical wastewaters has recently been the focus of the public in China. This study aimed to evaluate the conventional pollution parameters and toxicities of different raw and treated pharmaceutical wastewaters to algae Scenedesmus obliquus and bacteria Vibrio fischeri. Wastewater samples were collected from 16 pharmaceutical wastewater treatment plants in China. The results of the conventional parameters analysis indicated that the total suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia (NH3-N), and total phosphorus (TP) were largely removed after treatment. Pharmaceutical effluents were mainly polluted with organics and phosphorus as indicated by the average COD (388 mg/L) and TP (3.16 mg/L) concentrations. The toxicity test results indicated that the influent samples were toxic to both test species. Although the toxicities could be remarkably reduced after treatment, 10 out of the 16 effluent samples exceeded the acute toxicity discharge limit of the Chinese national standards. Spearman rank correlation coefficients indicated a significantly positive correlation between the toxicity values of S. obliquus and V. fischeri. Compared with S. obliquus, V. fischeri detected more pharmaceutical effluent samples with toxicities. Meanwhile, the toxicity indicators were significantly and positively correlated with the COD and NH3-N concentrations based on a Spearman rank correlation analysis.

Effects of lipid chain length on the surface properties of alkylaminomethyl rutin and of its mixture with model lecithin membrane.

Three model flavonoid-based bioactive molecules with different lipid chain lengths (RuCn: n=8, 12, 18) were newly synthesized. The surface properties [surface pressure (π)-area (A), surface potential (ΔV)-surface pressure (π) and dipole moment (u(⊥))-surface pressure (π)] of pure RuCn and the lecithin membrane compounds had been investigated by using the Langmuir monolayer technology. The results suggested that the distinctive monolayer behavior of RuCn is strongly dependent on the lipid chain length. The great differences in the monolayer properties brought by the lipid chain length could be attributed to two major factors: (i) the ionization degree of the bulky hydrophilic head group (including hydroxyl and NH groups) alters its local field solely via the surface potential; (ii) tring molecular (or dipole) packing density within monolayers. The excess Gibbs energy (ΔG((ex))) calculated for the RuCn-lecithin mixed monolayers infers that higher stability of the mixed monolayer can be strengthened as the lipid chain length decreases. And the addition of RuCn into lecithin membrane may increase the total u(⊥) of the binary mixed monolayers, which could inhibit the hydration of the lecithin's hydrophilic head groups. The shorter the lipid chain length of RuCn (e.g., RuC8) is, the higher the surface activity can be. Our findings provide a molecular basis for the application of such class of biomolecules in the functional food, cosmetics and medicine.

Monolayers of mixture of alkylaminomethyl rutin and lecithin at the air/water interface.

A compound of flavonol-based biosurfactant, as C(8)-substituted alkylaminomethyl rutin (DAMR) for a potential pharmaceutical or agrochemical use, was prepared experimentally. The surface behavior of DAMR and its mixture with lecithin from soybean (SL) had been studied. DAMR, regarded as a pseudo-amphoteric character, exhibits both liquid-condensed (LC) and liquid-expanded (LE) phases while SL is in the form of the LE phase only. The phase parameters of DAMR (including A(limt), pi(coll)) are observed to strongly depend on both the subphase temperature and the pH, which regulate the degree of ionization. In addition, the observed positive deviation calculated from excess Gibbs free energies of the DAMR-SL system suggests a repulsive interaction between DAMR and SL at all X(DAMR) values. Also the interaction parameter is found to increase linearly with surface pressure, regardless of composition. Notably, the relationship of logarithmic activity coefficient vs. X(DAMR)(2) reveals that the molecular interaction of DAMR-SL can be adequately simulated using a simple regular mixture model. Importantly, lower C(S)(-1) values of this mixture than those with pure DAMR and SL denote weak elasticity of mixed monolayers with values of X(DAMR) of 0.2-0.8, indicating that the direct addition of DAMR may exert a somewhat adverse influence on SL membranes.