Pilot-Scale Experimental Study on the Coupling of Venturi-Bubbling Reactor to Promote the Absorption of Leaked H2S.

Natural gas generates varying concentrations of H2S during natural formation and extraction, and H2S leak accidents are frequent, posing a significant threat to the safety of human life and the environment. Conventional treatment technology equipment is large and does not meet the emergency requirements of the complex topographical gas field. This study aimed to design a pilot-scale method coupling the venturi and bubbling reactors to reduce equipment size and improve emergency capabilities for the absorption of leaked H2S. It found that the ring system self-priming venturi reactor, which was suitable only for the coarse treatment of toxic gases, maintained an absorption efficiency of around 50% under most operating conditions, with substantial variations due to changes in process parameters, but that redundancy of the bubbling reactor was high. With the synergistic effect of venturi and bubbling, the coupling process had an extremely high absorption efficiency, basically more than 95%. The experiments also showed that the H2S concentration at the outlet of the venturi-bubbling reactor increased with increasing inlet gas concentration and gas volume. The absorption performance improved significantly on increasing Fe3+ concentration; it increased first and then remained constant, and the optimum Fe3+ concentration for the absorption of leaked H2S was 21 000 mg/m3. The absorption performance decreased with increasing submergence height and then remained stable after the size of the inlet approached 600 mm, whereas the overall absorption efficiency of the venturi-bubbling reactor remained constant. The optimum operating temperature range was 10 °C-50 °C. The experimental system kept the outlet concentration below the emergency discharge standard for a continuous period of 48 h following practical use in the gas field and resulting in significant enhancement in mass transfer performance, fully satisfying the emergency requirements.

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of the Short-Chain Fluorocarbon Surfactant PFHXA and the Anionic Surfactant SDS at the Air/Water Interface.

The research and development of alternatives to long-chain fluorocarbon surfactants are desperately needed because they are extremely toxic, difficult to break down, seriously harm the environment, and limit the use of conventional aqueous film-forming foam fire extinguishing agents. In this study, mixed surfactant systems containing the short-chain fluorocarbon surfactant perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHXA) and the hydrocarbon surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were investigated by molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the microscopic properties at the air/water interface at different molar ratios. Some representative parameters, such as surface tension, degree of order, density distribution, radial distribution function, number of hydrogen bonds, and solvent-accessible surface area, were calculated. Molecular dynamics simulations show that compared with a single type of surfactant, mixtures of surfactants provide superior performance in improving the interfacial properties of the gas-liquid interface. A dense monolayer film is formed by the strong synergistic impact of the two surfactants. Compared to the pure SDS system, the addition of PFHXA caused SDS to be more vertically oriented at the air/water interface with a reduced tilt angle, and a more ordered structure of the mixed surfactants was observed. Hydrogen bonding between SDS headgroups and water molecules is enhanced with the increasing PFHXA. The surface activity is arranged in the following order: PFHXA/SDS = 1:1 > PFHXA/SDS = 3:1 > PFHXA/SDS = 1:3. These results indicate that a degree of synergistic relationship exists between PFHXA and SDS at the air/water interface.

INHBA regulates Hippo signaling to confer 5-FU chemoresistance mediated by cellular senescence in colon cancer cells.

Colon cancer has become a global public health challenge, and 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) chemoresistance is a major obstacle in its treatment. Chemoresistance can be mediated by therapy-induced cellular senescence. This study intended to investigate mechanisms of INHBA (inhibin A) in 5-FU resistance mediated by cellular senescence in colon cancer. Bioinformatics analysis of INHBA expression in colon cancer tissues, survival analysis, and correlation analysis of cellular senescence markers were performed. The effects of INHBA on the biological characteristics and 5-FU resistance of colon cancer cells were examined through loss/gain-of-function and molecular assays. Finally, a xenograft mouse model was built to validate the mechanism of INHBA in vivo. INHBA was upregulated in colon cancer and was significantly positively correlated with cellular senescence markers uncoupling protein 2 (UCP-2), matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), dense and erect panicle 1 (DEP1), and p21. Cellular senescence in colon cancer mediated 5-FU resistance. Downregulation of INHBA expression enhanced 5-FU sensitivity in colon cancer cells, inhibited cell proliferation, promoted apoptosis, increased the proportion of cells in G0/G1 phase, and it resulted in a lower proportion of senescent cells and lower levels of the cellular senescence markers interleukin 6 (IL-6) and interleukin 8 (IL-8). Analysis of whether to use the pathway inhibitor Verteporfin proved that INHBA facilitated colon cancer cell senescence and enhanced 5-FU chemoresistance via inactivation of Hippo signaling pathway, and consistent results were obtained in vivo. Collectively, INHBA conferred 5-FU chemoresistance mediated by cellular senescence in colon cancer cells through negative regulation of Hippo signaling.

Anti-inflammatory activity of ß-glucans from different sources before and after fermentation by fecal bacteria in vitro.

BACKGROUND: ß-Glucans are widely sourced and have various physiological effects, including anti-inflammatory effects. However, the strength of the anti-inflammatory activity of ß-glucans from different sources remains unknown due to the lack of rapid and effective biomarkers. This study therefore aimed to screen out the ß-glucans with strong anti-inflammatory activity from five different sources and to further screen out possible biomarkers in metabolites after fermenting the ß-glucans with gut microorganisms. RESULTS: The results showed that all five ß-glucans inhibited the production of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced pro-inflammatory mediators and suppressed the mRNA expression level of TLR4/MyD88. Their anti-inflammatory mechanisms involved the inhibition of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and suppression of mRNA expression of the NF-κB pathway and JNK pathway. Among them, barley ß-glucan exhibited the strongest anti-inflammatory effect, followed by Ganoderma lucidum ß-glucan. Enhanced anti-inflammatory activity of ß-glucan was found after fermentation and may be related to the increased abundance of metabolites such as vanillin, dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, caffeic acid, acetic acid, butyric acid, and lactic acid. They were strongly positively correlated to the abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Blautia, suggesting that the production of those metabolites may be responsible for the flourishing of the beneficial bacteria. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, barley was a preferred raw material for the preparation of ß-glucans with strong anti-inflammatory activity. Vanillin, dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, caffeic acid, acetic acid, butyric acid, and lactic acid were the possible biomarkers that could be utilized to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of ß-glucans. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Ultra-high b-Value DWI in predicting progression risk of locally advanced rectal cancer: a comparative study with routine DWI.

BACKGROUND: The prognosis prediction of locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) was important to individualized treatment, we aimed to investigate the performance of ultra-high b-value DWI (UHBV-DWI) in progression risk prediction of LARC and compare with routine DWI. METHODS: This retrospective study collected patients with rectal cancer from 2016 to 2019. Routine DWI (b = 0, 1000 s/mm2) and UHBV-DWI (b = 0, 1700 ~ 3500 s/mm2) were processed with mono-exponential model to generate ADC and ADCuh, respectively. The performance of the ADCuh was compared with ADC in 3-year progression free survival (PFS) assessment using time-dependent ROC and Kaplan-Meier curve. Prognosis model was constructed with ADCuh, ADC and clinicopathologic factors using multivariate COX proportional hazard regression analysis. The prognosis model was assessed with time-dependent ROC, decision curve analysis (DCA) and calibration curve. RESULTS: A total of 112 patients with LARC (TNM-stage II-III) were evaluated. ADCuh performed better than ADC for 3-year PFS assessment (AUC = 0.754 and 0.586, respectively). Multivariate COX analysis showed that ADCuh and ADC were independent factors for 3-year PFS (P < 0.05). Prognostic model 3 (TNM-stage + extramural venous invasion (EMVI) + ADCuh) was superior than model 2 (TNM-stage + EMVI + ADC) and model 1 (TNM-stage + EMVI) for 3-year PFS prediction (AUC = 0.805, 0.719 and 0.688, respectively). DCA showed that model 3 had higher net benefit than model 2 and model 1. Calibration curve demonstrated better agreement of model 1 than model 2 and model 1. CONCLUSIONS: ADCuh from UHBV-DWI performed better than ADC from routine DWI in predicting prognosis of LARC. The model based on combination of ADCuh, TNM-stage and EMVI could help to indicate progression risk before treatment.

Expression of aquaporin 1, 3 and 5 in colorectal carcinoma: correlation with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis.

Background: Prognostic biomarkers in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) have an important role in therapeutic strategy. Studies have shown that high expression of Aquaporin (AQP) is associated with poor prognosis in a variety of human tumors. AQP is involved in the initiation and development of CRC. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between the expression of AQP1, 3 and 5 and clinicopathological features or prognosis in CRC. Methods: The AQP1, 3 and 5 expressions were analyzed based on the immunohistochemical staining of tissue microarray specimens including 112 patients with CRC between June 2006 and November 2008. The expression score of AQP (Allred_score and H_score) was digitally obtained with Qupath software. Patients were divided into high or low expression subgroups based on the optimal cut-off values. The relationship between expression of AQP and clinicopathological characteristics were evaluated using chi-square test, t-test, or one-way ANOVA, when appropriate. Survival analysis of 5-year progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was performed with time-dependent ROC, Kaplan-Meier curves, univariate and multivariate COX analysis. Results: The AQP1, 3 and 5 expressions were associated with regional lymph node metastasis, histological grading, and tumor location in CRC, respectively (p < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier curves showed that patients with high AQP1 expression had worse 5-year PFS than those with low AQP1 expression (Allred_score: 47% vs. 72%, p = 0.015; H_score: 52% vs. 78% p = 0.006), as well as 5-year OS (Allred_score: 51% vs. 75%, p = 0.005; H_score: 56% vs. 80%, p = 0.002). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that AQP1 expression was an independent risk prognostic factor (p = 0.033, HR = 2.274, HR95% CI: 1.069-4.836). There was no significant correlation between the expression of AQP3 and 5 and the prognosis. Conclusion: The AQP1, 3 and 5 expressions correlate with different clinicopathological characteristics and the AQP1 expression may be a potential biomarker of prognosis in CRC.

Synthesis of Carboxyl Modified Polyether Polysiloxane Surfactant for the Biodegradable Foam Fire Extinguishing Agents.

It is necessary to develop novel and efficient alternatives to fluorocarbon surfactant and prepare fluorine-free environmentally-friendly fire extinguishing agent. The carboxyl modified polyether polysiloxane surfactant (CMPS) with high surface activity was synthesized via the esterification reaction using hydroxyl-containing polyether modified polysiloxane (HPMS) and maleic anhydride (MA) as raw materials. The process conditions of the esterification reaction were optimized by orthogonal tests, and the optimum process parameters were determined as follows: reaction temperature of 85 °C, reaction time of 4.5 h, isopropyl alcohol content of 20% and the molar ratio of HPMS/MA of 1/1. The chemical structure, surface activity, aggregation behavior, foam properties, wetting properties and electron distribution were systematically investigated. It was found that the carboxyl group was successfully grafted into silicone molecule, and the conjugated system was formed, which changed the interaction force between the molecules and would affect the surface activity of the aqueous solution. The CMPS exhibited excellent surface activity and could effectively reduce the water's surface tension to 18.46 mN/m. The CMPS formed spherical aggregates in aqueous solution, and the contact angle value of CMPS is 15.56°, illustrating that CMPS had excellent hydrophilicity and wetting performance. The CMPS can enhance the foam property and has good stability. The electron distribution results indicate that the introduced carboxyl groups are more inclined towards the negative charge band, which would be conducive to weak the interaction between molecules and improve the surface activity of the solution. Consequently, new foam fire extinguishing agents were prepared by using CMPS as a key component and they exhibited excellent fire-fighting performance. The prepared CMPS would be the optimal alternative to fluorocarbon surfactant and could be applied in foam extinguishing agents.

Establishing Heterologous Production of Microcins J25 and Y in Bacillus subtilis.

Microcin J25 (MccJ25) and microcin Y (MccY) are lasso peptides and considered potential alternatives to antibiotics and harmful preservatives. The combination of these two microcins can provide a wide antimicrobial spectrum against food-borne Salmonella. Currently, MccJ25 and MccY are produced using Escherichia coli expression systems; however, the entire production process is accompanied by negative effects from endotoxins. In this study, we identified Bacillus subtilis as a suitable host for MccJ25 and MccY production. High-level production of microcins was achieved by promoter optimization, host strain selection, and recombinant expression. The engineered strains produced maximum yields of 2.827 µM MccJ25 and 1.481 µM MccY. This is the first study to demonstrate the expression of MccJ25 and MccY in B. subtilis, and it offers a few engineered strains that are without antibiotic resistance markers, inducer-free, sporulation-deficient, and free of the negative effects of endotoxins for antibacterial therapy and food preservation.

Prognostic value of multi b-value DWI in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the potential of multi b-value DWI in predicting the prognosis of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). METHODS: From 2015 to 2019, a total of 161 patients with LARC were enrolled and randomly sampled into a training set (n = 113) and validation set (n = 48). Multi b-value DWI (b = 0~1500 s/mm2) scans were postprocessed to generate functional parameters, including apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), Dt, Dp, f, distributed diffusion coefficient (DDC), and α. Histogram features of each functional parameter were submitted into Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and stepwise multivariate COX analysis to generate DWI_score based on the training set. The prognostic model was constructed with functional parameter, DWI_score, and clinicopathologic factors by using univariate and multivariate COX analysis on the training set and verified on the validation set. RESULTS: Multivariate COX analysis revealed that DWI_score was an independent indicator for 5-year progression-free survival (PFS, HR = 5.573, p < 0.001), but not for overall survival (OS, HR = 2.177, p = 0.051). No mean value of functional parameters was correlated with PFS or OS. Prognostic model for 5-year PFS based on DWI_score, TNM-stage, mesorectal fascia (MRF), and extramural venous invasion (EMVI) showed good performance both in the training set (AUC = 0.819) and validation set (AUC = 0.815). CONCLUSIONS: The DWI_score based on histogram features of multi b-value DWI functional parameters was an independent factor for PFS of LARC and the prognostic model with a combination of DWI_score and clinicopathologic factors could indicate the progression risk before treatment. KEY POINTS: • Mean value of functional parameters obtained from multi b-value DWI might not be useful to assess the prognosis of LARC. • The DWI_score based on histogram features of multi b-value DWI functional parameters was an independent prognosis factor for PFS of LARC. • Prognostic model based on DWI_score and clinicopathologic factors could indicate the progression risk of LARC before treatment.

Marine Fish Protein Peptide Regulating Potassium Oxonate-Induced Intestinal Dysfunction in Hyperuricemia Rats Helps Alleviate Kidney Inflammation.

The metabolic disease hyperuricemia (HUA) is characterized by a disturbance in purine metabolism. Peptides, such as marine fish-derived peptides, have previously been shown to be effective in alleviating HUA. In this study, HUA rats were induced by potassium oxonate with 100 mg/kg (L), 200 mg/kg (M), and 400 mg/kg (H) of marine fish protein peptide (MFPP). The results showed that MFPP could effectively reduce the serum uric acid (SUA) levels compared with the model group rats; kidney histopathology and the levels of inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10) indicated that MFPP attenuated HUA-induced kidney inflammation. Meanwhile, MFPP restored the abundance of beneficial bacteria, including Lactobacillus, Blautia, Colidextribacter, and Intestinimonas. MFPP further repaired the intestinal barrier by recovering the expression of gene Ildr2 encoding the tricellular tight junction protein ILDR2 and the immune-related genes Ccr7 and Nr4a3 and also regulated the expression of Entpd8 and Cyp27b1 to restore kidney function and uric acid metabolism. MFPP was proved to have potential as a therapeutic strategy to be included in dietary intervention to relieve HUA.

Recycling of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries by self-supplied reductant roasting.

The massive spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) need to be recycled due to their increasing decommission in recent years. This paper aims to propose an effective process that uses self-supplied reductant roasting and acid leaching to recover Lithium, Nickle, Cobalt and Manganese from spent LIBs. In the absence of external carbon resources, the waste membrane from spent LIBs was used as the reductant in the self-supplied reductant roasting. A thermodynamic analysis was conducted to judge the possible reduction reaction between the cathode material and waste membrane. Then, the effects of roasting temperature, roasting time and membrane dosage on the crystal structure and phase transformation of roasting products were investigated and optimized. After the roasting process, the valence state of metals in the cathode material decreased and the structure became loose and porous. Moreover, the layer structure of the cathode material was transformed into groups of Li2CO3, Ni, Co, NiO, CoO and MnO. Further, the reduction effect of cathode powders under each roasting condition was verified under the same leaching conditions. After leaching for 30 min, the leaching efficiencies of Li, Ni, Co and Mn were over 99% under the optimum roasting conditions. Finally, economic assessments proved that the proposed process is profitable. The whole process demonstrates an effective and positive way for recycling spent LIBs and making full use of their waste membrane, which promotes resource recovery and environmental protection.

Correlation between Genes of the ceRNA Network and Tumor-Infiltrating Immune Cells and Their Biomarker Screening in Kidney Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma.

This study aimed to using bioinformatics tools, qPCR, and the immunohistochemical analysis to find out factors related to the early diagnosis and prognosis of kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC). The expression profiles of lncRNA, miRNA, and mRNA of KIRC were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. A ceRNA regulatory network was constructed based on the interaction between these three differentially expressed genes. The CIBERSORT deconvolution algorithm was used to analyze the differential distribution of 22 types of immune cells. The Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox analyses were used to screen genes of the ceRNA network and also immune cell subtypes related to the clinical and prognostic prediction of KIRC. Co-expression regulatory relationships were found among LINC01426, LINC00894, CCNA2, L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM), and T follicular helper cells, which served as potential biomarkers. The results of quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction showed that LINC01426 was upregulated while L1CAM was downregulated in KIRC, but no difference was found in the expression levels of LINC00894 and CCNA2 in cancer and adjacent samples. The immunohistochemical analysis showed that T follicular helper cells were more concentrated in core tissues and metastases of KIRC. In a word, co-expression relationships were found among LINC01426, L1CAM, and T follicular helper cells, and they may serve as biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of KIRC.

Study on the thermal reduction effect of organic components in spent ternary lithium battery cathode active materials.

To improve the adhesion between cathode materials and current collector, and increase the electronic conductivity among electroactive substances, a certain proportion of conductive agents (acetylene black) and agglomerant (PVDF) are usually added in the battery manufacturing process. However, these conductive agents have negative effects on the recovery of cathode materials by pyrolysis or calcination. Recognizing this issue, a method based on the concept of "treating spent with spent" was developed in this paper. Organic matters contained in cathode active materials functioned as the reduction reagents, which can reduce the valence state of transition metals, resulting in the breakdown of the strong chemical bond and the stable layered structure of cathode materials. In this study, the thermal reduction effect of different organic components on cathode active materials was analyzed respectively to evaluate the reduction function of each component. XRD, XPS and ICP-MS were used to compare and analyze changes of phase, element compound state and ion leaching efficiencies of different cathode materials before and after thermal reduction under different amounts of reducing agents. The results show that both PVDF and acetylene black reduced the high-valent metals to low-valent oxides or elemental substances, demonstrating their thermal reduction capabilities. Comparisons of the XRD, XPS analysis and ion leaching results of thermal reduced products suggest that acetylene black has a stronger thermal reduction ability than that of PVDF. The results also show that the reduction of the high nickel cathode material (NCM811) is easier than that of the low nickel cathode material (NCM111).

[Utilization of used fungus-growing materials of Gastrodia elata].

This study aims to explore the resource utilization of used fungus-growing materials produced in the cultivation of Gastrodia elata. To be specific, based on the production practice, this study investigated the recycling mechanism of used fungus-growing materials of G. elata by Phallus inpudicus. To screen edible fungi with wide adaptability, this study examined the allelopathic effects of Armillaria mellea secretions on P. impudicus and 6 kinds of large edible fungi and the activities of enzymes related to degradation of the used fungus-growing materials of G. elata. The results showed that P. impudicus can effectively degrade cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in used fungus-growing materials of G. elata. The cellulase activity of A. mellea was significantly higher than that of P. impudicus, and the activities of lignin peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, and xylanase of P. impudicus were significantly higher than those of A. mellea, which was the important reason why A. mellea and P. impudicus used different parts and components of the used fungus-growing materials to absorb carbon sources and develop ecological niche differences. The growth of P. impudicus was significantly inhibited on the used fungus-growing materials of G. elata. The secretions of A. mellea had allelopathic effects on P. impudicus and other edible fungi, and the allelopathic effects were related to the concentration of allelopathy substances. The screening result showed that the growth and development of L. edodes and A. auricular were not significantly affected by 30% of A. mellea liquid, indicating that they had high resistance to the allelopathy of A. mellea. The results showed that the activities of extracellular lignin peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, and xylanase of the two edible fungi were similar to those of P. impudicus, and the cellulase activity was higher than that of P. impudicus. This experiment can be further verified by small-scale production tests.

Flaxseed oil ameliorates aging in d-galactose induced rats via altering gut microbiota and mitigating oxidative damage.

BACKGROUND: Aging causes decreased antioxidant capacity and chronic inflammation and may even elevate cancer risks. Previous studies reported that flaxseed oil (FO) can alleviate age-related diseases, including improving alcoholic liver disease, atherosclerosis and diabetes. However, whether the intestinal microbiota accountable for this alleviation is still unknown. This study aims to study the antioxidant effects of FO in an aging rat model and the underlying mechanism between the intestinal microbiota and aging. RESULTS: Our results presented that serum and liver antioxidant capacities in FO group were up-regulated, and liver inflammation in FO group was reduced. The 16S rDNA sequencing showed that FO regulated the microbial community, including up-regulation of four families of Lactobacillus and six families of Clostridium. In addition, FO had also adjusted the relative abundance of several genera such as Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005 and Prevotella_9, which may be the key bacteria associated with the aging process. Colonic transcriptome analysis showed that there were 1679 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the Model group and the FO group (134 up-regulated and 1545 down-regulated). Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) revealed FO down-regulates the expression of the upstream genes Ptprc, Lck, Zap70, Lat and Lcp2 in the T cell receptor signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, FO improved antioxidant capacity and reduced intestinal microbial disturbances caused by aging damage, indicating that dietary FO has the potential to fight aging damage. This study provides a more comprehensive view of dietary intervention to improve aging. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Recycling of valuable metals from spent cathode material by organic pyrolysis combined with in-situ thermal reduction.

From the perspective of environmental protection and resource recovery, recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries is a meaningful process. In this study, the removal of organics, liberatioin of electrode material, and reduction of high valence transition metal, as the key points in recycling efficiency of valuable metals, have been firstly achieved simultaneously by low temperature heat treatment recycling process. Pyrolysis characteristics of organics, phase transition behavior of spent cathode material and the thermal reduction mechanism were evaluated in the meantime. Results demonstrate that organics can be removed and the liberation of electrode materials can be improved by pyrolysis. High-valence transition metals in cathode materials are synchronously reduced to CoO, NiO, MnO, Ni, and Co based on the reducing action of organics, aluminum foil and conductive additives. At the same time, Li element exists in the form of Li2CO3, LiF and aluminum-lithium compound that can be recycled by water-leaching in the water impact crushing process while transition metals can be recycled by acid leaching without reducing agents. 81.26% of Li can be recycled from water-leaching process while the comprehensive recovery rate of Ni, Co, Mn is 92.04%, 93.01%, 92.21%, respectively. This study may provide an environmentally-friendly recycling flowchart of spent lithium-ion batteries.

Anti-PD-1 Therapy-A Potential Treatment for Myocardial Metastasis From Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Case Report.

Myocardial metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is rarely reported in the literature. Some autopsy studies found metastases in more than 10% of cases with malignant neoplasm. However, patients are often diagnosed during the postmortem because myocardial metastasis is often asymptomatic, and its Cardiac complications tend to be severe and fatal. Patients with Cardiac metastases are often treated with chemotherapy or surgical intervention, although the prognosis is poor. Immunotherapy with anti-programmed cell death receptor-1 or ligand-1 (PD-1 or PD-L1) inhibitors has recently been reported to be therapeutically significant in multiple cancers, including melanoma, nonsmall cell lung cancer, and NPC, but the treatment of myocardial metastasis of NPC has not been reported. This study described the case of a 50-year-old male patient who presented initially with NPC and received radiotherapy as first-line therapy. For 20 years, he had recurrent Cardiac metastasis of NPC. The pathological examination suggested tPD-L1 expression. Therefore, off-label sintilimab (200 mg every 21 days) was administered. After 10 cycles of treatment, myocardial metastasis shrank and the enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes disappeared. This case report demonstrated that Cardiac metastasis of NPC expressing PD-L1 might have a sustained response to PD-L1 inhibitor-directed therapy.

Access to Polycyclic Thienoindolines via Formal [2+2+1] Cyclization of Alkynyl Indoles with S8 and K2S.

The syntheses of polycyclic thienoindolines bearing a dihydrothiophene or tetrahydrothiophene subunit have not been reported, despite the fact that such compounds may have interesting medicinal properties. Herein, we report a protocol for accessing polycyclic dihydrothiophenes by means of formal [2+2+1] intramolecular dearomatizing cyclization of alkynyl indoles with K2S and S8 as the sources of sulfide. In addition, tetrahydrothienoindolines were stereoselectively synthesized via a one-pot, two-step protocol involving AgNO3-catalyzed alkenyl dearomatization followed by two nucleophilic addition reactions involving K2S.

The impact of pelvic radiotherapy on the gut microbiome and its role in radiation-induced diarrhoea: a systematic review.

Pelvic radiotherapy is the key treatment for pelvic malignancies, usually including pelvic primary tumour lesions and lymphatic drainage areas in the pelvic region. Therefore, the intestinal tract in the radiation field is inevitably damaged, a phenomenon clinically referred to as radiation enteritis, and diarrhoea is the most common clinical symptom of radiation enteritis. Therefore, it is necessary to study the mechanism of radiation-induced diarrhoea. It has been found that the gut microbiome plays an important role in the development of diarrhoea in response to pelvic radiotherapy, and the species and distribution of intestinal microbiota are significantly altered in patients after pelvic radiotherapy. In this study, we searched for articles indexed in the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE and PubMed databases in English and CNKI, Wanfang data and SINOMED in Chinese from their inception dates through 13 March 2020 to collect studies on the gut microbiome in pelvic radiotherapy patients. Eventually, we included eight studies: one study report on prostatic carcinoma, five studies on gynaecological carcinoma and two papers on pelvic carcinomas. All studies were designed as self-controlled studies, except for one that compared toxicity to nontoxicity. The results from all the studies showed that the diversity of intestinal flora decreased during and after pelvic radiotherapy, and the diversity of intestinal flora decreased significantly in patients with diarrhoea after radiotherapy. Five studies observed that the community composition of the gut microbiota changed at the phylum, order or genus level before, during, and after pelvic radiotherapy at different time points. In addition, the composition of the gut microbiota before radiotherapy was different between patients with postradiotherapy diarrhoea and those without diarrhoea in five studies. However, relevant studies have not reached consistent results regarding the changes in microbiota composition. Changes in the intestinal flora induced by pelvic radiotherapy and their relationship between changes in intestinal flora and the occurrence of radiation-induced diarrhoea (RID) are discussed in this study, providing a theoretical basis for the causes of RID after pelvic radiotherapy.

Comparable Performance of Deep Learning-Based to Manual-Based Tumor Segmentation in KRAS/NRAS/BRAF Mutation Prediction With MR-Based Radiomics in Rectal Cancer.

Radiomic features extracted from segmented tumor regions have shown great power in gene mutation prediction, while deep learning-based (DL-based) segmentation helps to address the inherent limitations of manual segmentation. We therefore investigated whether deep learning-based segmentation is feasible in predicting KRAS/NRAS/BRAF mutations of rectal cancer using MR-based radiomics. In this study, we proposed DL-based segmentation models with 3D V-net architecture. One hundred and eight patients' images (T2WI and DWI) were collected for training, and another 94 patients' images were collected for validation. We evaluated the DL-based segmentation manner and compared it with the manual-based segmentation manner through comparing the gene prediction performance of six radiomics-based models on the test set. The performance of the DL-based segmentation was evaluated by Dice coefficients, which are 0.878 ± 0.214 and 0.955 ± 0.055 for T2WI and DWI, respectively. The performance of the radiomics-based model in gene prediction based on DL-segmented VOI was evaluated by AUCs (0.714 for T2WI, 0.816 for DWI, and 0.887 for T2WI+DWI), which were comparable to that of corresponding manual-based VOI (0.637 for T2WI, P=0.188; 0.872 for DWI, P=0.181; and 0.906 for T2WI+DWI, P=0.676). The results showed that 3D V-Net architecture could conduct reliable rectal cancer segmentation on T2WI and DWI images. All-relevant radiomics-based models presented similar performances in KRAS/NRAS/BRAF prediction between the two segmentation manners.