Primary coexisting adenocarcinoma of the colon and neuroendocrine tumor of the duodenum: A case report and review of the literature

BACKGROUND Neuroendocrine tumors(NETs)arise from the body’s diffuse endocrine system.Coexisting primary adenocarcinoma of the colon and NETs of the duodenum(D-NETs)is a rare occurrence in clinical practice.The classification and treatment criteria for D-NETs combined with a second primary cancer have not yet been determined.CASE SUMMARY We report the details of a case involving female patient with coexisting primary adenocarcinoma of the colon and a D-NET diagnosed by imaging and surgical specimens.The tumors were treated by surgery and four courses of chemothe-rapy.The patient achieved a favorable clinical prognosis.CONCLUSION Coexisting primary adenocarcinoma of the colon and D-NET were diagnosed by imaging,laboratory indicators,and surgical specimens.Surgical resection com-bined with chemotherapy was a safe,clinically effective,and cost-effective treat-ment.

Acacetin protects against cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury via the NLRP3 signaling pathway

Acacetin(5,7-dihydroxy-4′-methoxyflavone), a potential neuroprotective agent, has an inhibitory effect on lipopolysaccharide-induced neuroinflammatory reactions. However, whether acacetin has an effect on inflammatory corpuscle 3(NLRP3) after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury has not been fully determined. This study used an improved suture method to establish a cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury model in C57BL/6 mice. After ischemia with middle cerebral artery occlusion for 1 hour, reperfusion with intraperitoneal injection of 25 mg/kg of acacetin(acacetin group) or an equal volume of saline(0.1 mL/10 g, middle cerebral artery occlusion group) was used to investigate the effect of acacetin on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. Infarct volume and neurological function scores were determined by 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining and the Zea-Longa scoring method. Compared with the middle cerebral artery occlusion group, neurological function scores and cerebral infarction volumes were significantly reduced in the acacetin group. To understand the effect of acacetin on microglia-mediated inflammatory response after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, immunohistochemistry for the microglia marker calcium adapter protein ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1(Iba1) was examined in the hippocampus of ischemic brain tissue. In addition, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6 expression in ischemic brain tissue of mice was quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Expression of Iba1, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β and interleukin-6 was significantly lower in the acacetin group compared with the middle cerebral artery occlusion group. Western blot assay results showed that expression of Toll-like receptor 4, nuclear factor kappa B, NLRP3, procaspase-1, caspase-1, pro-interleukin-1β, and interleukin-1β were significantly lower in the acacetin group compared with the middle cerebral artery occlusion group. Our findings indicate that acacetin has a protective effect on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, and its mechanism of action is associated with inhibition of microglia-mediated inflammation and the NLRP3 signaling pathway.

Clinical comparison of laparoscopy vs open surgery in a radical operation for rectal cancer: A retrospective casecontrol study

AIM: To assess the diverse immediate and longterm clinical outcomes, a retrospective comparison between laparoscopic and conventional operation was performed.METHODS: A total number of 916 clinical cases, from January 2006 to December 2013 in our hospital, were analyzed which covered 492 patients underwent the laparoscopy in radical resection(LRR) and 424 cases in open radical resection(ORR). A retrospective analysis was proceeded by comparing the general information, surgery performance, pathologic data, postoperative recovery and complications as well as long-term survival to investigate the diversity of immediate and long-term clinical outcomes of laparoscopic radical operation.RESULTS: There were no statistically significance differences between gender, age, height, weight, body mass index(BMI), tumor loci, tumor node metastasis stages, cell differentiation degree or American Society of Anesthesiologists scores of the patients(P > 0.05). In contrast to the ORR group, the LRR group experienced less operating time(P < 0.001), a lower blood loss(P < 0.001), and had a 2.44% probability of conversion to open surgery. Postoperative bowel function recovered more quickly, analgesic usage and the average hospital stay(P < 0.001) were reduced after LRR. Lymph node dissection during LRR appeared to be slightly more than in ORR(P = 0.338). There were no obvious differences in the lengths and margins(P = 0.182). And the occurrence rate in the two groups was similar(P = 0.081). Overall survival rate of ORR and LRR for 1, 3 and 5 years were 94.0% and 93.6%(P = 0.534), 78.1% and 80.9%(P = 0.284) and 75.2% and 77.0%(P = 0.416), respectively.CONCLUSION: Laparoscopy as a radical operation for rectal cancer was safe, produced better immediate outcomes. Long-term survival of laparoscopy revealed that it was similar to the open operation.

Energy band alignment at Cu2O/ZnO heterojunctions characterized by in situ x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

With the increasing interest in Cu2O-based devices for photovoltaic applications,the energy band alignment at the Cu2O/ZnO heterojunction has received more and more attention.In this work,a high-quality Cu2O/ZnO heterojunction is fabricated on a c-Al2 O3 substrate by laser-molecular beam epitaxy,and the energy band alignment is determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.The valence band of ZnO is found to be 1.97 eV below that of Cu2O.A type-II band alignment exists at the Cu2O/ZnO heterojunction with a resulting conduction band offset of 0.77 eV,which is especially favorable for enhancing the efficiency of Cu2O/ZnO solar cells.

Yb-Decorated Carbon Nanotubes As a Potential Capacity Hydrogen Storage Medium

We report a first-principles study, which demonstrates that a single Yb atom coated on a single-walled nanotube (SWNT), B atom doped CNT and N atom doped CNT binds up to six hydrogen molecules. At high Yb coverage we show that a SWNT can strongly adsorb up to 3.18 wt% hydrogen. Yb-4f electrons have no contribution on the adsorp-tion of hydrogen molecules in Yb doped CNT. The charge analysis results show that 4f electrons remain in Yb. These results promote our fundamental understanding of dissociative adsorption of hydrogen in RE atom doped carbon nano-structures.

Synthesis and Characterization of Bi-functional Photorefractive Polymers with High Molecular Weight and Low Glass Transition Temperature

Carbazole-based bi-functional photorefractive polyacrylates were prepared via free radical polymerization and post-azo-coupling reaction. The structure of polymers was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR） and proton nuclear magnetic resonance （^1H-NMR） spectroscopy. The differential scanning calorimetry （DSC） and the thermal gravimetric analysis （TGA） were used to characterize the thermal property of polymers. The results indicate that though the glass transition temperature （Tg） of polymers increases with increasing the ratio of NLO groups, the polymers with different ratios of NLO groups still all show low glass transition temperatures around 60 ℃, and good thermal stability, which are favorable to the practical application of these polymers. The gel permeation chromatographic （GPC） result indicates that these polymers all have high-molecular-weight which is favorable to the long term stability of the material. Further, these polymers have good solubility in chloroform solvent, and the solutions can easily be fabricated into optically transparent films. Gain coefficients of 75 cm^-1, 185 cm^-1 and 66 cm^-1 can be observed at zero external electric field without any addition agent or pre-poling for polymers P-2, P-3 and P-4 respectively. The different contents of NLO groups result in the different properties of polymers P-2, P-3 and P-4.

Detection of Gene Promoter Methylation and Protein Expression of p21 in Psoriasis

Object: The study was aimed to detect the methylation patterns in psoriasis tissues. Methods: We collected 15 psoriasis tissues and 19 uninvolved psoriatic samples from psoriasis patients, and 3 normal skin samples from healthy control, and investigated the methylation levels of p21 gene promoter by pyrosequencing analysis. The expression of p21 protein was detected by immunohischemistry in 38 psoriatic tissues and 16 uninvolved samples from psoriasis patients, and 3 normal samples from healthy control. The differences among the three groups were analyzed by Chi-square test. Results: We found that there was no significant difference in the frequency of p21 gene promoter methylation among the three groups (P=0.204), howerver the p21 protein expression were different among the three groups (P=0.007). Conclusion: This methylation marker maybe not an indicator for the detection and monitoring of psoriasis.