Chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab for small cell lung cancer with brain metastases:A case report

BACKGROUND Small cell lung cancer(SCLC)is a common and aggressive subtype of lung cancer.It is characterized by rapid growth and a high mortality rate.Approximately 10%of patients with SCLC present with brain metastases at the time of diagnosis,which is associated with a median survival of 5 mo.This study aimed to summarize the effect of bevacizumab on the progression-free survival(PFS)and overall survival of patients with brain metastasis of SCLC.CASE SUMMARY A 62-year-old man was referred to our hospital in February 2023 because of dizziness and numbness of the right lower extremity without headache or fever for more than four weeks.The patient was diagnosed with limited-stage SCLC.He received 8 cycles of chemotherapy combined with maintenance bevacizumab therapy and achieved a PFS of over 7 mo.CONCLUSION The combination of bevacizumab and irinotecan effectively alleviated brain metastasis in SCLC and prolonged PFS.

A novel MgF2/PDA/S-HA coating on the bio-degradable ZE21B alloy for better multi-functions on cardiovascular application

Recently, functional molecules such as Polydopamine(PDA), Hyaluronic Acid(HA) and heparin have been widely studied in the field of surface modification of magnesium(Mg) alloy stents for better degradation behavior and biocompatibility, but their further application is limited by undesirable anticoagulant function, uncontrollable degradation and easy bleeding, respectively.Regarding to this consideration, a magnesium Fluoride/Polydopamine/Sulphonated hyaluronic acid(Mg F2/PDA/S-HA) composite coating was successfully prepared by applying S-HA with sulfur content of 9.71 wt% on the surface of ZE21B alloy in this study. The results showed that the composite coating with a unique mesh structure not only inherited the anticoagulant effect of sulfonic acid group and the excellent cyto-compatibility of S-HA with high sulfur content, but also significantly improved the corrosion performance of ZE21B alloy.These results indicate a great application potential of the composite coating in the field of cardiovascular biomaterials.

Research into polymer injection timing for Bohai heavy oil reservoirs

Polymer flooding has been proven to effectively improve oil recovery in the Bohai Oil Field. However, due to high oil viscosity and significant formation heterogeneity, it is necessary to further improve the displacement effectiveness of polymer flooding in heavy oil reservoirs in the service life of offshore platforms. In this paper, the effects of the water/oil mobility ratio in heavy oil reservoirs and the dimensionless oil productivity index on polymer flooding effectiveness were studied utilizing rel- ative permeability curves. The results showed that when the water saturation was less than the value, where the water/oil mobility ratio was equal to 1, polymer flooding could effectively control the increase of fractional water flow, which meant that the upper limit of water/oil ratio suitable for polymer flooding should be the value when the water/oil mobility ratio was equal to 1. Mean while, by injecting a certain volume of water to create water channels in the reservoir, the polymer flooding would be the most effective in improving sweep efficiency, and lower the fractional flow of water to the value corresponding to △Jmax. Considering the service life of the platform and the polymer mobility control capacity, the best polymer injection timing for heavy oil reservoirs was optimized. It has been tested for reservoirs with crude oil viscosity of 123 and 70 mPa s, the optimum polymer flooding effec- tiveness could be obtained when the polymer floods were initiated at the time when the fractional flow of water were 10 % and 25 %, respectively. The injection timing range for polymer flooding was also theoretically analyzed for the Bohai Oil Field utilizing which provided methods for effectiveness. relative permeability curves, improving polymer flooding

Cutaneous metastasis from esophageal squamous cell carcinoma:A case report

BACKGROUND Esophageal cancer is a common cause of cancer-related death worldwide.Cutaneous metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is rare,particularly in diffuse skin metastasis.CASE SUMMARY In this case report,we describe an 82-year-old male who was diagnosed with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.The tumor was staged as T4N3M1(Stage IVB).The pathological findings revealed poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.Four months after diagnosis,the patient began chemotherapy,and symptoms were relieved after four cycles of chemotherapy.After that,the patient returned home without a systematic physical examination.One year after diagnosis,the patient realized that the skin of the abdominal wall was hard and rough without pain,and the color became darker than normal skin.Thirteen months after diagnosis,a biopsy of the patient’s abdominal lesion revealed that the skin metastasis was derived from the esophagus.Then the patient received two cycles of apatinib combined with docetaxel,but the abdominal lesion worsened.Two cycles of nivolumab were administered,but the patient eventually died of multiple organ failure.CONCLUSION This report highlights cutaneous metastasis as a late and untreatable metastasis of esophageal cancer.

Meta-analysis of gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel combined with targeted agents in the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer

BACKGROUND Gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel(GA) is a commonly used first-line treatment regimen for metastatic pancreatic cancer,and many studies will add a novel targeted agent to this regimen for improving patient survival rate.However,the clinical effectiveness of GA is the most controversial issue.AIM To compare the efficacy and safety of GA regimen with a targeted agent and GA regimen.METHODS Up to 1 December 2021,the eligible randomized controlled trials(RCTs) relating to GA and GA with a targeted agent were searched on Pub Med,EMBASE and Cochrane Library for eligible data.We screened out appropriate studies for overall survival(OS),progression-free survival(PFS),objective response rate(ORR),and toxicity,which had been pooled and finally analyzed by using Stata version 15.1.In addition,we use Reference Citation Analysis(https://www.referencecitationanalysis.com/) to collect the latest related literature to improve the latest cutting-edge research results.RESULTS Seven RCTs involving 1544 patients(848 men and 696 women) were included.There were no significant differences between GA with a targeted agent and GA in PFS [hazard ratio(HR):1.18 95% confidence interval(CI):0.91-1.53],OS(HR:1.12 95%CI:0.99-1.27),and ORR(HR:0.96 95%CI:0.71-1.29).There was no notable difference in the two groups in grade 3/4 toxicity(fatigue,anemia,vomiting and neutropenia),whereas the incidence of grade 3/4 diarrhea considerably increased in GA with a targeted drug.CONCLUSION Adding a novel targeted agent to the GA regimen did not improve survival rate of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Diagnosis and guidance of treatment of breast cancer cutaneous metastases by multiple needle biopsy: A case report

BACKGROUND Breast cancer patients have a high skin metastasis rate.However,reports on treatment of cutaneous metastases of breast cancer are scarce.CASE SUMMARY We report the treatment process for one breast cancer case with bone,lung,and skin metastases.The patient was a 43-year-old woman with advanced breast cancer and skin metastasis.She underwent pathological diagnosis by needle biopsy to guide the treatment.When the disease progressed,a new pathological diagnosis was determined by needle biopsy to guide the treatment.The patient received chemotherapy,endocrine therapy,and photodynamic dynamic therapy,followed by sonodynamic therapy.CONCLUSION Repeated puncture should be performed for advanced breast cancer with skin metastasis,in order to obtain the pathology and directly determine diagnosis when the disease progresses.The treatment should focus on controlling the systemic metastasis,rather than the local disease.

Network pharmacological study on the mechanism of shenfu decoction in the treatment of cardiotoxicity by doxorubicin

Objective:Doxorubicin is an efficient anthracycline drug for the treatment of tumor,however,its cardiotoxicity restricts the clinical application.Shenfu decoction has good clinical effect,but the pharmacological mechanism is not fully clarified.Method:The active components and potential targets of shenfu decoction were screened by TCMSP database,disease targets of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity were collected by Genecards and OMIM database,and the network diagram of"drug-components-target-disease"was constructed by Cytoscape software.PPI network was constructed by STRING database.The target of action of the drug and the disease gene were mapped for GO and KEGG signal pathway analysis.Results:The study found that there are 52 main effective components of shenfu decoction,and 76 genes are involved in the potential therapeutic targets,among which 24 genes are potential targets of shenfu decoction in the treatment of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.The protein interaction network suggested that BCL2、BAX、CASP9、CASP3、MAPK8 may be the core target.GO enrichment analysis showed 52 cellular biological processes,and enrichment analysis of KEGG pathway revealed 99 involved signaling pathways,including TNF,apoptosis signaling pathways,etc.Conclusion:In this study,the network of"drug-components-target-disease"was constructed through network pharmacology,and it was found that the mechanism of"shenfu decoction"in the treatment of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity involves multiple targets and pathways,which is conducive to guiding clinical medication.

Study on the mechanism of"Sangu Decoction"in the treatment of bone metastatic carcinoma

Objective:To study the mechanism of"Sangu Decoction"in the treatment of bone metastatic carcinoma by network pharmacology.Methods:TCMSP,TCMID and TCM Database@Taiwan databases and literature search were used to screen the main effective components of drugs.Swiss Target and TCMSP databases were used to search the potential therapeutic targets of"Sangu Decoction".DisGeNet and Drugbank databases were used to search the genes of bone metastatic carcinoma.Drug action targets and disease genes were mapped.Cytoscape 3.8.1 software was used to visualize and screen out the core genes.GO and KEGG pathway analysis was performed on potential therapeutic targets.Results:There were 29 main active ingredients in"Sangu Decoction",which contained 413 target proteins.There are 773 disease targets of bone metastatic carcinoma,of which 112 are potential targets of"Sangu Decoction"for the treatment of bone metastatic carcinoma.Through GO and KEGG pathway analysis,it was found that"Sangu Decoction"exerted anti-cancer,inhibiting bone metastasis and immune regulation mechanism through TNF,ErbB,FoxO,PI3K-Akt,Toll-like Receptor,NOD-like Receptor,Rap1 and other signaling pathways in the treatment of bone metastatic carcinoma.The key genes of"Sangu Decoction"in treating bone metastatic carcinoma are VEGFA,AKT1,IL6,TP53,MAPK3,SRC,EGFR and CASP3 and so on.Conclusion:In this study,we constructed a a multi-level interaction"traditional Chinese medicine-compound-target-pathway"network through network pharmacology,and found that the mechanism of"Sangu Decoction"in the treatment of bone metastasis cancer involves multiple targets and pathways,which may be related to anti-cancer,inhibition of bone metastasis,regulation of immunity and so on.

Advances of MicroRNA in the diagnosis and mechanism of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity

Doxorubicin is a highly effective anthracycline chemotherapy drug,but its dose-dependent cardiotoxicity limits its clinical application.There are still many problems such as lack of sensitive biomarkers、effective therapeutic drugs and incomplete explanation of the mechanism.Because MicroRNA is expressed stably in human body fluid and especially in human tissue,and increasing evidence indicates that MicroRNA is not only involved in regulating cardiac electrical conduction,myocardial contraction process,but also can be used as a noninvasive biomarker,so this review will focus on the advances of MicroRNA in diagnosis and mechanism of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.

Mechanism of Weijing Decoction in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer based on network pharmacology

Objective:To explore the potential mechanism of Weijing decoction in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer based on the network pharmacology.Methods:The active constituent was collected based on the TCMSP database and the articles from CNKI and Pubmed databases.The targets of the active constituent were predicted by TCMSP database and Swiss Target Prediction.The drug-active components-targets network was built by utilizing Cytoscape3.7.2.OMIM,DrugBank,GeneCards and TTD databases were searched for the genes of NSCLC.Drug targets and disease targets were mapped and the protein-protein interaction(PPI)was acquired from the online STRING database.The hub genes were screened out through MCODE plug-in and the intersection targets were analyzed by Clue GO plug-in for GO functional enrichment and KEGG signaling pathway enrichment.Results:According to the threshold of OB≥30%and DL≥0.18,a total of 33 active components were selected.With 85 unique targets predicted,a total of 619 genes of NSCLC were obtained and 54 intersection targets were displayed through Venn diagram,among which the hub genes were EGFR、Casp3、MAPK8、PTGS2、JUN、TNF、JAK2,etc.GO enrichment analysis demonstrated vividly that the biological processes of Weijing decoction for NSCLC mainly focus on extrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway,nuclear receptor activity、positive regulation of blood vessel diameter.KEGG analysis illustrated that Weijing decoction might have an influence on Apoptosis signaling pathway,p53 signaling pathway,VEGF signaling pathway and so on.Conclusion:This article analyzed the main active constituent,hub genes,biological process and signaling pathways which were related to NSCLC on the basis of network of pharmacology,indicating that NSCLC can be treated by Weijing decoction through“multi-target and multi-pathway”.

Mechanism of "Epimedium-Cistanche deserticola" in the treatment of breast cancer with bone metastasis

Objective:"Epimedium - Cistanche deserticola" is a kind of kidney tonifying drug commonly used in the treatment of breast cancer bone metastasis, which has good clinical effect, but the pharmacological mechanism has not been fully clarified. Methods: In this study, the network pharmacology and bioinformatics technology were used to explore the mechanism of "Epimedium - Cistanche deserticola" in the treatment of breast cancer bone metastasis. TCMSP, TCM database@Taiwan and TCMID databases were used to screen the main effective components of the drug. Swiss Target Prediction and STITCH databases were used to search the potential target of action of Epimedium and Cistanche deserticola. Genecards, OMIN and Drugbank databases were used to search the cause of bone metastasis of breast cancer. The target of action of the drug and the disease gene were mapped for GO and KEGG signal pathway analysis, A visualized network of "drug - component - target - signaling pathway" was constructed by using the software of Cytoscape 3.6.0, and the core genes were screened out. Results: The study found that there are 30 main effective components of Epimedium and Cistanche deserticola, and 544 genes are involved in the potential therapeutic targets, among which 101 genes are potential targets of Epimedium and Cistanche deserticola in the treatment of breast cancer bone metastasis. Through the analysis of GO and KEGG pathways, we found that the mechanisms involved in antitumor, osteoblast differentiation, osteoclast apoptosis and regulation of bone microenvironment, such as apoptosis, osteoclast differentiation, PI3K-Akt, HIF-1 signaling pathway, T cell receptor signaling pathway, etc. TP53, VEGFA, AKT1, EGFR, SRC, CCND1, MAPK3, ESR1 may be the key genes in the treatment of breast cancer bone metastasis. Conclusion: In this study, the network of "drug - component - target- signaling pathway" was constructed through network pharmacology, and it was found that the mechanism of "Epimedium - Cistanche deserticola" in the treatment of breast cancer bone metastasis involves multiple targets and pathways, which is conducive to guiding clinical medication.

Network pharmacology study on the mechanism of Shaoyao Gancao decoction in treating cancer pain

Objective:This paper aims to explore the key targets and mechanism of action of Shaoyao Gancao Decoction in the treatment of cancer pain.Methods:TCMSP database was adopted to screen the active components and potential targets of Shaoyao Gancao Decoction.Genecards and OMIM databases were used to collect disease targets for cancer pain.Cytoscape software was used to construct the drug-component-target-disease network diagram.STRING database was used to draw PPI network.Finally,gene ontology(GO)enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were performed on key targets.Results:There were 98 potential targets for the treatment of cancer pain in Shaoyao Gancao Decoction.The protein interaction network suggested that IL-6,VEGFA,CASP3,EGFR and MAPK8 may be the core targets for the treatment of cancer pain in Shaoyao Gancao Decoction.GO enrichment analysis showed 127 cellular biological processes,and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed 116 related signaling pathways,including MPAK,AGE-RAGE,TNF,ErbB and so on.Conclusions:The treatment of cancer pain by Shaoyao Gancao Decoction may be multi-target,multi-channel and multi-level.This consequence may provide ideas and basis for further research.

Biodegradation,hemocompatibility and covalent bonding mechanism of electrografting polyethylacrylate coating on Mg alloy for cardiovascular stent

Organic coatings are the most widely employed approach for the promotion of corrosion resistance of magnesium(Mg)alloys.Unfortunately,traditional organic coatings are weakly bonded to Mg substrates due to physical adsorption.Herein,a polyethylacrylate(PEA)coating was fabricated on Mg-Zn-YNd alloy via electro-grafting.The surface structure and chemical composition were characterized by means of scanning electron microscope(SEM),energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDS),atomic force microscope(AFM)and Fourier transform infrared(FTIR)as well as time of flight-secondary ion mass spectrometer(To F-SIMS).The results showed that the surface roughness of PEA coating was dominated by scan rate;while the coverage and integrity of PEA coating were mainly affected by the monomer concentration and sweep circles.To F-SIMS results indicated that PEA coating was wholly covered on Mg alloy,and the presence of C2H3Mg-fragment confirmed the covalent bond between PEA coating and Mg alloy.In addition,DFT calculation results of the adsorption of EA molecules with Mg substrate agree well with the experimental phenomena and observation,suggesting that the electrons in 3s orbit of Mg atoms and 2pz orbit of C1 atom participated in the formation of covalent bond between PEA coating and Mg substrate.Potentiodynamic polarization curves and immersion test demonstrated that the PEA coatings could effectively enhance the corrosion resistance of Mg alloy.The platelet adhesion results designated that platelets were barely visible on PEA coating,which implied that PEA coating could effectively prevent the thrombosis and coagulation of platelets.PEA coating might be a promising candidate coating of Mg alloy for cardiovascular stent.

Effect of different processings on mechanical property and corrosion behavior in simulated body fluid of Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy for cardiovascular stent application

The biomagnesium alloys have been considered to be one of the most potential biodegradable metal materials due to its good mechanical compatibility, biological compatibility, biological security and biodegradable characteristics. However, the two major problems of high degradation rates in physiological environment and low mechanical properties prevent the development of biomagnesium alloys. In the present work, the samples of Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy were prepared by cyclic extrusion compression （CEC） and equal channel angular pressing （ECAP）. The microstructures, mechanical properties of alloy and its corrosion behavior in simulated body fluid （SBF） were evaluated. The results reveal that Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy consists of equiaxial fine grain structure with the homogeneous distribution of micrometer size and nano-sized second phase, which was caused by the dynamic recrystallization during the ECAP and CEC. The corrosion resistance of alloy was improved. The tensile and corrosion resistance were improved, especially the processed alloy exhibit uniform corrosion performances and decreased corrosion rate. This will provide theoretical ground for Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy as vascular stent application.

Clarifying effect of welding conditions on microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir spot-welded DH590 automotive high-strength steel plates

Friction stir spot welding was successfully applied to the 1.2-mm-thick DH590 dual-phase steel plates by using a polycrystalline cubic boron nitride rotating tool.During welding,the rotation speed ranged from 600 to 1000 r/min and the penetration depth ranged from 0.1 to 0.3 mm.In the spot joints,the size of the stir zone increased with the increase in rotation speed as well as the penetration depth of the tool.Comparing with the banded ferrite and martensite structure of the base metal,a mixed microstructure of ferrite and tempered martensite,refined bainite structure and coarse martensite structure were found in the heat-affected zone,thermomechanically affected zone and stir zone of the joints,respectively.Two kinds of interfacial shapes were formed between the upper and lower steel plates,and the formation of the bonded interface was dominated mainly by the penetration depth of the rotating tool rather than the rotation speed.It was revealed that the joints with straight interfaces showed higher shear tensile loads comparing with those with hook-like interfaces.Shear tensile tests showed that the maximum shear tensile load reached about 15.56 kN when the rotation speed and penetration depth were set as 800 r/min and 0.3 mm,respectively.The specimen was fractured through plug failure mode with a total elongation of about 5.6 mm.