A multi-institutional retrospective study of hyperthermic plus intravesical chemotherapy versus intravesical chemotherapy treatment alone in intermediate and high risk nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer

Objective:To compare the efficacy and safety of hyperthermic intravesical chemotherapy(HIVEC)and intravesical chemotherapy(IVEC)in patients with intermediate and high risk nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer(NMIBC)after transurethral resection.Methods:We included 560 patients diagnosed with primary or recurrent NMIBC between April 2009 and December 2015 at 1 of 6 tertiary centers.We matched 364 intermediate or high risk cases and divided them into 2 groups:the HIVEC+IVEC group[chemohyperthermia(CHT)composed of 3 consecutive sessions followed by intravesical instillation without hyperthermia]and the IVEC group(intravesical instillation without hyperthermia).The data were recorded in the database.The primary endpoint was 2-year recurrence-free survival(RFS)in all NMIBC patients(n=364),whereas the secondary endpoints were the assessment of radical cystectomy(RC)and 5-year overall survival(OS).Results:There was a significant difference in the 2-year RFS between the two groups in all patients(n=364;HIVEC+IVEC:82.42%vs.IVEC:74.18%,P=0.038).Compared with the IVEC group,the HIVEC+IVEC group had a lower incidence of RC(P=0.0274).However,the 5-year OS was the same between the 2 groups(P=0.1434).Adverse events(AEs)occurred in 32.7%of all patients,but none of the events was serious(grades 3–4).No difference in the incidence or severity of AEs between each treatment modality was observed.Conclusions:This retrospective study showed that HIVEC+IVEC had a higher 2-year RFS and a lower incidence of RC than IVEC therapy in intermediate and high risk NMIBC patients.Both treatments were well-tolerated in a similar manner.

Spinal cord conduits for spinal cord injury regeneration

Spinal cord injury(SCI),which causes irreversible damage in both sensory and motor function,is considered an insurmountable challenge in the field of medicine.The previous researchers have developed many kinds of biomaterials for SCI,and spinal cord conduits(SCCs)are an important classification for bridging spinal cord tissues while performing their corresponding functions.In this review,we first describe the original sources of the different polymers that determine the properties of the different SCCs.Afterwards,we focus on the different types of crosslinking methods used for preparing SCCs.Then,various practical applications and therapeutic effects of SCCs are summarized and discussed.Finally,we conclude the existing limitations of current SCCs.We hope that this paper will serve as a further inspiration for the development of SCCs in future.

Polarization-maintaining few mode fiber composed of a central circular-hole and an elliptical-ring core

We propose a novel waveguide design of polarization-maintaining few mode fiber(PM-FMF) supporting ≥10non-degenerate modes, utilizing a central circular air hole and a circumjacent elliptical-ring core. The structure endows a new degree of freedom to adjust the birefringence of all the guided modes, including the fundamental polarization mode. Numerical simulations demonstrate that, by optimizing the air hole and elliptical-ring core,a PM-FMF supporting 10 distinctive polarization modes has been achieved, and the effective index difference Δn_(eff) between the adjacent guided modes could be kept larger than 1.32 × 10^(-4) over the whole C +L band. The proposed fiber structure can flexibly tailored to support an even larger number of modes in PM-FMF(14-mode PM-FMF has been demonstrated as an example), which can be readily applicable to a scalable mode division multiplexing system.

Freeze substitution Hi-C,a convenient and cost-effective method for capturing the natural 3D chromatin conformation from frozen samples

Chromatin interactions functionally affect genome architecture and gene regulation,but to date,only fresh samples must be used in High-through chromosome conformation capture(Hi-C)to keep natural chromatin conformation intact.This requirement has impeded the advancement of 3 D genome research by limiting sample collection and storage options for researchers and severely limiting the number of samples that can be processed in a short time.Here,we develop a freeze substitution Hi-C(FS-Hi-C)technique that overcomes the need for fresh samples.FS-Hi-C can be used with samples stored in liquid nitrogen(LN2):the water in a vitreous form in the sample cells is replaced with ethanol via automated freeze substitution.After confirming that the FS step preserves the natural chromosome conformation during sample thawing,we tested the performance of FS-Hi-C with Drosophila melanogaster and Gossypium hirsutum.Beyond allowing the use of frozen samples and confirming that FS-Hi-C delivers robust data for generating contact heat maps and delineating A/B compartments and topologically associating domains,we found that FS-HiC outperforms the in situ Hi-C in terms of library quality,reproducibility,and valid interactions.Thus,FS-HiC will probably extend the application of 3D genome structure analysis to the vast number of experimental contexts in biological and medical research for which Hi-C methods have been unfeasible to date.