A summary of HRs for the overall and subgroup analyses of CRP levels in patients with bone neoplasms.

A summary of HRs for the overall and subgroup analyses of CRP levels in patients with bone neoplasms.</p

Prognostic value of C-reactive protein levels in patients with bone neoplasms: A meta-analysis

<div><p>Objective</p><p>The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis of retrospective studies that investigated the association of preoperative C-reactive protein (CRP) levels with the overall survival (OS) of patients with bone neoplasms.</p><p>Methods</p><p>A detailed literature search was performed in the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase and PubMed databases up to August 28, 2017, for related research publications written in English. We extracted the data from these studies and combined the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the correlation between CRP levels and OS in patients with bone neoplasms.</p><p>Results</p><p>Five studies with a total of 816 participants from several countries were enrolled in this current meta-analysis. In a pooled analysis of all the publications, increased serum CRP levels had an adverse prognostic effect on the overall survival of patients with bone neoplasms. However, the combined data showed no significant relationship between the level of CRP and OS in Asian patients (HR = 1.73; 95% CI: 0.86–3.49; P = 0.125). Similar trends were observed in patients with bone neoplasms when stratified by ethnicity, histology, metastasis and study sample size.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>The results of this meta-analysis suggest that increased CRP expression indicates a poorer prognosis in patients with bone neoplasms. More prospective studies are needed to confirm the prognostic significance of CRP levels in patients with bone neoplasms.</p></div

Forest plot of the association between the level of CRP and OS in patients with bone neoplasms stratified by ethnicity (A), histology (B), metastasis (C) and sample size (D).

<p>Summary of estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CI for patients stratified by (A) ethnicity, (B) histology, (C) metastasis and (D) sample size.</p

Flow chart of the study selection.

<p>Flow chart of the study selection.</p

Forest plot of the association between the level of CRP and OS in patients with bone neoplasms.

<p>Summary of estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CI for patients with bone neoplasms.</p

Sensitivity analysis of the relationship between CRP level and OS in bone neoplasms.

<p>Sensitivity analyses were performed by excluding each study individually from the meta-analysis.</p

Characteristics of all included studies.

<p>Characteristics of all included studies.</p

Begg’s funnel plot of the publication bias test for CRP level and OS in bone neoplasms.

<p>Summary of funnel plots of publication bias for the included studies. They are funnel plots of the publication bias for this meta-analysis of hazard ratios (HRs).</p

Covalent Functionalization of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes with Thermoresponsive Core Cross-Linked Polymeric Micelles

A facile method for the covalent functionalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with thermoresponsive core cross-linked (CCL) polymeric micelles is presented. This method is based on SWNT functionalization as well as polymer self-assembly. The copolymer, poly­(<i><i>N,N</i></i>-dimethylacrylamide)-<i>b</i>-poly­(<i>N</i>-isopropylacrylamide-<i>co</i>-<i>N</i>-acryloxysuccinimide) (PDMA-<i>b</i>-P­(NIPAM-<i>co</i>-NAS)), bearing an azide group at the PDMA end, was first prepared by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. Covalent functionalization of SWNTs with well-defined, azide-derivatized PDMA-<i>b</i>-P­(NIPAM-<i>co</i>-NAS) was then accomplished by a nitrene addition reaction. The copolymer-functionalized SWNTs (f-SWNTs) consisted of about 26 wt % copolymer and exhibited relatively high solubility in water. Subsequently, the coassembly of the copolymer and f-SWNT blends was carried out in aqueous solution. It was found that the copolymer chains grafted onto the surface of SWNTs were coassembled with the free chains in solution, leading to thermoresponsive polymeric micelles that adhered to the surface of nanotubes. Upon cross-linking, the copolymer aggregates were stabilized and covalently anchored to SWNTs (SWNT-micelle). The resulting assembled nanostructures were still soluble in water and were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)