Clinical Efficacy of Temozolomide and Its Predictors in Aggressive Pituitary Tumors and Pituitary Carcinomas: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: A growing number of evidences suggest that TMZ applications can generate impressive benefits for APT and PC patients. However, the definite role of TMZ for individuals remains unclarified due to the variation between studies. And the predictive factors to alter its efficacy remain debatable.Objective: To evaluate the long-term effectiveness and safety profile of TMZ in the treatment of pituitary malignancies, and delineate the predictors during its clinical employment.Results: A literature retrieval was conducted from online databases for studies published up to December 31, 2020. Twenty one studies involving 429 patients were identified. TMZ exhibited 41% radiological overall response rate (rORR). The biochemical response rate was determinate in 53% of the functioning subset. Two-year and 4-year survival rate were 79 and 61%, respectively. TMZ prolonged the median PFS and OS as 20.18 and 40.24 months. TMZ-related adverse events occurred in 19% of patients. Regarding predictors of TMZ response, rORR was dramatically improved in patients with low/intermediate MGMT expression than those with high-MGMT (>50%) (p < 0.001). The benefit of TMZ varied according to functioning subtype of patients, with greater antitumor activities in functioning subgroups and fewer activities in non-functioning sets (p < 0.001). Notably, the concomitant therapy of radiotherapy and TMZ significantly increased the rORR (p = 0.007).Conclusion: TMZ elicits clinical benefits with moderate adverse events in APT and PC patients. MGMT expression and clinical subtype of secreting function might be vital predictors of TMZ efficacy. In the future, the combination of radiotherapy with TMZ may further improve the clinical outcomes than TMZ monotherapy

Puerarin Attenuates Ovalbumin-Induced Lung Inflammation and Hemostatic Unbalance in Rat Asthma Model

Aim. We aimed to investigate and evaluate the preventive activity of puerarin on the ovalbumin-induced asthma rat model. Materials and Methods. Male Wistar rats were sensitized intraperitoneally on days 0, 7, and 14 and challenged to ovalbumin intratracheally on day 21. Groups of sensitized rats were treated randomly either with placebo, puerarin, dexamethasone, or puerarin combined with dexamethasone, from days 15 to 20. Inflammatory markers, including cell counts in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), inflammatory cytokines, histopathology, and coagulation parameters, such as coagulation tests and the activity of coagulation factors, were analyzed. Results. Puerarin significantly inhibited the recruitment of inflammatory cells in BALF and lung tissue. At the same time, the release of IL-4, IL-10, and IFN-γ in serum and the expression of mRNAs in lung tissue homogenate were changed by puerarin. Administration of puerarin also effectively rectified the coagulation disorder in asthmatic rats, such as prothrombin time (PT) (P<0.01), thrombin time (TT) (P<0.05), fibrinogen (FIB) (P<0.01),the activity of factor II (FII) (P<0.01), the activity of factor V (FV) (P<0.05), the activity of factor VII (FVII) (P<0.05), the activity of factor X (FX) (P<0.05), the activity of factor VIII (FVIII) (P<0.01), the activity of factor IX (FIX) (P<0.05), and the activity of factor XII (FXII) (P<0.05). Conclusions. Our results provide a clue that puerarin was useful for the preventive of allergic airway disease in rodents

Variability of graphene devices fabricated using graphene inks: Atomic force microscope tips

During the last decade, an uncountable amount of graphene prototype devices have been reported, but unfortunately none of them has faced mass production and commercialization. One of the main reasons is that graphene technologies are highly affected by variability problems. Although graphene presents almost unbeatable chemical and physical properties, the development of graphene devices has been heavily hindered by the difficulty of fabricating homogeneous and identical devices, due to the presence of uncontrollable amounts of defects. One of the most preoccupying aspects in the development of graphene technology is the lack of reported variability studies. Here we present the first thorough variability analysis for a graphene device, namely graphene-coated nanoprobes for atomic force microscopes. The relevancy of this work is increased by the use of a fabrication method capable of large scalability: liquid-phase exfoliated graphene inks. Our results indicate that, for this device, the presence of graphene does not introduce any performance deviation indicating that, from the variability point of view, this device is ready for mass production. Similar variability analyses should be applied to other devices in order to detect which graphene technologies are not affected by variability problems, facilitating them the introduction of graphene prototypes in the market