The prognostic factors for locally advanced cervical cancer patients treated by intensity-modulated radiation therapy with concurrent chemotherapy

Background/PurposeTo identify the prognostic factors for locally advanced cervical cancer patients treated by intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy.MethodsA total of 125 patients with stage IB2–III cervical carcinoma were treated with IMRT and concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy, plus high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy between January 2004 and November 2010, in our institution. All patients received external irradiation of 45–54 Gy with the IMRT technique and concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy monthly or weekly. HDR brachytherapy of 20–30.5 Gy was prescribed to point A, as a local boost. Prognostic factors including age, histology, stage, lymph nodes metastasis, pretreatment hemoglobin level, serum squamous cell carcinoma antigen (serum SCC-Ag), chemotherapy regimens and the cumulative dose of weekly cisplatin, were analyzed. The endpoints were overall survival (OS), local failure-free survival (LFFS) and disease-free survival (DFS).ResultsThe median follow-up time was 42 months. The 4-year OS, LFFS and DFS were 73.8%, 77.9% and 67.2%, respectively. Four (3.2%) patients developed ≥grade 3 acute gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity and 29 (23.2%) patients developed ≥grade 3 acute hematological toxicity. Five (4.0%) patients developed ≥grade 3 late GI toxicity and seven (5.6%) patients developed ≥grade 3 late genitourinary system toxicity. On univariate analysis, adenocarcinoma was a poor prognostic factor for OS (p = 0.05), LFFS (p = 0.01) and DFS (p = 0.006). Patients with lymph nodes metastasis at diagnosis had worse OS (p = 0.02). The high cumulative dose of cisplatin (>180 mg/m2) had better OS (p = 0.03) and tended to have better survival on LFFS (p = 0.13) and DFS (p = 0.10). On multivariate analysis, adenocarcinoma was a significant independent prognostic factor for OS (p = 0.001), LFFS (p = 0.005) and DFS (p < 0.001). Initial lymph nodes metastasis was an independent predictor of OS (p = 0.013). Cumulative dose of weekly cisplatin significantly affected OS (p = 0.041), and high cumulative dose of cisplatin tended to have better LFFS (p = 0.083). Higher pretreatment hemoglobin level had better LFFS (p = 0.034).ConclusionAdenocarcinoma and lymph nodes metastases were poor prognostic factors for patients with locally advanced cervical cancer. Lower pretreatment hemoglobin level had poorer local control. Chemotherapy with a high cumulative dose of cisplatin tended to result in better survival

Probing the A1 to L10 Transformation in FeCuPt Using the First Order Reversal Curve Method

The A1- L10 phase transformation has been investigated in (001) FeCuPt thin films prepared by atomic-scale multilayer sputtering and rapid thermal annealing (RTA). Traditional x-ray diffraction is not always applicable in generating a true order parameter, due to non-ideal crystallinity of the A1 phase. Using the first-order reversal curve (FORC) method, the A1 and L10 phases are deconvoluted into two distinct features in the FORC distribution, whose relative intensities change with the RTA temperature. The L10 ordering takes place via a nucleation-and-growth mode. A magnetization-based phase fraction is extracted, providing a quantitative measure of the L10 phase homogeneity.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, 4 page supplementary material (4 figures

Comparison of clinical outcomes and toxicity in endometrial cancer patients treated with adjuvant intensity-modulated radiation therapy or conventional radiotherapy

PurposeTo evaluate the treatment outcomes and toxicity in endometrial cancer patients treated with hysterectomy and adjuvant intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) or conventional radiotherapy (CRT).MethodsThere were 101 patients with stage IA-IIIC2 endometrial carcinoma treated with hysterectomy and adjuvant radiotherapy. In total, 36 patients received adjuvant CRT and 65 were treated with adjuvant IMRT. The endpoints were overall survival, local failure-free survival, and disease-free survival. Patients were assessed for acute toxicity weekly according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3.0. Late toxicity was evaluated according to the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Late Radiation Morbidity Scoring Schema.ResultsThe 5-year overall survival, local failure-free survival, and disease-free survival for the CRT group and the IMRT group were 82.9% versus 93.5% (p = 0.26), 93.7% versus 89.3% (p = 0.68), and 88.0% versus 82.8% (p = 0.83), respectively. Four (11.1%) patients had Grade 3 or greater acute gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity and three (8.3%) patients had Grade 3 or greater acute genitourinary (GU) toxicity in the CRT group, whereas four (6.2%) patients had Grade 3 or greater acute GI toxicity in the IMRT group and no patient had severe GU toxicity. There was one (2.8%) patient who had Grade 3 or greater late GI toxicity and one (2.8%) patient had Grade 3 or greater late GU toxicity in the CRT group, whereas no patient had severe GI or GU toxicity in the IMRT group.ConclusionAdjuvant IMRT for endometrial cancer patients had comparable clinical outcomes with CRT and had less acute and late toxicity

Association between health examination items and body mass index among school children in Hualien, Taiwan

BACKGROUND: To assess the prevalence of obesity and major physical examination items including dental caries, myopia, pinworm, hematuria, and proteinuria among school children in Hualien, Taiwan. In addition, the health status differences between gender, grader, levels of residence urbanization, and body mass index (BMI) were examined. METHODS: Cross-sectional studies with a total of 11,080 students (age, 7–14 years) in grades 1, 4, and 7 were evaluated for weight, height, routine physical examination, and urine analysis during the 2010 Student Health Examination in Hualien. Frequencies, Chi-square test, and logistic regression were conducted using SPSS. RESULTS: Of the 11,080 students evaluated, 1357 (12.2%) were overweight, and 1421 (12.8%) were obese. There were significant differences in overweight/obese prevalence by gender, by grader, and by levels of residence urbanization. Dental caries, myopia, and obesity were the most prevalent health problems among these students (75.6%, 33.0%, and 12.8%, respectively). In crude and adjusted analyses, research results showed that there were significant differences in the prevalence of major physical examination items between different gender, grader, levels of residence urbanization, and BMI groups. Girls had a higher prevalence of dental caries, myopia, and hematuria than boys (all p < 0.01), whereas boys had a higher prevalence of pinworm than girls (p = 0.02). Students in higher grades had significantly higher prevalence of myopia, hematuria, and proteinuria (all p < 0.01), whereas students in lower grades had higher prevalence of dental caries and pinworm (p < 0.01). Students with abnormal BMI had lower prevalence of pinworm (p < 0.01). Students residing in suburban and rural areas had higher prevalence of dental caries, pinworm, and hematuria (all p < 0.01), and lower prevalence of myopia than students residing in urban areas (all p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Routine health examination provides an important way to detect students’ health problems. Our study elucidated major health problems among school children in Hualien, Taiwan. In addition, the results also indicated that the prevalence of health problems had a significant relationship with gender, grader, levels of residence urbanization, and BMI. It is suggested that school health interventions should consider students’ health profiles along with their risk factors status in planning

Oxidized-monolayer Tunneling Barrier for Strong Fermi-level Depinning in Layered InSe Transistors

In 2D-semiconductor-based field-effect transistors and optoelectronic devices, metal-semiconductor junctions are one of the crucial factors determining device performance. The Fermi-level (FL) pinning effect, which commonly caused by interfacial gap states, severely limits the tunability of junction characteristics, including barrier height and contact resistance. A tunneling contact scheme has been suggested to address the FL pinning issue in metal-2D-semiconductor junctions, whereas the experimental realization is still elusive. Here, we show that an oxidized-monolayer-enabled tunneling barrier can realize a pronounced FL depinning in indium selenide (InSe) transistors, exhibiting a large pinning factor of 0.5 and a highly modulated Schottky barrier height. The FL depinning can be attributed to the suppression of metal- and disorder-induced gap states as a result of the high-quality tunneling contacts. Structural characterizations indicate uniform and atomically thin surface oxidation layer inherent from nature of van der Waals materials and atomically sharp oxide-2D-semiconductor interfaces. Moreover, by effectively lowering the Schottky barrier height, we achieve an electron mobility of 2160 cm$^2$/Vs and a contact barrier of 65 meV in two-terminal InSe transistors. The realization of strong FL depinning in high-mobility InSe transistors with the oxidized monolayer presents a viable strategy to exploit layered semiconductors in contact engineering for advanced electronics and optoelectronics

Functional complexity of hair follicle stem cell niche and therapeutic targeting of niche dysfunction for hair regeneration

Stem cell activity is subject to non-cell-autonomous regulation from the local microenvironment, or niche. In adaption to varying physiological conditions and the ever-changing external environment, the stem cell niche has evolved with multifunctionality that enables stem cells to detect these changes and to communicate with remote cells/tissues to tailor their activity for organismal needs. The cyclic growth of hair follicles is powered by hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs). Using HFSCs as a model, we categorize niche cells into 3 functional modules, including signaling, sensing and message-relaying. Signaling modules, such as dermal papilla cells, immune cells and adipocytes, regulate HFSC activity through short-range cell-cell contact or paracrine effects. Macrophages capacitate the HFSC niche to sense tissue injury and mechanical cues and adipocytes seem to modulate HFSC activity in response to systemic nutritional states. Sympathetic nerves implement the message-relaying function by transmitting external light signals through an ipRGC-SCN-sympathetic circuit to facilitate hair regeneration. Hair growth can be disrupted by niche pathology, e.g. dysfunction of dermal papilla cells in androgenetic alopecia and influx of auto-reacting T cells in alopecia areata and lichen planopilaris. Understanding the functions and pathological changes of the HFSC niche can provide new insight for the treatment of hair loss

Identification of a New Peptide for Fibrosarcoma Tumor Targeting and Imaging In Vivo

A 12-mer amino acid peptide SATTHYRLQAAN, denominated TK4, was isolated from a phage-display library with fibrosarcoma tumor-binding activity. In vivo biodistribution analysis of TK4-displaying phage showed a significant increased phage titer in implanted tumor up to 10-fold in comparison with normal tissues after systemic administration in mouse. Competition assay confirmed that the binding of TK4-phage to tumor cells depends on the TK4 peptide. Intravenous injection of 131I-labeled synthetic TK4 peptide in mice showed a tumor retention of 3.3% and 2.7% ID/g at 1- and 4-hour postinjection, respectively. Tumor-to-muscle ratio was 1.1, 5.7, and 3.2 at 1-, 4-, and 24-hour, respectively, and tumors were imaged on a digital γ-camera at 4-hour postinjection. The present data suggest that TK4 holds promise as a lead structure for tumor targeting, and it could be further applied in the development of diagnostic or therapeutic agent

SR4GN: A Species Recognition Software Tool for Gene Normalization

As suggested in recent studies, species recognition and disambiguation is one of the most critical and challenging steps in many downstream text-mining applications such as the gene normalization task and protein-protein interaction extraction. We report SR4GN: an open source tool for species recognition and disambiguation in biomedical text. In addition to the species detection function in existing tools, SR4GN is optimized for the Gene Normalization task. As such it is developed to link detected species with corresponding gene mentions in a document. SR4GN achieves 85.42% in accuracy and compares favorably to the other state-of-the-art techniques in benchmark experiments. Finally, SR4GN is implemented as a standalone software tool, thus making it convenient and robust for use in many text-mining applications. SR4GN can be downloaded at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CBBresearch/Lu/downloads/SR4G