Structural variations in parotid glands induced by radiation therapy in patients with oral carcinoma observed on contrast-enhanced computed tomography

Background: Xerostomia is one of the commonest radiation-induced complications in patients with head and neck carcinoma. The aim of this study was to assess structural variations in parotid glands induced by radiation therapy in patients with oral carcinoma with contras-enhanced computed tomography (CECT). Material/Methods: A retrospective study was performed in 41 patients with oral carcinoma who underwent CECT for head and neck malignancies before and after radiotherapy. We analyzed the relationship between parotid density variations, parotid volume change, as seen on CECT, and the mean radiation dose applied to the parotid glands in patients with oral carcinoma immediately after radiotherapy, and 2 and 3 years later. Results: Immediately after radiotherapy, high-density changes on contrast-enhanced CT were observed in 70.5% of the irradiated parotids. Low-density changes due to fat degeneration were seen in 46.2% and 72.2% of the irradiated parotids 2 and 3 years after radiotherapy, respectively. The mean dose applied to the parotids with the low-density changes and without such changes 3 years after radiotherapy was 46.0 Gy and 27.7 Gy, respectively (p=0.049). Furthermore, parotid shrinkage was observed in 63.6% of the irradiated parotids. Conclusions: This study suggests that the structural variations in parotid glands induced by radiotherapy included high-density changes that were observed immediately after radiotherapy and low-density changes that were seen at late follow-up. This study should be useful for clinicians in the assessment of radiation-induced injuries in the parotids with respect to early prediction of xerostomia

Resting energy expenditure in patients undergoing pylorus preserving pancreatoduodenectomies for bile duct cancer or pancreatic tumors

We measured the energy expenditure weekly in patients undergoing a pylorus preserving pancreatoduodenectomy for bile duct cancer or pancreatic tumors. Twelve patients (5 women and 7 men; mean age 70.1 years) were enrolled in this study, and their resting energy expenditure levels were determined by indirect calorimetry. In these patients, a significant correlation was observed between the measured resting energy expenditures and the predicted resting energy expenditures calculated by the Harris-Benedict equation. The resting energy expenditures measured before surgery were almost the same as the predicted resting energy expenditures (measured resting energy expenditure: 22.4 ± 3.9 kcal/kg/day vs predicted resting energy expenditure: 21.7 ± 2.0 kcal/kg/day). The measured resting energy expenditure/predicted resting energy expenditure ratio, which reflects the stress factor, was 1.02 ± 0.10. After the pylorus preserving pancreatoduodenectomy, a significant increase in energy expenditure was observed, and the measured resting energy expenditure was 25.7 ± 3.5 kcal/kg/day on postoperative day 7 and 25.4 ± 4.9 kcal/kg/day on postoperative day 14. The measured resting energy expenditure/predicted resting energy expenditure ratio was 1.16 ± 0.14 on postoperative day 7, and 1.16 ± 0.18 on postoperative day 14 respectively. In conclusion, patients undergoing a pylorus preserving pancreatoduodenectomy showed a hyper-metabolic status as evaluated by their measured resting energy expenditure/predicted resting energy expenditure ratio. From our observations, we recommend that nutritional management based on 30 kcal/body weight/day (calculated by the measured resting energy expenditure×activity factor 1.2–1.3) may be optimal for patients undergoing a pylorus preserving pancreatoduodenectomy

Functional Materials Synthesis and Physical Properties

A citrate pyrolysis technique is a unique route to prepare reactive precursor mixtures through an ignition process of concentrated aqueous solution. This procedure enables to synthesize highly homogeneous and fine powders for functional materials. The double-chain based superconductor Pr2Ba4Cu7O15−δ and double perovskite photocatalytic semiconductor Ba2Tb(Bi,Sb)O6 were synthesized by using the citrate pyrolysis technique. For the present sample with a reduction treatment for 72 h, a sharp superconducting transition appeared at an onset temperature Tc,on=26 K accompanied by a zero-resistance state at Tc,zero=22 K. The superconducting volume fraction estimated from the magnetization measurement showed an excellent value of ∼58%. Both reduction treatment in a vacuum and subsequent quenching procedure are needed to realize higher superconductivity due to further oxygen defects. The polycrystalline samples for Ba2Tb(Bi1−x,Sbx)O6 (x=0 and 0.5) were formed in the monoclinic and cubic crystal structures. We conducted the gaseous 2-propanol (IPA) and methylene blue (MB) degradation experiments under a visible light irradiation, to evaluate photocatalytic activities of the powder samples. For the Sb50% substituted sample, the highest performance of MB degradation was observed. The effect of Sb-substitution on the photocatalytic degradation of MB is in direct contrast to that on the IPA decomposition under visible light irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic properties in the citrate samples are attributed to their morphology, where fine particles are homogeneously distributed with a submicron order

Resting energy expenditure and nutritional status in patients undergoing transthoracic esophagectomy for esophageal cancer

This study was to assess the resting energy expenditure of patients with esophageal cancer using indirect calorimetry. Eight male patients with esophageal cancer and eight male healthy controls were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent transthoracic esophagectomy with lymph nodes dissections. The resting energy expenditure was measured preoperatively, and on postoperative day 7 and 14 using indirect calorimetry. Preoperatively, the measured resting energy expenditure/body weight in these patients was significantly higher than that of the controls (23.3 ± 2.1 kcal/kg/day vs 20.4 ± 1.6 kcal/kg/day), whereas the measured/predicted energy expenditure from the Harris-Benedict equation ratio was 1.01 ± 0.09, which did not differ significantly from the control values. The measured resting energy expenditure/body weight was 27.3 ± 3.5 kcal/kg/day on postoperative day 7, and 23.7 ± 5.07 kcal/kg/day on postoperative day 14. Significant increases in the measured resting energy expenditure were observed on postoperative day 7, and the measured/predicted energy expenditure ratio was 1.17 ± 0.15. In conclusion, patients with operable esophageal cancers were almost normometabolic before surgery. On the other hand, the patients showed a hyper-metabolic status after esophagectomy. We recommended that nutritional management based on 33 kcal/body weight/day (calculated by the measured resting energy expenditure × active factor 1.2–1.3) may be optimal for patients undergoing esophagectomy

Anti-PD-1 antibody decreases tumour-infiltrating regulatory T cells

Background There are many types of therapies for cancer. In these days, immunotherapies, especially immune checkpoint inhibitors, are focused on. Though many types of immune checkpoint inhibitors are there, the difference of effect and its mechanism are unclear. Some reports suggest the response rate of anti-PD-1 antibody is superior to that of anti-PD-L1 antibody and could potentially produce different mechanisms of action. On the other hand, Treg also express PD-1; however, their relationship remains unclear. Methods In this study, we used osteosarcoma cell lines in vitro and osteosarcoma mouse model in vivo. In vitro, we analyzed the effect of IFN gamma for expression of PD-L1 on the surface of cell lines by flowcytometry. In vivo, murine osteosarcoma cell line LM8 was subcutaneously transplanted into the dorsum of mice. Mouse anti-PD-1 antibody was intraperitoneally administered. we analysed the effect for survival of anti-PD-1 antibody and proportion of T cells in the tumour by flowcytometry. Results We discovered that IFN gamma increased PD-L1 expression on the surface of osteosarcoma cell lines. In assessing the relationship between anti-PD-1 antibody and Treg, we discovered the administration of anti-PD-1 antibody suppresses increases in tumour volume and prolongs overall survival time. In the tumour microenvironment, we found that the administration of anti-PD-1 antibody decreased Treg within the tumour and increased tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes. Conclusions Here we clarify for the first time an additional mechanism of anti-tumour effect-as exerted by anti-PD-1 antibody decreasing Treg- we anticipate that our findings will lead to the development of new methods for cancer treatment.ArticleBMC CANCER. 20(1):25 (2020)journal articl