Bone cements for percutaneous vertebroplasty and balloon kyphoplasty: Current status and future developments

SummaryOsteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) have gradually evolved into a serious health care problem globally. In order to reduce the morbidity of OVCF patients and improve their life quality, two minimally invasive surgery procedures, vertebroplasty (VP) and balloon kyphoplasty (BKP), have been developed. Both VP and BKP require the injection of bone cement into the vertebrae of patients to stabilize fractured vertebra. As such, bone cement as the filling material plays an essential role in the effectiveness of these treatments. In this review article, we summarize the bone cements that are currently available in the market and those still under development. Two major categories of bone cements, nondegradable acrylic bone cements (ABCs) and degradable calcium phosphate cements (CPCs), are introduced in detail. We also provide our perspectives on the future development of bone cements for VP and BKP

Single-pixel imaging based on deep learning

Single-pixel imaging can collect images at the wavelengths outside the reach of conventional focal plane array detectors. However, the limited image quality and lengthy computational times for iterative reconstruction still impede the practical application of single-pixel imaging. Recently, deep learning has been introduced into single-pixel imaging, which has attracted a lot of attention due to its exceptional reconstruction quality, fast reconstruction speed, and the potential to complete advanced sensing tasks without reconstructing images. Here, this advance is discussed and some opinions are offered. Firstly, based on the fundamental principles of single-pixel imaging and deep learning, the principles and algorithms of single-pixel imaging based on deep learning are described and analyzed. Subsequently, the implementation technologies of single-pixel imaging based on deep learning are reviewed. They are divided into super-resolution single-pixel imaging, single-pixel imaging through scattering media, photon-level single-pixel imaging, optical encryption based on single-pixel imaging, color single-pixel imaging, and image-free sensing according to diverse application fields. Finally, major challenges and corresponding feasible approaches are discussed, as well as more possible applications in the future

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) dye loaded polymer nanoparticles for gene silencing in pancreatic cancer and their in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility evaluation

We have developed aggregation-induced emission (AIE) dye loaded polymer nanoparticles with deep-red emission for siRNA delivery to pancreatic cancer cells. Two US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved surfactant polymers, Pluronics F127 and PEGylated phospholipid, were used to prepare the dye-loaded nanoparticle formulations and they can be used as nanovectors for gene silencing of mutant K-ras in pancreatic cancer cells. The successful transfection of siRNA by the developed nanovectors was confirmed by the fluorescent imaging and quantified through flow cytometry. Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) indicates that the expression of the mutant K-ras oncogene from the MiaPaCa-2 pancreatic cancer cells has been successfully suppressed. More importantly, our in vivo toxicity study has revealed that both the nanoparticle formulations are highly biocompatible in BALC/c mice. Overall, our results suggest that the AIE dye-loaded polymer nanoparticle formulations developed here are suitable for gene delivery and have high potential applications in translational medicine research

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

Role of LKB1-CRTC1 on Glycosylated COX-2 and Response to COX-2 Inhibition in Lung Cancer

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) directs the synthesis of prostaglandins including PGE-2 linking inflammation with mitogenic signaling. COX-2 is also an anticancer target, however, treatment strategies have been limited by unreliable expression assays and by inconsistent tumor responses to COX-2 inhibition

Phishlimiter: A Phishing Detection and Mitigation Approach Using Software-Defined Networking

Phishing is one of the most harmful social engineering techniques to subdue end users where threat actors find a chance to gain access to critical information systems. A common approach in phishing is through the use of e-mail communication with an embedded hyperlink. The detection and mitigation of phishing attacks are a grand challenge due to the complexity of current phishing attacks. Existing techniques are often too time consuming to be used in the real world in terms of detection and mitigation time. Likewise, they employ static detection rules that are not effective in the real world due to the dynamics of phishing attacks. In this paper, we present PhishLimiter, a new detection and mitigation approach, where we first propose a new technique for deep packet inspection (DPI) and then leverage it with software-defined networking (SDN) to identify phishing activities through e-mail and web-based communication. The proposed DPI approach consists of two components: phishing signature classification and real-time DPI. Based on the programmability of SDN, we develop the store and forward mode and the forward and inspect mode to the direct network traffic by using an artificial neural network model to classify phishing attack signatures and design the real-time DPI so that PhishLimiter can flexibly address the dynamics of phishing attacks in the real world. PhishLimiter also provides better network traffic management for containing phishing attacks since it has the global view of a network through SDN. Furthermore, we evaluate PhishLimiter using a real-world testbed environment and data sets consisting of real-world email with embedded links. Our extensive experimental study shows that PhishLimiter provides an effective and efficient solution to deter malicious activities