Salvage cytoreductive surgery for patients with recurrent endometrial cancer: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Salvage cytoreductive surgery (SCR) has been shown to improve the survival of cancer patients. This study aimed to determine the survival benefits of SCR for recurrent endometrial cancer in Chinese population. METHODS: Between January 1995 and May 2012, 75 Chinese patients with recurrent endometrial cancer undergoing SCR were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: 43 patients (57.3%) had R0 (no visible disease), 15 patients (20.0%) had R1 (residual disease ≤1 cm), and 17 (22.7%) had R2 (residual disease >1 cm) Resection. 35 patients (46.7%) had single, and 40 (53.3%) had multiple sites of recurrence. The median survival time was 18 months, and 5-year overall survival (OS) rate were 42.0%. Multivariate analysis showed that residual disease ≤1 cm and high histology grade were significantly associated with a better OS. The size of the largest recurrent tumors (≤6 cm), solitary recurrent tumor, and age at recurrence (≤56 years old) were associated with optimal SCR. CONCLUSION: Optimal SCR and high histology grade are associated with prolonged overall survival for patients with recurrent endometrial cancer. Patients with young age, tumor size < 6 cm, and solitary recurrent tumor are more likely to benefit from optimal cytoreductive surgery

B20 Fuel Compatibility with Steels in Case of Fuel Contamination

This study evaluated the compatibility with steels for three B20 fuel samples blended from fossil diesel and used cooking oil methyl ester. One sample was untreated and its concentration of copper was analyzed as <1 ppm. Another sample was doped by adding Cu at a concentration of ≤2 ppm and the third sample by adding Cu at a concentration of ≤4 ppm. Steel samples (carbon steel, stainless steel and a special alloy) were then put into the fuel blends and stored at 50 °C for 692 h. After storing, the metal concentrations of the fuel blends were again analyzed, and signs of corrosion were evaluated visually. The aim of this study was to find out if the fuel already contaminated by copper will affect the corrosion of the chosen steel qualities. Additionally, fuel properties were measured for all three blend samples before the immersion of steels. Visual evaluation of the steels indicated that signs of corrosion were seen in all studied samples, but Cu doping did not increase the signs of corrosion notably. The results also showed that the copper content from 1 to 2 and 4 ppm reduced the oxidation stability and increased the acid number of the fuel samples.© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

2,2′-Bis(4-methoxy­phen­yl)-2,2′-bis­(tri­methyl­silan­yloxy)-2,2′-(ferrocene-1,1′-diyl)diacetonitrile

In the title compound, [Fe(C17H20NO2Si)2], the Fe atom is situated on a crystallographic centre of inversion, leading to a perfectly staggered conformation of the Cp rings

Endothelial-derived APT1-mediated macrophage-endothelial cell interactions participate in the development of atherosclerosis by regulating the Ras/MAPK signaling pathway

Acyl-protein thioesterase 1 (APT1) can affect H-Ras localization and function by promoting its depalmitoylation. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the effects of APT1 on H-Ras in the cardiovascular system. In this study, we revealed its roles in atherosclerosis development using oxidative low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL)-induced endothelial dysfunction models and a Western diet-induced ApoE−/− mouse model. The results showed that APT1 expression was up-regulated, while that of miR-138-5p (miR-138) was down-regulated (p &lt; 0.05) in this model. In the meantime, APT1 and H-Ras were translocated from the cytoplasm to the plasma membrane. Bioinformatic analysis and double fluorescence identified miR-138 as the upstream regulator of APT1. APT1 knockdown regulated H-Ras localization and expression, which subsequently affected the MAPK signaling pathway and the expression of its downstream factors. Further research indicated that human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs)-derived biogenic nanoparticles (BiNPs), hBPs secretion, and RNA expression of hBP-loaded APT1 were increased (p &lt; 0.05) in the ox-LDL induced endothelial dysfunction model. Meanwhile, the HUVECs-derived APT1 could further affect macrophage function through hBP transportation. Altogether, this study demonstrated that the miR-138-APT1 axis may be partially responsible for atherosclerosis development by regulating the H-Ras-MAPK signaling pathway and hBP transportation. The results also shed novel insight on the underlying mechanisms of, and identify potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets for, atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases in the future

Large Language Models for Information Retrieval: A Survey

As a primary means of information acquisition, information retrieval (IR) systems, such as search engines, have integrated themselves into our daily lives. These systems also serve as components of dialogue, question-answering, and recommender systems. The trajectory of IR has evolved dynamically from its origins in term-based methods to its integration with advanced neural models. While the neural models excel at capturing complex contextual signals and semantic nuances, thereby reshaping the IR landscape, they still face challenges such as data scarcity, interpretability, and the generation of contextually plausible yet potentially inaccurate responses. This evolution requires a combination of both traditional methods (such as term-based sparse retrieval methods with rapid response) and modern neural architectures (such as language models with powerful language understanding capacity). Meanwhile, the emergence of large language models (LLMs), typified by ChatGPT and GPT-4, has revolutionized natural language processing due to their remarkable language understanding, generation, generalization, and reasoning abilities. Consequently, recent research has sought to leverage LLMs to improve IR systems. Given the rapid evolution of this research trajectory, it is necessary to consolidate existing methodologies and provide nuanced insights through a comprehensive overview. In this survey, we delve into the confluence of LLMs and IR systems, including crucial aspects such as query rewriters, retrievers, rerankers, and readers. Additionally, we explore promising directions within this expanding field