Giant Solitary Fibrous Tumor of the Pleura: An Analysis of Five Patients

Ó The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Background Solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura (SFTP) represents a clinical entity rarely encountered, especially in giant forms. Complete surgical resection for giant tumor of pleura is a challenge. The aim of this article is to present five new cases of giant SFTP, and to discuss their clinical characteristics and the treatment strategy of such neoplasms. Methods We performed a retrospective review of the clinical records of five patients who underwent surgery for a huge SFTP ([18 cm in diameter) between 2007 and 2009. Results Four patients were symptomatic. All five patients underwent angiography and embolization of the tumorsupplying vessels within 24 h of surgery. All giant tumors were removed completely by extended postlateral thoracotomy with moderate intraoperative bleeding. Two wedge resections and one lobectomy were performed in three cases where the parenchyma had been encroached. Tumors in three patients were pathologically benign; those in the other two were malignant. The symptoms disappeared in all cases after surgery. Conclusions Complete resection remains the mainstay of cure for giant SFTP. We recommend preoperative angiography and embolization for giant SFTP which can reduce the risk of hemorrhage and can contribute to piecemeal removal for radical excision

Global existence and blow-up solutions for quasilinear reaction–diffusion equations with a gradient term

AbstractIn this work, we study the blow-up and global solutions for a quasilinear reaction–diffusion equation with a gradient term and nonlinear boundary condition: {(g(u))t=Δu+f(x,u,|∇u|2,t)inD×(0,T),∂u∂n=r(u)on∂D×(0,T),u(x,0)=u0(x)>0in D¯, where D⊂RN is a bounded domain with smooth boundary ∂D. Through constructing suitable auxiliary functions and using maximum principles, the sufficient conditions for the existence of a blow-up solution, an upper bound for the “blow-up time”, an upper estimate of the “blow-up rate”, the sufficient conditions for the existence of the global solution, and an upper estimate of the global solution are specified under some appropriate assumptions on the nonlinear system functions f,g,r, and initial value u0

Spark plasma sintering of α/β-SiAlON ceramic end mill rods: Electro–thermal simulation, microstructure, mechanical properties, and machining performance

Spark plasma sintering (SPS) is a highly efficient method for the preparation of α/β-SiAlON ceramics. However, the rapid preparation of large-scale α/β-SiAlON ceramic components with reliable mechanical properties is difficult via SPS due to their near-insulating properties. In this study, high-performance α/β-SiAlON ceramic end mill rods with large aspect ratios were successfully prepared via SPS. Two different types of sintering processes (namely vertical-round-rod (VRR) and horizontal-square-rod (HSR) processes) were developed, and their effects on the phase composition, microstructure, mechanical properties, and machining performance of the α/β-SiAlON ceramic end mill rods were studied. The electric and temperature field distributions during sintering were studied through an electro–thermal simulation. The simulated and experimental temperature distributions are in good agreement. In contrast to VRR samples, HSR samples with a small axial size show a uniform temperature distribution and satisfactory microstructures within a certain range of dimensions as well as the expected phase composition; furthermore, elongated β-SiAlON grains are preferentially oriented in the direction perpendicular to the sintering pressure direction. As a result, the HSR samples exhibit better mechanical properties and machining performance than the VRR samples.</p

Thin-walled Cystic Lung Cancer: An Analysis of 24 Cases and Review of Literatures

Background and objective Lung cancer presenting as cystic lesions was first described by Anderson and Pierce in 1954. Lung cancer presenting as cysts is a rare entity in clinical practice. Differential diagnosis is difficult in the benign-like cyst. This study investigated the clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer presenting as cysts. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of the clinical records of 24 patients who underwent surgery for a primary lung cancer presenting as cysts in our department between 2007 and 2013. We defined a ‘Thin-walled cyst’ as a cavitary lesion with a wall thickness of 4 mm or less along at least 75% of the circumference of the lesion. The whole group underwent post-operative follow-up. Results The incidence of cystic lung cancer was 0.49% (24/4,897) of surgical cases. The subjects’ age ranged from 19 to 77 yr with a median age of 56.5 yr. Ten cases presented with respiratory symptoms while 14 showed abnormal shadows on a chest CT without symptoms. Histological analysis showed that 18 cases were of adenocarcinoma, three of squamous cell carcinoma, one of small cell carcinoma, one of adenosquamous carcinoma and one of large cell carcinoma. Three patients were dead, and the remaining 21 patients are alive and disease free at the end of follow-up. Conclusion Cystic lung cancer should be kept in mind during the differential diagnosis of focal benign cyst. Cystic lung cancer could achieve a good outcome if early diagnose can be obtained

Clinical efficacy and safety of adjuvant EGFR‐TKIs for resected stage IB lung adenocarcinoma: A real‐world study based on propensity score matching

Abstract Background Adjuvant therapy for stage IB non‐small cell lung cancer remains debatable. In this real‐world study, we evaluate the efficacy and safety of adjuvant epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR‐TKIs) for resected stage IB lung adenocarcinoma. Methods This real‐world study recruited 249 patients diagnosed with stage IB disease after surgical resection between January 2013 and September 2021. Sixty‐six (26.5%) patients received adjuvant targeted therapy (TKIs group), and 183 (73.5%) were enrolled in the clinical observation (CO) group. Propensity scores were matched to minimize the observed confounder effects between the two groups, and 59 patient pairs were matched. The primary endpoint was disease‐free survival (DFS). Results In the TKI group, 38 (64.4%) patients chose to receive icotinib, 27.1% (16/59) received gefitinib, and 5 patients (8.5%) chose osimertinib. The median follow‐up time was 30.8 months (range: 7–107 months). Two (3.4%) patients in the TKI group and 10 (16.9%) in the CO group experienced disease relapse. The 3‐year DFS rates were 98.3% in the TKI group and 83.0% in the CO group (HR: 0.10; 95% CI: 0.01–0.78; p = 0.008). DFS differences were found in the entire cohort (p = 0.005) and the matched cohort (p = 0.024) between the two groups. Multivariate analysis showed that adjuvant EGFR‐TKIs was an independent factor for DFS (HR: 0.211; 95% CI: 0.045–0.979; p = 0.047), along with poor cell differentiation (HR: 5.256; 95% CI: 1.648–16.769; p = 0.005), and spread through air spaces (HR: 5.612; 95% CI: 1.137–27.700; p = 0.034). None of the patients discontinued EGFR‐TKIs owing to the low occurrence rate of treatment‐related serious adverse events. Conclusion Adjuvant EGFR‐TKIs could significantly improve DFS among patients with stage IB lung adenocarcinoma compared with CO, with a safe and tolerable profile

Association of ARHGAP18 polymorphisms with schizophrenia in the Chinese-Han population.

Numerous developmental genes have been linked to schizophrenia (SZ) by case-control and genome-wide association studies, suggesting that neurodevelopmental disturbances are major pathogenic mechanisms. However, no neurodevelopmental deficit has been definitively linked to SZ occurrence, likely due to disease heterogeneity and the differential effects of various gene variants across ethnicities. Hence, it is critical to examine linkages in specific ethnic populations, such as Han Chinese. The newly identified RhoGAP ARHGAP18 is likely involved in neurodevelopment through regulation of RhoA/C. Here we describe four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ARHGAP18 associated with SZ across a cohort of >2000 cases and controls from the Han population. Two SNPs, rs7758025 and rs9483050, displayed significant differences between case and control groups both in genotype (P = 0.0002 and P = 7.54×10-6) and allelic frequencies (P = 4.36×10-5 and P = 5.98×10-7), respectively. The AG haplotype in rs7758025-rs9385502 was strongly associated with the occurrence of SZ (P = 0.0012, OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.48-0.93), an association that still held following a 1000-times random permutation test (P = 0.022). In an independently collected validation cohort, rs9483050 was the SNP most strongly associated with SZ. In addition, the allelic frequencies of rs12197901 remained associated with SZ in the combined cohort (P = 0.021), although not in the validation cohort alone (P = 0.251). Collectively, our data suggest the ARHGAP18 may confer vulnerability to SZ in the Chinese Han population, providing additional evidence for the involvement of neurodevelopmental dysfunction in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia

Fenbendazole Attenuates Bleomycin-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis in Mice via Suppression of Fibroblast-to-Myofibroblast Differentiation

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive, and fatal interstitial lung disease with unknown etiology. Despite substantial progress in understanding the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis and drug development, there is still no cure for this devastating disease. Fenbendazole (FBZ) is a benzimidazole compound that is widely used as an anthelmintic agent and recent studies have expanded the scope of its pharmacological effects and application prospect. This study demonstrated that FBZ treatment blunted bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis in mice. In vitro studies showed that FBZ inhibited the proliferation and migration of human embryo lung fibroblasts. Further studies showed that FBZ significantly inhibited glucose consumption, moderated glycolytic metabolism in fibroblasts, thus activated adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and reduced the activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, thereby inhibiting transforming growth factor-&beta; (TGF-&beta;1)-induced fibroblast-to-myofibroblast differentiation and collagen synthesis. In summary, our data suggested that FBZ has potential as a novel treatment for pulmonary fibrosis