Intensity-modulated radiotherapy for cushing’s disease: single-center experience in 70 patients

ContextIntensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) is a modern precision radiotherapy technique for the treatment of the pituitary adenoma.ObjectiveAim to investigate the efficacy and toxicity of IMRT in treating Cushing’s Disease (CD).Methods70 of 115 patients with CD treated with IMRT at our institute from April 2012 to August 2021 were included in the study. The radiation doses were usually 45-50 Gy in 25 fractions. After IMRT, endocrine evaluations were performed every 6 months and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) annually. Endocrine remission was defined as suppression of 1 mg dexamethasone test (DST) or normal 24-hour urinary free cortisol level (24hUFC). The outcome of endocrine remission, endocrine recurrence, tumor control and complications were retrieved from medical record.ResultsAt a median follow-up time of 36.8 months, the endocrine remission rate at 1, 2, 3 and 5 years were 28.5%, 50.2%, 62.5% and 74.0%, respectively. The median time to remission was 24 months (95%CI: 14.0-34.0). Endocrine recurrence was found in 5 patients (13.5%) till the last follow-up. The recurrence-free rate at 1, 2, 3 and 5 years after endocrine remission was 98.2%, 93.9%, 88.7% and 88.7%, respectively. The tumor control rate was 98%. The overall incidence of new onset hypopituitarism was 22.9%, with hypothyroidism serving as the most common individual axis deficiency. Univariate analysis indicated that only higher Ki-67 index (P=0.044) was significant favorable factors for endocrine remission.ConclusionIMRT was a highly effective second-line therapy with low side effect profile for CD patients. Endocrine remission, tumor control and recurrence rates were comparable to previous reports on FRT and SRS

Effect of Calcination Temperature of Support on the Performance of Co-Mo/MgO-Al2O3 Water-Gas Shift Catalyst

The effect of calcination temperature of the MgO-Al2O3 mixed oxide Support on the physicochemical properties of the support and the performance of the Co-Mo-based water-gas shift catalyst was Studied by means of X-ray diffraction, N-2 adsorption-desorption temperature-programmed desorption, temperature-programmed reduction, and electron paramagnetic resonance. The activity testing results showed that the catalysts with the mixed oxide supports calcined at 600-800 degrees C exhibited high activity for the reaction. The physicochemical characterization results indicated that MgO-Al2O3 mixed oxide supports calcined at 600-900 degrees C existed as amorphous compound MgAl2O4-xMgo-yAl(2)O(3), Oil which more middle strength acid-base sites were formed. For the Co-Mo/MgO-Al2O3 catalysts in oxidation state, more octahedral Mo species were found, while more oxysulfo-Mo5+ species were detected oil the sulfurized catalysts. These species were closely related to the catalytic activity

Potential Application of MicroRNA Profiling to the Diagnosis and Prognosis of HIV-1 Infection

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) were first identified in Caenorhabditis briggsae and later recognized as playing pivotal roles in a vast range of cellular activities. It has been shown that miRNAs are an important mechanism not only for host defense against virus but also for the establishment of viral infection. During human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection, host miRNA profiles are altered either as a host response against the virus or alternatively as a mechanism for the virus to facilitate viral replication and infection or to maintain latency. The altered miRNA profiles can be detected and quantified by various advanced assays, and potentially serve as more sensitive, accurate and cost-efficient biomarkers for HIV-1 diagnosis and disease progression than those detected by currently available standard clinical assays. Such new biomarkers are critical for optimizing treatment regimens. In this review, we focus on the potential application of miRNA profiling to the diagnosis of HIV-1 infection and the monitoring of disease progression

Comparison and Analysis of Crustal Vertical Deformation in Mainland China Observed by GPS from CMONOC and GRACE

Based on continuous GPS data from crustal movement observation network of China (CMONOC), the vertical deformations on Earth's surface observed by 234 GPS stations and GRACE in mainland China are compared with each other.GPS-observed and GRACE-derived vertical deformations are in good agreements in general, which indicates that mass loading is an important factor to GPS nonlinear variations, but there are some differences between GPS and GRACE.For further analyzing the difference between GPS and GRACE vertical deformations, we take into account the thermal expansion effects to GPS vertical deformations and the effect of regional crustal structure on vertical loading deformations derived from GRACE.It is found that the annual amplitudes of vertical deformations induced by thermal expansion are not less than 1 mm at more than 50% of GPS stations.After considering thermal deformations, the vertical deformations of GPS and GRACE are with higher consistency in mainland China.The ratio of annual amplitudes from GPS and GRACE vertical deformations changes from 1.07±0.06 to 1.01±0.05, which is closer to the ideal value of 1.Thermal expansion can explain 6.2% of the difference between GPS and GRACE vertical deformations.And it can increase the consistency of vertical deformations between GPS and GRACE by 11.2% relatively after thermal expansion correction.The regional crustal structure has little effect on GRARE-derived vertical loading deformations in mainland China and the relative difference is 2.5%

The Analysis of Precise Point Positioning of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System Application in Crustal Motion Monitoring

Based on more than two years BDS/GPS data observed by seven stations,we used precise point positioning (PPP) model of the PANDA software developed by Wuhan University,analyzed the positioning accuracy of single system and discussed the ability of BDS in crustal motion monitoring.The results showed that the BDS positioning accuracy in the horizontal direction was about 17 mm and the vertical direction was about 40 mm.The GPS positioning accuracy in the horizontal direction was better than 10 mm and the vertical direction was about 14 mm.The results of baseline statistics showed that BDS had lower ability to detect weak signals than GPS system,but it was still able to accurately reflect the characteristics of baseline length and rate between two sites.Comparing the velocity fields obtained from BDS and GPS,the results showed that the difference of the two sets of velocity field in horizontal directions was 1~2 mm/a,and there was no systematic difference.Although BDS PPP accuracy was lower than GPS,but it could still be used to monitor the crustal motion of the large deformation area

Effects of composite oxide supports on catalytic performance of Ni-based catalysts for CO methanation

National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) [2010CB226903]Metal-oxide-modified NiO/Al2O3 catalysts for methanation of CO were prepared using a modified grinding-mixing method and characterized using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, temperature-programmed reduction by H-2, temperature-programmed desorption by H-2, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show that the activity of an MgO-modified NiO/Al2O3 catalyst is better than those of NiO/ZrO2-Al2O3 and NiO/SiO2-Al2O3 in the reaction temperature range 300-700 degrees C. The incorporation of a metal oxide into NiO/Al2O3 was found to weaken Ni-Al interactions, leading to generation of large numbers of active Ni species, and this was confirmed to be responsible for the improvement in the performances of the catalysts in the methanation reaction. (C) 2013, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Water gas shift activity of Co-Mo/MgO-Al2O3 catalysts presulfided with ammonium sulfide

Co-Mo/MgO-Al2O3 catalyst was presulfided with ammonium sulfide in aqueous solution and activated with synthesis gas for water gas shift reaction. The assay results indicate that the presulfided Co-Mo/MgO-Al2O3 catalyst exhibits an excellent catalytic activity and stability. XRD and EPR characterization results show that the O-S exchange might occur during the impregnation, leading to the formation of (NH4)(2)MoS4 (or (NH4)(2)MoxSy) precursor, which was then thermally decomposed and reduced to MoS2. The higher catalytic performance is attributed to an optimization formation of active Co-Mo sulfides, consisting of well dispersed MoS2 and Co-Mo-S phase due to the redispersion of Co sulfide particles over the edges of newly formed MoS2 crystallites

Co-Aromatization of n-Butane and Methanol over PtSnK-Mo/ZSM-5 Zeolite Catalysts: The Promotion Effect of Ball-Milling

The ball-milling (BM) method benefits the stabilization and dispersion of metallic particles for the preparation of the PtSnK–Mo/ZSM-5 catalyst. Based on the TPR, H2-TPD, XPS, and CO-FTIR results, the Pt–SnOx and MoOx species were formed separately on the BM sample. During the aromatization of cofeeding the n-butane with methanol, the yield of the aromatics is 59 wt.% at a n-butane conversion of 86% at 475 °C over the Pt Mo BM catalyst. The more weak acid sites also contribute to the aromatics formation with the less light alkanes formation. For the Pt Ga catalysts, the slow loss of activity suggests that the BM method can restrain the coke deposition on the Pt-SnOx species, because of a certain distance between the Pt–SnOx and GaOx species on the surface of ZSM-5

Incidence Density and Risk Factors of Diabetic Retinopathy Within Type 2 Diabetes: A Five-Year Cohort Study in China (Report 1)

A prospective study was carried out from August 2010 to August 2014 in the community of Fengyutan (China). Six hundred and twenty two T2D subjects were collected. The incidence density of diabetic retinopathy (DR) was 1.81% person-year (95% confidence interval, CI: 1.21–2.43% person-year). After a Cox regression model analysis and adjusted confounding factors, independent predictors related to the incidence of DR including male gender (adjusted hazard ratios, aHR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.21–1.62), with hypertension (aHR: 1.49, 95%: 1.12–1.73), duration of diabetes > 10 years (aHR: 2.28, 95%: 2.05–2.42), uncontrolled diabetes (aHR: 1.76, 95%: 1.41–2.01), total cholesterol ≥ 200 mg/dL (aHR: 1.54, 95%: 1.34–1.72) and HbA1c ≥ 7% (mmol/mol) (aHR: 2.12, 95%: 1.87–2.32). Duration of T2D revealed the significantly dose-response relationship to the onset of DR. The incidence density of DR in the Chinese community was relatively low in comparison with other studies. More attention should be paid to the T2D patients, especially of male gender, with hypertension, longer duration of diabetes, uncontrolled diabetes, total cholesterol ≥ 200mg/dL and HbA1c ≥ 7% (mmol/mol)