A rare case report: co-occurrence of two types of lung cancer with hamartoma and pulmonary tuberculosis

With the widespread use of low-dose chest Computed Tomography (CT), lung nodules are being increasingly detected. Common pulmonary conditions such as lung adenocarcinoma, lung squamous cell carcinoma, and tuberculosis are typically diagnosable through imaging examinations. Nevertheless, when multiple types of lung cancer are combined with other benign tumors, how can an accurate diagnosis be made? In this report, we present a rare case of a patient with the simultaneous occurrence of lung adenocarcinoma, lung squamous cell carcinoma, pulmonary tuberculosis, and pulmonary hamartoma, which has not been previously reported. This patient underwent surgical intervention in the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the Second Hospital of Jilin University and has now fully recovered and been discharged. The patient’s preoperative positron emission tomography-CT(PET-CT)results did not align with the postoperative pathological diagnosis. The imaging findings were atypical, and the pathological diagnosis was exceptionally rare. We share this case report to contribute to the accumulation of clinical experience

Intravitreal Melphalan for Vitreous Seeds: Initial Experience in China

Purpose. To evaluate the efficacy of intravitreal melphalan for vitreous seeds from retinoblastoma in Chinese patients. Methods. This is a retrospective review of 17 consecutive Chinese patients (19 eyes) with viable vitreous seeds from retinoblastoma. The patients received multiple intravitreal injections of 20 ug melphalan. Results. The International Classification of Retinoblastoma groups were B in 1 eye, C in 5 eyes, D in 11 eyes, and E in 2 eyes. On average, 6 injections (range: 1–15) were given to each eye at the interval of 2–4 weeks. Successful control of vitreous seeds was achieved in 16 of 19 eyes (84.21%). Globe retention was achieved in 73.68% (14/19) eyes. The patients were followed up for 27 months on average (median: 26; range: 17–42 months). There is a significant difference in response to intravitreal melphalan for cloud, spheres, and dust seeds with a median number of injections of 9, 6, and 3, respectively (P=0.003). Complications related to intravitreal melphalan included vitreous hemorrhage, cataract, salt-and-pepper retinopathy, and pupil posterior synechia. There was no case of epibulbar extension or systemic metastasis within the period of follow-up. Conclusion. Intravitreal melphalan achieved a high local control rate for vitreous seeds without extraocular extension and with acceptable toxicity in Chinese retinoblastoma patients

Enhanced Optical Properties of Graphene Oxide–Au Nanocrystal Composites

A simple strategy based on electrostatic interactions was utilized to assemble Au nanocrystals of various morphologies onto graphene oxide (GO). This method allows deposition of metal nanocrystals of different shapes onto GO. The linear and nonlinear optical properties of GO–Au nanocrystal composites have been examined. The extinction spectra of Au nanocrystals became broadened and red-shifted from the visible to the near IR upon formation of GO–Au nanocrystal composites. A more than 4-fold increase in two-photon excitation emission intensity was observed from the GO–Au nanocrystal composites compared to pure Au nanocrystals. The SERS signals of the composites were found to be strongly dependent on the morphology of Au nanocrystals, with SERS enhancement factors ranging from 9 to 20

Isoalantolactone induces intrinsic apoptosis through p53 signaling pathway in human lung squamous carcinoma cells.

Isoalantolactone has recently been revealed to induce apoptosis in several types of cancer. However, little is reported on its anti-tumor potential on human lung cancer. Our present study was designed to investigate its effects on human lung squamous carcinoma SK-MES-1 cells. We found that Isoalantolactone induced cellular and DNA morphological changes and decreased the viability of SK-MES-1 cells. It significantly inhibited the growth of SK-MES-1 cells through apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner via activation of p53. It also induced cell cycle arrest at G1 phase. It can down-regulate Bcl-2 and up-regulate Bax, to induce dissipation of mitochondrial membrane potential and generation of reactive oxygen species. Caspase-3 was also activated by Isoalantolactone, with the cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. Our results reveal that Isoalantolactone induces intrinsic apoptosis in SK-MES-1 cells through p53 signaling pathway, which suggests that Isoalantolactone could be a potential leading compound for future development of anti-lung cancer drugs

A Preliminary Study on Grip-Induced Nerve Damage Caused by a Soft Pneumatic Elastomeric Gripper

Forceps, clamps, and haemostats are essential surgical tools required for all surgical interventions. While they are widely used to grasp, hold, and manipulate soft tissue, their metallic rigid structure may cause tissue damage due to the potential risk of applying excessive gripping forces. Soft pneumatic surgical grippers fabricated by silicone elastomeric materials with low Young’s modulus may offer a promising solution to minimize this unintentional damage due to their inherent excellent compliance and compressibility. The goal of this work is to evaluate and compare the grip-induced nerve damage caused by the soft pneumatic elastomeric gripper and conventional haemostats during surgical manipulation. Twenty-four Wistar rats (male, seven weeks) are subjected to sciatic nerve compression (right hind limb) using the soft pneumatic elastomer gripper and haemostats. A histopathological analysis is conducted at different time-points (Day 0, Day 3, Day 7 and Day 13) after the nerve compression to examine the morphological tissue changes between the rats in the ‘soft gripper’ group and the ‘haemostats’ group. A free walking analysis is also performed to examine the walking function of the rats after recovery from different time points. Comparing the rigid haemostats and soft gripper groups, there is a visible difference in the degree of axonal vacuolar degeneration between the groups, which could suggest the presence of substantial nerve damage in the ‘haemostats’ group. The rats in the haemostats group exhibited reduced right hind paw pressure and paw size after the nerve compression. It shows that the rats tend not to exert more force on the affected right hind limb in the haemostats group compared to the soft gripper group. In addition, the stance duration was reduced in the injured right hind limb compared to the normal left hind limb in the haemostats group. These observations show that the soft pneumatic surgical gripper made of silicone elastomeric materials might reduce the severity of grip-induced damage by providing a safe compliant grip compared to the conventional haemostats. The soft pneumatic elastomer gripper could complement the current surgical gripping tool in delicate tissue manipulation

Plasmon-Enhanced Fluorescence in Coupled Nanostructures and Applications in DNA Detection

Plasmon coupling interactions between adjacent noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) can cause significantly enhanced local electric field in the gap region, which could be utilized to dramatically enhance the fluorescence intensity of chromophores. Here we performed a systematic study on the influence of different factors on plasmon coupling-enhanced fluorescence, including shape and size of metal NPs, dye distribution, and separation distance. Cyanine 5 (Cy5) acted as the fluorescence probe and DNA was employed to assemble nanostructures to immobilize Cy5 into the gap region of the coupled metal NPs. Fluorescence of Cy5 was prequenched by attaching DNA linked Cy5 to the surface of Au nanospheres (NSs). The quenched fluorescence of Cy5 was turned-on by forming nanoassembly through DNA hybridization with different enhancing substrates: Au NSs, Au nanorods (NRs) and Au@Ag NSs. Au@Ag NSs were found to give the largest fluorescence enhancement effect. Larger-sized Au@Ag NPs were found to display larger fluorescence enhancement effects compared to the smaller ones. Optimum fluorescence enhancement was observed at an intermediate interparticle separation distance of 8.2 nm, which was up to 100-fold enhancement compared to quenched Cy5-Au NSs, 5-fold enhancement compared to unquenched free Cy5 molecules. As prequenched fluorescence offers reduced background, this plasmon coupling-enhanced fluorescence phenomenon was further utilized to develop a simple fluorescence turn-on platform for highly sensitive and selective detection of DNA sequence. The limit of detection (LOD) of this method was estimated to 3.1 pM. The exceptional selectivity of this method allows us to distinguish single-base mismatch at room temperature. This plasmon coupling-enhanced fluorescence phenomenon could be further utilized to develop various platforms for highly sensitive sensing and imaging applications

Correlation of Surface Toll-Like Receptor 9 Expression with IL-17 Production in Neutrophils during Septic Peritonitis in Mice Induced by E. coli

IL-17 is a proinflammatory cytokine produced by various immune cells. Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) are the first line of defense in bacterial infection and express surface Toll-like receptor 9 (sTLR9). To study the relationship of sTLR9 and IL-17 in PMNs during bacterial infection, we infected mice with E. coli intraperitoneally to establish a septic peritonitis model for studying the PMNs response in peritoneal cavity. We found that PMNs and some of “giant cells” were massively accumulated in the peritoneal cavity of mice with fatal septic peritonitis induced by E. coli. Kinetically, the CD11b+ PMNs were increased from 20–40% at 18 hours to >80% at 72 hours after infection. After E. coli infection, sTLR9 expression on CD11b+ and CD11b− PMNs and macrophages in the PLCs were increased at early stage and deceased at late stage; IL-17 expression was also increased in CD11b+ PMNs, CD11b− PMNs, macrophages, and CD3+ T cells. Using experiments of in vitro blockage, qRT-PCR and cell sorting, we confirmed that PMNs in the PLCs did increase their IL-17 expression during E. coli infection. Interestingly, sTLR9−CD11b+Ly6G+ PMNs, not sTLR9+CD11b+Ly6G+ PMNs, were found to be able to increase their IL-17 expression. Together, the data may help understand novel roles of PMNs in septic peritonitis