A Regimen of Taxol, Ifosfamide, and Platinum for Recurrent Advanced Squamous Cell Cancer of the Anal Canal

The typically recommended chemotherapy options in metastatic anal cancer generally yield partial remissions with limited benefit for the majority of patients. TIP is a regimen containing paclitaxel (Taxol), ifosfamide, and cisplatin that is known to have significant activity in patients with squamous cell cancers of the head and neck as well as in cervical cancer, both of which are malignancies strongly associated with oncogenic strains of human papilloma virus (HPV). Interestingly, squamous cell cancer of the anal canal shares an almost identical pathophysiology including causal association with HPV. Due to this, we chose to use the TIP regimen to treat patients with advanced anal cancer at our institution and report our findings on three such consecutive patients. All the patients tolerated the regimen well with manageable side effects and had excellent responses with complete resolution of PET activity after treatment. Our observations suggest that TIP is highly active for squamous cell cancer of the anal canal and warrants further study in the treatment of this disease

Emulating Thin Clients and Voice-over-IP with Wane

Volume 2 Issue 8 (August 2014

A Rare Case Report of Idiopathic Abdominal Cocoon Presenting as Acute Intestinal Obstruction-Management Challenges

The idiopathic variant of sclerosing Intraperitoneal fibrosis is a rare pathological entity causing intestinal obstruction. Even though it is described since the beginning of the last century, we are still clueless about the aetiology of this problem. The presentation is often confusing and the clinical and laboratory values will be not confirmatory to establish a diagnosis. A Contrast-enhanced CT scan is a vital investigation of choice. Here we discuss a case of intestinal obstruction with a preop diagnosis of internal herniation, which turned out to be a case of massive intraperitoneal fibrosis. The histopathology was not significant, and no secondary cause was identified. The case report throws wisdom into the existence of this entity and how with a CT scan we can suspect it before surgery. With adequate and meticulous enterolysis we can surgically rehabilitate these patients so that they can lead a normal life

Effect of Salt Valency and Concentration on Shear and Extensional Rheology of Aqueous Polyelectrolyte Solutions For Enhanced Oil Recovery

The injection of polymer solutions into an oil basin can lead to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) by increasing the microscopic sweep of the reservoir, improving the water-oil motility ratio, and thus leading to greater yield from oil fields. In this contribution, we characterize both shear and extensional rheological response of aqueous solutions of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM), the most commonly used polymer for EOR, for velocity gradients in both the flow direction (extensional) and perpendicular to flow (shear) arise in EOR applications. As HPAM is a charged polymer, to better emulate the environment in oil basins, the rheological response was investigated in presence of salt, sodium chloride, and calcium chloride, with concentrations 3.7 × 10−4 − 1.5 M, as a function of polymer molecular weight (2–10 million g/mol) and concentration (0.005–0.3 wt%). The extensional relaxation times and extensional viscosity are measured using dripping-onto-substrate (DoS) rheometry protocols, and a commercial shear rheometer was utilized for characterizing the shear rheology response. The polyelectrolyte solutions formed by HPAM exhibit shear thinning in steady shear, but show strain hardening in response to extensional flow. Even though an increase in monovalent salt concentration leads to a decrease in both shear viscosity and extensional relaxation times, an increase in divalent salt concentration leads to an increase in extensional viscosity and relaxation time, implying that ion coordination can play a role in the presence of multivalent ions

Catalytic Dehydrogenation of para-Diethyl Benzene to para-Divinyl Benzene over Iron Oxide Supported Catalyst

The vapor-phase catalytic dehydrogenation of para-diethyl benzene (PDEB) to para-divinyl benzene (PDVB) with super-heated steam as a diluent was investigated using alumina supported iron oxide catalyst system. During the catalytic dehydrogenation reaction, ethyl styrene (EST) and thermal cracking products were observed as side products. It was found that various reaction parameters influence the rate of dehydrogenation reaction. However, the reaction is favored by high temperature and low reaction pressure. Moreover, addition of potassium into iron-oxide catalyst acts as a promoter and thereby increases the efficiency of the catalyst. The conversion of PDEB and yield of PDVB also increases as the Water/PDEB flow ratio increases. Copyright © 2019 BCREC Group. All rights reserve

Oligonucleotides targeting TCF4 triplet repeat expansion inhibit RNA foci and mis-splicing in Fuchs\u27 dystrophy

Fuchs\u27 endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) is the most common repeat expansion disorder. FECD impacts 4% of U.S. population and is the leading indication for corneal transplantation. Most cases are caused by an expanded intronic CUG tract in the TCF4 gene that forms nuclear foci, sequesters splicing factors and impairs splicing. We investigated the sense and antisense RNA landscape at the FECD gene and find that the sense-expanded repeat transcript is the predominant species in patient corneas. In patient tissue, sense foci number were negatively correlated with age and showed no correlation with sex. Each endothelial cell has approximately 2 sense foci and each foci is single RNA molecule. We designed antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) to target the mutant-repetitive RNA and demonstrated potent inhibition of foci in patient-derived cells. Ex vivo treatment of FECD human corneas effectively inhibits foci and reverses pathological changes in splicing. FECD has the potential to be a model for treating many trinucleotide repeat diseases and targeting the TCF4 expansion with ASOs represents a promising therapeutic strategy to prevent and treat FECD

Bicyclic triterpenoid Iripallidal induces apoptosis and inhibits Akt/mTOR pathway in glioma cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The highly resistant nature of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) to chemotherapy prompted us to evaluate the efficacy of bicyclic triterpenoid Iripallidal against GBM in vitro.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The effect of Iripallidal on proliferation and apoptosis in glioma cell lines was evaluated by MTS, colony formation and caspase-3 activity. The effect of iripallidal to regulate (i) Akt/mTOR and STAT3 signaling (ii) molecules associated with cell cycle and DNA damage was evaluated by Western blot analysis. The effect of Iripallidal on telomerase activity was also determined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Iripallidal (i) induced apoptosis, (ii) inhibited Akt/mTOR and STAT3 signaling, (iii) altered molecules associated with cell cycle and DNA damage, (iv) inhibited telomerase activity and colony forming efficiency of glioma cells. In addition, Iripallidal displayed anti-proliferative activity against non-glioma cancer cell lines of diverse origin.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The ability of Iripallidal to serve as a dual-inhibitor of Akt/mTOR and STAT3 signaling warrants further investigation into its role as a therapeutic strategy against GBM.</p