Short-term outcomes of robot-assisted versus video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for non-small cell lung cancer patients with neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy: a single-center retrospective study

BackgroundNeoadjuvant immunochemotherapy has been increasingly applied to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the comparison between robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS) and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) in the feasibility and oncological efficacy following neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy is scarce. This study aims to assess the superiorities of RATS over (VATS) concerning short-term outcomes in treating NSCLC patients with neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy.MethodsNSCLC patients receiving RATS or VATS lobectomy following neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy at Shanghai Chest Hospital from 2019 to 2022 were retrospectively identified. Baseline clinical characteristics, perioperative outcomes, and survival profiles were analyzed.ResultsForty-six NSCLC patients with neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy were included and divided into the RATS (n=15) and VATS (n=31) groups. The baseline clinical characteristics and induction-related adverse events were comparable between the two groups (all p>0.050). The 30-day mortality in the RATS and VATS groups were 0% and 3.23%, respectively (p=1.000). Patients undergoing RATS were associated with reduced surgical-related intensive unit care (ICU) stay than those receiving VATS (0.0 [0.0-0.0] vs. 0.0 [0.0-1.0] days, p=0.026). Moreover, RATS assessed more N1 LNs (6.27 ± 1.94 vs 4.90 ± 1.92, p=0.042) and LN stations (3.07 ± 1.03 vs 2.52 ± 0.57, p=0.038) compared with VATS. By comparison, no difference was found in surgical outcomes, pathological results, and postoperative complications between the RATS and VATS groups (all p>0.050). Finally, RATS and VATS achieved comparable one-year recurrence-free survival (82.96% vs. 85.23%, p=0.821) and the timing of central nervous system, LN, and bone recurrences (all p>0.050).ConclusionRATS is safe and feasible for NSCLC patients with neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy, reducing surgical-related ICU stay, assessing increased N1 LNs and stations, and achieving similar survival profiles to VATS

A mechanochemical model of cell reorientation on substrates under cyclic stretch.

We report a theoretical study on the cyclic stretch-induced reorientation of spindle-shaped cells. Specifically, by taking into account the evolution of sub-cellular structures like the contractile stress fibers and adhesive receptor-ligand clusters, we develop a mechanochemical model to describe the dynamics of cell realignment in response to cyclically stretched substrates. Our main hypothesis is that cells tend to orient in the direction where the formation of stress fibers is energetically most favorable. We show that, when subjected to cyclic stretch, the final alignment of cells reflects the competition between the elevated force within stress fibers that accelerates their disassembly and the disruption of cell-substrate adhesion as well, and an effectively increased substrate rigidity that promotes more stable focal adhesions. Our model predictions are consistent with various observations like the substrate rigidity dependent formation of stable adhesions and the stretching frequency, as well as stretching amplitude, dependence of cell realignment. This theory also provides a simple explanation on the regulation of protein Rho in the formation of stretch-induced stress fibers in cells

Supramolecular interactions of poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-co- thiophene] with single-walled carbon nanotubes

Efficient selective extraction of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) from as-synthesized SWCNTs is essential for their electronic and photovoltaic applications. In this study, we used a relatively simple copolymer backbone structure of poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-co-thiophene] (PFT) for the selective extraction of s-SWCNTs from HiPCO SWCNTs. The absorption and Raman spectroscopies indicated that the PFT-sorted s-SWCNTs had high purity which was far beyond the sensitivity of the spectrometers. Photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy showed that PFT mainly extracted the chiralities of (n,m)=(9,5), (8,6), (7,5), and (10,5) s-SWCNTs with the ratios of about 53.1%, 24.8%, 11.5%, and 10.5%, respectively. Both steady-state and transient optical spectroscopies suggested that there was a strong interaction between PFT and s-SWCNTs. Molecular dynamics simulation results agreed well with the experimental data. Additionally, the photoinduced energy transfer behavior of the PFT-wrapped s-SWCNT resultant hybrid was assessed. This work indicated that the prepared PFT-wrapped s-SWCNT hybrid material was attractive for organic photovoltaic devices

Fossil Fruits of Ceratophyllum from the Upper Eocene and Miocene of South China

Ceratophyllum L. is a cosmopolitan genus of perennial aquatic herbs that occur in quiet freshwaters. Fossils of this genus have been widely reported from the Northern Hemisphere, most of them occurring in the temperate zone. Here, we describe two species of fossil fruits discovered from subtropical areas of China. The fossil fruit discovered from the upper Eocene Huangniuling Formation of the Maoming Basin is designated as C. cf. muricatum Chamisso, and fruits discovered from the Miocene Erzitang Formation of the Guiping Basin are assigned to the extant species C. demersum L. The discovery of these two fossil species indicates that Ceratophyllum had spread to South China by the late Eocene and their distribution expanded in subtropical China during the Miocene

Reorientation of multiple cells on cyclically stretched substrates.

<p>(a) Alignment of 100 individual cells adhered to a substrate which is subjected to a 10% stretch at 1 Hz. The stretch is applied along the horizontal direction and from left to right, the order parameters corresponding to particular time points are: , and . (b, c) Dynamic evolution of the order parameter representing instantaneous cell orientation of 100 cells on the cyclically stretched substrate at different values of straining frequency, amplitude and rotational diffusivity. Each error bar reflects the standard deviation (SD) of 10 independent sets of simulation.</p

Long-time average filament density as a function of the cell orientation angle under different values of stretching amplitude (stretch frequency: 1 Hz).

<p>Long-time average filament density as a function of the cell orientation angle under different values of stretching amplitude (stretch frequency: 1 Hz).</p

Effects of Poisson's ratio on cell reorientation.

<p>(a) The effective stretching strain acting on each SF as a function of cell orientation angle , influenced by Poisson's ratio of substrate materials. (b, c, d) Long-time average filament density as a function of the cell orientation angle for slow kinetic process () and (b) , (c) and (d) without strain stiffening effects, respectively.</p

The compliance of the bond-substrate system represented by the effective spring constant <i>K</i>.

<p>The receptors actually bind to specific head groups of certain adhesion molecules, such as fibronectin, coated on the substrate surface.</p