Designing a broad-spectrum integrative approach for cancer prevention and treatment

Targeted therapies and the consequent adoption of "personalized" oncology have achieved notablesuccesses in some cancers; however, significant problems remain with this approach. Many targetedtherapies are highly toxic, costs are extremely high, and most patients experience relapse after a fewdisease-free months. Relapses arise from genetic heterogeneity in tumors, which harbor therapy-resistantimmortalized cells that have adopted alternate and compensatory pathways (i.e., pathways that are notreliant upon the same mechanisms as those which have been targeted). To address these limitations, aninternational task force of 180 scientists was assembled to explore the concept of a low-toxicity "broad-spectrum" therapeutic approach that could simultaneously target many key pathways and mechanisms. Using cancer hallmark phenotypes and the tumor microenvironment to account for the various aspectsof relevant cancer biology, interdisciplinary teams reviewed each hallmark area and nominated a widerange of high-priority targets (74 in total) that could be modified to improve patient outcomes. For thesetargets, corresponding low-toxicity therapeutic approaches were then suggested, many of which werephytochemicals. Proposed actions on each target and all of the approaches were further reviewed forknown effects on other hallmark areas and the tumor microenvironment. Potential contrary or procar-cinogenic effects were found for 3.9% of the relationships between targets and hallmarks, and mixedevidence of complementary and contrary relationships was found for 7.1%. Approximately 67% of therelationships revealed potentially complementary effects, and the remainder had no known relationship. Among the approaches, 1.1% had contrary, 2.8% had mixed and 62.1% had complementary relationships. These results suggest that a broad-spectrum approach should be feasible from a safety standpoint. Thisnovel approach has potential to be relatively inexpensive, it should help us address stages and types ofcancer that lack conventional treatment, and it may reduce relapse risks. A proposed agenda for futureresearch is offered

Effect of proppant impingement on flow-induced corrosion of tubular steel super 13Cr via CFD and experiment

Data from a standard laboratory test including open-circuit potential (OCP) and current density monitoring is used to study the effect of fracturing proppant impingement on corrosion of tubular steel. A solid-liquid flow simulation is performed to obtain some parameters of particle movement and oxygen mass transfer near the metal surface. The results show that the electrochemical reaction includes passivation, activation and repassivation during a particle impact on the metal surface. Once the metal surface is in the activated state, the potential and anode current density is controlled by the oxygen concentration in the boundary layer and repassivation rate of metal surface. The increase of particle impact velocity accelerates the transmission of corrosion reactants and creates deeper impact craters on metal surface, resulting in the increase of current density. Meanwhile, the high speed particle impingement causes some platelets and extruding lips and thus weakens the surface corrosion resistance of stainless steel. Keywords: Tubular steel, Particle impingement, Flow-induced corrosion, Passive films, Repassivatio

Phosphorus in China's Intensive Vegetable Production Systems: Overfertilization, Soil Enrichment, and Environmental Implications

China's vegetable production has experienced a rapid growth in recent years. Total production amounted to 522.7 million Mg (1 Mg = 10(6) g) in 2009, which was more than nine times that in 1980 and represented >50% of the world production. Meanwhile, excessive use of animal manures and chemical fertilizers in vegetable fields has brought various production and environmental challenges, including excessive accumulation of nutrients in soils and accelerated water pollution problems. In this study, we have evaluated the current status of phosphorus (P) in China's intensive vegetable production systems based on data summarized from nearly 100 publications plus results from our recent experiments. Gross overfertilization occurred in greenhouse (571 kg P ha(-1)) and open-field (117 kg P ha(-1)) vegetable systems compared with P removal in harvested crops (44 and 25 kg P ha(-1)) per season. Excess P input led to soil enrichment of labile P, measured as Olsen-P, averaging 179 (greenhouses) and 100 mg P kg(-1) (open fields) in the 0- to 20-cm soil depth, and in some cases led to P leaching, as evidenced by increases in Olsen-P and CaCl2 - P at the 40- to 60-cm soil depth. The vast majority of vegetable soils had Olsen-P exceeding the critical level (46.0-58.0 mg P kg(-1)) for optimum vegetable yield. Innovative policies and strategies are urgently needed to implement science-based nutrient management practices to attain sustainable vegetable production while protecting natural and environmental resources

Determination of the number of J/ψ events with inclusive J/ψ decays

A measurement of the number of J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector in 2009 and 2012 is performed using inclusive decays of the J/ψ. The number of J/ψ events taken in 2009 is recalculated to be (223.7 ± 1.4) × 106, which is in good agreement with the previous measurement, but with significantly improved precision due to improvements in the BESIII software. The number of J/ψ events taken in 2012 is determined to be (1086.9 ± 6.0) × 106. In total, the number of J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector is measured to be (1310.6 ± 7.0) × 106, where the uncertainty is dominated by systematic effects and the statistical uncertainty is negligible