Effect of oteracil in combination with gimeracil on longterm survival and postoperative complications in elderly patients undergoing radical surgery for biliary tract cancer

Purpose: To investigate the effect of oteracil (Oxo) in combination with gimeracil (CDHP) on long-term survival and postoperative complications in elderly patients undergoing radical surgery for biliary tract cancer (BTC).Methods: Clinical data for 70 patients who underwent radical surgery for BTC in the Oncology Department of the Changle People’s Hospital, Weifang, China from April 2017 to April 2018 were collected. The patients were equally assigned to group A and group B, based on odd or even hospitalization number. After surgery, patients in group A received the combination of Oxo and CDHP, while group B patients received gemcitabine only. Long-term survival and incidence of adverse reactions were compared.Results: Compared with group B, group A had higher total treatment effectiveness (p < 0.05), lower clinical indices (p < 0.05), lower BPI score (p < 0.001) and higher 3-year overall survival (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Combined use of oteracil and gimeracil significantly prolongs the survival time and reduce cancer pain in BTC patients, with minimal toxic and side effects. However, further clinical trials are required prior to application in clinical practice.&nbsp

Simvastatin suppresses cerebral aneurysm in rats through suppression of release of pro-inflammatory cytokines

Purpose: To investigate the protective effect of simvastatin (SA) against onset of cerebral aneurysmmediated inflammatory cytokine release and subsequent inflammation and degradation of the extracellular matrix of smooth muscle cells.Methods: Cerebral aneurysm was induced in male Wistar rats using elastase injection, and aneurysm growth was monitored for one month following SA treatment. Inhibition of aneurysm growth was determined along with the expression levels of chemokines and pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-8, IL-1β, IL-17, IL-6, macrophage chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9, using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).Results: Aneurysm size decreased in rats treated with SA, relative to values obtained for control rats (p < 0.05). The corresponding expressions of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines were also reduced following pre-treatment with SA (p < 0.05). The results indicate a reduction in the aneurysm area in rats pre-treated with SA, when compared to the untreated animals (p < 0.05).Conclusion: SA treatment inhibits the progression of cerebral aneurysms via its protective effect against inflammation, indicating its potential for use in the prevention and treatment of cerebralaneurysms

Anti-Tumor Activity of a Novel Protein Obtained from Tartary Buckwheat

TBWSP31 is a novel antitumor protein that was isolated from tartary buckwheat water-soluble extracts. The objective of this paper was to investigate the anti-proliferative effects of TBWSP31 on breast cancer Bcap37cells and to explore its possible mechanism. After treatment of Bcap37 cells with TBWSP31, typical apoptotic morphological changes were observed by inverted microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), such as detachment from the culture plate, change to a round shape, cell shrinkage, the absence of obvious microvilli, plasma membrane blebbing, and formation of apoptotic bodies. Cell-cycle analysis revealed that treatment with TBWSP31 resulted in a G0/G1 arrest and prevented the cells from growing from G0/G1 phase to S phase, which was most prominent at 48 h. The expression of bcl-2 and Fas were detected quantitatively by FCM, which showed that TBWSP31 induced-apoptosis may be involved with the participation of Fas and bcl-2. These results suggest that TBWSP31 is a potential antitumor compound and that apoptosis induced by TBWSP31 is a key antitumor mechanism

Hyperspectral Imaging and Their Applications in the Nondestructive Quality Assessment of Fruits and Vegetables

Over the past decade, hyperspectral imaging has been rapidly developing and widely used as an emerging scientific tool in nondestructive fruit and vegetable quality assessment. Hyperspectral imaging technique integrates both the imaging and spectroscopic techniques into one system, and it can acquire a set of monochromatic images at almost continuous hundreds of thousands of wavelengths. Many researches based on spatial image and/or spectral image processing and analysis have been published proposing the use of hyperspectral imaging technique in the field of quality assessment of fruits and vegetables. This chapter presents a detailed overview of the introduction, latest developments and applications of hyperspectral imaging in the nondestructive assessment of fruits and vegetables. Additionally, the principal components, basic theories, and corresponding processing and analytical methods are also reported in this chapter