Clinical efficacy of apatinib as a second-line treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer in a Chinese tertiary cancer health facility

Purpose: To study the effectiveness and safety of apatinib as second-line treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer (APC) in a Chinese tertiary cancer hospital. Methods: Two groups of APC patients who received treatment with single-agent or two-drug combination of gemcitabine-based first-line therapy (50 per group) in The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing were assessed. The study group received apatinib at or above the second line treatment, while the control group was treated with second-line chemotherapy, which was different from first-line single-drug chemotherapy. Patients received treatments until there was improvement in their conditions, or until adverse reactions became intolerable. Complete remission (CR), partial remission (PR), disease stabilization (SD), disease progression (PD), incidence of adverse reactions, and progression-free survival (PFS) of the patients were recorded. Results: The number of PR cases in APC patients who received apatinib as second-line therapy, and the number of PD patients were higher than the corresponding populations in the control group (p < 0.05). Treatment effectiveness was significantly higher in study group patients than in control subjects (p < 0.05). However, the incidence of adverse reactions was lower in the study group than in control group. Median PFS in the study group (5 months) was significantly higher than that of the control group (4.1 months, p < 0.05). Conclusion: The clinical efficacy of apatinib as second-line treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer is higher than that of the single drug. Apatinib is associated with low incidence of adverse reactions which prolongs PFS. Thus, apatinib has potentials for the clinical management of pancreatic cancer

Protective effect of aprepitant against chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting in postoperative chemotherapy for gastric cancer

Purpose: To investigate the clinical efficacy of aprepitant in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) caused by schemotherapy after gastric cancer surgery, and associated factors, as well as adverse reactions to the drug. Methods: A total of 100 postoperative gastric cancer patients in the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2017 to January 2019, were randomly divided into control group (50 patients given dexamethasone + parlour SiQiong), and treatment group (50 patients given his minions horse temple + dexamethasone + parlour SiQiong). Recording of nausea and vomiting, as well as adverse reaction of patients, were started after 7 days of chemotherapy in patients. Results: The total effective control of acute CINV in the control group was 82 %, while the total effective control of acute CINV in the study group was 94 %. Values of total effective control of DFS in the control and study groups were 70 and 86 %, respectively. The incidence of adverse reactions was similar in the two groups. There was a significant correlation between the anti-emetic effect of aprepitant and gastric surgery. Conclusion: After gastric cancer surgery, combined treatment with aprepitant, palonosetron and dexamethasone prevents CINV induced by moderate emetogenic chemotherapy with orisaplatin. The combined treatment has good efficacy and can improve tolerance to, and compliance with chemotherap

Distribution of Actual Evapotranspiration over Qaidam Basin, an Arid Area in China

Evapotranspiration is a major loss flux of the water balance in arid and semi-arid areas. The estimation of actual evapotranspiration has significance for hydrological and environmental purposes. The Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) algorithm was applied to estimate actual evapotranspiration in the Qaidam Basin and its eight hydrological sub-regions, Northwest China. There were 3,036 cloud-free and atmospherically corrected MODIS satellite images from 2001 to 2011 used in the SEBS algorithm to determine the actual evapotranspiration. The result indicated that the estimated annual actual evapotranspiration of the basin increased with time and the value varied from 72.7 to 182.3 mm. SEBS estimates were 7.5% and 14.1% of observed pan evaporation over the western and eastern areas, respectively. The variation of SEBS actual evapotranspiration is influenced by climate factors, vegetation, net radiation, land cover type and water table depth. The analysis of the evaporative behavior of different land cover types in the basin presented that water bodies, marsh, and farmland had relatively higher mean actual evapotranspiration though these land cover types make up less than 3.5% of the total basin. Bare soil has very low evapotranspiration and covered almost 60% of the study area. The actual evapotranspiration was observed to be decreased with an increase of water table depth. Overall, the SEBS algorithm proved to be useful and has potential for estimating spatial actual evapotranspiration on a regional scale

Effects of traditional qigong exercise on ankylosing spondylitis: a protocol for systematic reviews and meta-analysis

Introduction Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a recurrent autoimmune disease that is associated with a high disability rate, which has a profound negative impact on daily life. It has been clinically reported that traditional qigong exercise has certain therapeutic advantages in treating AS; however, this postulation is not evidence-based. Therefore, this study will aim at systematically appraising the validity and safety of traditional qigong exercise in treating AS.Methods and analysis We searched the English (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library) and Chinese databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan fang, VIP and Chinese biomedical database) for relevant information. Additionally, the Baidu Academic and Google Academic databases were manually searched to mine relevant information. Randomised controlled clinical trials of traditional qigong exercise in treating AS were searched from the establishment of the database to September 2020. Quality articles were extracted and independently evaluated by two researchers before inclusion in this study. Meta-analysis of the included articles was performed using the RevMan V.5.3 software.Ethics and dissemination This study will not involve primary data collection, and formal ethics approval will, therefore, not be required. We aim to publish this systematic review in a peer-reviewed journal.Trial registration number CRD42020207057

SCR-6852, an oral and highly brain-penetrating estrogen receptor degrader (SERD), effectively shrinks tumors both in intracranial and subcutaneous ER + breast cancer models

Abstract Background Targeted estrogen receptor degradation has been approved to effectively treat ER + breast cancers. Due to the poor bioavailability of fulvestrant, the first generation of SERD, many efforts were made to develop oral SERDs. With the approval of Elacestrant, oral SERDs demonstrated superior efficacy than fulvestrant. However, due to the poor ability of known SERDs to penetrate the blood–brain barrier (BBB), breast cancer patients with brain metastasis cannot benefit from clinical SERDs. Methods The ER inhibitory effects were evaluated on ERα protein degradation, and target genes downregulation. And anti-proliferation activities were further determined in a panel of ER + breast cancer cell lines. The subcutaneous and intracranial ER + tumor models were used to evaluate the efficacy of anti-tumor effects. Brain penetrability was determined in multiple animal species. Results SCR-6852 is a novel SERD and currently is under early clinical evaluation. In vitro studies demonstrated that it strongly induced both wildtype and mutant ERα degradation. It potently inhibited cell proliferation in a panel of ER + breast cancer cell lines, including the cell lines containing ESR1 mutations (Y537 and D538). Furthermore, SCR-6852 exhibited pure antagonistic activities on the ERɑ signal axis identified both in vitro and in vivo. Oral administration of SCR-6852 at 10 mg/kg resulted in tumor shrinkage which was superior to Fulvestrant at 250 mg/kg, notably, in the intracranial tumor model, SCR-6852 effectively inhibited tumor growth and significantly prolonged mice survival, which correlated well with the high exposure in brains. In addition to mice, SCR-6852 also exhibited high brain penetrability in rats and dogs. Conclusions SCR-6852 is a novel SERD with high potency in inducing ERα protein degradation and pure antagonistic activity on ERɑ signaling in vitro and in vivo. Due to the high brain penetrability, SCR-6852 could be used to treat breast patients with brain metastasis

Inhibiting oxygen vacancies and twisting NbO6 octahedron in erbium modified KNN-based multifunctional ceramics

It is a challenge to obtain highly tunable multifunctional performances in one ferroelectric system by a simple approach to meet the miniaturization, integration, and functionalization requirements of advanced electronic components. Herein, rare earth erbium (Er) modulated 0.9K0.5Na0.5NbO3-0.1Sr(1-x)ErxTi(1-x/4)O3, (0.9KNN-0.1ST: xEr) transparent-photoluminescent-ferroelectric energy storage multifunctional ceramics are prepared to solve this problem. The effect of lattice distortion and oxygen vacancies by Er doping on the optical and electrical properties is systematically investigated. The Er3+ ions can introduce a large distortion of the NbO6 octahedron by replacing the A-site in KNN-based ceramics. Thanks to the higher c/a ratio and lower oxygen vacancy content are simultaneously obtained in 0.9KNN-0.1ST: 0.1Er ceramics. The effective energy storage density (Wrec) of 0.86 J/cm3, excellent near-infrared transmittance of 51.7% (1 100 nm) and strong green upconversion photoluminescence are achieved in this multifunctional ceramic. This study provides a solid basis for rare earth ions doped ferroelectric ceramics with tunable multifunctional properties and has significant potential for applications in optoelectronic devices