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Background: Foam sclerotherapy is currently the first-line treatment for venous malformations (VMs). Hyaluronic acid-polidocanol (HA-POL) foam has been used in the treatment of head and neck VMs recently; however, its clinical efficacy and safety have yet to be further evaluated, and the impact of age and other related factors on its safety is still unclear. Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of HA-POL foam in the treatment of head and neck VMs. Methods and materials: We performed a single-center retrospective review of all patients with VMs involving the head and neck region undergoing HAPOL foam sclerotherapy from February 2015 to February 2022 in the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department of Qilu Hospital Shandong University. Patients’ medical records were collected and all patients enrolled were followed up for 1–6  months (group 1), part of them were followed up for 3–9  years (group 2). Results: A total of 223 patients with head and neck VMs were enrolled in the study, with 36 patients who were followed for 3–9  years. Total response rate in group 1 was 96.41% (n  =  215), of which 30.94% (n  =  69) of the patients met the criteria of “resolution,” and 65.47% (n  =  146) of the patients had “significant improvement.” In group 2, the total response rate was 72.22% (n  =  26), of which the rates of the patients met the criteria of “resolution” and patients had “significant improvement” were all 36.11% (n  =  13)0.144 (64.57%) patients experienced complications like localized swelling, pain and fever, and no serious complications occurred. The risk of developing complications after treatment was independent of age, and was weakly associated with the dose of HA-POL foam. Conclusion: The HA-POL foam sclerotherapy is safe and effective in the treatment of head and neck VMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: An effective tool is needed to predict the prognosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Human papillomavirus (HPV) positive HNSCC patients generally have a favorable survival and a promising responsiveness to radiotherapy, chemoradiotherapy and checkpoint blockades. However, HPV negative patients, the majority of HNSCC patients, have been largely overlooked. Cell death has been involved in the therapeutic resistance of cancers. To this end, we aimed to identify the association of autophagy, apoptosis and pyroptosis-related genes with the prognosis of HNSCC, and construct a prognostic signature to predict the prognosis for HNSCC, especially for HPV negative HNSCC. Methods: Autophagy and apoptosis-related genes were obtained from Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) website, and pyroptosis-related genes were obtained from GSEA and Gene Ontology (GO) database. We established the cell death index (CDI) based on RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data and clinicopathological information from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. The prognostic value of CDI was verified by Kaplan-Meier, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses in TCGA dataset, and validated with the datasets from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and Qilu Hospital of Shandong University. We further assessed the immune microenvironment of patients with high and low CDI scores. Moreover, the expression of the signature genes in HNSCC cell lines were explored. Results: We found that CDI was an independent prognostic indicator for overall survival (hazard ratio 3.80, 95% confidential interval: 2.70-5.40, P < 0.001). Furthermore, HNSCC patients with high CDI scores obtained increased overall survival post radiation indicating benefits from radiotherapy of this subgroup. On the other hand, HPV negative HNSCC patients with low CDI exhibited increased checkpoint gene expressions, an inflamed tumor microenvironment and an enriched immune response-related functions, suggesting the potential benefits from checkpoint immunotherapies of this subgroup. Moreover, we validated the baseline and induced expressions of above 16 genes in two HPV negative HNSCC cell lines, CAL27 and SCC-15. Discussion: We established a prognostic signature and emphasized its implements in the therapeutic choices of HPV negative HNSCC patients, the majority and the poor outcome population of HNSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living Phanerochaete chrysosporium mycelia were used to remove heavy metals of Cd(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) in auqeous solution. The uptake of heavy metal by the mycelia was dependent on the environmental conditions. The optimum biosorption conditions of Cd(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) were pH 5.5–6.5 at 37◦C, and 6 h. Under these conditions, the fungal biosorbent removed Cd(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) rapidly and efficiently with maximum metal removal capacities of 59.77 mg/g, 74.78 mg/g, and 54.12 mg/g, respectively. The pseudo second-order kinetic model was superior to the pseudo first-order kinetic model, which indicated that the change of the surface sorption sites number was proportional to the square of the remaining unoccupied surface sites number. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra indicated that hydroxyl and carboxyl groups were relevant to biosorption. Some crystal particles were found on the surface of the P. chrysosporium under scanning electron microscopy. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis and FT-IR revealed that amino acids and proteins were involved in binding metal ions. The results demonstrated that P. chrysosporium was a good potential biosorbent for adsorbing heavy metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phanerochaete chrysosporium has been recognised as an effective bioremediation agent due to its unique degradation to xenobiotic and biosorption ability to heavy metals. However, few studies have focused on the simultaneous removal of heavy metals and organic pollutants. The aim of this work was to study the feasibility of simultaneous cadmium removal and 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) degradation in P. chrysosporium liquid cultures. The removal efficiencies were pH dependent and the maximum removal efficiencies were observed at pH 6.5 under an initial cadmium concentration of 5 mg/L and an initial 2,4-DCP concentration of 20 mg/L. The removal efficiencies for cadmium and 2,4-DCP reached 63.62% and 83.90%, respectively, under the optimum conditions. The high production levels of lignin peroxidase (7.35 U/mL) and manganese peroxidase (8.30 U/mL) resulted in an increase in 2,4-DCP degradation. The protein content decreased with increasing cadmium concentration. The surface characteristics and functional groups of the biomass were studied by scanning electron microscopy and a Fourier-transformed infrared spectrometer. The results showed that the use of P. chrysosporium is promising for the simultaneous removal of cadmium and 2,4-DCP from liquid media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]