Search

The role of serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) on the clinical outcomes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs) treatment remained to be elucidated. Therefore, we did this meta-analysis. We searched databases including PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library till to June, 2017. The relationships between the LDH levels and overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) were assessed by calculating hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The association between the LDH levels and disease control rate (DCR) was calculated by odds ratio (OR) and 95% CI. Seven studies were included in the meta-analysis. As for DCR, the result from this meta-analysis was not positive (OR=0.71; 95% CI 0.21 – 2.37; P=0.57). As for PFS, the result of the meta-analysis indicated that elevated LDH was significantly associated with shorter PFS (HR=1.88; 95%CI, 1.37–2.59). When studies were stratified by ethnicity, significant association was also observed in Asian group (HR=2.36; 95%CI, 1.57–3.55). As for OS, patients with high levels of LDH showed significantly shorter OS (HR=2.44; 95%CI, 1.84–3.23). In the subgroup by race, significant associations were found in Asian group (HR=2.62; 95%CI, 1.61–4.26) and Caucasian population (HR=2.36; 95%CI, 1.66–3.34). In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggested that elevated LDH level was associated with the poor PFS and OS of NSCLC patients receiving EGFR-TKIs treatment.

Some studies found that there was a significant association between asthma and the risk of lung cancer. However, the results are inconclusive. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis. We searched the electronic databases for all relevant articles. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to calculate the strength of the association between asthma and lung cancer risk. Asthma was significantly associated with the increased risk of lung cancer (OR = 1.44; 95% CI 1.31-1.59; P < 0.00001; I2 = 83%). Additionally, asthma patients without smoking also had the increased lung cancer risk. In the subgroup analysis of race and gender, Caucasians, Asians, male, and female patients with asthma showed the increased risk of lung cancer. However, asthma was not significantly associated with lung adenocarcinoma risk. In the stratified analysis by asthma definition, significant associations were found between asthma and lung cancer in self-reported subgroup, questionnaire subgroup, and register databases subgroup. However, no significant association was observed in physician-diagnosed asthma subgroup. In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggested that asthma might be significantly associated with lung cancer risk.

The main purpose of this study was to illustrate the effect of borneol on pharmacokinetics of salvianolic acid B (SalB) in rats after oral administration of SalB with different doses of borneol. The concentrations of SalB in rat plasma were determined by an established and validated LC-MS/MS method. Our data showed that when 20, 40, and 80 mg kg⁻¹ of borneol were orally administrated with SalB at 50 mg kg⁻¹, C (max) of SalB was increased by 18.4%, 55.8%, and 103.2% compared with that of SalB alone. And AUC(0-t) of SalB in plasma was increased by 14.4%, 48.5%, and 123.3%, respectively. The results indicated that borneol is able to enhance the intestinal absorption and relative bioavailability of SalB, with a positive dose-dependent relationship. The described herb-drug interactions might prove the scientific rationality of the compatible ratio of traditional Chinese medicines.

Some studies investigated the association between ADD1 rs4963 polymorphism and hypertension risk. However, the results remained inconclusive. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis. Published reports were searched in PubMed and Google Scholar. The strength of association was assessed by calculating odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Twelve studies with 5097 cases and 5937 controls were conducted in this study. Individuals with ADD1 rs4963 polymorphism showed an increased hypertension risk (OR = 1.21; 95%CI, 1.11-1.33; Plt; 0.0001). Subgroup analyses were performed according to country and age. The results showed that Chinese with ADD1 rs4963 polymorphism showed an increased hypertension risk (OR = 1.28; 95%CI, 1.09-1.51; P = 0.003). However, subjects in Japan and India did not have increased hypertension risk. In the subgroup analysis by age, older subjects, but not younger subjects, with ADD1 rs4963 polymorphism showed an increased hypertension risk (OR = 1.19; 95%CI, 1.07-1.32; P = 0.001). In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggested that ADD1 rs4963 polymorphism might be associated with increased hypertension risk.

Unexpected spectral features are observed in the two photon spectrum of the pure water in the forward direction when an 80 femtosecond laser pulse is focused at 10^10Wcm-2 or less. Such intensity is much lower than the breakdown or stimulated threshold of the liquid water. The two broad features are about 2700cm-1 and 5000cm-1 red shifted from the hyper-Rayleigh wavelength, respectively, and they are quadratic with the laser intensity. They do not match the known Raman or hyper-Raman frequencies of water, and they are both centered at a narrow angle in the forward direction. Several other liquids also exhibited similar but molecular specific spectral features., 4 pages, 4 figures

It has been generally accepted that there are significant quadrupolar and bulk contributions to the second harmonic generation (SHG) reflected from the neat air/water interface, as well as common liquid interfaces. Because there has been no general methodology to determine the quadrupolar and bulk contributions to the SHG signal from a liquid interface, this conclusion was reached based on the following two experimental phenomena. Namely, the broken of the macroscopic Kleinman symmetry, and the significant temperature dependence of the SHG signal from the neat air/water interface. However, because sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy (SFG-VS) measurement of the neat air/water interface observed no apparent temperature dependence, the temperature dependence in the SHG measurement has been reexamined and proven to be an experimental artifact. Here we present a complete microscopic analysis of the susceptibility tensors of the air/water interface, and show that dipolar contribution alone can be used to address the issue of broken of the macroscopic Kleinman symmetry at the neat air/water interface. Using this analysis, the orientation of the water molecules at the interface can be obtained, and it is consistent with the measurement from SFG-VS. Therefore, the key rationales to conclude significantly quadrupolar and bulk contributions to the SHG signal of the neat air/water interface can no longer be considered as valid as before. This new understanding of the air/water interface can shed light on our understanding of the nonlinear optical responses from other molecular interfaces as well.