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Purpose To investigate the relationship between changes in vascularity and metabolic activity measured by dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) and dynamic 18F-FDG-positron emission tomography (PET) in breast tumors undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Materials and Methods PET and MRI examinations were performed in 14 patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) before and after chemotherapy. Dynamic 18F-FDG PET measures included 18F-FDG transport rate constant from blood to tissue (K1) and metabolism flux constant (Ki). DCE-MRI measures included initial peak enhancement (PE), signal enhancement ratio (SER), and tumor volume. Spearman rank-order correlations were assessed between changes in PET and MRI parameters, and measures were compared between patients with and without pathologic complete response (pCR) by Mann-Whitney U-test. Results Changes in glucose delivery (PET K1) were closely correlated with changes in tumor vascularity as reflected by DCE-MRI SER ( r = 0.83, P < 0.001). Metabolic changes in PET Ki showed moderate correlations with vascularity changes as reflected by SER ( r = 0.71) and PE ( r = 0.76), and correlated closely with MRI tumor volume ( r = 0.79, P < 0.001). Decreases in K1, Ki, SER, and PE were greater for patients with pCR compared to those with residual disease ( P < 0.05). Conclusion Dynamic 18F-FDG PET and DCE-MRI tumor measures of tumor metabolism, vascularity, and volume were well correlated for assessing LABC response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and significantly discriminated pathologic complete responders. Further work is necessary to assess the value of combined PET and MRI for evaluating tumor pharmacodynamics in response to novel therapy. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2010;32:1124-1131. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aging is marked by the gradual deterioration of cells, tissues, and organs and is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases. Considering the complex mechanisms of aging, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) could offer distinct advantages. However, due to the complexity and variability of metabolites in TCM, the comprehensive screening of metabolites associated with pharmacology remains a significant issue., Methods: A reliable and integrated identification method based on UPLC-Q Exactive-Orbitrap HRMS was established to identify the chemical profiles of Huan Shao Dan (HSD). Then, based on the theory of sequential metabolism, the metabolic sites of HSD in vivo were further investigated. Finally, a deep learning model and a bioactivity assessment assay were applied to screen potential anti-aging metabolites., Results: This study identified 366 metabolites in HSD. Based on the results of sequential metabolism, 135 metabolites were then absorbed into plasma. A total of 178 peaks were identified from the sample after incubation with artificial gastric juice. In addition, 102 and 91 peaks were identified from the fecal and urine samples, respectively. Finally, based on the results of the deep learning model and bioactivity assay, ginsenoside Rg1, Rg2, and Rc, pseudoginsenoside F11, and jionoside B1 were selected as potential anti-aging metabolites., Conclusion: This study provides a valuable reference for future research on the material basis of HSD by describing the chemical profiles both in vivo and in vitro . Moreover, the proposed screening approach may serve as a rapid tool for identifying potential anti-aging metabolites in TCM., Competing Interests: Author GW was employed by Zhongcai Health (Beijing) Biological Technology Development Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Li, Pan, Wang, Zhang, Wang, Qi, Chai, Wang, Yi, Ma, Pan, Liu and Wang.)

This study investigated the impact of packaging methods coupled with high barrier packaging loaded with titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) on the quality of chilled pork. The experiment consisted of three treatment groups: air packaging (AP), vacuum packaging (VP), and vacuum antibacterial packaging (VAP). Changes in total viable count (TVC), pH value, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) value, sensory attributes, and water holding capacity of pork were analyzed at 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 d. TVC of the VAP group was 5.85 Log CFU/g at 12 d, which was lower than that of AP (6.95 Log CFU/g) and VP (5.93 Log CFU/g). The antibacterial film incorporating TiO2 effectively inhibited microorganism growth. The VAP group exhibited the lowest pH value and TVB-N value among all the treatment groups at this time. The findings demonstrated that the application of VAP effectively preserved the sensory attributes of pork, the hardness, cohesiveness and adhesiveness of pork in VAP group were significantly superior than those in AP group (p<0.05), but not significantly compared with VP group. On the 12 d, the CIE a* value of pork in VAP group was significantly higher (p<0.05). This exhibited that VAP could effectively maintain the freshness of chilled pork and extend the shelf life for 3 d compared to the AP group. These findings provide empirical evidence to support the practical implementation of TiO 2 -loaded packaging film in the food industry., Competing Interests: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest., (© Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources.)

Failure-free survival, defined as the absence of relapse, non-relapse mortality or addition of another systemic therapy, has been proposed as a potential endpoint for clinical trials, but its use has only been reported for single-center studies. We measured failure-free survival in a prospective observational cohort of patients (n=575) with both newly diagnosed and existing chronic graft-versus-host disease from nine centers. Failure was observed in 389 (68%) patients during the observation period. The median follow up of all patients was 30.9 months, and the median failure-free survival was 9.8 months (63% at 6 months, 45% at 1 year, and 29% at 2 years). Of the variables measured at enrollment, ten were associated with shorter failure-free survival: higher National Institutes of Health 0-3 skin score, higher National Institutes of Health 0-3 gastrointestinal score, worse range of motion summary score, lower forced vital capacity (%), bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome, worse quality of life, moderate to severe hepatic dysfunction, absence of treatment for gastric acid, female donor for male recipient, and prior grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease. Addition of a new systemic treatment, the major cause of failure, was associated with an increased risk of subsequent non-relapse mortality (hazard ratio=2.06, 95% confidence interval: 1.29-3.32; P<0.003) and decreased survival (hazard ratio=1.51, 95% confidence interval: 1.04-2.18; P<0.03). These results show that fewer than half of patients on systemic treatment will be failure-free survivors at 1 year, and fewer than a third will reach 2 years without experiencing failure. Better treatments are needed for chronic graft-versus-host disease. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00637689., (Copyright© Ferrata Storti Foundation.)

Objective: To investigate the effects of cadmium chloride on cytoactive and immigration of mouse neural stem cell (mNSC)., Methods: MTT assay was used to detect cytoactive at 24 hours. The immigration of mNSC was determined by immunofluorescence staining., Results: Compared with control, CdCl2 treatment at 10.0 μmol/L for 24 h resulted in a decrease in cellular viability (70.08 ± 6.21)% (P < 0.05). Compared with control, Aa/Ab and Dm/Db display decreasing tendency in a dose-dependent manner (r(s Aa/Ab) = - 0.90, γ(s Dm/Db) = - 0.90, P < 0.05) after CdCl2 treatment at 0.1 - 10.0 μmol/L for 24 h., Conclusion: Cadmium chloride treatment inhibits immigration of mNSC, and shows negative effect on cell viability. Meanwhile, the effect of cadmium chloride on immigration is more obvious than cell viability at the same concentration for same treatment time.

The National Institutes of Health global score for chronic graft-versus-host disease was devised by experts but was not based on empirical data. We hypothesized that analysis of prospectively collected data would enable derivation of a more accurate model for estimating mortality risk. We analyzed 574 adult patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease enrolled in a multicenter, observational study, using multivariate time-varying analysis accounting for serial changes in severity of involvement of eight individual organ sites over time. In the training set, severity of skin, mouth, gastrointestinal tract, liver and lung involvement were independently associated with the risk of non-relapse mortality. Weighted mortality points were assigned to individual organs based on the hazard ratios and were summed. The population was divided into three risk groups based on the total mortality points. The three new risk groups were validated in an independent validation set, but did not show better discriminative performance than the National Institutes of Health global score. As compared to a moderate or mild global score, a severe global score was associated with increased risks of non-relapse and overall mortality across time but not with a decreased risk of recurrent malignancy. The National Institutes of Health global score predicts patients' mortality risk throughout the course of their chronic graft-versus-host disease. Further research is required in order to improve outcomes in patients with severe chronic graft-versus-host disease, since their risk of mortality remains elevated., (Copyright© Ferrata Storti Foundation.)

Background: The National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference proposed the term "overlap" graft-versus-host disease to describe the situation when both acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease are present., Design and Methods: We examined whether the overlap subtype of graft-versus-host disease was associated with a different prognosis, functional limitations, or patient-reported outcomes compared to "classic" chronic graft-versus-host disease without any acute features., Results: Prospective data were collected from 427 patients from nine centers. Patients were classified as having overlap (n=352) or classic chronic (n=75) graft-versus-host disease based on reported organ involvement. Overlap cases had a significantly shorter median time from transplantation to cohort enrollment (P=0.01), were more likely to be incident cases (P<0.001), and had a lower platelet count at onset of the graft-versus-host disease (P<0.001). Patients with overlap graft-versus-host disease had significantly greater functional impairment measured by a 2-minute walk test, higher symptom burden and lower Human Activity Profile scores. Quality of life was similar, except patients with overlap graft-versus-host disease had worse social functioning, assessed by the Short Form-36. Multivariable analysis utilizing time-varying covariates demonstrated that the overlap subtype of graft-versus-host disease was associated with worse overall survival (HR 2.1, 95% CI 1.1-4.7; P=0.03) and higher non-relapse mortality (HR 2.8, 95% CI 1.2-8.3; P=0.02) than classic chronic graft-versus-host disease., Conclusions: These findings suggest that the presence of acute features in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease is a marker of adverse prognosis, greater functional impairment, and higher symptom burden.

DNA amplification, particularly of chromosomes 8 and 11, occurs frequently in breast cancer and is a key factor in tumorigenesis, often associated with poor prognosis. The mechanisms involved in the amplification of these regions are not fully understood. Studies from model systems have demonstrated that palindrome formation can be an early step in DNA amplification, most notably seen in the breakage-fusion-bridge (BFB) cycle. Therefore, palindromes might be associated with gene amplicons in breast cancer. To address this possibility, we coupled high-resolution palindrome profiling by the Genome-wide Analysis of Palindrome Formation (GAPF) assay with genome-wide copy-number analyses on a set of breast cancer cell lines and primary tumors to spatially associate palindromes and copy-number gains. We identified GAPF-positive regions distributed nonrandomly throughout cell line and tumor genomes, often in clusters, and associated with copy-number gains. Commonly amplified regions in breast cancer, chromosomes 8q and 11q, had GAPF-positive regions flanking and throughout the copy-number gains. We also identified amplification-associated GAPF-positive regions at similar locations in subsets of breast cancers with similar characteristics (e.g., ERBB2 amplification). These shared positive regions offer the potential to evaluate the utility of palindromes as prognostic markers, particularly in premalignant breast lesions. Our results implicate palindrome formation in the amplification of regions with key roles in breast tumorigenesis, particularly in subsets of breast cancers.

Background: The 2005 National Institute of Health Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease Consensus Conference recommended collection of patient-reported outcomes in clinical trials on chronic graft-versus-host disease. We assessed whether changes in chronic graft-versus-host disease severity, determined using National Institute of Health criteria, clinicians' assessment or patients' self-evaluation, correlated with patient-reported quality of life as measured by the Short Form-36 and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Bone Marrow Transplant (FACT-BMT) instruments., Design and Methods: Three-hundred and thirty-six adult patients (median age 52 years; range, 19-79) with chronic graft-versus-host disease from six transplant centers contributed baseline and follow-up data (from 936 visits overall)., Results: While the majority of the patients had stable chronic graft-versus-host disease, improvement or worsening was noted in approximately 40% of follow-up visits. Multivariable analysis demonstrated no association between change in chronic graft-versus-host disease severity evaluated by National Institute of Health criteria and change in quality of life, while clinician-reported changes in severity were associated with changes in some quality of life measures. Patient-reported changes in the severity of chronic graft-versus-host disease were associated with changes in all quality of life measures. Comparison of the Short Form-36 and the FACT-BMT suggested that the data collected in the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) core survey are sufficient without the need for the Short Form-36 or the FACT-BMT subscale., Conclusions: We conclude that serial National Institute of Health and clinician-reported chronic graft-versus-host disease severity assessments cannot substitute for patient-reported outcomes in clinical trials. Collection of just the FACT-G instead of the Short Form-36 and the full FACT-BMT will decrease respondent burden without compromising quality of life assessment.

Due to infectious and bleeding risks, adults with acute myeloid leukemia or high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes typically remain hospitalized after remission induction chemotherapy until blood count recovery. Here, we explored the medical and financial effects of discharge immediately after chemotherapy completion with close outpatient follow up. Within 12 months, 15 patients fulfilling both medical and logistical criteria were discharged early, whereas 5 patients meeting medical criteria only served as inpatient controls. No patient died. Patients discharged early spent a median of 8 days (range 3-36 days), or 54% of their study time, as outpatients. These patients required less time on intravenous antibiotics (6 vs. 16 days; P=0.11), received fewer red blood cell transfusions (0.25 vs. 0.48 units/day; P=0.08), and incurred lower median daily charges ($3,270 vs. $5,467; P=0.01) than controls. Thus, early discharge of selected patients appears, safe and may reduce cost and resource utilization. (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00844441).