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Hepatitis B virus (HBV) affects the occurrence and survival outcome of various malignant disorders. The study aimed to evaluate the survival outcome of head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) patients with or without HBV infection.This study included patients with HNSCC who visited Taichung Veterans General Hospital from 2007 to 2015. HBV infection was defined by hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seropositivity. By propensity score matching, we compared survival outcomes, including progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), among patients with or without HBV infection.The prevalence of HBV infection in our cohort was 12.3%. Among the 1,015 patients included in the matched analysis, a higher risk of baseline liver cirrhosis (11.3% vs. 3.4%, p 0.001) and initial hepatic dysfunction (10.8% vs. 5.4%, p = 0.005) rates were observed than those without HBV infection at baseline. The 5-year OS was 43.1% and 53.2% (p 0.001) and the 5-year PFS was 37.4% and 42.3% (p = 0.007) in patients with and without HBV infection, respectively. The incidence of subsequent hepatic dysfunction showed no difference between patients with and without HBV infection (29.6% vs. 26.8%, p = 0.439).Patients with HNSCC and HBV infection were younger and had a higher risk of cirrhosis compared to those without HBV infection. Moreover, HBV infection significantly influenced the OS and PFS outcomes but not subsequent hepatic dysfunction in patients with HNSCC.

Introduction Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly aggressive malignancy with significant morbidity and mortality. RAS (renin-angiotensin system) inhibitors have been used for hypertension, and the potential role of using RAS inhibitors in pancreatic adenocarcinoma have been investigated in pre-clinical models by enhancing drug delivery and reducing hypoxia. However, the clinical benefit of RAS inhibitors in pancreatic cancer patients was still unclear. Methods We retrospectively investigated the impact of RAS inhibitors on survival outcomes of pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients in Taichung Veterans General Hospital between January 2014 and July 2021. Patients with histologically proven pancreatic adenocarcinoma were included in the study. Clinical feature with drugs exposure and survival outcome were analyzed. Results A total of 384 pancreatic cancer patients were analyzed. Among them, 70 patients had concurrent use of RAS inhibitors and 314 patients had no concurrent medication use. Among patients with RAS inhibitors use, the diagnosed age was significantly older (70.0 vs. 68.0, p = 0.023), and a higher proportion of hypertension (100.0% vs. 51.0%, p < 0.0001), chronic kidney disease (27.5% vs. 9.1%, p < 0.0001), and diabetes (64.3% vs 39.5%, p < 0.0001) than those without RAS inhibitors use. The 12-month progression-free survival were 22.9% and 13.7% in the RAS inhibitors and control group (p = 0.008), respectively. The Overall survival was not significantly different in the both groups (p = 0.356). In the multivariate analysis, the use of RAS inhibitors had a significantly better progression-free survival outcome (Hazard ratio = 0.025, CI:0.52-0.96). The advanced disease status, poor ECOG performance status and the elevated level of CA19-9 were correlated with poor progression-free survival. Conclusion In our study, although higher percentage of existed comorbidities in the RAS inhibitor group, we demonstrated that the use of RAS inhibitors among pancreatic cancer patients might provide a better progression-free survival outcome. Further prospective study and investigation are warranted. Citation Format: Kuan-Yu Tseng, Cheng-Wei Chou. The impact of renin-angiotensin system inhibitors on survival outcomes of pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 6755.

To investigate the potential treatment evolution and outcome improvement, we retrospectively compared clinical characteristics, therapeutic strategies, treatment responses, and overall survival (OS) in patients diagnosed and treated with lymphoma-associated HLH between 2004–2012 (n = 30) and 2013–2021 (n = 26). Our study showed that the clinical characteristics of lymphoma-associated HLH did not substantially change over the past two decades. However, more patients diagnosed in 2013–2021 were tested for Epstein–Barr virus than those diagnosed in 2004–2012 (69.3% vs. 33.3%, p = 0.021). In addition, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 3–4 (hazard ratio (HR): 5.38, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 2.49–11.61, p &lt, 0.001) and jaundice (HR: 2.91, 95% CI: 1.37–6.18, p = 0.006) were poor prognostic factors for lymphoma-associated HLH. With a comparable response rate of lymphoma treatment, patients treated in 2013–2021 had a numerically greater median OS than those treated in 2004–2012 (23.6 ± 19.8 vs. 9.7 ± 4.5 months). However, the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.334). In conclusion, early diagnosis and tailored treatments that balance efficacy and adverse events remain the key to obtaining a better outcome in lymphoma-associated HLH.

The p53 gene is an important tumour suppressor gene. Mutant p53 genes account for about half of all lung cancer cases. There is increasing evidence for the anti-tumour effects of statins via inhibition of the mevalonate pathway. We retrospectively investigated the correlation between statin use and lung cancer prognosis using the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database, mainly focusing on early-stage lung cancer. This study reports the protective effects of statin use in early-stage lung cancer patients regardless of chemotherapy. Statin treatments reduced the 5-year mortality (odds ratio, 0.43; P p53 lung cancer cells treated with simvastatin. Further, simvastatin increased the caspase-dependent apoptotic pathway, promotes mutant p53 protein degradation, and decreased motile activity in lung cancer cells with p53 missense mutations. These data suggest that statin use in selected lung cancer patients may have clinical benefits.

The aim of this study is to mitigate the loss of performance of organic photovoltaics when the device area is increased. We propose that performance reduction is a result of the poor transverse charge transport due to defects in the electron transport layer and the resistance of the transparent electrode. We modified the surface of a zinc oxide (ZnO) with ethoxylated polyethylenimine and successfully lowered the performance reduction from 30% to 15% based on two electron transport layers of ZnO and ethoxylated polyethylenimine (PEIE)-modified ZnO (ZnO/PEIE bilayer and ZnO:PEIE hybrid layer). We also deposited Ag grids on the indium-tin-oxide (ITO) substrate to facilitate transverse charge transport in the ITO.

The two T cell inhibitory receptors PD-1 and TIM-3 are co-expressed during exhausted T cell differentiation, and recent evidence suggests that their crosstalk regulates T cell exhaustion and immunotherapy efficacy; however, the molecular mechanism is unclear. Here we show that PD-1 contributes to the persistence of PD-1+TIM-3+ T cells by binding to the TIM-3 ligand galectin-9 (Gal-9) and attenuates Gal-9/TIM-3-induced cell death. Anti-Gal-9 therapy selectively expands intratumoral TIM-3+ cytotoxic CD8 T cells and immunosuppressive regulatory T cells (Treg cells). The combination of anti-Gal-9 and an agonistic antibody to the co-stimulatory receptor GITR (glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor-related protein) that depletes Treg cells induces synergistic antitumor activity. Gal-9 expression and secretion are promoted by interferon β and γ, and high Gal-9 expression correlates with poor prognosis in multiple human cancers. Our work uncovers a function for PD-1 in exhausted T cell survival and suggests Gal-9 as a promising target for immunotherapy., Galectin-9 regulates several cellular processes including TIM-3-mediated T cell death. Here the authors show that co-expressed PD-1 protects TIM-3+ T cells from galectin-9-induced cell death and that anti-galectin-9 in combination with GITR agonism promotes an anti-tumor immune response.

e18051 Background: Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection was known to be have impacts of occurrence and survival in different malignancies. We aim to evaluate the clinical association with head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) and HBV infection. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted on the medical records and cancer registry database at the Taichung Veterans General Hospital (Taichung, Taiwan) between January 2007 and December 2015. Patients with histologically proven squamous cell carcinoma of oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx and larynx were enrolled in the study. HBV infection was defined as HBsAg seropositivity. Clinical features, hepatic function test and five-year overall survival (OS) were compared between patients with and without HBV infection. Results: A total of 1826 HNSCC patients were analyzed. 225 of them (12.3%) were proved HBV-infected. The HBV-infected patients was diagnosed at younger age (< 65 years; 76.1% vs. 65.5%, p< 0.012) and had a higher proportion of initial liver cirrhosis (11.6% vs. 3.6%, p< 0.001) and hepatic dysfunction (10.7% vs. 6.1%, p= 0.009) included elevation of alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) and prothrombin time expressed as international normalized ratio (INR). The other baseline characteristics were similar. The five-year OS were 52.9% and 48.6% in the HNSCC patients with or without HBV infection, respectively ( p= 0.341). The incidence of later founded hepatic dysfunction during follow-up was similar (31.1% vs 26.2%, p= 0.122). Conclusions: Information from this study indicated that HBV-infected HNSCC patients may present in younger age, more initial liver cirrhosis, and hepatic dysfunction. However, HBV infection did not have negative impacts on survival outcome and later founded hepatic dysfunction in those patients. Characteristics and survival of HBsAg (+) vs. HBsAg (-) HNSCC Patients[Table: see text]

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly fatal malignancy with poor survival outcomes. In addition, oxysterol-binding protein-like (OSBPL) family members are reported to be involved in lipid binding and transport and play critical roles in tumorigenesis. However, relationships between PDAC and OSBPL family members have not comprehensively been elucidated. In this study, we used the Oncomine and GEPIA 2 databases to analyze OSBPL transcription expressions in PDAC. The Kaplan–Meier plotter and TIMER 2.0 were used to assess the relationships between overall survival (OS) and immune-infiltration with OSBPL family members. Co-expression data from cBioPortal were downloaded to assess the correlated pathways with OSBPL gene family members using DAVID. The expressions of OSBPL3, OSBPL8, OSBPL10, and OSBPL11 were found to be highly upregulated in PDAC. Low expressions of OSBPL3, OSBPL8, and OSBPL10 indicated longer OS. The functions of OSBPL family members were mainly associated with several potential signaling pathways in cancer cells, including ATP binding, integrin binding, receptor binding, and the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) signaling pathway. The transcription levels of OSBPL gene family members were connected with several immune infiltrates. Collectively, OSBPL family members are influential biomarkers for the early diagnosis of PDAC and have prognostic value, with the promise of precise treatment of PDAC in the future.

The aim of this study is to demonstrate a fabrication process of all-sprayed inverted organic photovoltaics. We sprayed the blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) and [6, 6] phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester as an active layer and zinc oxide prepared by a sol–gel process as an electron transport layer. The highly conductive poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) as a semitransparent anode and alternative to Ag is sequentially spray-coated. We further utilize nitrogen (N2) plasma modification on the active layer for improving the compatibility between two layers in this work. With a combination of tuning the subsequent thermal treatment, the all-sprayed devices with good performance could be obtained. The highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.90% is achieved by optimizing the N2 plasma and thermal treatment, and the stability test is performed. Moreover, we up-scaled the all-spray-coating process to a module with three cells connected in series, and the PCE of the module is achieved to 2.44%.

In this paper, we present a technique to fabricate normally off GaN-based high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) by sputtering and post-annealing p -NiO x capping layer. The p -NiO x layer is produced by sputtering at room temperature and post-annealing at 500 °C for 30 min in pure O 2 environment to achieve high hole concentration. The V th shifts from −3 V in the conventional transistor to 0.33 V, and on/off current ratio became 10 7 . The forward and reverse gate breakdown increase from 3.5 V and −78 V to 10 V and −198 V, respectively. The reverse gate leakage current is 10 −9 A/mm, and the off-state drain-leakage current is 10 −8 A/mm. The V th hysteresis is extremely small at about 33 mV. We also investigate the mechanism that increases hole concentration of p -NiO x after annealing in oxygen environment resulted from the change of Ni 2+ to Ni 3+ and the surge of (111)-orientation.

ADAM9 (A disintegrin and a metalloprotease 9) is a membrane-anchored protein that participates in a variety of physiological functions, primarily through the disintegrin domain for adhesion and the metalloprotease domain for ectodomain shedding of a wide variety of cell surface proteins. ADAM9 influences the developmental process, inflammation, and degenerative diseases. Recently, increasing evidence has shown that ADAM9 plays an important role in tumor biology. Overexpression of ADAM9 has been found in several cancer types and is correlated with tumor aggressiveness and poor prognosis. In addition, through either proteolytic or non-proteolytic pathways, ADAM9 promotes tumor progression, therapeutic resistance, and metastasis of cancers. Therefore, comprehensively understanding the mechanism of ADAM9 is crucial for the development of therapeutic anti-cancer strategies. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of ADAM9 in biological function, pathophysiological diseases, and various cancers. Recent advances in therapeutic strategies using ADAM9-related pathways are presented as well.

Introduction The p53 gene is well known as an important tumor suppressor gene. Mutant p53 genes account for about half of all lung cancer cases. There is increasing evidence for the anti-tumor effects of statins via inhibition of the mevalonate pathway. However, the cancer prevention and protection effects of statinsin population-based studies are controversial. Previous population-based studies have shown protective effects of statins in advanced lung cancer patients; however, the effects in early lung cancer patients are unclear. Methods We investigated the correlation between statin use and lung cancer prognosis using the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database retrospectively, mainly focusing on early-stage lung cancer. Cell viability, lipid raft changes, and motile activity from simvastatin-treated cell lines were examined to determine the effect of simvastatin under different p53 mutations. Apoptotic pathways and autophagy in lung cancer cells treated with simvastatin were analyzed using a western blot assay. Results Statin treatments reduced the 5-year mortality (odds ratio, 0.43; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.37-0.49;P< 0.001) in this population-based study. Simvastatin inhibited cell growth, especially in mutant p53 lung cancer cell lines. Significantly higher levels of cellular apoptosis and decreased lipid rafts were shown in mutant p53 lung cancer cells treated with simvastatin. Further, simvastatin increased activity of the caspase-dependent apoptotic pathway in lung cancer cells containing mutant p53. In addition, simvastatin reduced migration in cells with a mutated p53 gene. Conclusion This study reports the protective effects of statin use in early-stage lung cancer patients regardless of chemotherapy. Simvastatin induced cellular apoptosis and regulated lipid raft content; further, motile activity was reduced in lung cancer cells with p53 missense mutations. These data suggest that statin use in selected lung cancer patients may have clinical benefits. Citation Format: Cheng-wei Chou, Ching-Heng Lin, Tzu-Hung Hsiao, Chia-Chien Lo, Chih-Ying Hsieh, Cheng-Chung Huang, Yuh-Pyng Sher. Therapeutic effects of statins against lung adenocarcinoma via mutant p53 mediated apoptosis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 5796.

e24072 Background: Tamoxifen is often used for hormone-positive breast cancer. Recent trials suggested that ten years of tamoxifen use improves recurrence rate and death. Ocular side effects and cataracts were reported in previous trials. We revealed the risk of cataracts from real-world data of the Taiwan national health insurance research database. Methods: We retrieved data from the Taiwan National health insurance research database. Female breast cancer patients from 2000-2005 were enrolled in this study. Patients receiving cataract surgery were enrolled and matched with non-cataract surgery patients for comparison in the analysis. Age, cumulative days, chemotherapy, and the time interval between breast cancer and index date were included and as controlled variables. Results: Among 23,957 female breast cancer patients, a total of 1,578 patients receiving cataract surgery were enrolled and matched with patients without cataract surgery until the end of 2013. Age in patients undergoing cataract surgery group was significantly higher than the non-surgery group (59.9 and 58.3, respectively, P < 0.001). Multiple regression analyses showed an adjusted odds ratio of 1.02 (95% CI:1.01-1.03, P< 0.001). However, more prolonged exposure of tamoxifen (≧3 years) also had a higher risk of cataract development requiring surgery (adjusted odds ratio=1.32, 95% CI: 1.03–1.70, P = 0.030). Conclusions: Besides age, there is a significantly higher risk of cataract development requiring surgery among female breast cancer patients with long term tamoxifen use. Information from this study may provide further clinical surveillance efforts in cancer survivors. [Table: see text]

A dynamic-cooling and freeze-drying (DCFD) process has been applied to the fabrication of polymer solar cells. The dynamic-cooling process allows poly(3-hexylthiophene) molecules to aggregate in solution into a more organized structure during the cooling process; the freeze-drying process prevents severe agglomeration of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) during the solvent removing process. Application of these two processes to the preparation of the poly(3-hexylthiophene)/methanofullerene photoactive layer results in an enhanced poly(3-hexylthiophene) aggregation and smaller PCBM agglomerates. Devices fabricated using the DCFD process generate 14% more in current density than those prepared by the spin-coating process under AM1.5G illumination. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry

A new photo-patternable and thermally-stable organic gate insulator has been developed specifically for IGZO TFTs. Combined with an optimized device platform, flexible IGZO TFTs show groundbreaking performance such as high field-effect mobilities, negligible I-V hysteresis, excellent optical transparency and good thermal and bias-temperature stress stability. A 5" flexible AMOLED utilizes these technologies has been fabricated.

Chinese Dark Chess is an old and very popular game in the Chinese culture sphere. This game is a stochastic game with symmetric hidden information. This paper reviews alpha-beta search with chance nodes and proposes heuristics on Chinese Dark Chess programs. We propose an application of nondeterministic Monte Carlo Tree Search with random nodes for tackling partial observation. The proposed methods were implemented in the program Diablo, which won four Chinese Dark Chess tournaments in TAAI 2011/2012, TCGA 2011/2012 computer game tournaments. Diablo also played hundreds of games with different human players and programs based on alpha-beta search. These results show that the nondeterministic MCTS equipped with our heuristics is promising for Chinese Dark Chess.

For attaining the commercialization, the large-area roll-to-roll (R2R) slot-die-coated inverted polymer solar cells (PSCs) would be promising. The electron transport layer (ETL) plays an important role in scale-up development from small PSCs. In this work, the active layer comprising poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) and sol–gel zinc oxide (ZnO) ETL were slot-die coated on flexible PET/ITO substrate as reference based on the R2R process. Aluminum-doped ZnO (AZO) instead of ZnO was also adopted. For further improving the performance of large-area PSC, we used polyethylenimine ethoxylated (PEIE) material to tailor the nanostructure of ZnO and AZO ETLs for reducing the surface traps on ETLs using two approaches: (1) ZnO/PEIE bilayer formed by sequential deposition and (2) ZnO:PEIE hybrid composite as ETLs. The present work would demonstrate the optimum material (fabrication) parameters and how the performance of the R2R large-area slot-die coated PSC can be improved by modifying the ZnO- and AZO-based ETL structures. We also perform the various measurements and structural characterization to understand the relationship among R2R slot-die coating process, charge transport properties, film structure and photovoltaic performance as increasing the device areas from 1×0.3 cm2 (power conversion efficiency: 2.69%) to 1×1 cm2.

Point-of-care diagnostics (POCD) for blood coagulation benefit patients on-site, but available POCD devices are too expensive to be affordable in many countries. Optically based methodologies are cheap and reliable, and have been exploited in bench-top coagulometers to monitor coagulation with plasma, but not whole blood, which contains cellular components that cause massive interference. However, the POCD testing of whole blood gives a more accurate picture of physiological conditions than does testing plasma. In this study, a portable device for performing the prothrombin time (PT) test was designed, comprising an optical sensor, an electrical processing and control circuit to monitor the optical changes that occurred during the coagulation process in whole blood. The PT was when the slope of the first-order derivative of the coagulation curve, recorded from real-time light transmittance signals, was maximal. The POCD PT testing of 167 samples revealed that 153 (91.6%) were successfully detected and the results were highly consistent with the results of whole blood international normalized ratio (INR) (r=0.985, p

The bipolar resistive switching characteristics of the Pt/ZnO/Pt resistive random access memory (RRAM) had been investigated. This work introduced UV-Ozone treatment to improve the interface quality between ZnO thin film and Pt electrode. We found that UV-Oznoe can help to clean the surface of Pt electrode and provide superior surface morphology for the subsequent sputtering ZnO thin film deposition. According the experiment result, the Pt/ZnO/Pt RRAM demonstrated better on-off current ratio and the excellent retention time after UV-Ozone treatment.

The change of morphology of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) film as a result of blending with [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) was studied using a freeze-dry method. A porous structure was observed as the P3HT/PCBM solution was freeze-dried. The pore size decreased as the proportion of PCBM increased in the P3HT/PCBM blended film. Additionally, the freeze-dried P3HT/PCBM film was more resistant to the formation of PCBM crystals than that prepared by a spin-coating method during the thermal annealing process. Homogeneous distribution of PCBM in the freeze-dried P3HT/PCBM film was the main reason for the reduction of large PCBM crystal formation. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry

The performance of a blue polymer light-emitting diodes (PLED) was significantly improved by doping a controlled amount (1%) of a hole transport molecule N,N-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N,N-diphenyl-1,1biphenyl-4,4-diamine (NPB) into the emitting layer. Hole carrier mobility of the blue emitting polymer, BP105 (trade name of The Dow Chemicals Co.), increased from5.27 10 -7 cm -2 /Vs of the pristine BP105 to 1.80 10 -6 cm -2 /Vs with the addition of 1% NPB in BP105. The enhanced carrier mobility greatly promoted performance of a blue PLED device with a device structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/BP105+x% NPB/LiF/Ca/Al.Luminanceincreased from573 cd/m 2 to 2,720 cd/m 2 at6Vand efficiencyincreased from 1.1lm/Wto1.6lm/Wat1,000cd/m 2 with1%NPBinBP105.Themostimportantimprovementwasanincrease in the lifetime of the blue device from 80 to 120 hours at an initial luminance of 400 cd/m 2 .W e found that by choosing the appropriate dopant with goodenergy alignment and controlled dopant concentration, the performance of a blue PLED device could be greatly improved.

Poly(3-hexylthiophene)(P3HT) with a microporous network structure was prepared from a 1% p-xylene solution by freeze-dry method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed P3HT molecules formed swollen gel-like structures with different extent of compactness depending on the length of the aggregation period. Absorption spectrum of this P3HT film showed a characteristic peak at 620 nm, which indicated a high degree of order between polymer chains. Photoluminescence (PL) of this highly ordered P3HT film appeared at 712 nm revealing large extent of π–π stacking between P3HT molecules in the freeze-dry film. Both absorption and photoluminescence results indicated that the original aggregated states of P3HT molecules in gel form had been preserved throughout the freeze-dry operation. X-ray diffraction of the annealed samples showed a strong characteristic peak for the side chain aggregation at 2θ = 5.1°, which proved that the freeze-dry film was with highly order structure. The interconnected and highly ordered P3HT film is used in the study of organic photovoltaics (OPV) after applying an n-type semiconductor to the surface of the dry porous fibers. A prototype OPV device with power conversion efficiency of 1.47% was prepared by this method. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011.