Search

Background Lucitanib is a novel multi-target inhibitor of FGFR1-3, VEGFR 1-3, and PDGFR α/β. Here, we evaluated the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of lucitanib in recurrent and metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (RM-NPC). Methods Patients with pretreated RM-NPC were randomly divided into two treatment arms: continuous or intermittent treatment. The primary endpoint was safety and tolerability. Secondary endpoints were objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and progression-free survival (PFS). Results One hundred percent of patients in the continuous arm and 90% of patients in the intermittent arm had at least one treatment-related AE (TRAE). Grade ≥3 related TRAEs occurred in 5 patients in the continuous arm (5/10, 50%). No TRAEs grade >3 occurred in the intermittent arm. The ORR and DCR of the continuous arm was 20% and 90%, and the intermittent arm was 10% and 60%, respectively. All responses were observed by the first evaluation. The duration of response was more than 1 year, with two patients still on treatment with sustained response at more than 3 years. Conclusion Lucitanib has promising clinical activity and tolerable safety profile in heavily pretreated patients with NPC. Patients who responded to lucitanib treatment generally achieved a long DoR. Lucitanib is now being evaluated in phase II/III studies. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03260179

In this paper, a controlled quantum dialogue protocol is designed based on five-qubit entangled states. One five-qubit entangled state can be used to exchange one communicant’s two private bits with the other communicant’s two private bits under the control of an honest supervisor. Security analysis turns out that it can overcome the information leakage problem and can resist the active attacks from an outside attacker. The designed protocol only needs single-particle measurements and Bell state measurements, both of which can be realized with current technologies.

Recently, Wang et al. put forward a high-capacity three-party quantum secret sharing (QSS) protocol with single photons in both the polarization and the spatial-mode degrees of freedom (Int J Theor Phys (2013) 52:1043–1051). In this paper, the communication capacity of Wang et al.’s QSS protocol is improved by providing more composite unitary operations for Alice’s encoding. Compared with Wang et al.’s QSS protocol, the improved protocol doubles the communication capacity of the photon for sharing Alice’s secret bits. The improved protocol only needs two-qubit single-photon states in both the polarization and the spatial-mode degrees of freedom and single-photon measurements. Compared with the QSS protocols based on entangled states and entangled state measurements, the improved protocol is more feasible.

In this paper, we construct a semi-quantum dialogue (SQD) protocol by using Bell entangled states as the initial quantum resource. The information leakage problem is prevented by utilizing the entanglement correlation of two particles from one Bell entangled state. The security towards active attacks from an outside Eve is guaranteed by twice security checks and one classical one-time pad encryption process. The proposed SQD protocol can be realized in experiment with present quantum technologies. Compared with the traditional quantum dialogue (QD) protocols without information leakage, the advantage of the proposed SQD protocol lies in that it doesn’t require both communicants to possess quantum capabilities.

Hong-ming Pan,1,* Hong-ling Li,2,* Zhang-shun Shen,2 Hui Guo,2 Qian Zhao,2 Jian-guo Li2 1Graduate School of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, 050051, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Emergency Medicine, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, 050051, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jian-guo LiDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Hebei General Hospital, No. 348 Heping West Road, Shijiazhuang, 050051, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 31185988361Email li_jian_guo3@163.comObjective: The present study aimed to explore the effectiveness of the etiology checklist and process thinking in the differential diagnosis for acute abdominal pain.Methods: A retrospective design was used to include 5,403 patients with acute abdominal pain in the Emergency Department of Hebei Provincial People’s Hospital. The patients with acute abdominal pain between July and December 2017 in whom the etiology checklist and process thinking were not implemented were selected as the traditional group. Those with acute abdominal pain between July and December 2018 in whom the etiology checklist and process thinking were implemented were selected as the process thinking group. The clinical data, such as the emergency length of stay, hospitalization expenses, hospitalization length of stay, diagnostic accuracy, and outcome, were compared between the two groups.Results: For patients at emergency level 2 and above, the average emergency length of stay was shorter in the process thinking group than in the traditional group, while the average emergency length of stay was longer for patients at emergency level 3. For hospitalized patients at emergency level 2 and above and patients at emergency level 3, those in the process thinking group had improved diagnostic accuracy, shorter average hospitalization length of stay, reduced average hospital expenses, and improved outcomes. In the comparison among six physicians, the results in the traditional group were inconsistent and statistically different in terms of the average emergency length of stay and diagnostic accuracy, while the results in the process thinking group tended to be consistent. The differences were not statistically different.Conclusion: The diagnostic model for acute abdominal pain based on the etiology checklist and process thinking could improve the diagnostic accuracy and outcomes for patients with acute abdominal pain.Keywords: acute abdominal pain, emergency diagnosis, lateral thinking, process thinking

A quantum dialogue scheme based on entanglement swapping and Hadamard operation via cavity QED is proposed, which effectively uses the evolution law of atom in cavity QED. The proposed scheme uses Bell states and GHZ states as quantum resource and only needs single-atom measurements. The proposed scheme is secure against active attacks from an eavesdropper and can transmit 4 secret bits per round communication.

Background: Lymph node metastasis (LNM) of lung cancer is an important factor associated with prognosis. Dysregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) are becoming a new powerful tool to characterize tumorigenesis and metastasis. We have developed and validated a miRNA disease signature to predict LNM in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Method: LUAD miRNAs and clinical data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were obtained and divided randomly into training (n = 259) and validation (n = 83) cohorts. A miRNA signature was built using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) (λ = -1.268) and logistic regression model. The performance of the miRNA signature was evaluated using the area under curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). We performed decision curve analysis (DCA) to assess the clinical usefulness of the signature. We also conducted a miRNA-regulatory network analysis to look for potential genes engaged in LNM in LUAD. Result: Thirteen miRNAs were selected to build our miRNA disease signature. The model showed good calibration in the training cohort, with an AUC of 0.782 (95% CI: 0.725-0.839). In the validation cohort, AUC was 0.691 (95% CI: 0.575-0.806). DCA demonstrated that the miRNA signature was clinically useful. Conclusion: The miRNA disease signature can be used as a noninvasive method to predict LNM in patients with lung adenocarcinoma objectively and the signature achieved high accuracy for prediction.

Quantum private comparison (QPC) aims to determine whether two parties’ private inputs are equal or not without leaking out their genuine contents. At present, there is seldom QPC protocol which uses single photons as quantum resource. In this paper, we are devoted to converting Zhang et al.’s three-party quantum summation (QS) protocol based on single photons (Int. J. Quantum Inf. 15(2), 1750010, 2017) into the corresponding two-party QPC protocol with single photons. The correctness and the security of the proposed QPC protocol with single photons can be guaranteed. The proposed QPC protocol is naturally free from Trojan horse attacks because of its single directional particle transmission mode.

Recently, Jia et al. proposed the quantum private comparison protocol with the genuine four-particle entangled states (Jia et al., Int. J. Theor. Phys. 51(4), 1187–1194 (2012)). Jia et al. claimed that in this protocol, TP cannot obtain Alice and Bob’s secrets and only knows their comparison result. However, in this paper, we demonstrate that if TP is a genuine semi-honest third party, he can totally obtain Alice and Bob’s secrets by launching a particular intercept-resend-measure attack. After suggesting the intercept-resend-measure attack strategy from TP first, we put forward one corresponding improvement to prevent this attack.

Objective The pathogenesis of sepsis associated encephalopathy (SAE) remains poorly understood. Vagus nerve plays an important role in gut-microbiota-brain axis. This study aimed to investigate whether vague nerve is a key mediator of the impact of intestinal microbiota on SAE. Methods Male rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 20): SHAM (SH) group, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) group, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) +LPS group, and vagotomy (VGX) + LPS + FMT group. The left cervical vagotomy was performed 30 min before LPS administration in LPS + FMT + VGX group. LPS+ FMT and LPS + FMT + VGX groups received nasogastric infusion of feces from healthy donor three times a day. Fecal samples were collected every two days to monitor changes in microbiota composition by 16S rDNA analysis. Brain function was evaluated by behavioral tests and EEG. The levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-10 in brain cortex were detected by ELISA. The expression of Iba-1 in brain cortex was assessed by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. Results Significant modification of microbiota composition, characterized by a profound increase of commensals in the Firmicutes phylum and depletion of opportunistic organisms in the Proteobacteria phylum, was observed in FMT groups compared to LPS group. Furthermore, we identified a reconstituted bacterial community enriched in Firmicutes and depleted of Proteobacteria. In both FMT groups the diversity of the fecal microbiota and the microbiota composition were similar to SH group. LPS mice treated with FMT demonstrated a better spatial memory and less EEG abnormalities, significantly attenuated levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and decreased number of Iba-1 positive microglia in the cortex, but these beneficial effects of FMT were reversed by VGX. Conclusions FMT can change intestinal microbiota in sepsis patients, and vagus nerve is a key mediator between intestinal microbiota and SAE. These findings suggest that FMT and vagus nerve are potential therapy targets for treating SAE.

The objective of the present study was to construct a novel type of non-viral gene delivery vector with high delivery efficiency and specific tumor cell-targeting ability. The CP9 peptide (CYGGRGDTP) containing Arg-Gly-Asp sequence was employed to be conjugated onto polyethylenimine (PEI) to act as the role of the targeting moiety. The chemical linker, N-succinimidyl-3-(2-pyridyldithio) propionate, was applied during the synthesis of the vector (CP9-PEI). The physicochemical characteristics of the vector were evaluated by the methods of 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gel retardation assay, electron microscope observation and particle size detection. HepG2 cells were used to verify the gene delivery efficiency and targeting ability by gene delivery procedure and free CP9 peptide inhibition tests. The results showed that the successful synthesis of CP9-PEI and the synthesized vector may efficiently condense plasmid DNA into round particles with diameters of ~200 nm at a polymer/pDNA ratio of 10. CP9-PEI may deliver the reporter gene into HepG2 cells with higher efficiency and the efficiency may be inhibited by the free CP9 peptide. The present study suggested that the modification of PEI with the CP9 peptide is an effective method to construct a novel tumor cell-targeting non-viral vector, and that the novel vector exhibits great prospect in the field of cancer gene therapy.

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive technology for the treatment of liver malignancies and is used as an adjuvant therapy in patients with colorectal liver metastasis (CLM). This study enrolled a total of 49 CLM patients who underwent RFA treatment. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using the log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard model, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that OS was closely correlated with tumor size, frequency of RFA treatment, resection of the liver lesion, and CEA levels before RFA (p p

To explore the clinical value of Lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive alpha-fetoprotein detected by microspincolum method for judgment of treatment response in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing transcatheter arterial chemoembolization.Twenty eight patients with HCC undergoing TACE follow-up in hospital were recruited. AFP and AFP-L3 were measured in all the patients before and after TACE, and correlations were analyzed between AFP-L3% and response to treatment.Among the twenty eight patients with HCC undergoing TACE, 8 out 11 case in AFP-L3% descent group had well treatment response, 5 out 17 case in AFP-L3% elevated group had well treatment response(Chi2 = 4. 858, P0. 05).The detection of AFP-L3 by microspincolum method is useful to judgment of treatment response in patients with HCC undergoing TACE.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the combination of oxaliplatin and ELF (VP16/CF/5-Fu) regimen in the treatment of patients with advanced gastric cancer.Oxaliplatin was given at a dose of 100 mg/m(2) i.v. 2 hours D1, calcium folinate (CF) 200 mg/m(2) i.v. 1/2 hour D1 approximately D3, 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) 500 mg/m(2) i.v. 2 hours D1 approximately D3 and etoposide 100 mg/m(2) i.v. 3 hours D1 approximately D3. Cycles were repeated every 21 days. Efficacy and safety were evaluated every 2 cycles.Sixty-nine patients were enrolled into the study. All cases were pathologically confirmed as gastric cancer (adenocarcinoma in 57 cases and signet ring cell carcinoma in 12 cases). 42 patients had newly diagnosed disease, and 27 patients had received previous chemotherapy. 62 patients were analyzed for response (7 complete responses and 25 partial responses) with total response rate 51.61%. The median time to progression was 5.7 months and the median overall survival was 9.2 months. The most common hematologic toxicities were anemia (29.0%), leucopenia (51.2%) and thrombocytopenia (21.2%). No grade 4 and grade 5 hematologic toxicities were observed. The most common non-hematologic toxicities were nausea (46.5%), vomiting (41.1%), peripheral sensory neuropathy (47.1%), and grade 2 alopecia (27.3%).This oxaliplatin combined with ELF regimen shows good efficacy and acceptable safety in advanced gastric cancer patients. It is worthy to be proved as a suitable alternative regimen in this indication.

To investigate the therapeutic efficacy and adverse reactions of Aidi Injection (AI) combined with percutaneous cool-tip radiofrequency ablation (CRFA) in treatment of primary liver cancer and to explore its effect on immune function.Eighty-nine patients with primary liver cancer at middle-late stage were assigned to the control group with CRFA alone and the treatment group treated with CRFA and intravenous dripping of AI 50 mL once every day for succesive 20 days.Compared with those before treatment, the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and albumin (ALB) levels showed no marked change, and CD4 subgroup of T lymphocyte and CD4/CD8 ratio elevated in the treatment group (P0.01), while the ALT level elevated (P0.05), ALB level decreased (P0.01), CD4 and CD4/CD8 ratio showed no change in the control group. The relapse rate was 20.0% (3/15) in patients with tumor more than 3 cm in diameter of the treatment group, which was obvious lower than that in the control group (55.0%, 11/20, P0.05).AI treatment could relieve the impairment of CRFA on hepatic function, improve immune function and reduce relapse rate in patients with primary liver cancer.

To study the antitumor effects induced by fusions of dendritic cells (DC) and NCI-H460 cells and compared with antigen pulsed DC.(1) DC were induced from human monocytes and were fused with NCI-H460 cells. Three experimental groups were set up, including group fusions cell (FC), group pulsed cell (PC) and group T cell (TC), for which T cells activated by fusions, antigen pulsed DC, and non-activated T cells were used as the effector cells respectively. The killing activity of effector cells to NCI-H460 cells were evaluated by lactate dehydrogenase method. (2) NCI-H460 cells were injected subcutaneously to BALB/c nude mice. Then 18 cancer-bearing mice were divided randomly into 3 groups, group FC, group PC and group TC. Effector cells mentioned above were inoculated subcutaneously. The tumor size and tumor weight were assessed and compared.The killing rates to NCI-H460 cells of group FC, group PC and group TC were 43.54%, 26.57% and 3.25% respectively. Comparison of the killing activity of these 3 groups showed group FCgroup PCgroup TC (F = 5.47, P0.05). The tumor size of group FC was significantly smaller than that of group PC and group TC. The tumor weights of group FC, group PC and group TC were (1,129 +/- 123) mg, (1,709 +/- 160) mg and (3,344 +/- 288) mg respectively (F = 37.05, P0.01).Fusions of DC and NCI-H460 cells could induce powerful antitumor immunity, which was more effective than antigen pulsed DC.

To study the pharmacokinetic of 10-Hydroxycamptothecin HCPT by intraperitoneal administration.Six dogs were given HCPT by intraperitoneal perfusion: HCPT 2 mg x kg(-1), dissolved in 300 mL NS. During the course of experiments, peritoneal fluids and blood were sampled using a standardized protocol. The concentration of HCPT in all samples was determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).The area under the curve (AUC) of peritoneal fluids was significantly highly as compared to the AUC of femoral vein and portal vein (P0.001).These experiments demonstrate that intraperitoneal chemotherapy has significant effect on the pharmacokinetics of IP route of HCPT administration. This method should be a more reasonable chemotherapy for the prevention of recurrence and liver metastasis of gastric cancer, colon cancer and ovary cancer after radical resection.

Radiofrequency (RF) can destroy local tumor tissue with less damage to the intervening tissue. The effect of RF on immune function of tumor-bearing body needs to be further investigated. This study was designed to evaluate the impact of RF on splenocyte immunity of mice bearing H22 liver cancer through detecting splenocyte proliferation, cytotoxicity, and expression pattern of cytokines T helper type 1 (Th1)/Th2.A total of 24 BALB/c mice were randomized into 4 groups: RF, surgical resection, tumor-bearing control, and normal control groups. The proliferation of splenocytes was detected by MTT assay, and the cytotoxicity of splenocytes was assayed by double-color flow cytometry (FCM). The concentrations of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, and IL-10 in splenocyte culture supernatants were detected by enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA), and mRNA levels of the cytokines in splenocytes were assayed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).The proliferation of splenocytes and mortality of H22 cells were significantly higher in RF group than in surgical resection group, normal control group, and tumor-bearing group (P0.05). The concentration and mRNA level of IL-2 and IFN-gamma were significantly higher in RF group than in surgical resection group, normal control group, and tumor-bearing group (P0.05); the concentration and mRNA level of IL-4 and IL-10 were significantly lower in RF group than in surgical resection group, normal control group, and tumor-bearing group (P0.05). No significant difference were found between surgical resection group and normal control group (P0.05).RF can efficiently stimulate splenocyte activation and proliferation in H22-bearing mice, and enhance splenocyte cytotoxicity to tumor cells. RF could facilitate the secretion and gene transcription of Th1 type cytokines in H22 cells.

AIM: To assess the catheterization-associated complications during intraperitoneal chemotherapy (IPCT) for advanced gastric cancer. METHODS: From 1998 to 2002, 80 patients with advanced gastric cancer received a total of 320 courses of IPCT using a large bore central venous catheter and associated complications were analyzed. RESULTS: Catheterization-associated complications occurred in 11 of the 80 patients (13.8%), including abdominal pain caused by catheter in 2 cases (0.63%), insertion failure in 2 cases (0.63%), bowel perforation in 1 case (0.31%) and abdominal pain during chemotherapy in 6 cases (1.88%). No serious complications required surgical intervention. CONCLUSION: IPCT using central venous catheters can be performed safely and simply without severe associated complications.