Pulsed low-dose rate radiotherapy for recurrent bone sarcomas: case reports and brief review

Ru Xin Wong(Ru Xin Wong ),Zubin Master(Zubin Master ),Eric Pang(Eric Pang ),Valerie Yang(Valerie Yang ),Wen Shen Looi(Wen Shen Looi ) 대한방사선종양학회 2024 Radiation Oncology Journal Vol.42 No.1

Purpose: Re-irradiation for bulky recurrent sarcoma carries significant risks. Pulsed low-dose rate radiotherapy (PLDR) is an attractive option for re-irradiation due to inherent radiobiological advantages. Materials and Methods: We present two patients who underwent re-irradiation using PLDR technique, followed by a literature review. Results: The first case is that of a 76-year-old male who developed an in-field recurrence of a bulky pelvic bone high-grade chondrosarcoma after he was treated with definitive radiotherapy using helical TomoTherapy with a total dose of 66 Gy. The patient was re-irradiated using PLDR with a shrinking field technique; 50 Gy in 2 Gy fractions followed by a boost of 20 Gy in 2 Gy fractions. The patient remains disease-free without significant toxicity 60 months post-irradiation. The second case is that of an 82-year-old female who was treated with a definitive irradiation of 66 Gy in 33 fractions for a right shoulder grade II chondrosarcoma. She developed an in-field recurrence 28 months later and presented with bulky disease causing brachial plexopathy and lymphedema. The patient was re-irradiated with a palliative intent to a total dose of 50 Gy in 2 Gy fractions over 5 weeks using PLDR. Brachial plexopathy resolved shortly after re-irradiation, but local progression near the surface was evident 8 months later. She passed away from unrelated causes 11 months later. Conclusion: We present two cases highlighting our early experience with PLDR, which was effective in the re-irradiation of recurrent bony sarcoma. Our study highlights PLDR as an option for re-irradiation in recurrent unresectable tumors.

Magnetic Resonance Venography Findings of Obstructed Hepatic Veins and the Inferior Vena Cava in Patients with Budd-Chiari Syndrome

Ru-Xin Song,Shi-Feng Cai,Shuang Ma,Zhi-Ling Liu,Yong-Hao Gai,Chun-Qing Zhang,Guang-Chuan Wang 대한영상의학회 2018 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.19 No.3

Objective: This study aimed to illustrate the magnetic resonance venography (MRV) manifestations of obstructed hepatic veins (HVs), the inferior vena cava (IVC), and accessory hepatic veins (AHVs) in patients with Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) and to evaluate the visualization capacity of MRV in the diagnosis of BCS. Materials and Methods: Fifty-two patients with chronic BCS were included in this study. All patients were examined via MRV performed with a 3T system following injections of gadolinium-diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) or Gdethoxibenzyl-DTPA. HV and IVC lesions were classified, and their characteristics were described. HV cord-like occlusions detected via MRV were compared using ultrasonography (US). Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) was performed as a contrast in the MRV detection of IVC lesions. The HVs draining collaterals, mainly AHVs, were carefully observed. HV lesions were classified as segmental stenosis, segmental occlusion, membranous stenosis, membranous occlusion, cord-like occlusion, or non-visualized. Except for patent IVCs, IVC lesions were classified as segmental occlusion, segmental stenosis, membranous occlusion, membranous stenosis, and hepatomegaly-induced stenosis. Results: All patients (52/52, 100%) showed HV lesions of different degrees. MRV was inferior to US in detecting cord-like occlusions (6 vs. 19, χ2 = 11.077, p < 0.001). Dilated AHVs, including 50 (50/52, 96.2%) caudate lobe veins and 37 (37/52, 71.2%) inferior HV and AHV lesions, were well-detected. There were no significant differences in detecting segmental lesions and thrombosis between MRV and DSA (χ2 = 0.000, p1 = 1.000, p2 = 1.000). The capacity of MRV to detect membranous lesions was inferior to that of DSA (7 vs. 15, χ2 = 6.125, p = 0.013). Conclusion: In patients with BCS, MRV can clearly display the lesions in HVs and the IVC, as well as in AHVs, and it has diagnostic and therapeutic value.

Screening Uptake Differences Are Not Implicated in Poorer Breast Cancer Outcomes among Singaporean Malay Women

Wong Ru Xin,Li-lian Kwok,Wong Fuh Yong 한국유방암학회 2017 Journal of breast cancer Vol.20 No.2

Purpose: This study was undertaken to examine the impact of screening and race on breast cancer outcomes in Singapore. Methods: An institutional database was reviewed, and invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) data were analyzed separately. Overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were assessed. Results: The study included 6,180 IDC and 1,031 DCIS patients. The median follow-up time was 4.1 years. Among IDC patients, Malay women were the youngest when first diagnosed, and were more likely to present with advanced stage disease. Malay women also had the highest proportion of T3 and T4 tumors at 14.2%, compared with Chinese women at 8.7% and Indian women at 9.6% (p<0.001). Malay women had a higher incidence of node-positive disease at 58.3% compared with Chinese women at 46.4% and Indian women at 54.9% (p<0.001). Malay subjects also had higher-grade tumors; 61.8% had grade 3 tumors compared with 45.8% of Chinese women and 52% of Indian women (p<0.001). Furthermore, tumors in Malay subjects were less endocrine-sensitive and more human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 enriched. Malay women had the lowest 5- and 10-year OS, DFS, and CSS rates (p<0.001). After separating clinically and screen-detected tumors, multivariate analysis showed that race was still significant for outcomes. For screen-detected tumors, the OS hazard ratio (HR) for Malay women compared to Chinese women was 5.78 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.64–12.64), the DFS HR was 2.18 (95% CI, 1.19–3.99), and the CSS HR was 5.93 (95% CI, 2.15–16.39). For DCIS, there were no statistically significant differences in the tumor size, grade, histology subtypes, or hormone sensitivity. Conclusion: Malay race is a poor prognostic factor in both clinically and screen-detected IDC. Special attention should be given to the detection and follow-up of breast cancer in this group.

Highly Selective Production of Compound K from Ginsenoside Rd by Hydrolyzing Glucose at C-3 Glycoside Using β-Glucosidase of Bifidobacterium breve ATCC 15700

( Ru Zhang ),( Xue-mei Huang ),( Hui-juan Yan ),( Xin-yi Liu ),( Qi Zhou ),( Zhi-yong Luo ),( Xiao-ning Tan ),( Bian-ling Zhang ) 한국미생물생명공학회(구 한국산업미생물학회) 2019 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.29 No.3

To investigate a novel β-glucosidase from Bifidobacterium breve ATCC 15700 (BbBgl) to produce compound K (CK) via ginsenoside F2 by highly selective and efficient hydrolysis of the C-3 glycoside from ginsenoside Rd, the BbBgl gene was cloned and expressed in E. coli BL21. The recombinant BbBgl was purified by Ni-NTA magnetic beads to obtain an enzyme with specific activity of 37 U/mg protein using pNP-Glc as substrate. The enzyme activity was optimized at pH 5.0, 35°C, 2 or 6 U/ml, and its activity was enhanced by Mn²⁺ significantly. Under the optimal conditions, the half-life of the BbBgl is 180 h, much longer than the characterized β-glycosidases, and the Km and V_max values are 2.7 mM and 39.8 μmol/mg/min for ginsenoside Rd. Moreover, the enzyme exhibits strong tolerance against high substrate concentration (up to 40 g/l ginsenoside Rd) with a molar biotransformation rate of 96% within 12 h. The good enzymatic properties and gram-scale conversion capacity of BbBgl provide an attractive method for large-scale production of rare ginsenoside CK using a single enzyme or a combination of enzymes.

Reconfigurable VLSI design of a changeable hybrid-radix FFT hardware architecture with 2D-FIFO storing structure for 3GPP LTE systems

Xin-Yu Shih,Hong-Ru Chou 한국통신학회 2018 ICT Express Vol.4 No.3

This paper presents a reconfigurable Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) hardware architecture for 3GPP LTE systems. In the main FFT computing process, a novel processing kernel engine is proposed to support four configuration types of changeable hybrid-radix FFT operations. Also, in the data storage manipulation, a smart 2D-FIFO structure is used to flexibly handle efficient reading/writing data access for 36 different FFT sizes. In addition to a field-programmable gate array prototyping design approach, we provide application-specific integrated circuit implementation via TSMC 90-nm CMOS technology. The developed FFT chip only occupies a core area of View the MathML source, consumes 24.2 mW of power, and reaches maximum speed of 111.11 MHz.

Simultaneous Determination of Hydroquinone and Catechol by N-doped Porous Biochar-modified Electrode

Yue-Xin Liu,Shi-Man Du,Jie Cao,Wen-sheng Huang,Xiao-Ru Zhang,Bao-Ping Qi,Sheng-Hui Zhang 대한화학회 2020 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.41 No.3

N-doped porous biochar (NPB) with large conjugated systems could not only be used as enrichment carriers but also be in favor of electron transport in the electrochemical detection. The NPB-modified electrode was fabricated for the simultaneous detection of catechol (CA) and hydroquinone (HQ) to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio and further improve the sensitivity. A detection limit as low as 37 and 47?nM was achieved for CA and HQ, respectively. The proposed strategy with the merits of high sensitivity, selectivity, and reproducibility exhibited a great potential for the detection.

Combination of FDG PET/CT and Contrast-Enhanced MSCT in Detecting Lymph Node Metastasis of Esophageal Cancer

Tan, Ru,Yao, Shu-Zhan,Huang, Zhao-Qin,Li, Jun,Li, Xin,Tan, Hai-Hua,Liu, Qing-Wei Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.18

Background: Lymph node metastasis is believed to be a dependent negative prognostic factor of esophageal cancer. To explore detection methods with high sensitivity and accuracy for metastases to regional and distant lymph nodes in the clinic is of great significance. This study focused on clinical application of FDG PET/CT and contrast-enhanced multiple-slice helical computed tomography (MSCT) in lymph node staging of esophageal cancer. Materials and Methods: One hundred and fifteen cases were examined with enhanced 64-slice-MSCT scan, and FDG PET/CT imaging was conducted for neck, chest and upper abdomen within one week. The primary lesion, location and numbers of metastatic lymph nodes were observed. Surgery was performed within one week after FDG PET/CT detection. All resected lesions were confirmed histopathologically as the gold standard. Comparative analysis of the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy based on FDG PET/CT and MSCT was conducted. Results: There were 946 lymph node groups resected during surgery from 115 patients, and 221 were confirmed to have metastasis pathologically. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy of FDG PET/CT in detecting lymph node metastasis were 74.7%, 97.2% and 92.0%, while with MSCT they were 64.7%, 96.4%, and 89.0%, respectively. A significance difference was observed in sensitivity (p=0.030), but not the others (p>0.05). The accuracy of FDG PET/CT in detecting regional lymph node with or without metastasis were 91.9%, as compared to 89.4% for MSCT, while FDG PET/CT and MSCT values for detecting distant lymph node with or without metastasis were 94.4% and 94.7%. No significant difference was observed for either regional or distant lymph node metastasis. Additionally, for detecting para-esophageal lymph nodes metastasis, the sensitivity of FDG PET/CT was 72%, compared with 54.7% for MSCT (p=0.029). Conclusions: FDG PET/CT is more sensitive than MSCT in detecting lymph node metastasis, especially for para-esophageal lymph nodes in esophageal cancer cases, although no significant difference was observed between FDG PET/CT and MSCT in detecting both regional and distant lymph node metastasis. However, enhanced MSCT was found to be of great value in distinguishing false negative metastatic lymph nodes from FDG PET/CT. The combination of FDG PET/CT with MSCT should improve the accuracy in lymph node metastasis staging of esophageal cancer.

Effects of Home Nursing Intervention on the Quality of Life of Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma after Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy

Shi, Ru-Chun,Meng, Ai-Feng,Zhou, Weng-Lin,Yu, Xiao-Yan,Huang, Xin-En,Ji, Ai-Jun,Chen, Lei Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.16

Background: The effects of home nursing intervention on the quality of life in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after radiotherapy and chemotherapy are unclear. According to the characteristics of nursing home patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, we should continuously improve the nursing plan and improve the quality of life of patients at home. Materials and Methods: We selected 180 patients at home with NPC after radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The patients were randomly divided into experimental and control groups (90 patients each). The experimental group featured intervention with an NPC home nursing plan, while the control group was given routine discharge and outpatient review. Nursing intervention for patients was mainly achieved by regular telephone follow-up and home visits. We use the quality of life scale (QOL-C30), anxiety scale (SAS) and depression scale (SDS) to evaluate these patients before intervention, and during follow-up at 1 month and 3 months after the intervention. Results: Overall health and quality of life were significantly different between the groups (p<0.05), Emotional function score was significantly higher after intervention (p<0.05), as were cognitive function and social function scores after 3 months of intervention (p<0.05). Scores of fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, appetite and constipation were also significantly different between the two groups (p<0.05). Rates of anxiety and depression after 3 months of intervention were 11.1%, 22.2% and 34.4%, 53.3%, the differences being significant (p<0.05). Conclusions: NPC home nursing plan could effectively improve overall quality of life, cognitive function, social function (after 3 months) of patients, but improvement regarding body function is not suggested. Fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, appetite, constipation were clearly improved. We should further pursue a personalized, comprehensive measurements for nursing interventions and try to improve the quality of life of NPC patients at home.

Nanosized Carbon Black Combined with Ni₂O₃ as “Universal” Catalysts for Synergistically Catalyzing Carbonization of Polyolefin Wastes to Synthesize Carbon Nanotubes and Application for Supercapacitors

Wen, Xin,Chen, Xuecheng,Tian, Nana,Gong, Jiang,Liu, Jie,Rü,mmeli, Mark H.,Chu, Paul K.,Mijiwska, Ewa,Tang, Tao American Chemical Society 2014 Environmental science & technology Vol.48 No.7

<P>The catalytic carbonization of polyolefin materials to synthesize carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is a promising strategy for the processing and recycling of plastic wastes, but this approach is generally limited due to the selectivity of catalysts and the difficulties in separating the polyolefin mixture. In this study, the influence of nanosized carbon black (CB) and Ni<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> as a novel combined catalyst system on catalyzing carbonization of polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS) and their blends was investigated. We showed that this combination was efficient to promote the carbonization of these polymers to produce CNTs with high yields and of good quality. Catalytic pyrolysis and model carbonization experiments indicated that the carbonization mechanism was attributed to the synergistic effect of the combined catalysts rendered by CB and Ni<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB>: CB catalyzed the degradation of PP, PE, and PS to selectively produce more aromatic compounds, which were subsequently dehydrogenated and reassembled into CNTs via the catalytic action of CB together with Ni particles. Moreover, the performance of the synthesized CNTs as the electrode of supercapacitor was investigated. The supercapacitor displayed a high specific capacitance as compared to supercapacitors using commercial CNTs and CB. This difference was attributed to the relatively larger specific surface areas of our synthetic CNTs and their more oxygen-containing groups.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B> <IMG SRC='http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/esthag/2014/esthag.2014.48.issue-7/es404646e/production/images/medium/es-2013-04646e_0008.gif'></P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/es404646e'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>

Effects of the Substitution of Mischmetal for PrNd on the Microstructures and Magnetic Properties of Rapidly Quenched (MM)PrNd-Fe-B Nanocrystalline Magnets

Zeng-ru Zhao,Xin Wang,Xue-feng Zhang,Qiang Ma,Yan-li Liu,Yong-feng Li,Fei Liu,Gao-feng Wang 한국자기학회 2017 Journal of Magnetics Vol.22 No.1

Mischmetal of Bayan Obo ore was utilized to prepare the high performance (Pr7.34Nd21.86)1-xMMxFe68.7Al0.1-Cu0.12Co0.88B ribbons using melt-spinning method. Phase composition and magnetic properties were investigated at room temperature. The ribbons mainly consist of R2Fe14B phase in isotropic nanostructure. Both coercivity and maximum energy product decrease with the increase of MM content. The magnetic parameters of the ribbons with MM = 20 % in mass are Br = 7.38 kGs, Hcj = 13.66 kOe, (BH)max = 11.81 MGOe. Henkel plots were applied to demonstrate the exchange coupling interaction between grains.