The Prognostic Value of Treatment-Related Lymphopenia in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients

Li-Ting Liu,Qiu-Yan Chen,Lin-Quan Tang,Shan-Shan Guo,Ling Guo,Hao-Yuan Mo,Ming-Yuan Chen,Chong Zhao,Xiang Guo,Chao-Nan Qian,Mu-Sheng Zeng,Jin-Xin Bei,Jing Tan,Shuai Chen,Ming-Huang Hong,Jian-Yong Shao 대한암학회 2018 Cancer Research and Treatment Vol.50 No.1

Purpose This study was conducted to evaluate the prognostic value of treatment-related lymphopenia in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Materials and Methods A total of 413 consecutive stage II-IVb NPC patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) were enrolled. The overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method, and differences were compared using the log-rank test. Results A minimum (mini)–absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC) of < 390 cells/μL or ALC after 3 months of CCRT (post3m-ALC) < 705 cells/μL was significantly associated with worse outcome than mini-ALC ! 390 cells/μL (OS, p=0.002; PFS, p=0.005; DMFS, p=0.004) or post3m-ALC ! 705 cells/μL (OS, p < 0.001; PFS, p < 0.001; DMFS, p=0.001). Patients with lymphopenia (mini-ALC < 390 cells/μL and post3m-ALC < 705 cells/μL) had a worse prognosis than those without lymphopenia (mini-ALC ! 390 cells/μL and post3m-ALC ! 705 cells/μL) (OS, p < 0.001; PFS, p < 0.001; DMFS, p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that post3m-ALC was an independent prognostic factor for OS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12 to 2.78; p=0.015), PFS (HR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.23 to 2.82; p=0.003), and DMFS (HR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.13 to 3.08; p=0.014). Multivariate analysis also revealed that patients with lymphopenia had a high risk of death (HR, 3.79; 95% CI, 1.75 to 8.19; p=0.001), disease progression (HR, 2.93; 95% CI, 1.59 to 5.41; p=0.001), and distant metastasis (HR, 3.89; 95% CI, 1.67 to 9.10; p=0.002). Multivariate analysis performed with time dependent Cox regression demonstrated ALC was an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR, 0.995; 95% CI, 0.991 to 0.999; p=0.025) and PFS (HR, 0.993; 95% CI, 0.988 to 0.998; p=0.006). Conclusion Treatment-related lymphopenia was a poor prognostic factor in NPC patients.

ALDH2 Gene: Its Effects on the Neuropsychological Functions in Patients with Opioid Use Disorder Undergoing Methadone Maintenance Treatment

Po-Wei Lee,Tzu-Yun Wang,Yun-Hsuan Chang,Sheng-Yu Lee,Shiou-Lan Chen,Ze-Cheng Wang,Po See Chen,Chun-Hsien Chu,San-Yuan Huang,Nian-Sheng Tzeng,I Hui Lee,Kao Chin Chen,Yen Kuang Yang,Jau-Shyong Hong,Ru-B 대한정신약물학회 2020 CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE Vol.18 No.1

Objective: Patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) have impaired attention, inhibition control, and memory function. The aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2 ) gene has been associated with OUD and ALDH2 gene polymorphisms may affect aldehyde metabolism and cognitive function in other substance use disorder. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether ALDH2 genotypes have significant effects on neuropsychological functions in OUD patients undergoing methadone maintenance therapy (MMT). Methods: OUD patients undergoing MMT were investigated and followed-up for 12 weeks. ALDH2 gene polymorphisms were genotyped. Connors’ Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) were administered at baseline and after 12 weeks of MMT. Multivariate linear regressions and generalized estimating equations (GEEs) were used to examine the correlation between the ALDH2 genotypes and performance on the CPTs and WMS-R. Results: We enrolled 86 patients at baseline; 61 patients completed the end-of-study assessments. The GEE analysis showed that, after the 12 weeks of MMT, OUD patients with the ALDH2 *1/*2+*2/*2 (ALDH2 inactive) genotypes had significantly higher commission error T-scores (p = 0.03), significantly lower hit reaction time T-scores (p = 0.04), and significantly lower WMS-R visual memory index scores (p = 0.03) than did patients with the ALDH2 1 */*1 (ALDH2 active) genotype. Conclusion: OUD patients with the ALDH2 inactive genotypes performed worse in cognitive domains of attention, impulse control, and memory than did those with the ALDH2 active genotype. We conclude that the ALDH2 gene is important in OUD and is associated with neuropsychological performance after MMT.

Frontiers in the Clinical Applications of Botulinum Toxin A as Treatment for Neurogenic Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction

Yuan-Hong Jiang,Sheng-Fu Chen,Hann-Chorng Kuo 대한배뇨장애요실금학회 2020 International Neurourology Journal Vol.24 No.4

Patients with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD) experience urinary incontinence with or without difficult urination, which might promote recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) and exacerbate upper urinary tract function. Nonetheless, appropriate bladder management has been shown to reduce urological complications and improve quality of life. In addition to pharmacological therapy and surgical intervention, botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A) has been widely utilized in NLUTD. The therapeutic efficacy of detrusor BoNT-A injections for neurogenic detrusor overactivity due to spinal cord injury (SCI), multiple sclerosis, or other central nervous system lesions, such as cerebrovascular accident, Parkinson disease, early dementia, and pediatric NLUTD due to myelomeningocele, has been well established, with repeated BoNT-A injections every 6 to 9 months being necessary to maintain its therapeutic effects. Urethral BoNT-A injection can decrease urethral sphincter resistance and facilitate efficient voiding in patients with NLUTD who wish to preserve self-voiding. Detrusor BoNT-A injection can also decrease the occurrence of autonomic dysreflexia in patients with SCI, even after failed augmentation enterocystoplasty, with additional benefits including reduced UTI episodes and preserved renal function with repeated injections. However, this treatment does have some side effects. Complete informed consent for BoNT-A injection therapy with full disclosure of its potential complications should therefore be obtained before this procedure is undertaken.

Diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Associated with a Sb Accumulator Plant, Ramie (Boehmeria nivea), in an Active Sb Mining

( Yuan Wei ),( Zhi Peng Chen ),( Feng Chang Wu ),( Ji Ning Li ),( Yu Xian Shangguan ),( Fa Sheng Li ),( Qing Ru Zeng ),( Hong Hou ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2015 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.25 No.8

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have great potential for assisting heavy metal hyperaccumulators in the remediation of contaminated soils. However, little information is available about the symbiosis of AMF associated with an antimony (Sb) accumulator plant under natural conditions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the colonization and molecular diversity of AMF associated with the Sb accumulator ramie (Boehmeria nivea) growing in Sb-contaminated soils. Four Sb mine spoils and one adjacent reference area were selected from Xikuangshan in southern China. PCR-DGGE was used to analyze the AMF community composition in ramie roots. Morphological identification was also used to analyze the species in the rhizosphere soil of ramie. Results obtained showed that mycorrhizal symbiosis was established successfully even in the most heavily polluted sites. From the unpolluted site Ref to the highest polluted site T4, the spore numbers and AMF diversity increased at first and then decreased. Colonization increased consistently with the increasing Sb concentrations in the soil. A total of 14 species were identified by morphological analysis. From the total number of species, 4 (29%) belonged to Glomus, 2 (14%) belonged to Acaulospora, 2 (14%) belonged to Funneliformis, 1 (7%) belonged to Claroideoglomus, 1 (7%) belonged to Gigaspora, 1 (7%) belonged to Paraglomus, 1 (7%) belonging to Rhizophagus, 1 (7%) belonging to Sclervocystis, and 1 (7%) belonged to Scutellospora. Some AMF sequences were present even in the most polluted site. Morphological identification and phylogenetic analysis both revealed that most species were affiliated with Glomus, suggesting that Glomus was the dominant genus in this AMF community. This study demonstrated that ramie associated with AMF may have great potential for remediation of Sb-contaminated soils.

Effects of Fiber Characteristics on the Greaseproofing Property of Paper

YUAN-SHING PERNG,EUGENE I-CHEN WANG,LAN-SHENG KUO,YU-CHUN CHEN 한국펄프·종이공학회 2006 한국펄프종이학회 기타 간행물 Vol.- No.-

Grease barrier food containers are commonly used for packaging of fast food, cooked food, and food in general. Greaseproofing is also used for certificate paper and label paper etc. Different pulp raw materials, due to their different fiber morphology and chemical compositions, produce papers of varying characteristics. We used optical photomicroscopy and fiber analysis data to evaluate fiber morphology and traits under various beating conditions in order to understand which pulp raw materials produced superior greaseproofing property when a fluorinated greaseproofing agent was added internally. The experiment studied 9 species of pulps, including 2 softwood (northern pine and radiata pine) bleached kraft pulps which were beaten to 550 and 350 mL CSF, respectively; 3 hardwoods (eucalypts, acacia, mixed Indonesian hardwoods) bleached kraft pulps which were beaten to 450 and 250 mL CSF, respectively; and nonwood fibers of reed, bagasse, and abaca. A fluorinated greaseproofing chemical at 0.12% dosage with respect to dry pulp was added to each pulp preparation and formed handsheets. A total of 67 sets of handsheets were prepared, and their basis weights, thickness, bulks, opacities, wet opacities, air resistance, water absorption and degrees of greaseproofing were measured for an overall evaluation of pulp and freeness on greaseproofing papers. The experimental fiber length, coarseness and distribution characteristics and the greaseproofing results suggest that softwood pulps (radiate pine < northern pine) were superior to hardwood pulps (eucalypts > acacia > mixed Indonesian hardwoods). The unbeaten pulps gave papers with high porosities and nearly devoid of greaseproofing property. Greaseproofing is proportional to air resistance. Among the nonwood fibers, bagasse had the best greaseproofing property, followed by reed and abaca was the poorest. With regards to waterproofing property, hardwood pulps (mixed Indonesian hardwoods > acacia > eucalypts) were better than softwood pulps (northern pine > radiate pine). Among the Nonwood fibers, reed had the highest waterproofing property, and it was followed by abaca, while bagasse had the poorest waterproofing characteristic. In summary, bleached kraft northern pine, eucalypts and reed pulps were best suited for making greaseproofing papers, Freeness of the pulps should be kept at 200~280 mL CSF for optimal performance.

A Novel Calibration Method Research of the Scale Factor for the All-optical Atomic Spin Inertial Measurement Device

Sheng Zou,Xi-Yuan Chen,Hong Zhang,Yao Chen,Jian-cheng Fang 한국광학회 2015 Current Optics and Photonics Vol.19 No.4

A novel method to measure the scale factor for the all-optical atomic spin inertial measurement device(ASIMD) is demonstrated in this paper. The method can realize the calibration of the scale factor by aself-consistent method with small errors in the quiescent state. At first, the matured IMU (inertialmeasurement unit) device was fixed on an optical platform together with the ASIMD, and it has beenused to calibrate the scale factor for the ASIMD. The results show that there were some errors causingthe inaccuracy of the experiment. By the comparative analysis of theory and experiment, the ASIMD wasunable to keep pace with the IMU. Considering the characteristics of the ASIMD, the mismatch betweenthe driven frequency of the optical platform and the bandwidth of the ASIMD was the major reason. Anall-optical atomic spin magnetometer was set up at first. The sensitivity of the magnetometer is ultra-high,and it can be used to detect the magnetization of spin-polarized noble gas. The gyromagnetic ratio ofthe noble gas is a physical constant, and it has already been measured accurately. So a novel calibrationmethod for scale factor based on the gyromagnetic ratio has been presented. The relevant theoreticalanalysis and experiments have been implemented. The results showed that the scale factor of the devicewas 7.272 V/°/s by multi-group experiments with the maximum error value 0.49%

Knockdown of Radixin by RNA interference Suppresses the Growth of Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells in Vitro and in Vivo

Chen, Shu-Dong,Song, Mao-Min,Zhong, Zhi-Qiang,Li, Na,Wang, Pi-Lin,Cheng, Shi,Bai, Ri-Xing,Yuan, Hui-Sheng Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.3

Radixin, encoded by a gene on chromosome 11, plays important roles in cell motility, invasion and tumor progression. However, its function in pancreatic cancer remains elusive. In this study, radixin gene expression was suppressed with a lentivirus-mediated short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) method. We found that radixin shRNA caused down-regulation of radixin in PANC-1 cells, associated with inhibition of pancreatic cancer cell proliferation, survival, adhesion and invasive potential in vitro. When radixin-silenced cells were implanted in nude mice, tumor growth and microvessel density were significantly inhibited as compared to blank control cells or nonsense shRNA control cells. Thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) and E-cadherin were up-regulated in radixin-silenced PANC-1 cells. Our results suggest that radixin might play a critical role in pancreatic cancer progression, possibly through invvolvement of down-regulation of TSP-1 and E-cadherin expression.

Environmental Information Disclosure and Financial Constraint

Sheng Yao,Yuan Hong,Chen-Miao Lin 한국증권학회 2019 Asia-Pacific Journal of Financial Studies Vol.48 No.5

Using the introduction of Measures for the Disclosure of Environment Information (MDEI) in China, we investigate the relationship between environmental disclosure and firms’ financial constraints. We find that cash-cash flow sensitivity decreases by 13.33% after the implementation of MDEI and that an increase of one point in the disclosure quality score results in an estimated reduction of 0.86% in cash-cash flow sensitivity. We further find that the negative association between disclosure quality and cash-cash flow sensitivity is more pronounced for high-polluting firms, as well as for firms with effective internal control. Our study highlights the importance of a government environmental policy in emerging markets.

Bisorption of Organic Compounds by Spirulina Subsalsa

Chen, Yong-Sheng,Zhuang, Yuan-Yi,Dai, Shu-Gui CHOSUN UNIVERSITY 1997 Basic Science and Engineering Vol.1 No.1

In this paper, the biosorption of 13 organic compounds was investigated by using biomass of nonliving, dried algae Spirulina subsalsa as sorbent. The results showed that: the biosorption of `13 organic compounds could be described by the Freundlich isoterm. The isoterm binding constants suggested that the biosorption capacity series was phenlo > o-dihydroxy benzene > p-dihydroxy benzene > o-aminophenol > chlorophenol > 2,4-dichlorophenol for 6 phenolic compounds and alkaline blue BO > active blue KN-R > acidic red 4BS > black G > brown MM > blue 5B > black ATT for 7 dyes. The biosorption constants (lgk) of above 6 phenolic compounds showed a good linear correlation to their molecular connectivity index. Keywords: biosorption, biosorbent, phenolic compounds, dye, algae, Spirulina subsalsa, molecular commectivity index

Effect of B-complex vitamins on the antifatigue activity and bioavailability of ginsenoside Re after oral administration

Chen, Yin Bin,Wang, Yu Fang,Hou, Wei,Wang, Ying Ping,Xiao, Sheng Yuan,Fu, Yang Yang,Wang, Jia,Zheng, Si Wen,Zheng, Pei He The Korean Society of Ginseng 2017 Journal of Ginseng Research Vol.41 No.2

Background: Both ginsenoside Re and B-complex vitamins are widely used as nutritional supplements. They are often taken together so as to fully utilize their antifatigue and refreshing effects, respectively. Whether actually a drug-nutrient interaction exists between ginsenoside Re and B-complex vitamins is still unknown. The objective of this study was to simultaneously investigate the effect of B-complex vitamins on the antifatigue activity and bioavailability of ginsenoside Re after their oral administration. The study results will provide valuable theoretical guidance for the combined utilization of ginseng and B-complex vitamins. Methods: Ginsenoside Re with or without B-complex vitamins was orally administered to mice to evaluate its antifatigue effects and to rats to evaluate its bioavailability. The antifatigue activity was evaluated by the weight-loaded swimming test and biochemical parameters, including hepatic glycogen, plasma urea nitrogen, and blood lactic acid. The concentration of ginsenoside Re in plasma was determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results: No antifatigue effect of ginsenoside Re was noted when ginsenoside Re in combination with B-complex vitamins was orally administered to mice. B-complex vitamins caused to a reduction in the bioavailability of ginsenoside Re with the area under the concentration-time curve from zero to infinity markedly decreasing from $11,830.85{\pm}2,366.47h{\cdot}ng/mL$ to $890.55{\pm}372.94h{\cdot}ng/mL$. Conclusion: The results suggested that there were pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic drug-nutrient interactions between ginsenoside Re and B-complex vitamins. B-complex vitamins can significantly weaken the antifatigue effect and decrease the bioavailability of ginsenoside Re when simultaneously administered orally.