Explore the vast range of titles available.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant epithelial tumor originating in the nasopharynx and has a high incidence in Southeast Asia and North Africa. To develop these comprehensive guidelines for the diagnosis and management of NPC, the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO) arranged a multi‐disciplinary team comprising of experts from all sub‐specialties of NPC to write, discuss, and revise the guidelines. Based on the findings of evidence‐based medicine in China and abroad, domestic experts have iteratively developed these guidelines to provide proper management of NPC. Overall, the guidelines describe the screening, clinical and pathological diagnosis, staging and risk assessment, therapies, and follow‐up of NPC, which aim to improve the management of NPC.

Aim： To investigate the mechanisms underlying the anticancer effect of celecoxib on nasopharyngeal carcinoma （NPC）. Methods： NPC cell lines, HNE1 and CNE1-LMP1, were treated with various concentrations of celecoxib for 48 h. The antiproliferative effect of celecoxib was assessed using MTT assay. Both cell cycle profiles and apoptosis were analyzed using flow cytometry. Western blot was used to measure the levels of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 （STAT3）, phosphorylated STAT3^Y705 （pSTAT3^Y705）, COX-2, Survivin, Mcl-1, Bcl-2 and Cyclin DI. Results： Celecoxib （10-75 pmol/L） inhibited the proliferation of the NPC cell lines in a dose-dependent manner. Celecoxib （25 and 50 pmol/L） induced apoptosis and cell-cycle arrest at the Go/G1 checkpoint in the NPC cell lines, which was associated with significantly reduced STAT3 phosphorylation. The genes downstream of STAT3 （ie, Survivin, Mcl-1, Bcl-2 and Cyclin D1） were significantly down-regulated after exposure to celecoxib （25 and 50 pmol/L）. Conclusion： The anticancer effects of celecoxib on NPC cell lines results from inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, which may be partly mediated through the STAT3 pathway.

Background To assess the efficacy of Nimotuzumab in combination with first-line chemoradiotherapy treatment in Chinese patients with primary III-IVb stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods Patients with primary locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma who were treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy between January 2008 and December 2013 at a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. Group A received at least 6 doses of Nimotuzumab, while Group B did not receive Nimotuzumab. A propensity score matching method was used to match patients from each group in a 1:3 ratio. Results In total, 730 eligible patients were propensity matched, with 184 patients in Group A and 546 patients in Group B. Significant differences were not observed in the patient and tumor characteristics between Group A and Group B. At a median follow-up of 74.78 months (range 3.53–117.83 months), locoregional recurrence, distant failure and death were observed in 10.68, 11.10 and 16.03% of all patients, respectively. The estimated 5-year locoregional relapse–free survival, distant metastasis–free survival, progression-free survival and overall survival in the Group A versus Group B were 85.34% versus 89.79% ( P  = 0.156), 93.09% versus 85.61% ( P  = 0.012), 79.96% versus 77.99% ( P  = 0.117) and 88.91% versus 78.30% ( P  = 0.006), respectively. Conclusions This nimotuzumab-containing regimen resulted in improved long-term survival of III-IVb stage NPC patients and warrants further prospective evaluation.

The carboxyl terminus of heat shock cognate 70 interacting protein (CHIP) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase, which can promote ubiquitylation and degradation of many tumor-related proteins. However, the expression of CHIP in human gastric cancer has not been investigated. In this study, the mRNA and protein levels of CHIP expression in 53 cases of gastric cancer and matched normal tissues were determined by quantitative real-time PCR, western blotting and immunohistochemistry. We showed that CHIP was registered from basal to middle portions of normal gastric mucosa. CHIP expression was notably decreased or lost in human gastric cancer samples compared with the matched normal non-cancer samples. The correlations between CHIP downregulation and the clinicopathological characteristics were also evaluated. The expression of CHIP was significantly lower in the gastric cancer samples compared to the matched normal samples at both mRNA and protein levels (P<0.05 and P<0.05, respectively). More importantly, the downregulation of CHIP was correlated with TNM stage (P=0.048) and lymph node metastasis (P=0.010) at the mRNA levels. In addition, the downregulation of CHIP was correlated with lymph node metastasis (P=0.021) and tumor differentiation (P=0.009) at the protein levels. Taken together, at both mRNA and protein levels, the decreased expression of CHIP was correlated with lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, our study suggests that a negative correlation exists between CHIP expression and tumor malignancy in human gastric cancer.

This study was to investigate a better way to detect and differentiate primary, residual, recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) lesions post-radiotherapy in patients with NPC by means of routine computed tomography (CT) in combination with 99Tcm-sestamibi single photon emission computed tomography (99Tcm-MIBI SPECT). Forty-eight patients with histologically confirmed primary NPC underwent 99Tcm-MIBI SPECT at the 3rd month before and after radiotherapy, and at the 6th month after radiotherapy. All patients had contemporaneous CT examinations. Histopathologic results and/or clinical follow-up data (over 18 months) were used as the golden standard for evaluating residual/recurrent lesions. The radioactive count ratio of nasopharynx to scalp was obtained as the MIBI uptake index (MUI). Receiver operating characteristic analysis was employed to define the cut-off value of MUI for malignancy.With MUI 2.15 as the cut-off point, the accuracy for detecting primary NPC was 94.12%. The mean MUI in the local-regional of the nasopharynx in such negative cases was 1.21±0.12 at the 3rd month, while the mean MUI was higher in the other 15 patients with histologically confirmed recurrent/residual lesions (MUI = 1.40±0.16, t = 4.71, P < 0.001). The optimal cut-off point of 1.33 of MUI was defined with 89.58% accuracy for differentiating residual/recurrent lesions from the benign process post radiotherapy, while CT evaluations showed an accuracy of 81.25%. A combination of CT and 99Tcm-MIBI SPECT for 37 NPC patients with congruent results showed an accuracy of 97.30% for differentiating residual/recurrent NPC from benign lesions. 99Tcm-MIBI SPECT plays a role in evaluating residual/recurrent lesions post-radiotherapy. The combination of CT and 99Tcm-MIBI SPECT can give more accurate diagnosis in the follow-up of NPC.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence rate of critical illness-related corticosteroid insuffi ciency(CIRCI) and the effect of low-dose glucocorticoid on prognosis of CIRCI in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(AECOPD).METHODS: Since January 2010 to December 2012, 385 patients, who met the criteria of AECOPD, were enrolled in the Intensive Care Unit(ICU) of the First People’s Hospital and Municipal Central Hospital of Xiangtan City. The AECOPD patients complicated with CIRCI screened by an adrenalcorticotrophic hormone test within 12 hours after admission to ICU were divided into a treatment group(n=32) and a control group(n=31) for a prospective, randomized and controlled clinical trial. Hydrocortisone(150 mg/d) or normal saline was injected intravenously for 7 days. The patients were followed up for 28 days after injection. The endpoint included 28-day survival time, non-shock time, ICU stay and the period of non-mechanical ventilation. The markers ofinfl ammation C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin 6 and procalcitonin were measured at baseline and 7 days after treatment. The variables were analyzed by Student’s t test, the non-parametric statistical test, the Chi-square test or the Kaplan-Meier method with SPSS18.0 statistic software. A P value <0.05 was considered statistically signifi cant.RESULTS: Totally 63 patients were diagnosed with CIRCI by an adrenalcorticotrophic hormone test and the prevalence rate was 16.4%. The shock rate of the AECOPD patients complicated with CIRCI was higher than that of the AECOPD patients without CIRCI(23.8% vs. 8.7%, P<0.01). KaplanMeier analysis revealed that the 28-day survival time of the treatment group was obviously longer than that of the control group(P<0.05). Compared with the control group, shock-free days within 28 days was longer in the treatment group(18.2±9.5 vs. 25.8±4.1, P<0.05). Treatment with low-dose glucocorticoid obviously decreased the markers ofinfection and inflammation(P<0.01), such as C-reactive protein(13.2±5.5 mg/L vs. 8.3±3.1 mg/L for the control group; 13.5±5.9 mg/L vs. 5.1±2.3 mg/L for the treatment group), tumor necrosis factor-α(26.1±16.2 g/L vs. 17.5±11.7 g/L for the control group; 25.0±14.8 g/L vs. 10.4±7.8 g/L for the treatment group) and procalcitonin(3.88 g/L vs. 2.03 g/L for the control group; 3.77 g/L vs. 1.26 g/L for the treatment group). Furthermore, the markers in the treatment group decreased more obviously than those in the control group(P<0.01).CONCLUSION: The prevalence rate of CIRCI was higher in the patients with AECOPD in the department of critical medicine, and low-dose glucocorticoid treatment for one week reduced the 28-day mortality, shock time and markers ofinfection and infl ammation.

Objective： To assess the clinical outcomes of fertility-sparing treatments in young patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma （EOC）. Methods： A retrospective study of young EOC inpatients （≤40 years old） was performed during January 1994 and December 2010 in eight institutions. Results： Data were analyzed from 94 patients treated with fertility-sparing surgery with a median follow-up time of 58.7 months. As histologic grade increased, overall survival （OS） and disease-free survival （DFS） of patients receiving fertility-sparing surgery declined. Neither staging surgery nor laparoscopy of early stage EOC with conservative surgery had a significant effect on OS or DFS. Normal menstruation recommenced after chemotherapy in 89% of the fertility-sparing group. Seventeen pregnancies among twelve patients were achieved by the end of the follow-ups. Conclusions： Fertility-sparing treatment for patients with EOC Stage I Grade 1 could be cautiously considered for young patients. The surgical procedure and surgical route might not significantly influence the prognosis. Standard chemotherapy is not likely to have an evident impact on ovarian function or fertility in young patients.

Background: To assess the efficacy of Nimotuzumab in combination with first-line chemoradiotherapy treatment in Chinese patients with primary III-IVb stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods: Patients with primary locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma who were treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy between January 2008 and December 2013 at a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. Group A received at least 6 doses of Nimotuzumab, while Group B did not receive Nimotuzumab. A propensity score matching method was used to match patients from each group in a 1:3 ratio. Results: In total, 730 eligible patients were propensity matched, with 184 patients in Group A and 546 patients in Group B. Significant differences were not observed in the patient and tumor characteristics between Group A and Group B. At a median follow-up of 74.78 months (range 3.53–117.83 months), locoregional recurrence, distant failure and death were observed in 10.68%, 11.10% and 16.03% of all patients, respectively. The estimated 5-year locoregional relapse–free survival, distant metastasis–free survival, progression-free survival and overall survival in the Group A versus Group B were 85.34% versus 89.79% (P=0.156), 93.09% versus 85.61% (P = 0.012), 79.96% versus 77.99% (P = 0.117) and 88.91% versus 78.30% (P=0.006), respectively. Conclusions: This nimotuzumab-containing regimen resulted in improved long-term survival of III-IVb stage NPC patients and warrants further prospective evaluation.

Background： The incidence of diabetic nephropathy （DN） increases year by year. However, clinical characteristics of DN patients on maintenance hemodialysis （MHD） were rarely reported in China. The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical characteristics of the DN patients on MHD in Anhui Province, Eastern China. Methods： The clinical data of MHD patients in the hemodialysis centers of 26 hospitals in Anhui Province from January 1, 2014, to March 31, 2014, were examined. The differences between DN patients and non-DN patients were compared regarding vascular access, nutritional status, mineral and boue disorder, and other indexes. Results： Among the selected 2768 adult MHD patients, 427 had DN. The incidence of hypertension, coronary heart disease, and cerebral thrombus in DN patients was 94.1%, 21.5%, and 15.0%, respectively, which were higher than those in non-DN patients （P 〈 0.001）. Category of vascular access for hemodialysis in DN patients was arteriovenous fistula （AVF） （87.4% [373/427]） and tunneled cuffed catheter （TCC） （11.2% [48/427]）. The percentage of AVF was significantly lower than that ofnon-DN patients （P 〈 0.001）, and percentage of TCC was significantly higher than that of non-DN patients （P 〈 0.001）. Hemoglobin achievement rate in DN patients was 32.0%. The incidence of hypoalbuminemia was 24.7%, significantly higher than that in non-DN patients （P 〈 0.001）. The achievement rate of the target range in mineral values was 55.9% in corrected serum calcium level, 30.1% in serum phosphorus level, and 49.3% in intact parathyroid hormone （iPTH） level in DN patients. Compared with non-DN patients, the achievement rate of serum phosphorus was significantly higher in DN patients. Conclusions： DN patients on MHD in Anhui province exhibited different clinical characteristics compared to non-DN hemodialysis patients. They presented higher percentage in TCC use and cardiovascular complication, lower serum albumin and iPTH levels than those in non-DN patients.

Two kinds of crystal orderings in layered oxides typically exhibit opposite influences on performances: Na+/vacancy ordering in alkali metal layers with an unfavorable effect on electrochemical performance and the cation ordering in transition metal layers with a positive effect on air stability. However, because the two kinds of orderings are associated with each other and often occur at the same time, it is difficult to achieve an excellent comprehensive performance. Herein, we propose a strategy of introducing a new cation ordering to construct the coexistence of Na+ disordering and transition metal ordering. An absolute solid‐solution reaction mechanism is realized in the Na+ disordered system, resulting in a superior cycling stability of 90.4% retention after 150 cycles and a rate performance of 82.7 mAh g−1 capacity at 10C, much higher than the original 81.3% and 66.4 mAh g−1. Simultaneously, the cation ordering strengthens the interlayer interaction and inhibits the insertion of water molecules from the air, ensuring stable lattice stability and thermostability after air exposure. The synergy of dis‐/ordering configuration provides new insights to design high‐performance layered oxide cathode materials for secondary‐ion batteries. A strategy of introducing new cation ordering in the transition metal layer is proposed to construct the coexistence of Na+ disordering and transition metal ordering characteristics. The synergy of dis‐/ordering configuration ensures the superior comprehensive performance originating from the suppressed P−O phase transition, suppressed Na+ rearrangement, triggered anion redox, and inhibited insertion of foreign molecules.