Search

OBJECTIVES: Partner of Sld five (Psf ) 3 is a member of the evolutionarily conserved heterotetrameric complex GINS (Go-Ichi-Ni-San). We previously reported that Psf3 could serve as a biomarker of poor prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma. Here, we used tissue microarrays to analyse Psf3 expression in lung adenocarcinoma and investigated whether its expression is associated with survival outcomes. METHODS: The study included 864 consecutive patients with lung adenocarcinoma who underwent complete resection at Hyogo Cancer Center between January 2002 and December 2009. Tissue microarrays were prepared, and Psf3 was detected using mouse antihuman Psf3 primary monoclonal antibodies. The status of Psf3 expression was determined using these microarrays. RESULTS: Of the 864 patients, 375 had high-positive Psf3 expression and 489 had low-positive expression. Psf3 expression was significantly associated with age, sex, T factor, lymph node metastasis, stage and P factor. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate was significantly lower in patients with high-positive Psf3 expression than in those with low-positive expression, and Psf3 expression, sex, age, T factor and lymph node metastasis were identified as independent and significant prognostic determinants. Among patients with Stage I adenocarcinoma, the 5-year DFS rate was significantly lower in those with high-positive Psf3 expression than in those with low-positive expression, and Psf3 expression was the most powerful survival predictor. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings strengthened our previous data demonstrating that high Psf3 expression in primary lung adenocarcinoma plays an important role in disease progression and is a prognostic indicator, particularly in early-stage adenocarcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the clinical benefit of segmentectomy for patients with cT1bN0M0 lung cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 178 patients who underwent lobectomy or segmentectomy for cT1bN0M0 lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma from January 1995 to December 2005. We investigated the association of surgical outcomes with the presence of pathological invasion. RESULTS: The median follow-up period was 93.4 months. Of 178 patients, 37 were scheduled for segmentectomy, but 6 of these patients were switched to receive lobectomy due to surgical N1 or N2 in 3 patients and insufficient surgical margins in 3 patients. In total, 31 patients underwent segmentectomy, and 147 underwent lobectomy. The 5-year overall survival (OS) was similar between the patients who underwent lobectomy (5-year OS, 81.6%) and segmentectomy (5-year OS, 77.4%, P = 0.73). Among pN0 patients without pathological invasion, there was no difference in OS between patients who underwent lobectomy (5-year OS, 89.9%) and segmentectomy (5-year OS, 88.9%, P = 0.80). In contrast, among pN0 patients with pathological invasion, OS was greater in patients who underwent lobectomy (5-year OS, 80.9%) than in those who underwent segmentectomy (5-year OS, 54.6%; P = 0.19).Moreover, a significantly higher rate of local and local + distant recurrence was observed in patients who underwent segmentectomy (45%) than in those who underwent lobectomy (15%) in this group (P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study suggest that segmentectomy may not be recommended for cT1b tumours if pathological invasion is suspected before surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: This multicentre study aimed to investigate the predictors of pathological lymph node status in patients with clinical stage IA squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, to select candidates for sublobar resection. METHODS: In total, we analysed 100 patients with clinical stage IA squamous cell carcinoma of the lung who underwent lobectomy or segmentectomy with systematic lymph node dissection. The relationship between lymph node status and tumour size on computed tomography, maximum standardized uptake value (SUV) on [18F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and serum tumour markers were examined. RESULTS: Lymph node metastases were present in 12% of the study subjects, and 54% had evidence of pathological tumour invasiveness such as lymph node metastasis and/or lymphatic, vascular or pleural invasion. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for tumour size, maximum SUV, serum carcinoembryonic antigen and serum cytokeratin-19 fragments used to predict lymph node metastasis were 0.54 (P = 0.69), 0.46 (P = 0.67), 0.47 (P = 0.74) and 0.42 (P = 0.37), respectively. After multivariate analysis, no independent predictive factors for lymph node metastasis remained among those preoperative parameters. Likewise, we could find no preoperative predictors from either the ROC curves or multivariate analysis for pathological tumour invasiveness. CONCLUSIONS: All examined factors in this dataset were not predictive for lymph node metastasis or pathological invasiveness in patients with clinical stage IA squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. Systematic lymphadenectomy is advisable for this type of tumour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We previously reported that cancer cells may be detected through pleural lavage cytology (PLC). In this study, we sought to re-examine the prognostic significance of the PLC status based on an extended dataset with an additional follow-up period. Pleural lavage following thoracotomy was cytologically examined in 1,317 consecutive patients who were diagnosed with NSCLC between 1987 and 2004 at the Thoracic Surgery Units of Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine and Hyogo Cancer Center. Among the investigated patients, 46 exhibited positive cytological findings. The prognosis of these patients was significantly worse compared to that of patients without positive PLC. Of the 844 pathological stage I patients, 18 had a positive PLC status and their prognosis was significantly worse compared to that of patients with stage I disease without positive PLC. In conclusion, positive PLC findings were associated with a poor prognosis and this finding was significant for patients with stage I disease. These results suggest the need for PLC status evaluation during staging and treatment planning in patients with NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide. Even with complete resection, the prognosis of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer is poor due to local and distant recurrence, and it remains unclear which biomarkers are clinically useful for predicting recurrence or for determining the efficacy of chemotherapy. Recently, several lines of evidence have indicated that the enzymatic activity of cyclin-dependent kinases could be a clinically relevant prognostic marker for some cancers. We investigated whether the specific activity of cyclin-dependent kinases 1 and 2 could predict recurrence or death in early non-small cell lung cancer patients. Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed, pathologically confirmed non-small cell lung cancer were entered into this blinded cohort study. The activity of cyclin-dependent kinases was determined in 171 samples by the C2P® assay, and the results were subjected to statistical analysis with recurrence or death as a clinical outcome. Results: The Cox proportional hazards model revealed that the activity of cyclin-dependent kinase 1, but not 2, was a predictor of recurrence, independent of sex, age, and stage. By contrast, cyclin-dependent kinase 2 activity was a predictor of death, independent of sex and stage. Conclusion: This study suggested the possible clinical use of cyclin-dependent kinase 1 as a predictor of recurrence and cyclin-dependent kinase 2 as a predictor of overall survival in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer. Thus, a combination of activity of cyclin-dependent kinases 1 and 2 is useful in decision-making regarding treatment strategies for non-small cell lung cancer after surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The histological subtype of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a significant factor when selecting treatment strategies. However, cases are occasionally encountered that are diagnosed as 'not otherwise specified' (NOS) prior to surgery, due to an uncertain histological subtype. The present study investigated the prognostic significance of the NOS subtype for patients with resectable NSCLC. Between 2001 and 2011, 1,913 patients were diagnosed with NSCLC using transbronchial biopsy and underwent surgical resection at two facilities in Japan. Of these patients, 151 (7.9%) were pre-operatively diagnosed with NSCLC-NOS (NOS group) and the remainder had confirmed histological subtypes (confirmed group). The present study compared the clinicopathological features and prognoses of these groups. Analyses of resected specimens revealed that pleomorphic cell carcinoma, large cell neuroendocrine cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma and adenosquamous carcinoma were significantly more common in the NOS group than in the confirmed group (P<0.001, P=0.002, P=0.019 and P=0.014, respectively). The five-year survival rate was significantly poorer in the NOS group (60.5 vs. 67.1%; P=0.010), particularly for stage I disease (70.8 vs. 80.7%; P=0.007). The results of a multivariate analysis of overall survival indicated that NOS was a significant independent prognostic factor (hazard ratio, 1.40; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-1.86; P=0.041). These results indicated that pre-operative NOS was significantly associated with poorer survival, including for stage I disease. In conjunction with other clinicopathological parameters, NOS can be a useful prognostic factor when deciding on a treatment strategy for NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soldering is an ancient process, having been developed 5000 years ago. It remains a crucial process with many modern applications. In electronic devices, electric currents pass through solder joints.Anew physical phenomenon - the supersaturation of solders under high electric currents - has recently been observed. It involves (1) un-expected supersaturation of the solder matrix phase, and (2) the formation of unusual "ring-shaped" grains. However, the origin of these phenomena is not yet understood. Here we provide a plausible explanation of these phenomena based on the changes in the phase stability of Pb-Sn solders. Ab initio-aided CALPHAD modeling is utilized to translate the electric current-induced effect into the excess Gibbs free energies of the phases. Hence, the phase equilibrium can be shifted by current stressing. The Pb-Sn phase diagrams with and without current stressing clearly demonstrate the change in the phase stabilities of Pb-Sn solders under current stressing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glow discharge polymerization is not well understood due to the rapid/complex reaction at the plasma/gas precursor interface. Plasma reaction in a submerged condition allows post-plasma-polymerization, leading to further polymer growth and thus a stable structure. Electron collision with acetonitrile at the interface initiates the formation of radical monomers, which undergoes further rearrangement to form low-molecular (LM) nitrogen polymers (NPs). The radical-rich LM NPs go through further polymerization, forming stable high-molecular (HM) NPs (as determined using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry).LMNPs absorb light at a wavelength of 270 nm(λ max) whereasHMNPs show absorption at 420 nm (λ max), as determined from ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra. The fluorescence spectra ofHM NPs show characteristic emission at 430 nm, which indicates the presence of nitrogen functional groups with external conjugation. The proposed structure of HM NPs is verified with different analytical instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel approach for the preparation of “coupling-type noise suppressors” in which ferrite films are directly deposited onto the components of the printed circuit board is reported. Crystalline MnxZnyFe3−x−yO4films were fabricated on IC chips and polyimide substrates by a soft-chemistry route at temperatures below 100 °C. A “reaction-solution” comprising MCl2(M = Mn, Zn, Fe) and an “oxidizing-solution” (pH buffer + oxidizing agent) were sprayed simultaneously onto a substrate maintained at 90 °C on a rotating disk. The as-prepared films were highly crystalline and hence do not require any post annealing. The magnetic and electrical properties of the films were studied. The films exhibited a large magnetic loss (imaginary permeability µ″) in GHz range and also exhibited high resistivity in accordance to overcome the heat treatment during the reflow soldering process. Resistivity of 2 × 105Ω sq−1was found to be the lower limit for the coupling-type noise suppressors. Noise suppression of above 50% at 10 GHz was obtained for a 6.7 µm thick MnZn-ferrite film and was equivalent to that of commercialized composite sheet noise suppressors of 50 µm thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  Most of the existing methods of crystalline ceria (CeO2) films preparation consume much time and cost. Here we describe a straightforward and relatively cost-effective method of CeO2 films preparation that involves direct spray deposition process on glass substrates at moderate temperatures (300–400 °C) using cerium acetate precursor in mixture of water and ethanol. X-ray diffraction analysis of obtained films revealed that they were polycrystalline, at least for a certain extent, with cubic fluorite structure and showed the existence of nanocrystallites. Scanning electron microscopic analysis showed that the films were crack-free and consists of nanocrystalline(E g) value of 3.06–3.08 eV. The film formation mechanism to obtain the transparent film has also been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  We have proposed an innovative concept and technology, “soft processing” or “soft solution processing,” which aims at low energetic (environmentally benign) fabrication of shaped, sized, located, and oriented ceramic materials by chemical reactions in or from solutions. By activating or stimulating those reactions locally and/or moving the reaction point dynamically, we can obtain patterned ceramic films directly in solution without any postheating, masking, or etching. Using those “direct patterning” concepts and technologies, we have developed methods for direct patterning of CdS, PbS, and CaWO4 on paper substrates by ink-jet reaction at RT and TiO2 patterning on a glass substrate by ink-jet deposition at 3 pattern by a laser beam-assisted process and a carbon pattern by a needle electrode, directly in solutions at ambient temperatures and pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a challenging disease with regard to diagnosis and treatment; early and accurate diagnosis would lead to appropriate therapeutic strategies, including extrapleural pneumonectomy. Immunohistochemistry has proven valuable for the diagnosis of the most common epithelioid mesothelioma, although it is often difficult to differentiate it from pulmonary or metastatic adenocarcinoma with absolute certainty if a single antibody is employed. The current study was designed to identify an immunodiagnostic panel for pleural mesothelioma.Large surgical specimens from 66 cases with pleural mesothelioma and 66 with lung adenocarcinoma were immunohistochemically reevaluated under uniform conditions. The antibodies examined were directed against the novel mesothelial marker D2‐40, as well as calretinin, CEA, and TTF‐1.For mesothelioma the sensitivities of D2‐40 and calretinin were 84.8% and 87.9%, respectively, and their specificities were both 95.5%. For adenocarcinoma, the sensitivities of CEA and TTF‐1 were 95.5% and 92.4%, respectively, and their specificities were both 100%. Immunoreactivity to D2‐40 and calretinin was observed in most areas of epithelioid differentiation in mesothelioma. Western blots also showed higher levels of D2‐40 antigen in pleura invaded by epithelioid mesothelioma as compared with unaffected pleura.These data strongly suggest the significant usefulness of D2‐40 and calretinin as positive markers, and of CEA and TTF‐1 as negative markers, for pleural mesothelioma. The 4‐antibody immunohistochemical panel showed high sensitivity and specificity with regard to differentiation of epithelioid mesothelioma from lung adenocarcinoma. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) is a rare and aggressive malignant tumor, which was proposed as a novel type of neuroendocrine tumor in 1991. Although it is categorized as a non-small cell lung carcinoma, the precise pathological condition is unknown due to its rare occurrence. The present study outlines the case of a patient presenting with an LCNEC that exhibited pagetoid spread from the region of the primary tumor to the bronchial epithelium (distance, >30 mm). The pagetoid spread was unconfirmed preoperatively, however, was identified by intraoperative rapid diagnosis. This caused us to suffer the perioperative decision of additional resection and resulted in an incomplete resection, as suture of the bronchus was not possible. Pagetoid spread, which is often apparent in the breast, presents as a rare pattern of infiltration of cancer cells when a massive carcinoma is identified beneath the intraepithelial spread. Although preoperative diagnosis of pagetoid spread is difficult due to its rarity and undefined clinical features, it is important for surgeons and pathologists treating lung cancer patients to be aware of potential pagetoid spread in the thoracic region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]