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Yellow horn ( Xanthoceras sorbifolia ) is a woody deciduous shrub or small tree native to northwest China that has been widely planted for bioactive oil production and ecological restoration. Ten years of field experiments indicate that yellow horn is well adapted to desert and xeric habitats of Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang, China, and is an excellent prospect for alternative agricultural production and revegetation of arid regions as well as production of bioactive oils. In Horqin Sandy Lands, 7–11 year old unselected mixed lines averaged 152.30 kg/ha seeds, and selected pure lines averaged 1944.89 kg/ha, with average seed oil content of 25% and 34%, respectively. Seeds contain about 90% unsaturated fatty acids (C18:1, C18:2, C18:3, C20:1, C20:2, C20:5, C22:1 and C24:1) and 10% fatty acids comprised primarily of C16:0 and C18:0. Yellow horn seed oils are very high quality with low acid levels of 0.52 mg KOH/g (73% of which is unsaturated C18). Interestingly, the concentration of C24:1, an important bioactive compound is over 2%. Yellow horn is a unique plant species with potentially strong value for both ecological restoration of arid habitats and control of desertification, as well as an important and sustainable producer of high quality bioactive oils, which are used for food, healthy diets, and medical products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This prospective, randomized, phase III trial shows that prophylactic cranial irradiation prolongs disease-free survival, decreases the rate of cerebral metastases and does not affect quality-of-life for patients with fully resected postoperative pathologically confirmed stage IIIA-N2 non-small-cell lung cancer and high risk of cerebral metastases after adjuvant chemotherapy.Background This study compared prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) with observation in patients with resected stage IIIA–N2 non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and high risk of cerebral metastases after adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients and methods In this open-label, randomized, phase III trial, patients with fully resected postoperative pathologically confirmed stage IIIA–N2 NSCLC and high cerebral metastases risk without recurrence after postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy were randomly assigned to receive PCI (30 Gy in 10 fractions) or observation. The primary end point was disease-free survival (DFS). The secondary end points included the incidence of brain metastases, overall survival (OS), toxicity and quality of life. Results This trial was terminated early after the random assignment of 156 patients (81 to PCI group and 75 to control group). The PCI group had significantly lengthened DFS compared with the control group, with a median DFS of 28.5 months versus 21.2 months [hazard ratio (HR), 0.67; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.46–0.98; P = 0.037]. PCI was associated with a decrease in risk of brain metastases (the actuarial 5-year brain metastases rate, 20.3% versus 49.9%; HR, 0.28; 95% CI 0.14–0.57; P < 0.001). The median OS was 31.2 months in the PCI group and 27.4 months in the control group (HR, 0.81; 95% CI 0.56–1.16; P = 0.310). While main toxicities were headache, nausea/vomiting and fatigue in the PCI group, they were generally mild. Conclusion In patients with fully resected postoperative pathologically confirmed stage IIIA–N2 NSCLC and high risk of cerebral metastases after adjuvant chemotherapy, PCI prolongs DFS and decreases the incidence of brain metastases. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]