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The pore structure and oil content of shales have an important influence on the oil mobility and enrichment. In this study, the lacustrine shale samples from the Qingshankou Formation (Q1) of Songliao Basin were selected. TOC, pyrolysis, XRD and nitrogen adsorption were performed on the original and extracted shale samples. Then the influence of mineral composition and organic matter (OM) on the development of nano-scale pore, the oil phase states and mobility were analyzed. The Q1 shale samples can be sub-divided into three types according to the isotherm characteristics. Type A samples are characterized by high kerogen content, with oil mainly existing in the free phase state. Type B samples are characterized by medium kerogen content, oil mainly exists in the absorbed phase state. Type C samples are characterized by low kerogen content, with trace oil found in the absorbed phase state. Nano-scale organic pores are well developed in the Q1 Formation. Oil is primarily found in the pore spaces with diameters of less than 10 nm, this being the pore size threshold for mobile shale oil. When TOCo > 2.0 wt.% and EOM > 1.0 wt.%, Q1 Formation shale oil mobility is high, resulting in prospective drilling targets.

this study attempts to identify the independent risk factors that can predict lymph node metastasis for the patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and guide doctor adoption of individualized treatment for such patients.This study was approved by the Hospital's Ethics Committee and all patients had signed informed consent forms. We retrospectively reviewed NSCLC patients who had undergone surgical resection from December 2008 to December 2013.The statistical significance of evaluation variables and lymph node metastasis was determined with Pearson's Chi-square test. The risk factors of lymph node metastasis were determined through univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. And for the age and tumor diameter factors, optimal cutoff points were determined with a receiver operating characteristic analysis.In the present study, a total of 2623 patients were included in the study, and 779 patients with lymph node metastasis. Three independent risk factors were identified: age, tumor diameter and Ki-67 index. We found that65 years of age (Adjusted-OR:1.921), ≥2.85 cm of tumor diameter (Adjusted-OR:3.141), and 5%~25% in Ki-67 group (Adjusted-OR:2.137),≥25% (Adjusted-OR:3.341) were significant. Also we found that 307 patients with lymph node metastasis and the lymph node metastasis rate was 51.0%, when the age65 years, Ki-67 index≥25%, and the tumor diameter≥2.85 cm. On the contrary, there were only 2 patients with lymph node metastasis, and the rate of lymph node metastasis was 5.1%.Identifying three independent risk factors that predict lymph node metastasis in non-small cell patients, Among NSCLC patients in whom all three predictors were identified, and over a half of the patients showed lymph node metastasis.

Purpose To investigate the features of 18F-Fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) in differentiating synchronous multiple primary lung cancers (sMPLC) from intropulmonary metastasis (IM). Material and Methods Fifty-nine patients with two synchronous primary lung cancers were selected and 23 lung cancer patients with an additional solitary IM cancer were chosen as the control group between January 2009 and January 2019. Maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) on PET/CT was determined for each tumor. The SUVmax ratio between the two tumors was determined and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance. Results The difference of SUVmax ratio between sMPLC (2.3 ± 1.6) and IM (1.5 ± 0.4) was significant, p Conclusion The SUVmax ratio between two tumors may be helpful in differentiating sMPLC from IM, independent studies with bigger size were needed to further confirm the findings.

The expression level of miRNA-21 is closely related to the occurrence and development of cancer, especially in gastrointestinal cancer. Monitoring miRNA-21 has clinical application in the diagnosis and evaluation of gastrointestinal cancer. A turn-on ratiometric fluorescence bioassay based on the T7 exonuclease-mediated cyclic enzymatic amplification method was developed for miRNA-21 determination by using carbon dots (CDs) and FAM-labeled ssDNA as the signal source. CDs demonstrated the triple functions of built-in internal fluorescence, probe carrier, and quencher in this strategy. In the absence of miRNA-21, FAM-labeled ssDNA would be adsorbed and quenched by CDs. The addition of miRNA-21 induced cycle hydrolysis from the 5′ end by the T7 exonuclease and then released the short-cleaved FAM-labeled oligonucleotides. Then, the increased FAM signal (FFAM) and the stable CD signal (FCDs) would be tested through a ratiometric routine for the quantification of miRNA-21. The FFAM/FCDs value showed a good linear relationship with the concentration of miRNA-21 in the range of 0.05–10 nM, and the detection limit for miRNA-21 was 1 pM with excellent selectivity and reproducibility. Furthermore, this sensor successfully evaluated the expression level of miRNA-21 in clinical blood samples from healthy individuals and gastrointestinal cancer patients, and the results were highly consistent with those of qRT-PCR, suggesting the great clinical application value in the diagnosis of cancer associated with miRNA-21 expression levels.

To explore the expression of hyaluronan mediated motility receptor (HMMR) in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and its relationship with clinicopathological features and tumor-infiltrating is not clear.The expression of HMMR in Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-LUAD. TCGA was employed to examine the relationship between the clinicopathological characteristics and HMMR expression and the LUAD patients' prognosis. Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER)database was employed to analyze the relationship between immune infiltration and HMMR. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis was explored through gene enrichment. Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data and our hospital data were utilized to confirm the findings.The expression level of HMMR in lung adenocarcinoma tissue and cells was greater than that in the normal group, which was linked to clinical stage, smoking history, and recurrence, and could increase the progression or recurrence of LUAD. Patients in the pathological grade had a significant expression of HMMR in moderately differentiated LUAD tissues. In addition, HMMR has an impact on LUAD patients' overall survival rate [P = 9.5e-06; hazard ratio (HR) = 2]. The level of HMMR expression in LUAD was significantly linked to neutrophils, CD8+T, and CD4+T cells. TMB analysis showed that HMMR could also affect the tumor microenvironment in LUAD. HMMR might be employed as an independent predictive biomarker of LUAD, according to a multivariate COX regression analysis. The findings of GSEA analysis showed that the samples with high HMMR expression levels were rich in cell cycle, cell metabolism, and DNA replication. The analysis results of GSE31210 data are basically consistent with those of TCGA-LUAD.It is suggested that HMMR has an effect on the occurrence and development of lung adenocarcinoma. Besides, HMMR is also linked to the level of immune infiltration of neutrophils, CD8+T cells, and CD4+T cells and LUAD patients' prognosis. HMMR was suggested to be utilized as a biomarker or therapeutic target to judge the prognosis and immune infiltration of LUAD.

Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma (PSC) is an unusual form of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Because of its rarity and heterogeneity, the treatment and prognosis of PSC have not been clearly described.We retrospectively evaluated all patients with a diagnosis of PSC from 1997 to 2015 at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN). The clinical characteristics, treatment details, and outcomes were collected. The survival rates of the PSC patients were compared with those for other subtypes of NSCLC. We used propensity score matching to minimize the bias resulting from to imbalanced comparison groups.The study included 127 PSC patients. The median age at diagnosis was 68 years (range, 32-89 years), most of whom were men (61%) and smokers (82%). The clinical stage was I, II, III, and IV in 15.9%, 20.6%, 22.2%, and 41.3%, respectively. The median survival time was 9.9 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 7.6-12.6 months). The 1-, 2-, and 5-year survival rates were 42%, 23%, and 15%, respectively. Most patients received multimodality treatment. Of the 3 patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, a partial response was demonstrated in 2. Twenty-five patients who underwent palliative chemotherapy were evaluated for tumor response: 52% experienced progression, 40% stable disease, 8.0% a partial response, and 0% a complete response. Multivariate analysis showed T stage, M stage, and treatment with surgery plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy or surgery plus adjuvant therapy were independent prognostic factors (P .05). In matched analysis, multivariate models revealed worse overall survival for PSC compared with adenocarcinoma (hazard ratio, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.61-2.53) and squamous cell carcinoma (hazard ratio, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.44-2.34).We found the outcome of PSC to be significantly worse than that of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy, in addition to surgical resection, should be considered.

Background Treatments for superior sulcus tumor (SST) have evolved, with induction chemoradiotherapy providing an improved R0 resection rate. We reviewed the treatment and outcomes of SSTs in a single institution to identify prognostic factors and optimal treatment strategy. Methods Details of patients who underwent any type of treatment for SST from 1997 through 2014 were retrospectively collected. Survival was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Proportional hazards regression was used to test the prognostic significance of factors in univariate and multivariate models. Results Eighty-nine patients were identified, 8 of whom had M1 disease and were excluded from the analysis. Of the 48 surgical patients, 44 received preoperative induction treatments, with 12 (25%) achieving a pathologic complete response (pCR), 23 with minimal residual disease, and 9 with gross residual disease. Complete resection was achieved in 40 surgical cases. As expected, nonsurgical patients had worse survival than did surgical patients (median survival, 2.1 versus 5.8 years; nonsurgical versus surgical hazard ratio [HR], 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2–3.7; p = 0.01). By multivariable Cox analysis, smoking status (HR, 4.4; 95% CI, 1.5–13.0; p = 0.01) and previous or concurrent malignancy (HR, 4.73; 95% CI, 1.6–13.9; p = 0.0.005) were prognostic factors for surgical patients. There were no statistically significant prognostic factors for nonsurgical patients. Conclusions Chemoradiotherapy followed by surgical treatment is our favored treatment for operable candidates. Preoperative induction treatments were associated with a 25% pCR rate for surgical patients. Candidates for surgical therapy are expected to have longer survival than those who are not candidates for resection.

Background Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) is the most common inflammatory factor that mediates the activation and apoptosis of macrophages. Cyclophilin A (CyPA) is expressed following oxidative stress, hypoxia, and infection. However, the role of CyPA in the activation and apoptosis of macrophages is unclear. The aims of the study were to determine whether CyPA mediates the ox-LDL-induced activation and apoptosis in RAW264.7 cells and to analyze potential mechanisms. Methods and results Through Western blot and ELISA test, the expression of CyPA induced by ox-LDL is time-dependent in RAW264.7 cells. Gene silencing of CyPA reduced the generation of lipid droplets in the cytoplasm and downregulated the expression of the surface markers of macrophage activation, namely, CD80, CD86, and major histocompatibility complex class 2 antigen. Cell apoptosis is significantly decreased and the level of anti-apoptosis protein bcl-2 is increased in CyPA silent cells compared with the control group. Finally, autophagy-related protein LC3-II/LC3-I ratio level significantly decreased in CyPA silent cells with less autophagosome formation while the blocked autophagy flux was recovered. The differences in the activation and apoptosis between CyPA silent cells and the control cells were inhibited by pre-treatment with class III PI 3-kinase inhibitor 3-MA. Conclusions These results indicate that CyPA mediates the ox-LDL-induced activation and apoptosis in RAW264.7 cells by regulating autophagy.

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is an ideal implant material for orthopedic and dental application due to its high biocompatibility and mechanical property. However, biological inertness of PEEK hinders the effective clinical applications in treating bone defect, especially in the situation accompanied by bacterial infection. In this study, a layer-by-layer (LBL) deposition method with controlled cycles was developed to rapidly construct brushite (CaHPO4·2H2O) (CaP) layers containing gentamicin sulfate (GS) on PEEK to obtain CaP-and-GS modified PEEK, named as PEEK/CaP-GS. Different PEEK/CaP-GS, like PEEK/CaP-GS*3, PEEK/CaP-GS*6 and PEEK/CaP-GS*9 were conveniently prepared by repeating the LBL cycles to 3, 6 and 9 times, respectively. The morphology, structure and surface property of the fabricated PEEK/CaP-GS were carefully characterized. In vitro antibacterial experiments illustrated that all of the PEEK/CaP-GS samples had excellent and sustained antibacterial property. Cell proliferation experiments revealed the acceptable biocompatibility and cell osteogenic differentiation of PEEK/CaP-GS, especially in PEEK/CaP-GS*6. X-ray, μ-CT, and histological analysis showed that PEEK/CaP-GS exhibited in vivo antibacterial activity and osseointegration ability in the treatment of bone defect with infection. In both the in vitro and the in vivo experiments, PEEK/CaP-GS*6 prepared from the 6 LBL cycles exhibited the best antibacterial and osseointegration ability for bone healing. This work opens new avenue of the facile and effective modification of PEEK with special biological functions for clinical application, especially for the implants requiring excellent antibacterial and osseointegration ability.