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Aim: Systemic inflammatory response is closely related to tumor progression. We retrospectively investigated relationships between systemic inflammatory scores, C‐reactive protein/albumin (CRP/Alb) ratio (CAR) and clinical characteristics in advanced non–small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in 436 patients to find better clinical predictors of NSCLC prognosis. Methods: Blood specimens were collected 1 week before treatment to test for systemic inflammatory scores and albumin. Patients' overall survival (OS) was calculated via Kaplan–Meier method. Single‐factor log‐rank and multivariate Cox regression analyses and receiver operating characteristic curves were used to evaluate the prognostic significance of CAR and other systemic inflammatory indexes in predicting OS. Results: Kaplan–Meier method showed that Glasgow prognosis score (GPS), modified GPS (mGPS), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and monocyte/lymphocyte ratio (MLR) were reliable prognostic factors for advanced NSCLC. CAR was positively correlated with GPS, mGPS, NLR, PLR and MLR in these patients. CAR was an independent risk factor for OS in advanced NSCLC, and was more closely associated with prognosis than were GPS, mGPS, NLR, PLR or MLR. Conclusion: In advanced NSCLC patients, CAR may be a better predictor of prognosis compared with other inflammatory markers. A prospective multicenter study is needed to verify these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents numerical analysis on the behavior of geocell-reinforced retaining structures with various layouts. The constitutive model adopted for materials consisted of a nonlinear elastic stress–strain relationship with Mohr–Coulomb yield criterion. The strength parameters of the materials were obtained from relevant tests. For verification of the numerical model, three model-scale gravity-type walls with different facing angles were analyzed, and the finite difference program FLAC was utilized in the analysis. The results of the verification show good agreement in predicting the potential slip surface as well as estimating the critical load causing the wall to fail. The verified numerical model was then employed to study various layouts of retaining structures, which were constructed with the same amount of geocells, to compare the failure mode as well as the deformation of the structure. It has been found, irrespective of gravity type or facing type, the structure that extends the length of geocells in some layers to serve as reinforcement performs well in reducing the deformation of the structure and decreasing the potential slip zone. Moreover, with lengthening geocell layers as reinforcements, extended facing-type structures of various facing angles were analyzed. The results show that a wall with a facing angle less than 80° will significantly reduce the lateral displacement of the wall face. Further, the lateral earth pressures against the back of wall facing are somewhat higher than the horizontal stress in Rankine's active state, while those along the back of the reinforced zone are in at-rest state. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

China is the country where the most clinical trials on CIK cells have been performed. We aimed to provide definite evidence for using CIK cell treatment and extrapolate a common applicative standard for malignancies. We chose the VIP database of Chinese scientific and technological journals to search the literature. We entered the keywords 'CIK' or 'xi bao yin zi you dao de sha shang xi bao' (the equivalent Chinese phrase for CIK cells, by Chinese characters) and searched for in vivo human trials. In 24 collected trials, 936 patients were treated with CIK cells, 525 men and 246 women. The cultivation time of CIK cells ranged from 7 to 28 days. In five studies, CIK cells were co-cultured with dendritic cells. The total number of CIK cells used ranged from 6×10 to 1.5×10. The total number of DC-CIK cells used ranged from 1×10 to 1.3×10. In all studies, those immune parameters and tumour markers examined increased, but not all increased significantly. Of the reported 563 patients, 40 had a complete response, 126 had a partial response, 125 had a minimal response, 135 had stable disease and 58 had progressive disease. The remaining 76 patients did not reach an objective response. The total response rate was 51.7% (291/563). The toxicities were slight. CIK cell treatment is a promising and safe modality for treating malignancies. We proposed a standard for cultivating CIK cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This phase II randomised trial was designed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and feasibility of radio frequency regional hyperthermia in combination with chemotherapy for patients with advanced non-small lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Eighty patients with pathologically proven advanced NSCLC, were enrolled and divided into two groups. Group A patients were treated by radio frequency regional hyperthermia in combination with the regimen of gemcitabine and cisplatin (GP). Group B patients were treated with the GP regimen alone. Results: In group A, one patient achieved a complete response (CR), 18 achieved a partial response (PR), 18 achieved a stable disease and three experienced a progression of the disease. Thirty-three patients had a positive Clinical Benefit Response (CBR). In group B, no patient achieved CR, 17 achieved PR, 19 achieved a stable disease and four experienced a progression of the disease. Nineteen patients had a positive CBR. Significant differences between the two groups were observed for the CBR ( P < 0.05), but not for RR. Major toxicities included bone marrow depression, nausea, vomiting, without significant differences between the two groups ( P > 0.05). Conclusions: Radio-frequency regional hyperthermia in combination with chemotherapy (GP) is a safe, well tolerated, and effective therapeutic modality for patients with advanced NSCLC. The addition of hyperthermia improved quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CIK cells therapy has been evaluated as an adoptive cell immunotherapy for cancer patients, but there still have not been any standardized systems for evaluating the antitumor efficacy yet. The WHO and RECIST criteria have already been established for a few years but not sufficient to fully characterize the activity of immunotherapy. Based on these two criteria, the irRC was proposed for evaluating the efficacy of immunotherapy. A variety of bioassays for immune monitoring including the specific and non-specific methods, have been established. We recommend detect levels of various immunocytes, immune molecules and soluble molecules to find the correlations among them and clinicopathological characteristics to establish criteria for immunological classification. We also recommend a paradigm shift for the oncologists in the evaluation of immune therapies to ensure assessment of activity based on clinically relevant criteria and time points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]