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PM 2.5 samples were collected simultaneously at three urban sites including Beijing (BJ), Tianjin (TJ), Shijiazhuang (SJZ) and one background site Xinglong (XL) from June 2014 till April 2015. Typical polar organic aerosol tracers including 2-methylglyceric acid, 2-methyltetrols, 3-hydroxyglutaric acid, anhydrous saccharides and phthalic acid were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Both Isoprene secondary organic aerosol (SOA) tracers and pinene SOA tracers had higher mass concentrations at background site than those at urban sites. But they showed different seasonal variations. The former had the highest mass concentration in summer while the latter had the highest mass concentration in spring. Anhydrous saccharides and phthalic acids at urban sites had higher mass concentrations than those at background site and showed higher mass concentration in autumn and winter, respectively. Corresponding estimated secondary organic carbons (SOCs) showed similar variation trends with tracers. In general, biogenic sources had more influence on background site while urban sites were more affected by anthropogenic sources., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background/aim: KRAS and BRAF are two genes commonly mutated in colorectal cancer (CRC). Even though BRAF is a downstream target of KRAS in the MAPK signalling pathway, KRAS- and BRAF-mutated CRCs are found to display several different clinical and histopathological features. We investigated whether a differential expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) could explain the clinicopathological differences seen between KRAS- and BRAF-mutated CRCs., Materials and Methods: Using a PCR array, we analyzed the expression of 84 different miRNAs in CRC cell lines wild-type in KRAS and BRAF, or mutated in KRAS or BRAF., Results: Ten miRNAs were selected for further analyses in tumor tissue specimens (let-7a, let-7i, miR-10a, miR-10b, miR-31, miR-100, miR-181a, miR-181b, miR-372, and miR-373). BRAF-mutated tumors were found to express significantly higher levels of miR-31 as well as significantly lower levels of miR-373, compared to wild-type tumors., Conclusion: Our results suggest that KRAS- and BRAF-mutated CRCs may have different miRNA signatures compared to CRC tumors wild-type in KRAS and BRAF. However, no difference in expression levels between KRAS- and BRAF-mutated tumors was evident for the miRNAs analyzed in this study., (Copyright© 2018, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

The tumor immune response has been proven critical to prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC), but studies on the prognostic role of neutrophil infiltration have shown contradictory results. The aim of this study was to elucidate the prognostic role of infiltrating neutrophils at different intratumoral subsites and in different molecular subgroups of CRC. The relations between neutrophil infiltration and infiltration of other immune cells (T-cell and macrophage subsets) were also addressed. Expression of the neutrophil marker CD66b was assessed by immunohistochemistry in 448 archival human tumor tissue samples from patients surgically resected for CRC. The infiltration of CD66b-positive cells was semi-quantitatively evaluated along the tumor invasive front, in the tumor center, and within the tumor epithelium (intraepithelial expression). We found that poor infiltration of CD66b-positive cells in the tumor front indicated a worse patient prognosis. The prognostic significance of CD66b infiltration was found to be mainly independent of tumor molecular characteristics and maintained significance in multivariable analysis of stage I-II colon cancers. We further analyzed the prognostic impact of CD66b-positive cells in relation to other immune markers (NOS2, CD163, Tbet, FOXP3, and CD8) and found that neutrophil infiltration, even though strongly correlated to infiltration of other immune cell subsets, had additional prognostic value. In conclusion, we find that low infiltration of neutrophils in the tumor front is an independent prognostic factor for a poorer patient prognosis in early stages of colon cancers. Further studies are needed to elucidate the biological role of neutrophils in colorectal carcinogenesis., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To evaluate the therapeutic effect and the prognosis of the laryngeal function preserving surgery (LFPS) and total laryngectomy in hypopharyngeal carcinoma., Method: Ninety-three cases of laryngopharynx carcinoma were retrospectively analyzed from September 1974 to September 2006. Among which 57 cases were primary pyriform sinus cancer, 20 cases were postero-cricoid cancer and 16 cases were postero-pharyngeal wall cancer. 53 cases were treated by LFPS, and 40 cases were treated by total laryngectomy. The treatment effectiveness, complication, survival rate and repair materials were analysed., Result: Adopting Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, the 3-year survival rates were 69.9% and 5-year survival rates were 43.0%. The 3-year survival rates of LFPS and Non-LFPS were 73.6% and 67.5%, and the 5-year survival rates of LFPS and Non-LFPS were 49.1% and 32. 5%. There was no significant difference between the two groups (chi2 = 2.566, P > 0.05). Single element analysis indicated survival rates concerned with T-stage (chi2 = 9.764, P < 0.05), neck lymphatic transfer (chi2 = 10.472, P < 0.01) and the degree of pathological differentiation (chi2 = 25.894, P < 0.01). Cox regression analysis suggested that T-stage, the degree of pathological differentiation and whether going through the surgical operation were the independent element of the patient's prognosis. There was no significant difference between LFPS and No-LFPS in the neoplasms location, complication, neoplasms residuum and neoplasms recurrence., Conclusion: LFPS did not affect the survival rates and LFPS was feasible. LFPS can increase the living quality of laryngopharynx carcinoma patients.