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Background: The effect of age on long-term mortality and net survival benefit of radiotherapy (RT) for early-stage follicular lymphoma (FL) was not evaluated. Methods: 8,803 patients with early-stage FL in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (2000-2015) were identified for this study. Primary therapy included RT (27.0%), chemotherapy (CT, 29.3%), observation (24.1%), and other/unknown treatments (19.6%). Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) was conducted to balance the treatment arms. Relative survival (RS), the standardized mortality ratio (SMR), and transformed Cox regression were used to compare survival differences between treatments.Results: The risk of dying from FL and other causes varied over time, dependent of patient age. RT had significantly higher 10-year OS (77.2%) and RS (96.1%), but lower SMR (1.77), compared with CT (65.2%; 82.6%; 2.92; PPPP=0.136; 2.05, PPPinteraction=0.305) or OS (Pinteraction= 0.272), indicating similar survival benefits across all-ages patients.Conclusions: RT was associated with long-term OS and net survival benefits in early-stage FL.

Purpose: Chronic granulomatous disease(CGD) is mainly caused by defects in genes encoding subunits of NADPH oxidase complex (CYBB, CYBA, NCF1, NCF2, NCF4), and its chaperone (CYBC1). Next generation sequencing has successfully identified pathogenic variants in 131 clinically confirmed CGD patients in the single center, left 4 cases negative. This study sought to explore new technology to resolve these diagnostic dilemmas at whole genome level. Methods: The clinical data were collected. Optical genome mapping (OGM) was performed to investigate clinically-relevant structural variants greater than 500 bp in size. Targeted long-range PCR followed by next generation sequencing and Sanger sequencing were utilized for confirming breakpoints junctions.Results: OGM find a novel pathogenic copy number variant in NCF2 (1506 bp ~ 1526 bp in length) in P3. The exact downstream breakpoints of this deletion located in a thymine (T) rich region (18 T in reference and 58 T in P3), which remain difficult to detect with current short-read and long-read sequencing. Together with a second pathogenic variant in NCF2 in trans (c.1130_1135del) detected by exome sequencing, P3 was genetically diagnosed. Conclusion: OGM improves genetic diagnostic yield (1/3) in challenging CGD patients. Structural variants in NCF2 and other genes should be considered in undiagnosed CGD disease. Further research in undiagnosed population with OGM is warranted.

BACKGROUND: Lung adenocarcinoma accounts for more than 50% of non-small cell lung cancers. Dysregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) and coding genes play a critical role in lung adenocarcinoma irradiation resistance and might be promising therapeutic targets. In the present study, we demonstrate the effect of the miR-4306/IGF2R axis on malignant behaviors of lung adenocarcinoma cells and the response to irradiation. METHODS: Quantitative realtime-PCR and Western blot assays were applied for miR-4306 and IGF2R expression in tumors and cells. A CCK-8 assay kit was used to detect cell viability. Colony formation assay was implied to detect cell proliferation. Transwell assay was used to detect cell invasion. A subcutaneous tumor model was performed in nude mice to detect tumor formation in vivo. Hematoxylin & eosin (H&E) staining were used to observe pathological status of tumor in nude mice. To validate the miR-4306 binding IGF2R 3'-UTR, a dual-luciferase reporter assay was performed. RESULTS: The expression level of miR-4306 was dramatically upregulated in lung adenocarcinoma samples and cells, and could be induced by irradiation in a dose-dependent manner. In lung adenocarcinoma cells, miR-4306 overexpression significantly promoted cell viability and invasive abilities and attenuated the inhibitory effect of irradiation on malignant cancer cell behaviors. In a subcutaneous tumor model in nude mice, miR-4306 overexpression promoted tumor growth and attenuated the suppressive effect of irradiation on tumor growth. miR-4306 directly inhibited the expression of IGF2R. In lung adenocarcinoma cells without irradiation, IGF2R overexpression was inhibited, while IGF2R knockdown promoted cell viability and invasive abilities. The effects of miR-4306 overexpression were partially attenuated by IGF2R overexpression. In lung adenocarcinoma cells, suppressive role of irradiation on cancer cell viability and invasive abilities were enhanced by IGF2R overexpression, but attenuated by IGF2R knockdown. The effects of miR-4306 overexpression on cancer cell viability and invasive abilities were also partially attenuated by IGF2R overexpression in lung adenocarcinoma cells with irradiation. In tissue samples, expression of miR-4306 and IGF2R were negatively correlated. CONCLUSIONS: The miR-4306/IGF2R axis could significantly affect lung adenocarcinoma progression and response to radiotherapy, and further investigation of the clinical implications of this axis is strongly recommended.

Cryptococcus neoformans (C. neoformans)/C. gattii can easily invade the human central nervous system and cause cryptococcal meningitis (CM). The clinical fatality rate of these fungi is extremely high and causes more than 180,000 deaths worldwide every year. At present, the common clinical identification methods of these fungi are traditional culture methods and Indian ink staining. In addition, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISAs), polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real-time quantitative PCR detecting system (qPCR), mass spectrometry, and metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) have also been applied to detect these fungus. Due to the rapid progress of meningitis caused by C. neoformans/C. gattii infection, there is a desperate need for fast, sensitive, and on-site detection methods to meet the clinical diagnosis. Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is a promising isothermal amplification technique that can compensate for the shortcomings of the above techniques, featuring short reaction time, high specificity, and high sensitivity, thus meeting the demand for in-field detection of C.neoformans/C. gattii. In our study, RPA- lateral flow strip (LFS) was used to amplify the capsule-associated gene, CAP64, of C. neoformans/C. gattii, and the primer-probe design was optimized by introducing base mismatches to obtain a specific and sensitive primer-probe combination for clinical testing, and specificity of the detection system was determined for 26 common clinical pathogens. This system was developed to obtain results in 20 min at an isothermal temperature of 37°C with a lower limit of detection as low as 10 CFU/μL or 1 fg/μL. A total of 487 clinical samples collected from multicenter multiplexes were tested to evaluate the detection performance of the RPA-LFS system, which revealed that the system could specifically detect C. neoformans/C. gattii, meeting the need for rapid, specific, and sensitive detection.

Background Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has unfavorable outcomes with the highest incidence seen in China. Accordingly, exploring effective molecular biomarkers is of great value. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression and modulate numerous biological processes in tumors. Our study aimed to identify prognostic miRNAs and investigate their role in ESCC. Methods Prognosis-related plasma miRNAs were detected by miRNA microarray and qRT-PCR. Functional assays and molecular mechanism studies were used to investigate the role of miRNA in ESCC. Results Over-expression of miR-323a-3p was associated with a favorable prognosis. MiR-323a-3p negatively regulated proliferation, migration, and invasion. Through biological predictions, the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) was found to be a potential target of miR-323a-3p. Further investigation revealed that miR-323a-3p directly targeted and suppressed FMR1. MiR-323a-3p and FMR1 mRNA, as well as miR-323a-3p and the FMR1-encoded protein FMRP, showed negative correlations. Luciferase activity of FMR1-3′-UTR, but not mutant counterparts, was decreased by mimic compared with that of the control. The compromised cell proliferation, migration, and invasion induced by transfection with miR-323a-3p mimic were rescued by transfection with a FMR1 expression plasmid. Tumors induced by miR-323a-3p overexpressed ESCC cells grew significantly slower in vivo and resulted in smaller tumor masses. Metastatic lung colonization was also inhibited by miR-323a-3p overexpression. Conclusions MiR-323a-3p was significantly associated with survival and acted as a tumor suppressor by inhibiting proliferation, migration, and invasion via the regulation of FMR1. MiR-323a-3p is a promising biomarker and may be a potential therapeutic target.

BACKGROUND: This study was developed to assess the odds of cause-specific mortality and other types of mortality in thymoma patients. In addition, these analyses were leveraged to develop a comprehensive competing risk model-based nomogram capable of predicting cause-specific mortality as a result of thymoma. METHODS: Thymoma patients included within the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 2004–2016 were identified, and the odds of cause-specific mortality due to thymoma and other forms of mortality for these patients were estimated. In addition, Fine and Gray’s proportional subdistribution hazard model was constructed, and a competing risk nomogram was developed using this model that was capable of predicting the odds of 3-, 5-, and 10-year cause-specific mortality in thymoma patients. RESULTS: In total, 1,591 relevant cases in the SEER database were selected for analysis. In this patient cohort, the respective 5-year cumulative incidence rates for cause-specific mortality and mortality attributable to other causes were 12.4% and 8.2%. Variables significantly associated with cause-specific mortality included age, chemotherapy, surgery, and Masaoka stage. Additionally, the odds of other-cause-specific mortality rose with increasing patient age, and chemotherapy was correlated with other-cause-specific mortality. The competing risk nomogram that was developed exhibited good discriminative ability as a means of predicting cause-specific mortality, as evidenced by a concordance index (C-index) value of 0.84. Calibration curves further revealed excellent consistency between predicted and actual mortality when using this nomogram. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, we herein assessed the odds of cause-specific and other-cause-specific mortality among thymoma patients, and we designed a novel nomogram capable of predicting cause-specific mortality for thymoma, providing a promising tool that may be of value in the context of individualized patient prognostic evaluation.

Background There is no consensus on the therapeutic approach to ECOG 2 patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC), despite the sizable percentage of these patients in clinical practice. This study focused on the efficacy, toxicity and the optimal chemotherapy regimen of CCRT in ECOG 2 patients in a phase III trial. Methods Patients capable of all self-care with bed rest for less than 50% of daytime were classified as ECOG 2 subgroup. A subgroup analysis was performed for ECOG 2 patients recruited in the phase III trial receiving concurrent EP (etoposide + cisplatin)/PC (paclitaxel + carboplatin) chemotherapy with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) or three-dimensional conformal external beam radiation therapy (3D-CRT). Results A total of 71 ECOG 2 patients were enrolled into the study. Forty-six (64.8%) patients were treated with IMRT technique. The median overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) for ECOG 2 patients were 16.4 months and 9 months, respectively. No difference was observed in treatment compliance and toxicities between ECOG 2 patients and ECOG 0–1 patients. Within the ECOG 2 group (31 in the EP arm and 40 in the PC arm), median OS and 3-year OS were 15.7 months and 37.5% for the EP arm, and 16.8 months and 7.5% for the PC arm, respectively (p = 0.243). The incidence of grade ≥ 3 radiation pneumonitis was higher in the PC arm (17.5% vs. 0.0%, p = 0.014) with 5 radiation pneumonitis related deaths, while the incidence of grade 3 esophagitis was numerically higher in the EP arm (25.8% vs. 10.0%, p = 0.078). Conclusions CCRT provided ECOG 2 patients promising outcome with acceptable toxicities. EP might be superior to PC in terms of safety profile in the setting of CCRT for ECOG 2 patients. Prospective randomized studies based on IMRT technique are warranted to validate our findings. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov registration number: NCT01494558. (Registered 19 December 2011).

Background: The purpose of this study was to reevaluate the efficacy of prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with the most recent published data and to identify subgroups who may be more likely to gain benefit from PCI. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases for randomized trials comparing PCI with non-PCI in NSCLC patients. We pooled the data of randomized controlled trials and compared brain metastasis (BM) and overall survival (OS) between PCI group and non-PCI group. Results: Seven studies including 1,462 patients were eligible for the current meta-analysis. Compared to non-PCI group, PCI group achieved decreased BM (RR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.26–0.52) but similar OS (HR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.87–1.22). In subgroup analyses of BM, PCI decreased BM for subgroups by pathology (squamous cell carcinoma or non-squamous cell carcinoma) and local treatment modality (surgery or no surgery). However, PCI failed to reduce BM for patients with poor performance status (WHO 2–3). The incidence of PCI related toxicities was low and PCI was well-tolerated by the majority of NSCLC. Low grade neurocognitive function (NCF) decline was reported in NAVLT study and greater deterioration in immediate and delayed recall was reported in RTOG 0214. No significant difference in quality of life (QOL) after PCI was reported. Conclusion: PCI reduces the incidence of BM except for patients with poor performance status. However, PCI fails to prolong OS significantly for NSCLC. An individual patient data meta-analysis may identify patients that could achieve OS prolongation with PCI.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to: (1) assess the prognostic significance of serum tumor markers in locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma in lung (LA-SCCL); (2) generate a nomogram to predict the overall survival (OS) and (3) identify a prognostic stratification to assist the therapeutic decision-making. METHODS: LA-SCCL patients receiving definitive radiotherapy and baseline tumor marker measurement were eligible for this retrospective study. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to determine independent factors associated with various survival indexes and a nomogram was created to estimate the 5-year OS probability for individual patient. The identified prognostic factors were recruited into a recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) for OS to stratify patients with distinct outcome. RESULTS: A total of 224 patients were eligible for analysis. Increased cytokeratin-19 fragment (CYFRA 21-1) was independently associated with inferior OS, progression free survival (PFS) and a borderline decreased local-regional progression free survival (LRPFS). Elevated carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) served as an unfavorable determinant for OS and increased neuron-specific enolase (NSE) was predictive of poor distant metastasis free survival (DMFS). A nomogram integrating KPS, TNM stage, CEA and CYFRA 21-1 was created, resulting in a c-index of 0.62. RPA identified 4 prognostic classifications, with median OS of 27.6, 19.9, 17.3 and 10.9 months for low, intermediate, high and very-high risk groups, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Baseline tumor marker panel including CYFRA 21-1, CEA and NSE can be prognostic of outcome for LA-SCCL receiving definitive radiotherapy. The RPA identified four prognostic subgroups, which could assist personalized therapy and clinical trial design in LA-SCCL.

Background Consistent results are lacking as regards the comparative effectiveness of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) versus three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC). Patients and methods Patients treated with definitive radiotherapy (RT) between 2002 and 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. Overall survival (OS), local-regional progression-free survival (LRPFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and progression-free survival (PFS) were compared among patients irradiated with different techniques. The association between RT technique and survival indexes was assessed in a Cox proportional hazard regression model. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance known confounding factors. Results A total of 652 patients were eligible for analysis, including 206 with 3DCRT and 446 with IMRT. The median OS of the 3DCRT and IMRT groups were 19.4 and 23.3 months, with the 5-year rate of 13% and 19%, respectively (p = .043). Multivariate analysis identified IMRT as an independent favorable factor associated with LRPFS and DMFS. PSM analysis further verified the beneficial effect of IMRT on LRPFS. No difference in OS or PFS was observed between the two techniques. Subgroup analysis revealed that IMRT might be differentially more effective in both OS and LRPFS among patients who were female, nonsmokers, with adenocarcinoma, or without weight loss. There was a significant reduction of lung toxicity and similar esophagus toxicity in the IMRT group when compared with the 3DCRT group. Conclusion IMRT may confer superior LRPFS and comparable OS than can be achieved with 3DCRT in LA-NSCLC, along with the reduction of pulmonary toxicity. Implications for practice Based on the largest number of patients from a single institution, the present study demonstrated that intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) could provide superior local-regional progression-free survival and similar overall survival compared with the traditional three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) for stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). IMRT was also found to be associated with the significantly decreased incidence of pulmonary toxicity. These results suggest that IMRT should be considered a surrogate for 3DCRT in locally advanced NSCLC and might be the preferred option for a female nonsmoker with adenocarcinoma and a potentially high risk of pulmonary toxicity from radiotherapy.

// Wei Jiang 1 , Nan Bi 1 , Wen-Jue Zhang 1 , Li-Hong Wu 1 , Li-Pin Liu 1 , Yu Men 1 , Jing-Bo Wang 1 , Jun Liang 1 , Zhou-Guang Hui 1 , Zong-Mei Zhou 1 , Lu-Hua Wang 1 1 Department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China Correspondence to: Lu-Hua Wang, e-mail: wlhwq@yahoo.com Keywords: small cell lung cancer, limited-disease, single nucleotide polymorphisms, microRNA, apoptosis pathway Received: November 26, 2015 Accepted: February 21, 2016 Published: March 16, 2016 ABSTRACT We examined the impact of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at miRNA binding sites in the 3′-UTRs of genes in the apoptosis pathway on the prognosis of patients with limited disease-small cell lung cancer (LD-SCLC). Twelve tagSNPs in seven genes were genotyped using blood samples from 146 LD-SCLC patients treated with chemoradiotherapy. Cox proportional hazard regression models and recursive partitioning analysis were performed to identify SNPs significantly associated with overall survival. Three SNPs, CASP8: rs1045494 (C > T), PIK3R1: rs3756668 (A > G) and CASP7: rs4353229 (T > C), were associated with longer overall survival in LD-SCLC patients after chemoradiotherapy. The adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 0.480 (0.258–0.894), 0.405 (0.173–0.947) and 0.446 (0.247–0.802), respectively, and remained significant after multiple comparison correction. Moreover, subset analysis showed these SNPs were still predictive of overall survival in stage III patients. Recursive partitioning analysis enabled patients to be classified into three risk subgroups based on unfavorable genotype combinations of the rs1045494 and rs4353229 SNPs. These findings suggest miRNA-related polymorphisms in the apoptosis pathway may be useful biomarkers for selection of LD-SCLC patients likely to benefit from chemoradiotherapy.

Importance Treatment of locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains challenging. The rationale of combining a cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) inhibitor with concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT) was based on results of preclinical research and prospective clinical studies; however, no randomized clinical trial has provided evidence of a direct comparison with CCRT alone. Objective To determine the effect of combined selective COX-2 inhibition with standard CCRT on survival among patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC. Design, Setting, and Participants A single-center, open-label, randomized phase 2 clinical trial was performed among 96 patients who had histologically and cytologically confirmed unresectable stage III NSCLC. Participants were enrolled from November 2011 to August 2015. Data were analyzed from February to October 2018. Intervention Patients were randomized to receive thoracic radiation, 60 Gy, for 6 weeks concurrent with etoposide and cisplatin or the same regimen of CCRT combined with 200 mg of celecoxib, taken twice daily. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary end point was overall survival. The secondary end points were the proportion of patients with treatment-related toxic effects, progression-free survival, and overall survival in subgroups with and without the COX-2 genotype. Results A total of 100 patients were randomized. Following the exclusion of 4 outliers, 96 participants (96.0%) were analyzed (51 randomized to CCRT alone and 45 randomized to CCRT with celecoxib; mean [SD] age, 60.0 [8.3] years; 73.0 [76.0%] male). The median overall survival time was 32.8 (95% CI, 17.0-48.5) months in the group that received CCRT with celecoxib and 35.5 (95% CI, 25.8-45.2) months in the group that received CCRT alone (P = .88). Celecoxib with CCRT was well tolerated; the incidence of symptomatic radiation pneumonitis was 6.6% (95% CI, 1.4%-18.0%) in the group that received CCRT with celecoxib and 11.8% (95% CI, 4.4%-23.9%) in the group that received CCRT alone (P = .49). Among patients with the high-risk genotype, celecoxib plus CCRT was not associated with higher progression-free survival (hazard ratio, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.13-1.04;P = .05) or overall survival (hazard ratio, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.15-1.72;P = .26) compared with CCRT alone. Conclusions and Relevance In unresectable stage III NSCLC, adding celecoxib to concurrent chemoradiation did not improve survival. A smaller, not statistically significant proportion of patients in the CCRT with celecoxib group compared with the CCRT alone group developed symptomatic radiation pneumonitis. Among patients with the high-risk genotype, adding celecoxib to CCRT did not improve overall or progression-free survival. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier:NCT01503385

Red adzuki bean suspensions (20%, w/w) were subjected to high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) processing at 0.1, 150, 300, 450 and 600 MPa for 15 min, and the effects of this physical modification on the physicochemical and structural properties were investigated. Scanning electron microscope and polarized light microscopy observation revealed a complete starch gelatinization after treatment with 600 MPa. HHP–treated samples displayed weak diffraction peak intensity compared to native granules revealed by X-ray diffraction analysis. The light transmittance was found to significantly decrease after HHP treatment, while syneresis increased with increasing HHP pressures. The increases in the solubility of HHP–pressured granules are associated with crystalline structures destruction and increasing granule swelling power, respectively. The DSC analysis showed an increase in onset and peak temperature, and a decrease in conclusion temperature, gelatinization enthalpy and gelatinization temperature range. RVA results suggested that HHP changes pasting features, particularly when treated at 600 MPa, resulting in a considerable decrease in peak, viscosity, breakdown and final viscosity, and an increase in pasting temperature and peak time. The results have shown that the physicochemical changes of HHP–treated starch granules are based on the structural destruction of granules.

Background The optimal chemotherapy regimen administered currently with radiation in patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains unclear. A multicenter phase III trial was conducted to compare the efficacy of concurrent thoracic radiation therapy with either etoposide/cisplatin (EP) or carboplatin/paclitaxel (PC) in patients with stage III NSCLC. Patients and methods Patients were randomly received 60–66 Gy of thoracic radiation therapy concurrent with either etoposide 50 mg/m2 on days 1–5 and cisplatin 50 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8 every 4 weeks for two cycles (EP arm), or paclitaxel 45 mg/m2 and carboplatin (AUC 2) on day 1 weekly (PC arm). The primary end point was overall survival (OS). The study was designed with 80% power to detect a 17% superiority in 3-year OS with a type I error rate of 0.05. Results A total of 200 patients were randomized and 191 patients were treated (95 in the EP arm and 96 in the PC arm). With a median follow-up time of 73 months, the 3-year OS was significantly higher in the EP arm than that of the PC arm. The estimated difference was 15.0% (95% CI 2.0%–28.0%) andP value of 0.024. Median survival times were 23.3 months in the EP arm and 20.7 months in the PC arm (log-rank testP = 0.095, HR 0.76, 95%CI 0.55–1.05). The incidence of Grade ≥2 radiation pneumonitis was higher in the PC arm (33.3% versus 18.9%,P = 0.036), while the incidence of Grade ≥3 esophagitis was higher in the EP arm (20.0% versus 6.3%,P = 0.009). Conclusion EP might be superior to weekly PC in terms of OS in the setting of concurrent chemoradiation for unresectable stage III NSCLC. Trial registration ID NCT01494558.

To analyze the efficacy and toxicity of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC).Clinical data of 251 patients with stage III (76 IIIA and 175 IIIB) NSCLC who received CCRT as initial treatment between Jan 2001 and Dec 2010 in our hospital were reviewed. A median total radiotherapy dose of 60 Gy (range, 50-74 Gy) were delivered. 174 patients were treated with IMRT, 51 with 3D-CRT and 26 with 2D-radiotherapy. EP chemotherapy regimen was administered in 112 patients, PC regimen in 99 patients, topotecan regimen in 18 patients and other regimens in the remaining 22 patients. The efficacy and toxicity of CCRT were retrospectively analyzed.244 patients were assessable for response, including 6 (2.5%) patients with CR, 183 (75.0%) with PR, 42 (17.2%) with SD and 13 (5.3%) with PD. At a median follow-up period of 20 months, the 1-, 3-, 5- year OS were 69.2%, 31.2%, 23.2%, respectively, and the median OS was 21 months. The 1-, 3-, 5- year PFS were 40.9%, 22.1%, 17.7%, respectively, and the median PFS was 10 months. Patients with stage IIIA NSCLC achieved better 5-year OS than that with IIIB NSCLC (29.2% vs. 20.7%, χ2=2.254, P=0.133). Failure pattern was assessable in 244 patients, including 61 (25.0%) locoregional progression alone, 55 (22.5%) distant metastasis alone and 77 (31.6%) with both. The rates of grade≥3 radiation pneumonitis, esophagitis and hematologic toxicity were 4.4%, 11.2% and 26.4%, respectively.CCRT provide stage III NSCLC patients favorable outcome with acceptable toxicity. CCRT is standard therapeutic approach for patients with unresectable locally advanced NSCLC.

Background For patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC), the role of consolidation chemotherapy (CCT) following concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is partially defined. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of CCT. Methods The characteristics of LA-NSCLC patients treated with curative concurrent CRT from 2001 to 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. Results Among 203 patients, 113 (55.7 %) patients received CCT. The median number of delivered CCT was 3 and 89.4 % patients completed ≥2 cycles. The OS was significantly better for patients in the CCT group compared with that in the non-CCT group (median OS, 27 months vs. 16 months; 5-year OS, 30.4 % vs. 22.5 %; p = 0.012). The median PFS were 12 months in the CCT group and 9 months in the non-CCT group (p = 0.291). The survival advantages of CCT were significant for males (HR: 0.63; 95 % CI, 0.44 − 0.90), patients with age

Results of the univariate and multivariate analyses of prognostic factors for PFS. (DOCX 20Â kb)

In this article, particle swarm optimization (PSO), a powerful competitor in the field of numerical optimization, is used to optimize the feedback control parameters of equilibrium point about inverted pendulum. Convertional PSO is easy to be trapped in the local minimums. The improved PSO, which the particles trapped in local minimums are initialized by chaotic series to help them break away from local optimum to find optimal solution rapidly, is proposed in this paper. Pendulum is used to check the effectiveness of the above stratagy. So the stabilization of pendulum with the nonlinear system model is investigated. A nonlinear system control strategy based on dynamic design variable optimization with an improved PSO is used to stabilize the pendulum. The simulation results show the validity.

In this paper we present a novel application which uses 2D barcode for object tracking and event detection. We analyze the relationship between the spatial efficiency of a marker and its robustness against defocusing. Based on our analysis we design a spatially efficient and robust 2D barcode, M-Code (Marker-Code) which can be attached to the surface of static or moving objects. Compared with traditional object detection and tracking methods, M-Code not only identifies and tracks an object but also reflects its position and the orientation of the surface where it is attached. We implemented an efficient algorithm that tracks multiple M-Codes in real time in the presence of rotation and perspective distortion. In experiments we compare the spatial efficiency of M-Code with existing 2D barcodes, and quantitatively measure its robustness, including its scaling capability and tolerance to perspective distortion. As an application we use the system to detect door movements and track multiple moving objects in real scenes.

The "Control of Fear" project is an interactive art exhibition project to provide the general public an opportunity to experience what it might be occurred to them if their lives were suddenly altered by an unforeseen and unpredictable catastrophic event.The project uses varieties of modern emerging technologies to simulate unpredictable catastrophic events and detect participant's behavior. Technologies used include multimodal sensors, 3D holographic projection, 360 degree panoramic view video, speech recognition, intelligent interaction response, and synchronous control of multiple multimedia programs.

Background Lung adenocarcinoma (LAD) is considered to be a highly aggressive disease with heterogeneous prognosis and the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor progression remain elusive. Growing evidence demonstrates that the dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) plays an important role in various tumor processes. The aim of this study is to discover prognostic miRNA and investigate its role involved in progression of LAD. Methods Prognosis related miRNA was detected by miRNA microarray using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens from 87 patients with IIIA-N2 LAD. The cell proliferation was evaluated by Cell Titer 96 AQueous One Solution Cell Proliferation Assay (MTS), and the migration/invasion was evaluated by transwell assay. The bioinformatics methods and luciferase reporter assay were applied to detect the relationship between miRNA and its target. The mRNA and protein levels of miRNA target were determined by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis, western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Changes of angiogenesis induced by miRNA was evaluated by human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) tube formation assay. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis was performed in FFPE specimens of patients to evaluate the correlation between miR-29c with microvessel density (MVD) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) expression. Results MiR-29c expression downregulation was significantly associated with unfavorable prognosis in IIIA-N2 LAD. MiR-29c inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion in cell lines. Integrated analysis revealed that VEGFA was a direct target of miR-29c. MiR-29c reduced the capability of tumor cells to promote HUVEC tube formation. The compromised cell proliferation, migration/invasion and angiogenesis induced by miR-29c mimic transfection were reversed by transfection of VEGFA expression plasmid. Furthermore, the correlation of miR-29c with MVD and VEGFA was confirmed in patients’ samples. Conclusions MiR-29c acts as a tumor suppressor by targeting VEGFA and may represent a promising prognostic biomarker as well as a potential therapeutic target for LAD.