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Image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) is an advanced auxiliary radiotherapy technique. During cancer treatment, patients with oral cavity cancer (OCC) experience not only disease but also adverse effects due to RT. IGRT provides the relevant advantages of RT by precisely delivering tumoricidal doses via real-time knowledge of the target volume location and achieves maximal tumor control with minimal complications as recommended for cancer treatment. Additionally, studies have shown that IGRT can improve clinical outcomes in terms of not only treatment side effects but also survival benefits for cancer patients. IGRT can be performed alongside various imaging methods, including computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, and at different times during the radiotherapy regimen. This article reviews the literature to discuss the effects and importance of IGRT for patients with OCC, examines the rationale underlying the advantages of IGRT, discusses the limitations of IGRT with respect to different techniques, and summarizes the strategies and future prospects of IGRT in the treatment of OCC.

The coincident downregulation of NR4A1 and NR4A3 has been implicated in myeloid leukemogenesis, but it remains unknown how these two genes function in myeloid cells and how their combined downregulation promotes myeloid leukemogenesis. Since NR4A1 abrogation is thought to confer a survival and proliferation advantage to myeloid cells, we hypothesized that downregulation of NR4A3 may have a complementary effect on myeloid cell differentiation. First, we tested the association between differentiation status of leukemic cells and NR4A3 expression using two large clinical datasets from patients with different acute myeloid leukemia (AML) subtypes. The analysis revealed a close association between differentiation status and different subtypes of AML Then, we probed the effects of differentiation-inducing treatments on NR4A3 expression and NR4A3 knockdown on cell differentiation using two myeloid leukemia cell lines. Differentiation-inducing treatments caused upregulation of NR4A3, while NR4A3 knockdown prevented differentiation in both cell lines. The cell culture findings were validated using samples from chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients at chronic, accelerated and blastic phases, and in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patients before and after all trans-retinoic acid (ATRA)-based differentiation therapy. Progressive NR4A3 downregulation was coincident with impairments in differentiation in patients during progression to blastic phase of CML, and NR4A3 expression was increased in APL patients treated with ATRA-based differentiating therapy. Together, our findings demonstrate a tight association between impaired differentiation status and NR4A3 downregulation in myeloid leukemias, providing a plausible mechanistic explanation of how myeloid leukemogenesis might occur upon concurrent downregulation of NR4A1 and NR4A3.

One nucleotide substitution in codon 57 of HLA-DQB1*06:02:01:01 results in a novel allele, HLA-DQB1*06:02:43.

Idiopathic pneumonia syndrome (IPS) is a rare but deadly complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). This study characterized the incidence and risk factors for IPS after HSCT in Taiwan. Data from January 2009 to February 2019 was collected from the Taiwan Society of BMT national registry. Forty-three (1.1%) of 3924 HSCT patients who developed IPS were identified. Incidence of IPS was lower in patients who received autologous HSCT than patients who received allogeneic HSCT (0.68% vs 1.44%, P = 0.022). Multivariate analysis showed that use of TBI and intravenous busulfan in the conditioning regimen were each independent predictor of IPS after HSCT. In addition, development of IPS was significantly associated with increased risk of death in the first 120 days post-HSCT (HR, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.08 to 4.05, P = 0.029) and 2 years post-HSCT (HR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.07 to 2.542, P = 0.023), but not beyond 2 years post-HSCT. However, survival outcomes did not differ significantly between patients with IPS who received autologous versus allogeneic HSCT (P = 0.52). In conclusion, despite the relatively low incidence of post-HSCT IPS in Taiwan, mortality remains high. The results of this study will help to identify high-risk patients for early intervention and guide future therapeutic research.

Background Health literacy (HL) influences a patient's comprehension and judgment of health-related information. A rigorous assessment tool is needed to screen for low HL in order to improve it. Objective The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Cancer Health Literacy Scale (C-HLS). Methods The framework of the C-HLS is based on the Levels of Prevention model. The scale items were developed according to Nutbeam's 3 constructs of HL. We employed several procedures to develop the C-HLS, including focus group interviews, item generation, the expert Delphi process, and face validity. Various types of analysis, including reliability and split-half reliability testing, confirmatory factor analysis, and criterion-related validity testing, were performed; receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was also performed to confirm sensitivity and specificity. Results There were 33 items included in the C-HLS for validation; 360 newly diagnosed cancer patients completed the survey. The administration time is only 10 to 15 minutes. Results showed that C-HLS had good reliability, split-half reliability, and validity. All confirmatory factor analysis model fit indices reached acceptable thresholds. The receiver operating characteristic curve analyses suggested that the C-HLS had an adequate combination of sensitivity and specificity to distinguish between high and low HL. Conclusions The C-HLS is a reliable, valid tool capable of discriminating levels of HL in the assessment of cancer patients and does not have an excessive administration time. Implications for practice This scale can aid our understanding of HL in newly diagnosed cancer patients and can serve as a basis for providing individual care interventions.

Hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD) is a potentially fatal complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). We conducted this study to investigate the incidence and risk factors of hepatic VOD for patients receiving HSCT in Taiwan. We retrospectively analyzed the data from a nationwide registry for patients receiving HSCT, which was collected by the Taiwan Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. The data collection period was from 2009 to 2014. A total 2345 patients were reviewed and 39 patients among them were diagnosed as having hepatic VOD. The cumulative incidence of hepatic VOD in the whole cohort of 2345 patients was 1.66%. In multivariate analysis, disease diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome, chronic HCV infection, condition regimens of bulsulfan intravenously administered, and antithymocyte immunoglobulin were independent factors to predict higher risk of hepatic VOD. The overall mortality rate for patients with hepatic VOD was 79%. Patients with hepatic VOD had significant worse survival outcomes when compared with those without hepatic VOD (P = 0.00063). In conclusion, although the incidence is low, hepatic VOD remains a serious complication after HSCT in Taiwan. The findings of this study could be the basis for developing prophylactic or early treatment strategies for hepatic VOD.

The main development challenge of low temperature hybrid bonding technology is the oxidation of Cu surface. The schemes to achieve the high-quality surface condition of Cu before bonding is urgently demanded. In this study, four acid solutions, including sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ), hydrochloric acid (HCl), acetic acid (CH 3 COOH) and citric acid (C 6 H 8 O 7 ), were chosen as wet pretreatment approaches to remove Cu oxides based on the respective chemical reactions. To investigate the influence of these acid solutions on bonding surface, different acid immersion times are examined and the XPS analysis is conducted to check the surface component composition. Next, thermal compression bonding (TCB) is conducted after the Cu oxide removal process, followed by various analyses, including SAT analysis to validate bonding results, FIB and SEM analyses to inspect bonding interface, and pull test to measure bonding strength. The results of analyses verify the ability of different wet pretreatment to improve Cu-Cu bonding.

As 3D printing technologies have become more affordable, there is a significant tendency for “makers” to create and produce their own design of the same quality as products available in the market without engaging large manufacturers. This research conducted an innovative design and production process for watch products.Facilities including free form a virtual sculpting system, a DLP 3D printer and an optical laser were introduced to enable the metal watch cases to be more organic with luxury and high-tech looks. From virtual sculpting to high precision prototyping and casting with laser color labeling of the watch panel, this process demonstrated the possibility to provide a high degree of customization. The complexity of the metal shape was also enhanced without higher costs.In addition to the process, design concepts in this research also represent the images of Taiwan with special animal species. Additionally, decoration of wrist bands can also be applied by laser engraving or UV printing. Overall, this research demonstrates a high-tech craft design method for the tendency to personalization targeting on upcoming long-tail markets.

Glycosaminoglycan-modified proteoglycans play important roles in many cell activities, including cell differentiation and stem cell development. Tumor sphere formation ability is one of properties in cancer stem cells (CSCs). The correlation between CSC markers and proteoglycan remains to be clarified. Upon hepatoma sphere formation, expression of CSC markers CD13, CD90, CD133, and CD44, as well the syndecan family protein syndecan-1 (SDC1), increased as analyzed by PCR. Further examination by suppression of CD13 expression showed downregulation of SDC1 and CD44 gene expression, whereas suppression of SDC1 gene expression downregulated CD13 and CD44 gene expression. Suppression of SDC1 gene expression also suppressed sphere development, as analyzed by a novel sphereocrit assay to quantify the level of sphere formation. The heparin disaccharide components, but not those of chondroitin disaccharide, changed with hepatoma sphere development, revealing the increased levels of N-sulfation and 2-O-sulfation. These explained the inhibition of hepatoma sphere formation by exogenous heparin. In conclusion, we found that SDC1 affected CSC marker CD13 and CD44 expression. SDC1 proteoglycan and heparin components changed and affected hepatoma sphere development. Application of heparin mimics in reduction of hepatoma stem cells might be possible.

Esophageal second primary tumors (SPTs) in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients is not uncommon. The impact of image-enhanced endoscopy (IEE) screening for esophageal SPT on the outcome of HNC patients has not been well clarified.Patients with malignancies of the head and neck region and esophagus were recruited from a hospital-based cancer registry between July 2000-December 2016. IEE screening included magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band imaging and chromoendoscopy with Lugol's solution. Biopsied specimens with revised Vienna classification categories 1 and 2 were defined as group I, and those with categories 3 to 5 were defined as group II. The Kaplan-Meier estimate and Cox regression model were used for survival analysis.Totally 1577 HNC and 501 esophageal cancer patients were enrolled. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rates of stage I/II HNC, stage III/IV HNC and esophageal cancer patients were 58%, 29%, and 8%, respectively (p 0.01). The 5-year OS rate of HNC patients with negative IEE results was higher than that of HNC patients without IEE screening, followed by IEE screening groups I, II and esophageal cancer patients (44% vs. 39% vs. 35% vs. 11% vs. 8%, respectively, p for trend0.01). Among advanced HNC patients, those who received IEE screening had a trend of better prognosis than those without screening (5-year OS rate of 31% vs. 28%, p = 0.17).IEE screening for esophageal SPTs is helpful in risk stratification and prognosis prediction for HNC patients. Routine IEE screening is recommended in HNC patients.

The experimental results of the radiation for second-order fiber Bragg gratings, which are made of a single-mode photosensitive fiber (PS-1500; Fiber-Core Corp.) and a single-mode fiber (SMF-28; Corning Inc.), by a phase mask writing fabrication technique are explored. For PS-1500 fiber Bragg gratings, the maximum radiation efficiency of −23.5 dB at resonance λ = 1,539.34 nm with a very narrow bandwidth (about 0.02 nm) are measured from a 10-mm-diameter photo-detector, while for SMF-28 fiber Bragg gratings, the maximum radiation efficiency is −34.6 dB (λ = 1,538.03 nm) with a bandwidth of 0.06 nm. The total efficiencies of the radiation are about −16.8 dB for PS-1500 fiber Bragg gratings and −28.1 dB for SMF-28 fiber Bragg gratings.

Compost-amended landfill reactors were developed to reduce polychlorinated-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in contaminated soils. By periodically recirculating leachate and suppling oxygen, the online monitoring of the oxidation reduction potential confirmed that the reactors were maintained under hypoxic conditions, with redox levels constantly fluctuating between -400 and +80mV. The subsequent reactor operation demonstrated that PCDD/F degradation in soil could be facilitated by amending compost originating from the cow manure and waste sludge and that the degradation might be affected by the availability of easily degradable substrates in the soil and compost. The pyrosequencing analysis of V4/V5 regions of bacterial 16S rRNA genes suggested that species richness of the soil microbial community was increased by a factor of 1.37-1.61. Although the bacterial community varied with the compost origin and changed markedly during reactor operation, it was dominated by Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes. The aerotolerant anaerobic Sedimentibacter and Propionibacterium spp., and the uncultured Chloroflexi group could be temporarily induced to a high abundance by amending the cow manure compost; the bacterial growths were associated with the rapid degradation of PCDD/Fs. Overall, the novel bioremediation method for PCDD/F-contaminated soils using hypoxic conditions was effective, simple, energy saving, and thus easily practicable.

We propose a new structure of polarization splitter based on a dual-elliptical-core photonic crystal fiber. The polarization splitter has a simple and symmetric directional coupler configuration. The vector boundary element method is used to investigate the propagation characteristics of the device under various conditions. Results of the numerical calculation relevant to the design conditions are presented. A 0.3-mm-long splitter with an extinction ratio of 23 dB is obtained.

The coupled mode theory (CMT) is used to analyze uniform Fiber Bragg gratings. The multi-mode CMT is expressed as the flrst-order vector ordinary difierential equations (ODEs) with coe-cients depending on the propagation distance. We show in this paper that by changing variables, the original couple mode equations (CMEs) can be re-casted as constant coe-cient ODEs. The eigenvalue and eigenvector technique (EVVT), the analytic method for solving constant coe-cient ODEs, is then applied to solve the coupled mode equations. Furthermore, we also investigate the application of Runge- Kutta method (RKM) to the calculation of the global transfer-function matrix for CMEs. We compare the transmission and the re∞ection

This study presents a chirp quasi-phase matching (QPM) waveguide to increase the conversion efficiency of the cascaded SHG+DFG effect for femtosecond pulses. The coupled mode theory is used to analyze the cascaded SHG+DFG process. In this paper, a constructive interference zone (or cascaded SHG+DFG region) is defined as when the conversion wave and its coupling component constructively interfere with each other and have a phase difference ranging from 0 to 0.5pi or from 1.5 to 2pi. On the other hand, the region is called a destructive interference zone (or back conversion region) when the phase difference ranges from 0.5 to 1.5pi . The proposed chirp QPM waveguide is designed to extend constructive interference length and shorten destructive interference length over the waveguide. The simulation results demonstrate that for a pulsewidth of 0.6 ps, the maximum conversion efficiency of a 50-mm chirp QPM waveguide can be increased to 25 times that of a uniform QPM waveguide.

To compare the outcomes of melphalan 200 mg/m2(HDM200) and 8 Gy total marrow irradiation (TMI) delivered by helical tomotherapy plus melphalan 140 mg/m2(HDM140 + TMI 8 Gy) in newly diagnosed symptomatic multiple myeloma (MM) Asian patients. Between 2007 and 2010, nine consecutive myeloma patients who were scheduled to undergo autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) were studied. The patients received three cycles of vincristine-adriamycin-dexamethasone (VAD) regimen as induction chemotherapy, and if they had a partial response, peripheral blood stem cells were collected by dexamethasone-etoposide-cyclophosphamide-cisplatin (DECP). In arm A, six patients received the HDM200. In arm B, three patients received HDM140 + TMI 8 Gy. In arm B, the neutropenic duration was slightly longer than in arm A (P=0.048). However, hematologic recovery (except for neutrophils), transfusion requirement, median duration of hospitalization, and the dose of G-CSF were similar in both arms. The median duration of overall survival and event-free survival was similar in the two arms (P=0.387). As a conditioning regiment, HDM140 + TMI 8 Gy provide another chance for MM Asian patients who were not feasible for HDM200.

A novel double input DBR grating is presented in this paper. The length of the grating region and the phase difference of the inputs can determine the direction and the efficiency of the output power.th of the grating region and the phase difference of the inputs can determine the direction and the efficiency of the output power.

A 36-year-old woman was diagnosed with a therapy-refractory cutaneous CD4+ T-cell lymphoma, T3N0M0B0, and stage IIB. Helical irradiation of the total skin (HITS) and dose painting techniques, with 30 Gy in 40 fractions interrupted at 20 fractions with one week resting, 4 times per week were prescribed. The diving suit was dressed whole body to increase the superficial dose and using central core complete block (CCCB) technique for reducing the internal organ dose. The mean doses of critical organs of head, chest, and abdomen were 2.1 to 29.9 Gy, 2.9 to 8.1 Gy, and 3.6 to 15.7 Gy, respectively. The mean dose of lesions was 84.0 cGy. The dosage of left side pretreated area was decreased 57%. The tumor regressed progressively without further noduloplaques. During the HITS procedure, most toxicity was grade I except leukocytopenia with grade 3. No epitheliolysis, phlyctenules, tumor lysis syndrome, fever, vomiting, dyspnea, edema of the extremities, or diarrhea occurred during the treatment. HITS with dose painting techniques provides precise dosage delivery with impressive results, sparing critical organs, and offering limited transient and chronic sequelae for previously locally irradiated, therapy-refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Severe hypoxemia and pulmonary hypertension occurred in an infant with total anomalous pulmonary venous return. Though under hyperventilation with high fractional inspired oxygen and prostaglandin E1, hypoxemia remained intractable. Magnesium sulfate was used in view of its vasodilating effect. Significant clinical improvement was observed without causing systemic hypotension and the mechanism is discussed.

The phase dependent properties of a second-order FBG are presented. At the second Bragg condition, the radiated power of the second-order FBG varies by a factor of 2.4 as the phase changes by % radians.

Background The aim of this study was to assess the treatment results and toxicity profiles of helical tomotherapy (HT) for postoperative high-risk oral cavity cancer. Methods From December 6, 2006 through October 9, 2009, 19 postoperative high-risk oral cavity cancer patients were enrolled. All of the patients received HT with (84%) or without (16%) chemotherapy. Results The median follow-up time was 17 months. The 2-year overall survival, disease-free survival, locoregional control, and distant metastasis-free rates were 94%, 84%, 92%, and 94%, respectively. The package of overall treatment time > 13 wk, the interval between surgery and radiation ≤ 6 wk, and the overall treatment time of radiation ≤ 7 wk was 21%, 84%, and 79%, respectively. The percentage of grade 3 mucositis, dermatitis, and leucopenia was 42%, 5% and 5%, respectively. Conclusions HT achieved encouraging clinical outcomes for postoperative high-risk oral cavity cancer patients with high compliance. A long-term follow-up study is needed to confirm these preliminary findings.

A method of 2-ps pulse trains generation in QPM waveguide is proposed. The mechanism of pulse train envelop severance, due to group velocity mismatched, is studied.

Absatract The spine is the most common site for bone metastases. Radiation therapy is a common treatment for palliation of pain and for prevention or treatment of spinal cord compression. Helical tomotherapy (HT), a new image-guided intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), delivers highly conformal dose distributions and provides an impressive ability to spare adjacent organs at risk, thus increasing the local control of spinal column metastases and decreasing the potential risk of critical organs under treatment. However, there are a lot of non-target organs at risk (OARs) occupied by low dose with underestimate in this modern rotational IMRT treatment. Herein, we report a case of a pathologic compression fracture of the T9 vertebra in a 55-year-old patient with cholangiocarcinoma. The patient underwent HT at a dose of 30 Gy/10 fractions delivered to T8-T10 for symptom relief. Two weeks after the radiotherapy had been completed, the first course of chemotherapy comprising gemcitabine, fluorouracil, and leucovorin was administered. After two weeks of chemotherapy, however, the patient developed progressive dyspnea. A computed tomography scan of the chest revealed an interstitial pattern with traction bronchiectasis, diffuse ground-glass opacities, and cystic change with fibrosis. Acute radiation pneumonitis was diagnosed. Oncologists should be alert to the potential risk of radiation toxicities caused by low dose off-targets and abscopal effects even with highly conformal radiotherapy.

Vector boundary element method is proposed to calculate the surface-plasmon modes of the metal-clad optical fibers. The variations of the effective index with fiber core radius are presented for surface-plasmon and oscillating guided modes.

A new full vector method for manipulative the confinement loss of leaky modes in microstructured optical fibers is presented. The complex effective index and confinement loss are accurately calculations.

In this paper second-order fiber Bragg gratings are firstly experimentally demonstrated to have the characteristic of surface-normal radiation confirmed by measuring the radiation power of 0.012mW from the 2D far-field pattern.

Three Asian patients with plasma cell myeloma stage IIIa with IgG predominant were selected for autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (HSCT). Total marrow irradiation (TMI) tomotherapy planned with melphalan 140 mg/m2 as a preconditioning regimen of HSCT. Two image sets of computed tomography (CT) were scanned with 2.5 mm and 5 mm for the upper and lower part of the plan, respectively. The junction was determined and marked at 15 cm above knee on both thighs for upper and lower part of the plan. The clinical target volume (CTV) included the entire skeletal system. The planning target volume (PTV) was generated with with 0.8 cm for CTVextremities and with 0.5 cm margin for all other bones of CTV. A total dose of 800 cGy (200 cGy/fraction) was delivered to the PTV. Update to presentation, all of three patients post transplant without evidence of active disease were noted. During TMI treatment, one with grade 1 vomiting, two with grade 1 nausea, one with grade 1 mucositis, and three with grade 1 anorexia were noted. Toxicity of treatment was scored according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v3.0 (CTCAE v3.0). The average for upper part versus lower part of PTVBone marrow of CI and H-index were 1.5 and 1.4 versus 1.2 and 1.2, respectively. The dose reduction of TMI tomotherapy to various OARs of head, chest, and abdomen relative to TBI varied from 31% to 74%, 21% to 51%, and 46% to 63%, respectively. The maximum average value of registration for upper torso versus lower extremities in different translation directions were 5.1 mm versus 4.1 mm for pretreatment and 1.5 mm versus 0.7 mm for post-treatment, respectively. The average treatment time for the upper versus lower part in beam-on time, setup time, and MVCT registration time took roughly 49.9, 23.3, and 11.7 min versus 11.5, 10.0, and 7.3 min, respectively. The margin of PTV could be less than 1 cm under good fixation and close position confirmation with MVCT. Antiemetics should be prescribed in the whole course of TMI for emesis prevention. TMI technique replaced TBI technique with 8 Gy as conditioning regiment for multiple myeloma could be acceptable for the Asian and the outcomes were feasible for the Asian.

We propose a QPM waveguide incorporated with power management technology and time delay to achieve a maximum conversion efficiency by 232% compared with a normal QPM waveguide with 0.6 ps pulsewidth and 100 pJ energy.

A new switch design method by applying depletion-mode field effect transistor for dual-band GSM switch diplexer module is presented here. If compared with switch module implemented by using PIN diode, the new module would not only save more currents, consuming only around 0.4 mA in transmitting mode, but also match totally in terms of logic control function and pin-to-pin replacement. If compared with other switch modules also by using depletion-mode field effect transistor, the new module needs only four transistors instead of eight transistors and excluding the use of any voltage supply.

Using multi-stage periodic poled lithium niobate waveguides, an all-optical NOT gate with the output extinction ratio of 17 dB is proposed in this paper. Without changing the wavelength, the wavelength of the output inverted data stream is the same as that of the input data stream.

A theoretic study about a 170% conversion efficiency enhancement of cascade chi(2) SHG+DFG interactions by using a chirp period quasi-phase-matched waveguide.

We report on a 63-year-old man with a history of hepatitis B virus–related hepatocellular carcinoma with a thrombus extending into the inferior vena cava, who received image-guided stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) with helical tomotherapy, followed by sorafenib. A total tumor dose of 48 Gy was delivered by 6 fractions within 2 weeks. The tumor responded dramatically, and the patient tolerated the courses well. Ten days after SBRT, sorafenib (200 mg), at 1.5 tablets twice a day, was prescribed. One week later, grade 2 recall radiation dermatitis subsequently developed in the previous SBRT off-target area. SBRT followed by sorafenib for the treatment of a portal vein thrombosis provided effective results, but the potential risk of enhanced adverse effects between radiation and sorafenib should be considered with caution, especially under a SBRT scheme.

BACKGROUND Flow cytometric analysis of major lymphocyte populations and their subsets reveals age-related changes in the human cellular immune system. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Immunophenotypic markers were evaluated in 136 healthy pediatric subjects divided into groups of newborn infants (cord blood), children aged 1 to 2 years, 2 to 5 years, and 6 to 15 years. RESULTS The percentage of T cells increased gradually with age and the evolution of the percentage of B and NK cells was found to be variable. The percentage of CD4+ cells remains relatively unchanged from infancy to adolescence, but the percentage of CD8+ T cells was lowest at birth and reached maximal levels in the one to two year-old period. The percentage of naive T cells declined with time, but the percentage of memory T cells increased with age. Similar trends were seen in T-cell receptor alphabeta- and gammadelta-bearing T cells. The percentage of CD 11b+CD8+ T cells increased gradually from birth and reached maximal levels from 6 to 15 years old. The expression of the activation markers CD25 and HLA-DR on CD4+ T cells increased with age. The percentage of CD16+CD56- NK cells declined with age, but the evolution of the percentage of CD 16-CD56+ NK cells was variable. The fraction of B cells that expressed CD5 was high at birth (72.9%) and was highest in one to two year olds (73.1%), then declined steadily over time. The CD23 antigen was expressed on 41.9% of B cells at birth and 68.6% during the first to second year, then declined steadily with age. CONCLUSION These data may serve as a reference range for studies of Chinese pediatric subjects.

Development of nonantibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis has been reported in patients receiving chemotherapy. Herein, we report a case of a 70-year-old man with diabetes mellitus and hypertension who received concurrent chemoradiation therapy after surgery for stage III pT3N1M0 rectal cancer. After completion of the therapy, the patient presented with a 2-week history of intermittent watery diarrhea (seven to nine times per day). However, the patient was afebrile and laboratory examination revealed no evidence of leukocytosis. Computed tomography disclosed inflammation of the sigmoid colon, infiltrative changes around the anastomotic site, and edematous changes straddling the serosal surface. Colonoscopic examination revealed multiple whitish patches within the radiation field, a finding suggestive of pseudomembranous colitis. No concomitant antibiotics were used during the period of concurrent chemoradiation therapy. Empirical oral metronidazole (500 mg every 8 hours) was administrated for 2 weeks. At the end of this treatment, stool culture was negative for Clostridium difficile. Physicians should be aware of the potential for the development of pseudomembranous colitis following concurrent chemoradiation therapy.