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Rapid and effective control of non‐compressible massive hemorrhage poses a great challenge in first‐aid and clinical settings. Herein, a biopolymer‐based powder is developed for the control of non‐compressible hemorrhage. The powder is designed to facilitate rapid hemostasis by its excellent hydrophilicity, great specific surface area, and adaptability to the shape of wound, enabling it to rapidly absorb fluid from the wound. Specifically, the powder can undergo sequential cross‐linking based on "click" chemistry and Schiff base reaction upon contact with the blood, leading to rapid self‐gelling. It also exhibits robust tissue adhesion through covalent/non‐covalent interactions with the tissues (adhesive strength: 89.57 ± 6.62 KPa, which is 3.75 times that of fibrin glue). Collectively, this material leverages the fortes of powder and hydrogel. Experiments with animal models for severe bleeding have shown that it can reduce the blood loss by 48.9%. Studies on the hemostatic mechanism also revealed that, apart from its physical sealing effect, the powder can enhance blood cell adhesion, capture fibrinogen, and synergistically induce the formation of fibrin networks. Taken together, this hemostatic powder has the advantages for convenient preparation, sprayable use, and reliable hemostatic effect, conferring it with a great potential for the control of non‐compressible hemorrhage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of inorganic copper in feed is hazardous. As probiotics of animals, Candida utilis can absorb copper ions and transform them to organic copper. This study aimed to domesticate the ability of C. utilis (CICC 32211) to absorb and transform copper ions. So, C. utilis (CICC 32211) was cultured in media with different concentrations of copper ions for 24, 48 and 72 h to identify the optimum copper ion concentration. C. utilis (CICC 32211) strains were domesticated for three generations, then the absorption and distribution of copper ions in the yeast cells were studied. We found that the optimum concentration of copper ions was 110 µg/mL. After 48 h, the number of yeast cells was low, but copper ion absorption efficiency was maximized (43.83%). Most of the enriched copper ions were distributed in the yeast cell wall (up to 30.58% when grown in the medium with 110 µg/mL copper ions), while the intracellular copper ion content was low (2.095%). High concentrations of copper ions affected the morphological structure, element content and distribution of yeast cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for bladder reconstruction and side effects of cystoplasty have spawned the demand for the development of alternative material substitutes. Biomaterials such as submucosa of small intestine (SIS) have been widely used as patches for bladder repair, but the outcomes are not fully satisfactory. To capture stem cells in situ has been considered as a promising strategy to speed up the process of re-cellularization and functionalization. In this study, we have developed an anti-CD29 antibody-conjugated SIS scaffold (AC-SIS) which is capable of specifically capturing urine-derived stem cells (USCs) in situ for tissue repair and regeneration. The scaffold has exhibited effective capture capacity and sound biocompatibility. In vivo experiment proved that the AC-SIS scaffold could promote rapid endothelium healing and smooth muscle regeneration. The endogenous stem cell capturing scaffolds has thereby provided a new revenue for developing effective and safer bladder patches., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Currently the standard surgical treatment for bladder defects is augmentation cystoplasty with autologous tissues, which has many side effects. Biomaterials such as small intestine submucosa (SIS) can provide an alternative scaffold for the repair as bladder patches. Previous studies have shown that SIS could enhance the capacity and compliance of the bladder, but its application is hindered by issues like limited smooth muscle regeneration and stone formation since the fast degradation and poor mechanical properties of the SIS. Procyanidins (PC), a natural bio-crosslinking agent, has shown anti-calcification, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidation properties. More importantly, PC and SIS can crosslink through hydrogen bonds, which may endow the material with enhanced mechanical property and stabilized functionalities. In this study, various concentrations of PC-crosslinked SIS (PC-SIS) were prepared to repair the full-thickness bladder defects, with an aim to reduce complications and enhance bladder functions. In vitro assays showed that the crosslinking has conferred the biomaterial with superior mechanical property and anti-calcification property, ability to promote smooth muscle cell adhesion and upregulate functional genes expression. Using a rabbit model with bladder defects, we demonstrated that the PC-SIS scaffold can rapidly promote in situ tissue regrowth and regeneration, in particular smooth muscle remodeling and improvement of urinary functions. The PC-SIS scaffold has therefore provided a promising material for the reconstruction of a functional bladder., Competing Interests: This manuscript has been approved by all coauthors. It has not been published or presented elsewhere in part or in entirety and is not under consideration by another journal. We have read and understood your journal's policies, and we believe that neither the manuscript nor the study violates any of these. There are no conflicts of interest to declare., (© 2020 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.)

Objective: To investigate the safety and tolerance of adjuvant dose-dense chemotherapy with paclitaxel and epirubicin for high-risk breast cancer., Methods: From January 2004 to December 2006, 101 patients with high-risk breast cancer after surgical resection were enrolled into this study. The patients were divided into two groups: dose-dense and regular groups. Each patient received 6 cycles of chemotherapy with intravenous administration of paclitaxel (175 mg/m2, on D3) and epirubicin (60 mg/m2, on Dl and D2). The dose-dense group had repeated treatment every two weeks, while the regular group repeated it every three weeks. G-CSF was used in a dose of 3 microg/kg on D5-D9 during each cycle in the dose-dense group. While in the regular group, it was used only under the condition that grade II neutropenia occurred., Results: The toxicity could be evaluated in 101 patients. Major grade II-IV toxicities included: neutropenia, nausea, vomiting and alopecia. The incidence of grade III-IV neutropenia was 16.0% in the dose-dense group versus 54.9% in the regular group (P = 0.000); postponing of chemotherapy was 2.4% versus 6.0% (P = 0.027). Ninety-eight patients completed the chemotherapy as planed. After a median follow-up of 24 months, the median DFS and OS were not reached. The relapse-free rate and survival rate were 89.8% and 100% in the dose-dense group, which were 87.8% and 93.9% in the regular group. The relapse-free rate of the high-risk patients in the dose-dense group was 86.8% versus 81.3% in the regular group, and the corresponding survival rate was 100% versus 90.6%., Conclusion: Adjuvant dose-dense chemotherapy with paclitaxel and epirubicin is safe, tolerable and promising for high-risk breast cancer.

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics, survival, and prognosis of female breast cancer patients with 10 or more positive lymph nodes., Methods: The data of 128 female breast cancer patients with 10 or more positive lymph nodes from JAN 1998 to Mar 2002 were retrospectively reviewed. The clinical characteristics, survival, and prognostic factors were analyzed by SPSS 10.0 statistic software., Results: The 1-, 3-, 5, and 7-year overall survival (OS) rates were 91.4%, 68.8%, 53.1%, and 40.2%, and the disease free survival (DFS) rates were 80.9%, 54.1%, 44.7%, and 36.0% respectively. Log Rank test showed that tumor size was not related to prognosis; patients with more than 20 positive lymph nodes (P = 0.029), positive lymph node ratio greater than 0.8 (P = 0.027), and infiltration of vessel (P = 0.037) had a poorer DFS and shorter OS; patients with negative hormonal receptor had a poorer OS than those with positive hormonal receptor (P = 0.019); radiotherapy improved DFS (P = 0.000), and adjuvant chemotherapy for 4 - 6 cycles (P = 0.000) or more than 6 cycles (P = 0.004) and endocrine therapy (P = 0.001) might improve DFS and OS; patients with multiple metastasis had a poorer survival than those with local recurrence (P = 0.004) and single metastasis (P = 0.058). COX proportional hazard model analysis showed that positive lymph node ratio and infiltration of vessel were independent prognostic factors for both DFS and OS; adjuvant endocrine therapy decreased relapse and death hazard ratio for 43% (RR = 0.57, P = 0.035) and 65% (RR = 0.35, P = 0.000) respectively; adjuvant radiotherapy decreased the relapse hazard ratio for 72% (RR = 0.28, P = 0.000); and adjuvant chemotherapy for more than 4 cycles decreased death hazard ratio for 51% (RR = 0.49, P = 0.001); patients with recurrence and/or metastasis had a higher death hazard ratio (RR = 2.738, P = 0.000), hormonal receptor was an independent prognostic factor, and active treatment might improve the survival., Conclusion: Breast cancers with 10 or more positive lymph nodes have higher aggressively biologic characteristics; the prognosis of this subgroup has no relationship with tumor size and inverse correlation with the numbers of positive lymph nodes; Positive lymph node ratio and infiltration of vessel are important independent factors. Multidiscipline therapy including adjuvant radiotherapy, endocrine therapy, and at least 4 cycles chemotherapy increases the therapeutic effect, decreases relapse and death hazard ratio, and improves the survival.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of combination chemotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin for advanced breast cancer (ABC)., Methods: From January 2001 to March 2006, 45 patients with ABC were treated with combination chemotherapy of paclitaxel and carboplatin. Patients received infusion of paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 on day 1 every 3 weeks or 75 mg/m2 on day 1, 8, 15 every 4 weeks. Carboplatin was administrated on day 2 with a dose of area under the time-concentration curve (AUC) being 5., Results: The median number of cycles was 3 (range, 2-6). The overall response rate was 62.2%. Median time to progression was 7.0 months (95% CI: 5.1-8.9). Median overall survival was 29.0 months (95% CI: 20.1-37.9). One year survival rate was 73.3%. Response rate for first line and second line treatment were 62.1% and 62.5% , respectively. No significant difference in response existed between visceral metastasis and soft tissue metastasis. The main side effects included nausea/vomiting, neurotoxicity, and hematologic toxicities. Grade III to IV adverse events included nausea/vomiting in 2 cases (4.4%), leukopenia in 17 cases (37.8%) , and alopecia in 6 cases (13.3%)., Conclusion: Combination of paclitaxel and carboplatin is active in treatment of ABC with an acceptable toxicity profile.

Objective: To analyze the clinicopathological features, parameters of molecular biology, survival rate, and prognostic factors in breast cancer patients with vascular invasion., Methods: The data of 262 breast cancer patients with vascular invasion surgically treated between January 1995 and December 2003 in our institution were retrospectively analyzed. Clinicopathological characteristics, parameters of molecular biology, disease free survival rate and overall survival rate were surveyed., Results: Of all breast cancer patients registered in our institution during the same period, these 262 breast cancer patients with vascular invasion accounted for 5.3% with a median age of 43 years. The major pathological type was invasive ductal carcinoma (93.3%). The stages included stage I in 5% , stage II 31. 3% , stage III 58.8% , stage IV 1.1% , and unknown 3.8%. Immunohistochemical staining showed that ER positive in 67.7%, PR(+) 68.0%, p53(+) 54.2%, PCNA(+) 93.3%, c-erbB2( +++) 20.8% and c-erbB2(++) 16.9%. The 5-year and 10-year cumulative disease free survival and overall survival were 57.6% , 50.7% and 62.8%, 52.9% , respectively. The factors which were found to compromise disease free survival were the tumor size, lymph node status, stage, and radiotherapy in the univariate analysis, and for overall survival, were the tumor size, lymph node status, stage, location of vascular invasion and radiotherapy. The tumor size and radiotherapy were found to be independent prognostic factors for disease free survival and overall survival in the multivariate analysis., Conclusion: Breast cancers with vascular invasion have poor biological behavior though having been treated by surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The independent prognostic factors of such patients are tumor size and radiotherapy. Anti-angiogenesis and antilymphangiogenesis may gradually become promising target treatment for such patient.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of combination chemotherapy of Docetaxel (Taxotere, TXT) combined with cisplatin (DDP) for anthracycline (ANT)-resistant advanced breast cancer (ABC)., Methods: From April 2000 to March 2005, 31 patients with ANT-resistant advanced breast cancer were treated with combination chemotherapy of TXT and DDP. TXT 75 mg/m2 and DDP 75 mg/m2 were used on day 1 every three weeks. The median number of cycles was 4 (range: 2 - 8 cycles)., Results: The overall combination chemotherapy response rate was 54.9% with a median time to progression of 5 months. One-year survival rate was 66.7%. The main side effects were gastrointestinal and hematologic toxicities, including grade 3 to 4 nausea and vomiting in 3 patients (9.7%), leukopenia in 6 (19.3%), and neutropenia in 3 (9.7%)., Conclusion: Taxotere and displatin combination is active in the treatment for anthracycine-resistant advanced breast cancer patient with an acceptable toxicity, and may be a therapeutic alternative after anthracycline regimen has failed.