Jonathan Bloom, Cristina Fox, Sean Fullerton, Gerald Matthews, John Phillips

Canadian Journal of Urology, Vol.24, No.5, pp. 9017-9023, 2017

Abstract Introduction: We sought to determine our rate of postoperative sepsis after ureteroscopy as well as identifying associative factors, common antibiotic practices along with culture data.
Materials and methods: Records of all patients who underwent elective ureteroscopy from 2010 to 2015 at an urban tertiary care facility were retrospectively reviewed. Factors thought to be associated with infection were collected, along with comorbidities depicted as Charlson Age-Adjusted Comorbidity Index (CAACI) and American Society of Anesthesia (ASA) score. Each patient’s course was reviewed to determine if they were treated for postoperative sepsis as defined by standardized criteria.
Results: A total of… More >

Maitham A. Khajah, Princy M. Mathew, Yunus A. Luqmani

Oncology Research, Vol.25, No.8, pp. 1283-1295, 2017, DOI:10.3727/096504017X14883245308282

Abstract Current mainstream pharmacological options for the treatment of endocrine-resistant breast cancer have limitations in terms of their side effect profile and lack of discrimination between normal and cancer cells. In the current study, we assessed the responses of normal breast epithelial cells MCF10A, estrogen receptorpositive (ER+ ) MCF-7, and ER-silenced pII breast cancer cells to inhibitors (either individually or in combination) of downstream signaling molecules. The expression/activity of ERK1/2, p38 MAPK, and Akt was determined by Western blotting. Cell proliferation, motility, and invasion were determined using MTT, wound healing, and Matrigel assays, respectively. Morphological changes… More >

Xin Jin^*, Shenghua Tian^†, Pingping Li^‡

Oncology Research, Vol.25, No.6, pp. 939-946, 2017, DOI:10.3727/096504016X14809827856524

Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant diseases in the world. Mutations, overexpression, and improper recruitment of HATs can lead to tumorigenesis. HAT1 is the first histone acetyltransferase identified and is related with developing HCC, but the mechanism is still unclear. Interestingly, we found that HAT1 was upregulated in HCC patient specimens and showed that its upregulation facilitates HCC cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, we demonstrated that HAT1 promoted glycolysis in HCC cells and knockdown of HAT1 sensitized HCC cells to apoptotic death induced by cisplatin. Our results suggest More >

Jinhui Wu, Dongshuang Wang

Oncology Research, Vol.25, No.6, pp. 863-871, 2017, DOI:10.3727/096504016X14772315906527

Abstract Chemotherapy is typically used to treat choriocarcinoma. However, a small proportion of this malignancy develops resistance to common chemotherapeutic drugs such as methotrexate (MTX) and floxuridine (FUDR). This study aimed to investigate the role and potential mechanisms of chloride intracellular channel protein 1 (CLIC1) in the development of chemoresistance in choriocarcinoma JeG3 cells. Two chemoresistant sublines were induced from their parental cell line JeG3 through intermittent exposure to MTX (named JeG3/MTX) or FUDR (named JeG3/FUDR). It was found that expression of CLIC1 was significantly higher in the chemoresistant sublines JeG3/MTX and JeG3/FUDR than in their… More >

Li-Zhou Fang^*, Jian-Qing Zhang^*, Ling Liu^*, Wei-Ping Fu^*, Jing-Kui Shu^*, Jia-Gang Feng^*, Xiao Liang^†

Oncology Research, Vol.25, No.5, pp. 819-829, 2017, DOI:10.3727/096504016X14772349843854

Abstract Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for tumorigenesis and recurrence, so targeting CSCs is an effective method to potentially cure cancer. BTB/POZ domain-containing protein 7 (Btbd7) has been found in various cancers, including lung cancer and liver cancer, but the role of Btbd7 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), CSC self-renewal, and chemoresistance is still unknown. Therefore, in this study we found that the ratio of tumor sphere formation and stem cell transcription factors in CD133⁺ cells was dramatically enhanced compared to parental cells, which indicated successful sorting of CD133⁺ cells from A549. Meanwhile, Btbd7 and More >

Feng Zhang^*, Hong Sun^†, Sai Zhang^†, Xin Yang^‡, Guogang Zhang^*, Tao Su^†

Oncology Research, Vol.25, No.5, pp. 709-719, 2017, DOI:10.3727/096504016X14772331883976

Abstract PER3, a circadian clock gene, plays an important role in colorectal cancer, but its action and underlying mechanism in colorectal cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) remain unclear. In this study, the colorectal CSCs were enriched in colorectal HCT-116 sphere-forming cells, expressing lower levels of stem cell markers CD133, CD44, LGR5, and SOX2 compared with HCT-116 cells. A drug-resistant strain from HCT-116 was established. Western blot and qRT-PCR analysis showed that PER3 was downregulated in colorectal CSCs and drug-resistant HCT-116. Overexpression of PER3 could strengthen 5-FU-induced inhibitory effects on colorectal CSCs, but knockdown of PER3 decreased its… More >

Xuyang Wen^*, Xiaoping He^†, Feng Jiao^‡, Chunhui Wang^§, Yang Sun^‡, Xuequn Ren^¶, Qianwen Li^*

Oncology Research, Vol.25, No.4, pp. 629-640, 2017, DOI:10.3727/096504016X14768383625385

Abstract Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the main causes of cancer death. The tumor microenvironment has a profound effect on inducing tumor growth, metastasis, and immunosuppression. Fibroblast activation protein-a (FAP) is a protein that is usually expressed in fibroblasts, such as cancer-associated fibroblasts, which are major components of the tumor microenvironment. However, the role of FAP in GC progression and treatment is still unknown. In this study, we explored these problems based on GC patient samples and experimental models. We found that high FAP expression was an independent prognosticator of poor survival in GC patients. More >

Rachid Chadouli^a,b,*, Frédéric Lebon^a, Iulian Rosu^a , Mohammed Makhlouf^b

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol.8, pp. 1-6, 2017, DOI:10.5098/hmt.8.30

Abstract In this paper, a numerical model investigating the impact of gasket thermal quality on the reduction in the thermal contact resistance (TCR) between two solids is presented and validated analytically. The model proposed is a 2D steady state model. The thermal conductivity of the solid materials ranges from 20 to 390 W/m·K, and the gasket thermal conductivity ranges from 0.16W/m·K (TC of rubber) to and 5W/m·K (TC of thermal paste). As expected, the results obtained clearly confirm that the gasket significantly improves the heat transfer between two solids in contact, and in particular that the More >

Harpreet Kaur Aasi, Vivek Kumar Gaba, Anil Kumar Tiwari, Shubhankar Bhowmick^*

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol.8, pp. 1-6, 2017, DOI:10.5098/hmt.8.15

Abstract Due to low density and low coefficient of thermal expansion, orthotropic materials, namely, the polymer matrix composites are finding their way in many of the engineering application. The present study investigates the performance of the orthotropic annular fin. The thermal conductivity along radial and axial direction is governed by the thermal conductivity ratio (K), which is an important parameter for orthotropic annular fin. The work then numerically examines in two dimensions, the thermal performance of the annular fin at different thermal conductivity ratio (K) for the rectangular profile using the finite difference method. Different convective heat More >

Kevin W. Irick^*

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol.8, pp. 1-7, 2017, DOI:10.5098/hmt.8.2

Abstract The Single-sided Guarded Hot Plate Method for Comparative Testing of Thermal Radiation Barriers in Vacuum was used to evaluate the performance of a variety of aerogel insulation specimens manufactured by Aspen Aerogels® against one another and against multi-layer insulation (MLI). Testing at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) shows that the effective thermal resistance, R_e, of all tested aerogel specimens are virtually bounded by the performance of 5-layer and 10-layer MLI specimens over a mean specimen temperature, T_m, range of about 270K to 315K. More >