Lidocaine Induces Apoptosis and Suppresses Tumor Growth in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells In Vitro and in a Xenograft Model In Vivo.

BACKGROUND: Recent epidemiologic studies have focused on the potential beneficial effects of regional anesthetics, and the differences in cancer prognosis may be the result of anesthetics on cancer biologic behavior. However, the function and underlying mechanisms of lidocaine in hepatocellular carcinoma both in vitro and in vivo have been poorly studied. METHODS: Human HepG2 cells were treated with lidocaine. Cell viability, colony formation, cell cycle, and apoptosis were assessed. The effects of lidocaine on apoptosis-related and mitogen-activated protein kinase protein expression were evaluated by Western blot analysis. The antitumor activity of lidocaine in hepatocellular carcinoma with or without cisplatin was investigated with in vitro experiments and also with animal experiments. RESULTS: Lidocaine inhibited the growth of HepG2 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The authors also found that lidocaine arrested cells in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle (63.7 ± 1.7% vs. 72.4 ± 3.2%; P = 0.0143) and induced apoptosis (1.7 ± 0.3% vs. 5.0 ± 0.7%; P = 0.0009). Lidocaine may exert these functions by causing an increase in Bax protein and activated caspase-3 and a corresponding decrease in Bcl-2 protein through the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 and p38 pathways. More importantly, for the first time, xenograft experiments (n = 8 per group) indicated that lidocaine suppressed tumor development (P < 0.0001; lidocaine vs. control) and enhanced the sensitivity of cisplatin (P = 0.0008; lidocaine plus cisplatin vs. cisplatin). CONCLUSIONS: The authors' findings suggest that lidocaine may exert potent antitumor activity in hepatocellular carcinoma. Furthermore, combining lidocaine with cisplatin may be a novel treatment option for hepatocellular carcinoma.

An Integrated Wireless Power Management and Data Telemetry IC for High-Compliance-Voltage Electrical Stimulation Applications.

This paper describes a 13.56-MHz wireless power recovery system with bidirectional data link for high-compliance-voltage neural/muscle stimulator. The power recovery circuit includes a 2-stage rectifier, 2 LDOs and a high voltage charge pump to provide 3 DC outputs: 1.8 V, 3.3 V and 20 V for the stimulator. A 2-stage time division based rectifier is proposed to provide 3 DC outputs simultaneously. It improves the power efficiency without introducing any impact on the forward data recovery. The 20 V output is generated by a modified low ripple charge pump that reduces the ripple voltage by 40%. The power management system shows 49% peak power efficiency. The data link includes a clock and data recovery (CDR) circuit and a load shift keying (LSK) modulator for bidirectional data telemetry. The forward and backward data rates of the data telemetry are 61.5 kbps and 33.3 kbps, respectively. In addition, a power monitor circuit for closed-loop power control is implemented. The whole system has been fabricated in a 24 V HV LDMOS option 1.8 µ m CMOS process, occupying a core area of around 3.5 mm (2).

An inductively powered implantable blood flow sensor microsystem for vascular grafts.

Monitoring blood flow rate inside prosthetic vascular grafts enables an early detection of the graft degradation, followed by the timely intervention and prevention of the graft failure. This paper presents an inductively powered implantable blood flow sensor microsystem with bidirectional telemetry. The microsystem integrates silicon nanowire (SiNW) sensors with tunable piezoresistivity, an ultralow-power application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and two miniature coils that are coupled with a larger coil in an external monitoring unit to form a passive wireless link. Operating at 13.56-MHz carrier frequency, the implantable microsystem receives power and command from the external unit and backscatters digitized sensor readout through the coupling coils. The ASIC fabricated in 0.18-µm CMOS process occupies an active area of 1.5 × 1.78 mm (2) and consumes 21.6 µW only. The sensors based on the SiNW and diaphragm structure provide a gauge factor higher than 300 when a small negative tuning voltage (-0.5-0 V) is applied. The measured performance of the pressure sensor and ASIC has demonstrated 0.176 mmHg/√Hz sensing resolution.

Implantable polyimide cable for multichannel high-data-rate neural recording microsystems.

To avoid or minimize postimplantation injury as a result of brain micromotion relative to the skull, a flexible multichannel polyimide (PI) cable was designed and microfabricated for data and power transmission between an intracranial IC recording from a neural probe array and an extracranial IC exchanging power and data wirelessly with an external unit. Surface characteristics, electrical properties, and cytocompatibility of the PI ribbon cable were investigated in this study. Scanning electron microscopic examination and atomic force microscopy analyses showed that the surface of the PI ribbon cable became significantly rougher due to the reactive oxygen ion etching process to open bonding pads. The enhanced surface roughness was also responsible for the increase in wettability and water absorption rate. However, water permeability measurement revealed that the micromachining fabrication process did not meaningfully affect the acceptable water vapor transmission rate of PI. Moreover, electrical properties, such as insertion loss, isolation between channels and data transmission capacity, were assessed for each channel of the PI ribbon cable on the basis of scattering parameter (S-parameter) measurement. Finally, 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and live/dead intracellular staining tests were carried out to evaluate cell behaviors on the PI ribbon cable, indicating that the PI ribbon cable did not have acute cytotoxicity and appeared to be as cytocompatible as blank PI foils.

Analysis of soft tissue sarcomas in 1118 cases.

BACKGROUND: It is important to analyze and compare soft tissue sarcomas periodically so as to update the incidence, the clinical diagnosis, the treatment, and the ongoing research. The present study was conducted to determine the relative frequency of each type of soft tissue sarcoma. METHODS: A total of 1118 cases of primary soft tissue sarcomas treated between January 1993 and December 2006 were evaluated in a retrospective analysis. RESULTS: According to the pathologic grouping, the diseases with the highest proportion were malignant fibrous histiocytomas (35.24%), synovial sarcomas (17.08%), liposarcomas (16.28%), and rhabdomyosarcomas (12.61%). Soft tissue sarcomas were detected in every age group and occurred in all parts of the body. The number of cases increased gradually over the years. CONCLUSIONS: Malignant fibrous histiocytomas had the highest frequency among the soft tissue sarcomas. The number of cases increased gradually over the years.