Heparin-free veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in lung transplantation: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: In lung transplantation (LTx) surgery, veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) can provide mechanical circulatory support to patients with cardiopulmonary failure. However, the use of heparin in the administration of ECMO can increase blood loss during LTx. This study aimed to evaluate the safety of heparin-free V-A ECMO strategies. METHODS: From September 2019 to April 2022, patients who underwent lung transplantation at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 229 patients were included, including 117 patients in the ECMO group and 112 in the non-ECMO group. RESULT: There was no significant difference in the incidence of thrombus events and bleeding requiring reoperation between the two groups. The in-hospital survival rate after single lung transplantation (SLTx) was 81.08%in the ECMO group and 85.14% in the Non-ECMO group, (P = 0.585). The in-hospital survival rate after double lung transplantation (DLTx) was 80.00% in the ECMO group and 92.11% in the Non-ECMO groups (P = 0.095). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the findings of this study suggest that the heparin-free V-A ECMO strategy in lung transplantation is a safe approach that does not increase the incidence of perioperative thrombotic events or bleeding requiring reoperation.

Innovative strategies for photodynamic therapy against hypoxic tumor.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is applied as a robust therapeutic option for tumor, which exhibits some advantages of unique selectivity and irreversible damage to tumor cells. Among which, photosensitizer (PS), appropriate laser irradiation and oxygen (O2) are three essential components for PDT, but the hypoxic tumor microenvironment (TME) restricts the O2 supply in tumor tissues. Even worse, tumor metastasis and drug resistance frequently happen under hypoxic condition, which further deteriorate the antitumor effect of PDT. To enhance the PDT efficiency, critical attention has been received by relieving tumor hypoxia, and innovative strategies on this topic continue to emerge. Traditionally, the O2 supplement strategy is considered as a direct and effective strategy to relieve TME, whereas it is confronted with great challenges for continuous O2 supply. Recently, O2-independent PDT provides a brand new strategy to enhance the antitumor efficiency, which can avoid the influence of TME. In addition, PDT can synergize with other antitumor strategies, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, photothermal therapy (PTT) and starvation therapy, to remedy the inadequate PDT effect under hypoxia conditions. In this paper, we summarized the latest progresses in the development of innovative strategies to improve PDT efficacy against hypoxic tumor, which were classified into O2-dependent PDT, O2-independent PDT and synergistic therapy. Furthermore, the advantages and deficiencies of various strategies were also discussed to envisage the prospects and challenges in future study.

What Do Local People Really Need from a Place? Defining Local Place Qualities with Assessment of Users' Perceptions.

China is facing a serious urban regeneration issue in which replicable international-style locations are losing their socio-cultural adaptability, especially in anonymous residential neighbourhoods. This study defines the key location qualities from local literature and then refines these qualities through observation investigations and statistical analysis (n = 180) to establish links between theories and contemporary uses. Based on the results, a correlation analysis of local place qualities was assessed from users' perceptions (n = 180) to identify the interactional influences between each indicator of local place qualities. Finally, local place qualities were scored to address their level of impact on users' perceptions. The results highlighted health, enjoyment, and social dependence as the most concerning factors in site investigations based on local cognitions. They are strongly associated with key local place qualities (naturality, functionality, cosmological cognitions, and interdependent sociability), directly and indirectly resulting in different levels of impact on users' perceptions at different scales.

Progress of Nanomaterials in Photodynamic Therapy Against Tumor.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an advanced therapeutic strategy with light-triggered, minimally invasive, high spatiotemporal selective and low systemic toxicity properties, which has been widely used in the clinical treatment of many solid tumors in recent years. Any strategies that improve the three elements of PDT (light, oxygen, and photosensitizers) can improve the efficacy of PDT. However, traditional PDT is confronted some challenges of poor solubility of photosensitizers and tumor suppressive microenvironment. To overcome the related obstacles of PDT, various strategies have been investigated in terms of improving photosensitizers (PSs) delivery, penetration of excitation light sources, and hypoxic tumor microenvironment. In addition, compared with a single treatment mode, the synergistic treatment of multiple treatment modalities such as photothermal therapy, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy can improve the efficacy of PDT. This review summarizes recent advances in nanomaterials, including metal nanoparticles, liposomes, hydrogels and polymers, to enhance the efficiency of PDT against malignant tumor.

LncRNA NFYC-AS1 promotes the development of lung adenocarcinomas through autophagy, apoptosis, and MET/c-Myc oncogenic proteins.

BACKGROUND: Nuclear transcription factor Y subunit C antisense RNA 1 (NFYC-AS1) was revealed to be a potential prognostic biomarker in lung adenocarcinoma (LAUD) by analyzing The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. However, the function of NFYC-AS1 has not been verified in cancers, including LAUD. We plan to verify the function of NFYC-AS1 in LAUD through this study. METHODS: We determined NFYC-AS1 expression in 4 LAUD cell lines, and 1 normal lung cell line (HBE) by quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). small interfering RNA (siRNA) was employed to specifically knockdown NFYC-AS1 in H1299 and PC9 cell lines. Cell growth and invasion activity of LAUD cells was assessed by WST-1, colony formation and transwell assay, respectively. The effect of NFYC-AS1 expression on cell apoptosis was then assessed by flow cytometry assay. Furthermore, the expression of downstream proteins of NFYC-AS1 was investigated by Western blot. RESULTS: The proliferation, migration, and invasion of cells were inhibited and apoptosis was increased after NFYC-AS1 knockdown in LAUD cells. The cells transfected with NFYC-AS1 siRNA had a higher rate of apoptosis compared with that in control cells. The apoptosis-related proteins p53 and PARP were upregulated. These suggested NFYC-AS1 could inhibit the apoptosis of LAUD cells. In terms of the expression of major autophagy proteins, p62 was downregulated while Beclin 1 was upregulated after NFYC-AS1 knockdown, which suggested that autophagy was activated. The expression of oncogenic proteins MET and c-Myc was downregulated. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, the above results suggest that NFYC-AS1 may promote the proliferation of LAUD through autophagy and apoptosis.

LINC00857 promotes the proliferation of pancreatic cancer via MET, STAT3, and CREB.

BACKGROUND: Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) LINC00857 promotes cell proliferation in various cancers and is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer (PC). However, the role of LINC00857 in PC is yet to be clarified. METHODS: In this study, we used Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) to investigate transcriptional data of LINC00857 in different cancers. We determined LINC00857 expression in 4 PC cell lines, and one normal pancreatic cell line by quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). small interfering RNA (siRNA) was employed to specifically knockdown LINC00857 in BxPc3 and PANC1 cells. Cell proliferation was evaluated using WST-1. Western blotting analysis was used to detect the expression levels of downstream proteins of LINC00857. RESULTS: We revealed that the knockdown of LINC00857 in PC cell lines inhibited the proliferation of the PC cells. We found that LINC00857 downregulation was followed by the downregulation of oncogenic proteins mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB). CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicated that LINC00857 regulated the expression of STAT3 and CREB via regulating the expression of MET, and consequently promoted the growth of PC cells. The results allowed us to deepen our understanding of the pathogenesis of PC and provided a potential target for the clinical treatment of PC.