Purpose: This systematic review aims to assess and summarize the clinical values of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) parameter changes as early biomarkers of tumor responses following radiation therapy (RT) in patients with spinal metastases. Materials and Methods: A systematic search was conducted on five electronic databases: PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Cochrane, and Embase. Studies were included if they mentioned DCE-MRI parameter changes before and after RT in patients with spinal metastases with a correlation to tumor responses based on clinical and imaging criteria. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 was used to assess study quality. Results: This systematic review included seven studies involving 107 patients. All seven studies evaluated the transfer constant (Ktrans), six studies evaluated the plasma volume fraction (Vp), three studies evaluated the extravascular extracellular space volume fraction, and two studies evaluated the rate constant. There were variations in the type of primary cancer, RT techniques used, post-treatment scan time, and median follow-up time. Despite the variations, however, the collected evidence generally suggested that significant differences could be detected in DCE-MRI parameters between before and after RT, which might reflect treatment success or failures in long-term follow-up. Responders showed higher reduction and lower values of Ktrans and Vp after RT. DCE-MRI parameters showed changes and detectable recurrences significantly earlier (up to 6 months) than conventional MRI with favorable diagnostic values. Conclusion The results of this systematic review suggested that DCE-MRI parameter changes in patients with spinal metastases could be a promising tool for treatment-response assessment following RT. Lower values and higher reduction of Ktrans and Vp after treatment demonstrated good prediction of local control. Compared to conventional MRI, DCE-MRI showed more rapid changes and earlier prediction of treatment failure.

Objective: Stress triggers and causes psychiatric disorders. This study compared stress generated by different stressors: a cat as the predator of rats and a Psychological Stress Device (PSD) which was developed and modified by the researchers based on the model by Xu and Rocher. Methods: Twenty-eight Wistar rats were simple randomly divided into one control group and six treatment groups, each consisting of 4 rats. Each treatment group was individually exposed to stressor for 30, 60, and 90 minutes. The first three treatment groups were treated using the PSD while the other three treatment groups were treated exposed to the cat. Plasma CRH level was measured using the ELISA (Cusabio) method. Result: Plasma CRH levels in the rat exposed to stressor using the PSD ranged from 9.89 to 50.22 ng/mL, higher than plasma CRH level in the groups exposed to cat ranged from 0.22 to 23.44 ng/mL with significance level (p<0,05). The average of plasma CRH level in the rats exposed to the PSD for 30, 60, and 90 minutes were 14.83, 28.19, and 36 respectively. 14 ng/mL while in the groups exposed to cats were 11.53, 7.81, and 4.97 ng/mL respectively. The increase of plasma CRH level had positive correlation with the length of exposure to stressor in the group treated with the PSD (r=0.895, p of <0.05) while plasma CRH level in the group exposed to cat did not correlate with the length of exposure (r=-0.043, p>0.05). Conclusion: Plasma CRH level of the rats exposed to stressor using the PSD was higher and positively correlate with the length of exposure compared to those exposed to cat.

Introduction: Porphyromonas gingivalis adhesion to neutrophils is an important initial process in periodontal disease. The process of bacterial adhesion must be inhibited so that periodontal disease does not develop into severe. Graptophyllum pictum contains several active substances that can affect the function of neutrophils. Aim of the research to find out the inhibition of Graptophyllum pictum leaf extracts (GLE) in various concentrations against the adhesion of Porphyromonas gingivalis to neutrophils. Methods: The method used is experimental laboratory using the post test only control group design. This research used a sample of isolate neutrophils taken from the blood of subjects with inclusion criteria. The sample was divided into 5 groups: the control group (without GLE), GLE 3.125%, GLE 6.25%, GLE 12.5%, and GLE 25%.The neutrophils isolate was incubated with GLE for 3 hours, then exposed to Porphyromonas gingivalis for 8 hours. The adhesion index is calculated by the average number of Porphyromonas gingivalis attached to 100 neutrophils. Results: Based on these results can be interpreted that GLE 3.125%, GLE 6.25% and GLE 12.5% showed no significant difference, in the mean those concentrations doesn’t have ability to inhibit the adhesion of Porphyromonas gingivalis in neutrophils. So GLE 25% only which is able to inhibit the adhesion of Porphyromonas gingivalis in neutrophils. Conclusion: GLE can inhibit the adhesion of Porphyromonas gingivalis to neutrophils by GLE 25% effectively only.

Prostate adenocarcinoma accounts for majority of prostate cancer cases, and it was found to be highly radioresistant. Gallic acid is a phenolic acid naturally occurring in many plants, reported to exhibit biological activities in eliminating cancer cell lines and xenografts. The purpose of this study is to review gallic acid as a potential radiosensitizer agent in prostate cancer treatment. Article search was conducted in PubMed, EBSCO, and Scopus. 11 studies using different cell lines including DU145, PC-3, LNCaP, and 22Rv1 xenograft of human prostate cancer were reviewed in this paper. Gallic acid acts as a radiosensitizer mainly by increasing caspase-3 and caspase-9 activation resulting in apoptosis, while also reducing intracellular CDKs, cyclins, and cdc25 phosphatases ultimately causing G2-M cell cycle arrest. Gallic acid has a potential to be a new radiosensitizer compound in prostate cancer treatment. Additional clinical studies using gallic acid derivatives with lower hydrophilicity are needed.