Intranasal administration has the advantages of quick onset, high bioavailability, potential delivery into brain, and non-invasive. However, the limitations of the complex nasal microenvironment, such as the mucosal barrier, ciliary movement, low pH mucous layer, and enzyme degradation, appear to be key challenges in nasal drug development. Although a large number of animal trials provide reference data for the development of nasal drugs, the species differences, high cost and long cycle make this approach more difficult to develop, especially in the high-throughput preclinical screening stage of new drugs. Therefore, it is critical to select a nasal model with good in vitro and in vivo correlation for preclinical drug research. Whether the targeting through the nasal into the brain or blood, the epithelial cell barrier directly determines the bioavailability and efficacy during the intranasal administration. Moreover, mucosal irritation is also one of the critical evaluations of the safety aspects during nasal drugs development, where cell model can be quite useful. Therefore, this review summarized the application of the in vitro nasal model based on nasal epithelial cells in the nasal drug development.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the characteristics of exposure to iron oxide nanoparticles in workplace.

METHODSThe real-time particle number (NC), surface area (SAC), and mass (MC) concentrations of nanoparticles were measured in various locations of a selected workplace manufacturing iron oxide nanoparticles. The collected particles were analyzed for morphology and elemental composition.

RESULTSThe average NCs and SACs in milling site (16,566 pt/cm3, 106.082 µm2/cm3), packaging site (12,386 pt/cm3, 89.861 µm2/cm3), shipping site (13,808 pt/cm3, 102.071 µm2/cm3), and product storage room (17,192 pt/cm, 115.044 µm2/cm3) of the yellow powder (α-Fe2O3 . nH2O) were all significantly higher than the workplace background concentrations (11,420 pt/cm3, 85.026 µm2/cm3) (all P<0.05). The NC was highly correlated with the SAC (r= 0.784), while both NC and SAC were loosely correlated with the MC (r1=0.323, r2=0.331). Scanning electron microscopy revealed a spindle-like shape of the iron oxide nanoparticle; the chemical composition of the collected particles contained 19.33 weight percent iron (Fe).

CONCLUSIONThe milling site and product storage room of the yellow powder are exposed to a higher concentration of nanoparticles, which are mainly composed of iron oxide nanoparticles. The NC is highly correlated with the SAC.

Embryonic stem cells are derived from inner cell mass of the preimplanted blastocyst or from primordial germ cells of the early embryos, with the capacity of unlimited growth and differentiation potential. Embryonic stem cells(ES cells) can differentiate into all kinds of cells and organs under proper condition. Due to this characteristics ES cells have the attractive prospect in basic research, transplantation and gene therapy.
Blastocyst ; cytology ; Cell Differentiation ; Embryonic Stem Cells ; cytology ; Germ Cells ; cytology ; Humans ; Research ; trends

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common head and neck malignant tumor with high incidence in southern China. Local recurrence is one of the main failure modes of locally advanced NPC. The dose-escalation after radical radiotherapy for locally advanced NPC remains controversial. In the era of modern radiotherapy, the mainstream treatment mode of locally advanced NPC is neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus concurrent chemoradiotherapy. There is no consensus on whether to prescribe dose-escalation, how and when to conduct dose-escalation, how much dose to prescribe for patients with residual lesion proved by MRI or pathology. How to accurately determine the target volume and dose / fraction to maximize the local control of the tumor are the directions of clinical practice for locally advanced NPC, which remain to be further studied.

Objective To explore the expression of zinc finger protein 217 (ZNF217) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its correlation with prognosis of patients. Methods A total of 120 NSCLC patients in Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital from January 2012 to October 2013 were selected. Immunohistochemical method was used to test the expression of ZNF217 in NSCLC tissues and paracancerous tissues. The correlation of ZNF217 expression with patient's clinicopathological features was analyzed. At the same time, the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression model multiple factor analysis method were used to explore the factors affecting the prognosis of patients after NSCLC radical operations. Results ZNF217 mainly existed in cell nucleus of NSCLC. The positive expression rate of ZNF217 in the cancer tissues was higher than that in the paracancerous tissues [52.5％ (63/120) vs. 20.1％ (25/120), χ 2 = 25.909, P < 0.05]. The positive expression rate of ZNF217 increased with the increase of tumor T stage (χ 2 = 7.333, P = 0.026), N stage (χ 2 = 7.782, P = 0.020) and TNM stage (χ 2 = 11.557, P = 0.003). The overall survival (P = 0.007) and progression-free survival (P = 0.004) of patients with positive ZNF217 were poorer than those of patients with negative ZNF217. Cox multiple factor analysis showed that ZNF217 was an independent risk factor affecting the prognosis of NSCLC. Conclusion ZNF217 is an independent risk factor affecting the prognosis of NSCLC, and it may be a potential target for accurate treatment of NSCLC.

Radiotherapy is an essential part of comprehensive treatment, as well as a radical treatment for head and neck cancer (HNC). The COVID-19 has continued so far, imposing a great impact on cancer care. Since conventional fractionated radiotherapy (CFRT, 2 Gy/F) requires as long as more than six weeks of treatment time, a huge challenge for epidemic control is created for both hospitals and patients. Hypofractionated radiotherapy (Hypo-RT) may be more suitable than CFRT for patients during pandemic by increasing the fraction size, thus reducing fraction number and treatment duration. Early studies have explored the application of Hypo-RT in HNC in palliative setting, which partially proved its safety and effectiveness. Recently, the efforts have been made in definitive treatment using hypofractionated regimen, as well as its combination with systemic treatment and immunotherapy. Indeed, regarding the pandemic of COVID-19, Hypo-RT has been recommended by several expert consensus in the HNC. In this review, relevant research progress was summarized and clinical implication of Hypo-RT in COVID-19 pandemic era was discussed.

With the aging of population, the elderly (≥65 years old) cancer patients have become one of the main populations for cancer care. For inoperable locally advanced head and neck squamous carcinomas, cisplatin-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy is the first-line choice. Several large clinical studies have shown that patients under 70 years of age can still benefit from concurrent chemoradiotherapy, while it should be cautious to apply chemotherapy to patients aged 70-80 years. For elderly patients who are intolerant to cisplatin, carboplatin or other regimens with less gastrointestinal and renal toxicity should be considered. Although anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibodies combined with radiotherapy has been proved to be more effective than radiotherapy alone in total patient population, age-subgroup analysis showed limited benefit in elderly patients. The safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors in elderly patients has been validated and those with high programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression may benefit from concurrent or neoadjuvant immunotherapy, however, high-level evidence is still lacking. For patients older than 80 years, radiotherapy alone may be superior to concurrent chemoradiotherapy, and hypofractionated radiotherapy for palliative purposes can be safely used in this population.

Objective To explore and validate suitable risk assessment methods for titanium dioxide though applying three risk assessment tools for nanomaterials based on the control banding (CB) approach.Methods A factory manufacturing titanium dioxide in Jinan city,Shandong province,was assessed using a quantitative exposure method and qualitative risk assessment methods in September,2014.A condensation particle counter equipment was used to monitor the number concentration of particles at packaging workshop and jet milling workshop.We employed three control banding tools,including CB nanotool,Stoffenmanager nano and the Guidance on working safely with nanomaterials and nanoproducts (GWSNN) to evaluate the two workshops,then compared the evaluation results.Results The increases of particle concentrations were generated directly by packaging and jet milling processes,the number concentration from (3.52± 1.46)× 104/cm3 to (14.70±8.86) ×104/cm3 at packaging workshop and from (0.97±0.25) ×104/cm3 to (1.26±0.35) ×104/cm3 at milling workshop (both P＜0.05).The number concentrations at packaging workshop were higher than those at jet milling workshop during both manufacturing and break times (both P＜0.05).The results of CB nanotool showed that the risk level of the packaging workshop was classified as high and the risk level of the jet milling workshop was classified asmedium.The results of Stoffenmanager nano showed that the risk level of the packaging workshop was classified as medium and the risk level of the jet milling workshop was classified as low.The results of GWSNN showed that the risk level of packaging workshop was classified as high and the risk level of jet milling workshop was classified as low.Conclusion The results of evaluation based on the three control banding tools are related and aligned with the results of quantitative monitoring,so they are all suitable to perform occupational health risk assessment on industrial scale production of titanium dioxideto some extent.

Objective To explore and validate suitable risk assessment methods for titanium dioxide though applying three risk assessment tools for nanomaterials based on the control banding (CB) approach.Methods A factory manufacturing titanium dioxide in Jinan city,Shandong province,was assessed using a quantitative exposure method and qualitative risk assessment methods in September,2014.A condensation particle counter equipment was used to monitor the number concentration of particles at packaging workshop and jet milling workshop.We employed three control banding tools,including CB nanotool,Stoffenmanager nano and the Guidance on working safely with nanomaterials and nanoproducts (GWSNN) to evaluate the two workshops,then compared the evaluation results.Results The increases of particle concentrations were generated directly by packaging and jet milling processes,the number concentration from (3.52± 1.46)× 104/cm3 to (14.70±8.86) ×104/cm3 at packaging workshop and from (0.97±0.25) ×104/cm3 to (1.26±0.35) ×104/cm3 at milling workshop (both P＜0.05).The number concentrations at packaging workshop were higher than those at jet milling workshop during both manufacturing and break times (both P＜0.05).The results of CB nanotool showed that the risk level of the packaging workshop was classified as high and the risk level of the jet milling workshop was classified asmedium.The results of Stoffenmanager nano showed that the risk level of the packaging workshop was classified as medium and the risk level of the jet milling workshop was classified as low.The results of GWSNN showed that the risk level of packaging workshop was classified as high and the risk level of jet milling workshop was classified as low.Conclusion The results of evaluation based on the three control banding tools are related and aligned with the results of quantitative monitoring,so they are all suitable to perform occupational health risk assessment on industrial scale production of titanium dioxideto some extent.