Objective To investigate the application effect of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)in treating bone marrow suppression induced by chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 53 pancreatic cancer patients who under-went chemotherapy induced bone marrow suppression at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center be-tween January and August 2024.All patients developed varying degrees of bone marrow suppression during the first to third cycles of conventional chemotherapy.In the fourth cycle of chemotherapy,TCM was added,and the improvement in bone marrow suppression after TCM treatment was ob-served.Results After thefirst cycle of chemotherapy,all patients exhibited different degrees of bone marrow suppression,including leukopenia,thrombocytopenia,neutropenia,and anemia.Compared with combined TCM treatment before,among patients with bone marrow suppression of grade Ⅱ and above,the proportion of those with leukopenia decreased significantly after one month of TCM treat-ment(P=0.019),and the proportion of those with thrombocytopenia also decreased,but the differ-ence was not statistically significant(P=0.066).There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of patients with neutropenia before and after TCM treatment(P=0.231).One month after TCM treatment,the white blood cell count,hemoglobin level,and platelet count of the patien-tsincreased comparedto before combined treatment(P=0.006,P=0.011,P＜0.001).One month after TCM treatment,the average number of use of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stim-ulating factor and recombinant human thrombopoietin were(2.8±1.9)times/cycle and(3.1±1.2)times/cycle,respectively,which were less than those before combined TCM treatment[(4.5±1.7)times/cycle and(4.5±1.3)times/cycle](P=0.002,0.038).Conclusion Combined TCM treatment can improve adverse reactions of bone marrow suppression after chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer and increase white blood cell count and hemoglobin level.

Objective To establish a novel clinical application process of the optical surface monitoring system(OSMS)guided volumetric modulated arc therapy(VMAT)for total body irradiation(TBI),and to assess the accuracy and effectiveness of OSMS in inter-fractional auxiliary positioning before radiotherapy and real-time monitoring of intra-fractional motion during radiotherapy.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 15 leukemia patients who underwent OSMS-guided VMAT-TBI before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.CT simulation positioning was performed,and the whole-body image data which were collected in head-first supine position(HFS)and feet-first supine position(FFS)were transmitted to the treatment planning system for image registration,multicenter VMAT planning and dose verification.The prescription dose was 800 cGy in 4 fractions twice daily.OSMS was used to assist positioning before delivery,and CBCT was used for position verification.During treatment,OSMS was used for monitoring.The intra-fractional error monitored by OSMS in real time was obtained by analyzing the offline log files.Results The mean dose and coverage of the target area in HFS plan were(905.4±19.0)cGy and 93.0%±2.8%.The mean doses to lung and kidney were(603.7±55.7)cGy and(600.4±49.6)cGy,respectively,and the maximum dose to the lens was(393.9±58.9)cGy.The mean dose and coverage of the target area in FFS plan were(888.5±58.9)cGy and 94.0%±3.2%;and the maximum dose at the junction was(1148.9±72.9)cGy.Fractional treatment delivery time was(75.1±15.1)min.OSMS-assisted positioning was carried out before delivery,and the total deviations of CBCT three-dimensional vector in translational and rotation directions were(2.71±1.96)mm and 0.91°±0.90°,respectively.The three-dimensional vector deviation of the intra-fractional motion amplitude in translational direction monitored by OSMS during the treatment was(1.95±1.88)mm,of which the deviation within 1 mm accounted for 57.5%,79.7%and 62.1%in longitudinal,lateral and vertical directions,respectively.The three-dimensional vector deviation in rotation direction was 0.76°±0.72°,of which the deviation within 1°accounted for 93.1%,85.7%and 94.3%in rotation,pitch and roll directions,respectively.Conclusion VMAT simplifies TBI process,while improving target coverage and organs-at-risk sparing.The use of OSMS can reduce positioning errors,especially rotation errors.In order to ensure the accurate implementation of TBI and the safety of patients,it is necessary to use OSMS for auxiliary positioning and intra-fractional position monitoring.

Objective:To establish a novel clinical application process of the optical surface monitoring system (OSMS) in the cranial frameless stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT), and to assess the accuracy and effectiveness of the OSMS in the intra-fraction motion monitoring of both cranial phantoms and cranial SRT patients fixed using the Q-Fix encompass immobilization system.Methods:The deviations of OSMS in the real-time motion monitoring were assessed by determining the deviations between the displacement of the cranial SRS phantoms detected by the OSMS and the predefined displacement of the Varian Edge six degrees of freedom (6DoF) couch. The ability of the OSMS to conduct real-time monitoring of the head movement was also analyzed when one camera was blocked by the rotary gantry of the accelerator and when the couch was at non-zero angles. Moreover, ten patients who received 50 fractions of cranial frameless SRT were enrolled in this study. All the patients were fixed using the Q-Fix Encompass system, and their intra-fraction motion was monitored using the OSMS. The intra-fraction errors of OSMS real-time monitoring throughout the treatment were obtained from the OSMS logs. The patients received cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) after the beam delivery, and the six-dimensional errors were obtained as intra-fraction motion errors of the CBCT.Results:For the cranial phantoms, there was a close correlation between the OSMS monitoring deviations and the predefined displacement in six dimensions. The OSMS-detected 3D vector deviations in the translational and rotational directions were (0.28±0.10) mm and (0.15±0.09)°, respectively when the angel both the gantry and couch was 0° and were (0.35±0.13) mm and(0.17±0.09)°, respectively, when one camera was blocked. The OSMS monitoring deviations with the couch at a non-zero degree were greater than those at zero degree. The maximum deviations occurred when the couch was at 270° and were (0.69±0.19) mm and (0.32±0.12)°, respectively, in the translational and rotational directions. For the cranial SRT patients fixed using the Q-Fix Encompass system, the OSMS and CBCT showed comparable intra-fractional motion deviations, which were (0.40±0.26) and (0.29±0.10) mm, respectively in the translational direction and were (0.33±0.20)°and (0.26±0.08)° in the rotational direction.Conclusions:The OSMS is an effective tool for optically guided radiotherapy, which allows for intra-fraction real-time motion monitoring with sub-millimeter accuracy. Therefore, to ensure the accurate preformation of cranial SRS/SRT, it is necessary to conduct the intra-fractional position monitoring using OSMS.

Objective:To compare the dosimetric differences between volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) on planning target volume (PTV) and organ-at-risk (OAR) for breast cancer after modified radical mastectomy, aiming to provide evidence-based reference for clinical practice.Methods:According to strict inclusion and exclusion criteria, literature search was performed in PubMed, Cochrane Library, FMRS, CNKI, Wanfang Data and VIP full text databases from the inception of databases up to March 2020. The controlled clinical trials of dosimetric comparison between VMAT and IMRT for breast cancer following modified radical mastectomy were selected. The meta-analysis was performed using Stata14 software.Results:The meta-analysis included 281 patients from 13 observational studies. Compared with IMRT, VMAT significantly increased the PTV dose coverage D 95%( P<0.001) and significantly improved the PTV homogeneity index (HI, P<0.001) and conformity index (CI, P=0.004). Compared with IMRT, VMAT more effectively decreased the ipsilateral lung V 20Gy (WMD=1.332, P=0.027) and contralateral lung V 10Gy ( P=0.003). There were no significant differences in theD mean, V 5Gy, V 10Gy and V 30Gy of the ipsilateral lung, D mean and V 5Gy of the contralateral lung, D mean, V 10Gy and V 30Gy of the heart between VMAT and IMRT (all P>0.05). Compared with VMAT, IMRT reduced the cardiac V 5Gy ( P=0.001). However, sensitivity analysis of included literature on cardiac V 5Gy showed that the P value was reversed, indicating that the stability of the results was poor. VMAT significantly shortened the delivery time ( P<0.001) and the number of monitor units ( P<0.001) compared to IMRT. Conclusion:Compared with IMRT, VMAT can achieves superior target dose coverage, HI and CI, better protection for the ipsilateral and contralateral lung, fewer monitor units and shorter delivery time.

Objective:To understand the causal relationship between sleep and coronary artery disease (CAD).Methods:This study included six genome-wide association parts; five for sleep related traits[sleep duration (continuous variable), long sleep duration (binary variable), short sleep duration (binary variable), early-to-bed/up habit (known as 'morningness’) and frequently insomnia] and one for CAD. Heterogeneity in dependent instrument approach was used to assess and to remove the pleiotropic instruments. Generalized summary data-based Mendelian randomization was performed to estimate the causal relationships between sleep related traits and CAD. And a conservative Bonferroni was used for statistical tests.Results:Sleep duration was putatively causal for CAD ( OR=0.755, 95 %CI: 0.658-0.867, P=6.68E-05). Our results also indicated significant causal effects between both short sleep duration and frequently insomnia on CAD, with ORs as 4.251 (95 %CI: 2.396-7.541, P=7.51E-07) and 1.814 (95 %CI: 1.346-2.446, P=9.25E-05), respectively. There was no convincing evidence of causality between long sleep duration or morningness with CAD. Conclusions:Our findings suggested that both sleep duration and frequently insomnia played causal roles on CAD, indicating that disease models should include sleep duration and insomnia as potential factors for CAD to develop effective interventions.

Objective To investigate the potential heart sparing effects of tangential volumetric modulated arc therapy (T-VMAT) by comparing its dosimetric properties with conventional wedged tangential fields (W-TF) technique and 6-field intensity-modulated radiotherapy (6F-IMRT) in the locoregional radiotherapy of left breast cancer after conserving surgery,including internal mammary nodal irradiation.Methods Fifteen patients with left breast cancer were enrolled in this study.Three plans were generated for each patient:W-TF,6F-IMRT and T-VMAT with two arc segments of 50°.The prescription dose to planning tumor volume (PTV) was 50 Gy in 25 fractions.Dose-volume parameters and indices of conformity were calculated and compared for the PTV and organs at risk (OAR).Results Compared with W-TF,T-VMAT not only significantly decreased D D and the high dose areas (above 10 Gy) of the heart and left anterior descending branch (LAD) (P ＜ 0.05),but also had the trend of sparing the V5Gy although there was statistically significant difference (P ＞ 0.05).T-VMAT also significantly decreased Dmean V5Gy,V10Gy and V20Gy of the heart,as well as the D V5Gy and V10 Gy of LAD (P ＜ 0.05),compared to 6F-IMRT.Furthermore,T-VMAT did not result in higher V20Gy of ipsilateral lung and higher V5Gy of contralateral breast compared with W-TF (P ＞ 0.05).T-VMAT achieved distinctly better target coverage and conformity,meanwhile obviously lowered hot volume of V110 compared to W-TF (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions T-VMAT not only significantly decreased the high dose areas,but also had the trend of sparing the low dose area for the heat and LAD.Moreover,there was no significant difference for V20Gy of ipsilateral lung and V5Gy of contralateral breast between T-VMAT and W-TF.

Neuroendocrine tumors(NET) is a rare tumor with high heterogeneity.Pancreatic NET is the most common type in China. European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society(ENETS) has launched the ENETS guidelines since 2006 and published the ENETS standard of care in 2009. With the newly targeted therapies and further research on NET, 2017 new edition of the ENETS standard of care has changed a lot in the diagnosis and treatment of NET. This article explains the update of pancreatic NET in the 2017 edition of the ENETS standard of care, and introduces pancreatic NET from pathology, imaging examination, surgery, systemic therapy, etc., and deepens the understanding of the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic NET.

Objective To examine the expressions of IKKε protein in the specimens and cells of epithelial ovarian cancer and investigate the effect of IKKε inhibitor on cell proliferation and apoptosis. Methods (1) A total of 118 cases of patients with the median age of 59 who have accepted surgical treatment due to ovarian cancer in the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University from January 2006 to April 2013 were selected. Twenty cases of patients with the median age of 55 who have accepted hysterectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy due to uterine leiomyoma during the same period were selected as the control. The expressions of IKKε protein were detected by immunohistochemistry in normal ovarian tissues and epithelial ovarian cancer specimens,and the relationship between the expressions of IKKε and the clinical features of patients was analyzed. IKKε protein was determined by western blot in various ovarian cancer cells, including SKOV3, OV2008, C13, A2780S, A2780CP, OV4, OV5, OV8, and CAOV3 treated with or without IKKε inhibitor. The cellular proliferation and apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells after 48 hours treatment of IKKε inhibitor were analyzed by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Results (1) The immunohistochemical results showed that IKKε was highly expressed in epithelial ovarian cancer specimens with the expression rate 66.1% (78/118), compared with normal ovarian tissue with the expression rate 35.0% (7/20), which exhibited statistically significant difference (χ2=6.993, P=0.008). The expression of IKKε protein was correlated with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, histological grade, the level of CA125 in preoperative serum and distribution of the tumor (P<0.05), but no correlation with age, histological type, the incidence pattern, and tumor size (all P>0.05). (2) IKKε was widely overexpressed in different levels in SKOV3, OV2008, C13, A2780S, A2780CP, OV4, OV5, OV8, and CAOV3 cells, and the expression of IKKε decreased as the increase of the concentration of IKKε inhibitor (0.1 and 0.5 μmol/L) in OV2008, C13, A2780S, and A2780CP cells after 48 hours treatment. Different concentrations of IKKε inhibitor (0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 5, 10, and 25 μmol/L) significantly inhibited the proliferation of OV2008, C13, A2780S, A2780CP, and SKOV3 cells in a concentration-dependent manner (P<0.05), and the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was 0.43, 0.86, 0.10, 0.19, and 0.24 μmol/L, respectively. The cell apoptotic rate of OV2008, C13, A2780S, A2780CP, and SKOV3 cells was significantly increased after 48 hours treatment of IKKεinhibitor with the concentration of 0.1 and 0.5 μmol/L (P<0.05). Conclusions The IKKε protein in epithelial ovarian cancer specimens and cells is overexpressed. IKKε inhibitor could inhibit cellular proliferation and induce apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner. Together, the result indicated that IKKε may be a candidate target for the treatment of ovarian cancer in future.

Objective To investigate the distribution of T follicular helper(Tfh)cell subsets in hepa-titis B patients at different immune stages and to clarify the relationships between the level of CXCL13 and the distribution of Tfh cell subsets. Methods Flow cytometry analysis was performed to detect the distribution of Tfh cells. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)was performed to measure the levels of CXCL13 in ser-um samples collected from hepatitis B patients. RT-PCR and Western blot assay were used to analyze the expres-sion of CXCL13 in HepG2 and HepG2. 2. 1. 5 cells. Results The percentages of Tfh1 cells were significantly up-regulated at the immune activation(IA)stage,while those of Tfh2 cells were significantly raised at the im-mune tolerance(IT)stage. The percentages of Tfh17 cells in patients at the stage of IT were similar to those in patients at the stage of IA,but were higher than those in responders with HBsAg seroconversion(RP)or healthy controls(HC). The expression of CXCL13 was positively correlated with the percentage of Tfh2 cells. More over,hepatitis B virus(HBV)enhanced the expression of CXCL13 at both transcriptional and translational lev-els. Conclusion HBV might up-regulate the percentage of Tfh2 cells through promoting the expression of CXCL13,which resulted in the induction of immune tolerance. Elucidating the functions of Tfh1,Tfh2 and Tfh17 cells and understanding the type conversion mechanism among the three subsets are important for further researches on HBV-induced immunosuppression.