Background: Soluble PD-L1 (sPD-L1) in the circulation has been documented to activate global immunosuppression and is considered a predictor of negative clinical outcomes in several malignances. However, the clinical significance of sPD-L1 in the peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with glioma remains unclear. Objective: The aim of this study was to detect the correlations of sPD-L1 with clinical features in brain tumors and assess the diagnostic value of this protein in gliomas. Methods: Serum samples were obtained from 73 patients with glioma, 20 patients with meningioma, and 49 healthy controls (HCs) in this study. In total, 31 CSF samples were collected from the matched glioma patients, and seven samples were collected from the matched meningioma patients. The expression of serum sPD-L1 in the glioma cohort was followed for 20 days after surgery to examine the kinetics in the circulation. Inflammatory markers were evaluated based on preoperative blood parameters. The sPD-L1 levels in the serum and CSF were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The logistic regression model was used to assess the independent associations of sPD-L1 with gliomas, including high-grade gliomas. Results: Serum and CSF levels of sPD-L1 were significantly elevated in patients with gliomas compared to those with meningiomas and HCs. Additionally, increased levels of sPD-L1 were observed in relatively advanced tumors. sPD-L1 overexpression in the CSF appears to be more representative of aggressive tumor features than overexpression in the serum. For glioma diagnosis, both serum and CSF sPD-L1 showed significant value in the diagnosis and stratification of glioma, and the best diagnostic performance was obtained with serum sPD-L1 rather than blood-based inflammatory markers. In addition, a descending trend in the level of serum sPD-L1 was observed in postoperative patients. Conclusion: In gliomas, elevated circulating and CSF sPD-L1 levels are associated with aggressive biological activities. The results of the current study suggest that sPD-L1 is a promising biomarker for gliomas that can be used in clinical practice.

The extensive emission of CO2 into the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels has urged many countries to move toward decarbonized energy. Based on the concept of carbon neutrality, the European Union Emissions Trading System implemented the aviation carbon tax (ACT), which stimulated the rapid transformation in aviation fuels. To cope with the ACT and mitigate the CO2 emissions from the aviation industry, here, we present a promising route for the synthesis of precursors such as aromatics, alkyl benzenes, and naphthenes, which account for 40–50 vol % fraction of the kerosene-based aviation fuel, from waste CO2 or biomass-derived syngas. The ultra-high selectivity of single-ring aromatics (precursors for the kerosene-based aviation fuel) with a selective range of carbon chain numbers (C8–C12) was achieved (>80% in hydrocarbons at a reaction temperature of 275 °C) via the catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 or CO over a bifunctional catalyst (nano-sized ZnCr2O4/Sbx-H-ZSM-5). In situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, and reaction analysis revealed that the product distribution was controlled by thermodynamics and the formation of the aromatics followed an “aldol–aromatic” mechanism. The high selectivity of aromatics at the low reaction temperature (i.e., 275 °C) was attributed to the catalyst topology, the closed carbon chain aromatization reaction, and the presence of highly active oxygenated species in the hydrocarbon pool. For the first time, an asymmetric desorption behavior between the active oxygenate species and aromatic hydrocarbons over the ZnCr2O4/Sbx-H-ZSM-5 catalyst is reported with the help of integrated differential phase contrast scanning transmission electron microscopy, which made the reaction highly selective toward aromatics. This strategy gives a carbon-neutral route for the synthesis of kerosene-based aviation fuel precursors and will reduce the burden of the carbon tax on the aviation industry.

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An effective and safe route is proposed to prepare supported Mo(2)C-based catalysts from organic-inorganic hybrids, which exhibit high activity and stability for producing H(2) from methanol catalytic decomposition.

Background: Increasing evidence has shown the effectiveness of surgery for stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Present study aims to summarize the experience of our institution in dealing with advanced NSCLC in the context of multimodality therapy including lung surgery. Methods: Patients underwent surgical resection for stage IV NSCLC diagnosed before or during surgery from January 2014 to June 2017 at Tangdu Hospital were included in this study. Results: There were 88 stage IV NSCLC patients enrolled in this study. Among them, 35 patients with pleural metastases, 18 with brain oligometastases, 25 with extra-brain oligometastases and 10 with multiple metastatic sites or organs. For primary lung tumor, almost all (86/88) were resected with R0. For metastatic lesions, 53 patients received curative local treatment and 9 patients with partial treatment. There were 62 patients received adjuvant treatment, 10 patients received no adjuvant treatment and 16 patients with missing data of adjuvant treatment. The median overall survival of patients was 31.72 months. The estimated 3-year OS was 42.2%. Patients with pleural metastases and brain oligometastases got better outcomes than the ones with extra-brain oligometastases and multiple metastases (P<0.001). Patients with adjuvant epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment had significantly better OS compared with those with adjuvant chemotherapy treatment (P=0.015). Besides, age <60 and cT1-2 were also associated with better survival. Conclusions: Surgery may be a considerable choice for stage IV NSCLC in the context of multimodality therapy.

Background: Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is a common and distressing side effect. We conducted this clinical trial to compare the effectiveness of true acupuncture vs. sham acupuncture in controlling chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) among patients with advanced cancer. Methods: A total of 134 participants were randomly allocated into true acupuncture (TA) (n = 68) and sham acupuncture (SA) (n = 66) groups. Participants in both groups received acupuncture session twice on the first day of chemotherapy, and once consecutively on the following 4 days. The primary outcome was using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) to assess CINV. The secondary outcome measures were the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score (ECOG), Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (SNAQ), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS). Results: Compared to the SA group, the TA group didn't show significant improvement in complete response rates of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (all P > 0.05). However, the TA group could modestly reduce the severity of nausea (from day-3 to day-21, P < 0.05) or vomiting (from day-4 to day-21, P < 0.05), which is notably superior to the control group. Besides, TA promoted the nutritional status of patients with a significantly higher score comparing to the SA group on day 14 (21.82 vs.20.12, P = 0.003) and day 21 (22.39 vs. 20.43, P = 0.001). No apparent differences were found in anxiety and depression assessment between these groups. Participants in both groups were well tolerant of acupuncture therapy. There was no adverse event occurs in our study. Conclusion: Acupuncture as an adjunctive approach could alleviate the severity of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting compared to the sham control, even though the effect of acupuncture in preventing CINV occurring is relatively modest.

We aimed to compare the diagnostic efficiency of proGRP and NSE on SCLC and to investigate whether the change of proGRP level would predict therapeutic response. Patients who were firstly diagnosed pathologically in Nanjing Chest Hospital and measured proGRP level consecutively were enrolled in the study. ProGRP level was detected using Elecsys ProGRP Assay. Totally 75 SCLC, 234 NSCLC and 264 benign lung diseases (BLD) were enrolled. Both proGRP and NSE levels in SCLC were significantly higher than those in NSCLC and BLD, and proGRP in extensive stage SCLC was higher than which in limited stage (P ≤ .001). The diagnostic efficiency of proGRP on SCLC was higher than that of NSE, but when the two biomarkers were bind together, the diagnostic efficiency was the best. When SCLC was differentiated from NSCLC and BLD, the cut‐off values were 114.35 pg/mL and 162.55 pg/mL respectively. For treatment responsive patients, proGRP level decreased markedly after the first cycle of therapy and kept a continued momentum of decline during treatment. But for unresponsive patients, no obvious decline was observed. ProGRP had higher diagnostic efficiency on SCLC when compared to NSE, and it could better predict therapeutic response of pulmonary target lesions on chemotherapy.

Glioma is the most prevalent malignant cancer in the central nervous system and can cause significant mortality and morbidity. A rapid, convenient, accurate, and relatively noninvasive diagnostic method for glioma is important and urgently needed. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using Raman spectroscopy to discriminate patients with glioma from healthy individuals. Serum samples were collected from healthy individuals (n = 86) and patients with glioma [high-grade glioma (HGG) n = 75, low-grade glioma (LGG) n = 60]. All spectra were collected with a 785-nm wavelength laser in the range of 400-1800 cm −1. A total of three spectra were recorded for each sample, and every spectrum was integrated for 12 s and averaged over five accumulations. Principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis models were combined to classify the Raman spectra of different groups. The correct classification ratios were 95.35, 93.33, and 93.34% for the normal, HGG, and LGG groups, respectively, and the total accuracy was 94.12%. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of differentiating the HGG group from the normal group were 96.00, 96.51, and 96.27%, respectively, with an area under the curve of 0.997; in addition, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of differentiating the LGG group from the normal group were 96.67%, 98.84%, and 97.95%, respectively, with an area under the curve of 0.999. Our study results suggested that the rapid and noninvasive detection method based on principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis combined with Raman spectroscopy is a highly promising tool for the early diagnosis of glioma. K E Y W O R D S classification, diagnosis, glioma, Raman spectroscopy, serum 1 | BACKGROUND Brain tumors have become one of the top 10 malignant tumors that endanger the health of people as they age and with changes in environmental factors, and the incidence rate of these tumors is still on the rise. [1] Glioma, the most prevalent malignant cancer in the central nervous system, accounts for 40-50% of all intracranial Abbreviations: ANOVA, one-way analysis of variance; AUC, area under curve; HGG, high-grade glioma; LGG, low-grade glioma; PCA-LDA, principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis; ROC, receive operating characteristic; WHO, World Health Organization.