Extraintestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are a systemic illness that may affect up to half of all patients. Among the extraintestinal manifestations of IBD, those involving the lungs are relatively rare and often overlooked. However, there is a wide array of such manifestations, spanning from airway disease to lung parenchymal disease, thromboembolic disease, pleural disease, enteric-pulmonary fistulas, pulmonary function test abnormalities, and adverse drug reactions. The spectrum of IBD manifestations in the chest is broad, and the manifestations may mimic other diseases. Although infrequent, physicians dealing with IBD must be aware of these conditions, which are sometimes life-threatening, to avoid further health impairment of the patients and to alleviate their symptoms by prompt recognition and treatment. Knowledge of these manifestations in conjunction with pertinent clinical data is essential for establishing the correct diagnosis and treatment. The treatment of IBD-related respiratory disorders depends on the specific pattern of involvement, and in most patients, steroids are required in the initial management. Corticosteroids, both systemic and aerosolized, are the mainstay therapeutic approach, while antibiotics must also be administered in the case of infectious and suppurative processes, whose sequelae sometimes require surgical intervention.

Crohn's disease (CD) is a systemic illness with a constellation of extraintestinal manifestations affecting various organs. Of these extraintestinal manifestations of CD, those involving the lung are relatively rare. However, there is a wide array of lung manifestations, ranging from subclinical alterations, airway diseases and lung parenchymal diseases to pleural diseases and drug-related diseases. The most frequent manifestation is bronchial inflammation and suppuration with or without bronchiectasis. Bronchoalveolar lavage findings show an increased percentage of neutrophils. Drug-related pulmonary abnormalities include disorders which are directly induced by sulfasalazine, mesalamine and methotrexate, and opportunistic lung infections due to immunosuppressive treatment. In most patients, the development of pulmonary disease parallels that of intestinal disease activity. Although infrequent, clinicians dealing with CD must be aware of these, sometimes life-threatening, conditions to avoid further impairment of health status and to alleviate patient symptoms by prompt recognition and treatment. The treatment of CD-related respiratory disorders depends on the specific pattern of involvement, and in most patients, steroids are required in the initial management.

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The aims of this study were to investigate the expression of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in surgical resection specimens from nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to evaluate the prognostic significance of this gene expression in stromal fibroblasts for patients with clinical stage I-IIIA NSCLC. The immunohistochemical expression of TGF-β1 and α-SMA was evaluated in 78 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor specimens from clinical stage I-IIIA NSCLC. Correlations between this gene expression and the clinicopathologic characteristics were determined by chi-square test. The prognostic impact of this gene expression in stromal fibroblasts with regard to overall survival (OS) was determined by Kaplan-Meier and Cox hazard proportional model. The percentages of high TGF-β1 expression in stromal fibroblasts and cancer cells were 19.2 % (15/78) and 35.9 % (28/78), respectively. There were 28.2 % (22/78) of patients with high α-SMA expression in stromal fibroblasts. The analysis revealed a significant positive association between TGF-β1 expression in stromal fibroblasts and in cancer cells (χ (2) = 4.86, p = 0.03). No significant association was found between TGF-β1 in cancer cells and α-SMA expression in stromal fibroblasts (χ (2) = 0.978, p = 0.326). The 3-year OS rates with low and high TGF-β1 expression in stromal fibroblasts were 52.4 and 26.7 %, respectively (χ (2) = 5.42, p = 0.019). The 3-year OS rates with low and high α-SMA expression in stromal fibroblasts were 53.9 and 31.0 %, respectively (χ (2) =5.01, p=0.025). The multivariate analysis revealed that clinical stage and TGF-β1 and α-SMA expression levels in stromal fibroblasts were identified as independent predictive factors of OS. The results suggest that the expression level of TGF-β1 and α-SMA in stromal fibroblasts may have prognostic significance in patients with clinical stage I-IIIA NSCLC after curative resection.

Shuttle-drug: Self-assembled vesicles of a pharmaceutically active ionic liquid are shown to be an efficient drug delivery system, which realizes the controlled release of its pharmaceutically active component directly.

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A schematic diagram of DTX-loaded PEO–PPO–PCL/TPGS mixed micelles in vivo for overcoming multidrug resistance and enhancing antitumor efficacy.

In this work we designed a controlled-release drug delivery system formed by a cationic drug (diphenhydramine hydrochloride, DH) and an anionic surfactant (sodium 2-ethylhexyl sulfosuccinate, AOT) and investigated the corresponding physicochemical properties, aggregation behavior and potential application in drug delivery systems. The DH-AOT mixed solutions with different molar ratios of DH and AOT at the same total concentration were prepared and characterized. The aggregation behaviors of the drug/surfactant solutions were studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and zeta potential techniques. Furthermore, hemolysis testing, and in vitro and in vivo drug release were studied to evaluate the potential use of the as-prepared catanionic aggregates in drug delivery systems. The results indicate that the physicochemical properties, the hemolytic toxicity and the drug release behavior are dependent on the composition of the samples, X 1 (X 1 ¼ n DH /n (DH+AOT) ). The results demonstrated that these drug-participating catanionic aggregates show potential as an efficient and safe sustained drug delivery system.