Phase behaviors of the liquids in nanospaces are of particular interest to understand the thermodynamics of the liquid on the nanoscale and for their applications that involve the confined systems. However, in many cases, the inconsistent observations of melting point variation for confined liquids are often revealed by different groups. Ionic liquids are a special kind of liquid. Here, by using the merits of the nonvolatile nature of ionic liquids, we realized the encapsulation of ionic liquids inside of mesopores silica oxide nanoparticles with a complete removal of compressed gas under high-vacuum condition; the completely confined ionic liquid formed a crystalline-like phase. It was found that compressed gas plays an important role in changing the melting point of the confined ionic liquid.

No abstract

Xiao Ai Ping injection (XAPI), extracted from the Chinese herbal medicine Marsdenia tenacissima, is widely used in the adjuvant treatment of tumors in China. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of XAPI combined with chemotherapy for treating patients with advanced gastric cancer. Seven databases were searched for relevant studies published up to October 1, 2018, and Review Manager 5.3 software and Stata 12.0 software were used for meta-analysis. Fourteen studies, representing 1097 enrolled patients, were included in our analysis. Compared with chemotherapy alone, combination treatment with XAPI and the XELOX regimen (capecitabine plus oxaliplatin) was found to improve the objective response rate (ORR) [RR=1.36; 95%CI (1.10, 1.70); P=0.006], disease control rate (DCR) [RR=1.15; 95% CI (1.04, 1.28); P=0.010], and Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) improvement rate [RR=1.51; 95%CI (1.14, 2.00); P=0.004] and to reduce the incidence of leukopenia [RR=0.68; 95%CI (0.55,0.84); P=0.0005], liver damage [RR=0.59; 95% CI (0.37, 0.92); P=0.02], renal impairment [RR=0.39; 95% CI (0.18, 0.85); P=0.02], and hand-foot syndrome [RR=0.56; 95%CI (0.35,0.90); P=0.02]. However, median progression-free survival (PFS), 1-year survival rate, and median overall survival (OS) were not extended by XAPI plus XELOX. Combination treatment with XAPI and the SOX regimen (tegafur plus oxaliplatin) did not improve ORR or DCR, but it did enhance the KPS improvement rate [RR=1.73; 95%CI (1.23,2.43); P=0.002] and reduce the incidence of nausea and vomiting [RR=0.66; 95% CI (0.50, 0.88); P=0.004]. XAPI in combination with the FOLFOX regimen (fluorouracil/calcium folinate/oxaliplatin) enhanced only the KPS improvement rate [RR=1.68; 95%CI (1.18,2.39); P=0.004] and had no significant effect on ORR or DCR or the incidence of adverse events. A single study reported that XAPI combined with the CPT-11 regimen (irinotecan) was superior to chemotherapy alone with respect to DCR and also reduced the incidence of leukopenia, liver damage, and hand-foot syndrome during chemotherapy, while prolonging PFS. Finally, one study reported that XAPI combined with the TP regimen (palitaxel plus cisplatin) improved ORR and KPS improvement rate to a greater extent than TP alone. Although the present review has some limitations, the findings suggest that XAPI combined with chemotherapy may represent a beneficial treatment strategy, particularly the combination of XAPI and XELOX.