Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Environ Int 2021 Apr 7;153:106548. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Environmental and Health Risk Assessment, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China. Electronic address:

Background: Evidence of maternal exposure to ambient air pollution on congenital heart defects (CHD) has been mixed and are still relatively limited in developing countries. We aimed to investigate the association between maternal exposure to air pollution and CHD in China.

Method: This longitudinal, population-based, case-control study consecutively recruited fetuses with CHD and healthy volunteers from 21 cities, Southern China, between January 2006 and December 2016. Read More

Food Chem 2021 Mar 27;356:129697. Epub 2021 Mar 27.

Department of Urology/Institute of Urology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China. Electronic address:

The purpose of this umbrella review was to evaluate the quality of evidence, validity and biases of the associations between red and processed meat consumption and multiple cancer outcomes according to existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The umbrella review identified 72 meta-analyses with 20 unique outcomes for red meat and 19 unique outcomes for processed meat. Red meat consumption was associated with increased risk of overall cancer mortality, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), bladder, breast, colorectal, endometrial, esophageal, gastric, lung and nasopharyngeal cancer. Read More

Cancer Treat Res Commun 2021 Apr 2;27:100362. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Department of General Thoracic and Esophageal Surgery, Heart and Lung Center, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

Background: Robotic assistance in lung lobectomy has been suggested to enhance the adoption of minimally invasive techniques among surgeons. However, little is known of learning curves in different minimally invasive techniques. We studied learning curves in robotic-assisted versus video- assisted lobectomies for lung cancer. Read More

J Clin Anesth 2021 Apr 7;72:110285. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea. Electronic address:

Study Objective: We evaluated the feasibility of use and effects on postoperative atelectasis and complications of lower inspired oxygen fraction (FIO) compared to conventional oxygen therapy.

Design: Single center, randomized clinical trial.

Setting: University hospital, operating room and postoperative recovery area. Read More

Ann Diagn Pathol 2021 Mar 31;52:151737. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Kocaeli University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kocaeli, Turkey.

Introduction: Solid variant papillary thyroid cancer (SVPTC) is a rare variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and its prognostic value is still unclear. Therefore, we re-evaluate the histopathological and clinicopathological features of 28 patients with SVPTC in the light of current literature.

Material-methods: Of the 1308 cases were previously diagnosed with PTC and 28 (2,1%) of them which had been diagnosed with SVPTC were re-evaluated retrospectively. Read More

Lung Cancer 2021 Mar 26;155:170-174. Epub 2021 Mar 26.

Department of Oncology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China; Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Clinical Translational Cancer Research, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China. Electronic address:

Pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma (PPC) is a rare and highly malignant subtype of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and chemotherapy and radiotherapy are insensitive. Some clinical trials have shown that targetable driver gene mutations, such as EGFR, ALK or BRAF, have rarely been detected in PPC patients, but the incidence of MET exon 14 mutations is more frequent. For these patients with driver gene mutations, corresponding molecular targeted therapy may be valid. Read More

Lung Cancer 2021 Apr 5;155:163-169. Epub 2021 Apr 5.

Department of Respiratory Medicine, Medical Center Leeuwarden, Henri Dunantweg 2, 8934 AD, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. Electronic address:

Objectives: Monotherapy with pembrolizumab is the preferred first-line treatment for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression ≥50 %, without targetable oncogenic drivers. Although targeted therapies are in development for patients with specific Kirsten rat sarcoma (KRAS) mutations, these are not available in daily care yet. It is not clear whether there is a difference in survival on first-line pembrolizumab for patients with a high PD-L1 status with or without a KRAS mutation. Read More

Cancer Epidemiol 2021 Apr 7;72:101935. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

The Viertel Cancer Research Centre, Cancer Council Queensland, PO Box 201, Spring Hill, Brisbane, Queensland, 4004, Australia; School of Mathematical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Queensland, 4001, Australia; Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, G40 Griffith Health Centre, Gold Coast Campus, Queensland, Gold Coast, 4222, Australia. Electronic address:

Background: Accurate forecasts of cancer incidence, with appropriate estimates of uncertainty, are crucial for planners and policy makers to ensure resource availability and prioritize interventions. We used Bayesian age-period-cohort (APC) models to project the future incidence of cancer in Australia.

Methods: Bayesian APC models were fitted to counts of cancer diagnoses in Australia from 1982 to 2016 and projected to 2031 for seven key cancer types: breast, colorectal, liver, lung, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, melanoma and stomach. Read More

Eur J Radiol 2021 Mar 31;139:109653. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Würzburg, Oberdürrbacher Straße 6, 97080, Würzburg, Germany.

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the feasibility of Self-gated Non-Contrast-Enhanced Functional Lung (SENCEFUL) MRI for detection of pulmonary perfusion deficits in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Methods: Twenty patients with cystic fibrosis and 20 matched healthy controls underwent SENCEFUL-MRI at 1.5 T with reconstruction of perfusion and perfusion phase maps (i. Read More

Eur J Cancer 2021 Apr 7;149:73-81. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Department of Allergy and Respiratory Medicine, Okayama University Hospital, Japan.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are essential for treatment of various malignancies, including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Recently, several studies have shown that the gut microbiome plays an important role in ICI treatment of solid cancers, and antibiotic (ATB) use had a negative impact on the outcomes of ICI treatment via dysbiosis in the gut. However, whether this is applicable to NSCLC remains unclear. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Mar 23;782:146571. Epub 2021 Mar 23.

Department of Information and Computer Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan City, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.

In recent years, many surveillance cameras have been installed in the Greater Taipei Area, Taiwan; traffic data obtained from these surveillance cameras could be useful for the development of roadway-based emissions inventories. In this study, web-based traffic information covering the Greater Taipei Area was obtained using a vision-based traffic analysis system. Web-based traffic data were normalized and applied to the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to study the impact of vehicle emissions on air quality in the Greater Taipei Area. Read More

Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2021 Apr 7. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.

Background: The anti-IgE therapy omalizumab improves asthma control and reduces exacerbations in patients with moderate-to-severe allergic asthma. However, it has been suggested that omalizumab should be reserved for highly allergic patients with multiple allergen sensitivities or perennial-only sensitivities.

Objective: To examine impact of allergy burden, including number and type of allergen sensitivities, on omalizumab response in a real-world setting. Read More

Environ Toxicol Pharmacol 2021 Apr 7:103657. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Gazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of General Surgery, Ankara, Turkey.

Diesel exhaust particles (DEP) are the major components of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) and chronic exposure is recognized to enhance respiratory system complications. Although the spread of SARS-CoV-2 was found to be associated with the PMs, the mechanism by which exposure to DEP increases the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection is still under discussion. However, diesel fine PM (dPMs) elevate the probability of SARS-CoV-2 infection, as it coincides with the increase in the number of ACE2 receptors. Read More

Environ Toxicol Pharmacol 2021 Apr 7:103656. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA. Electronic address:

Evidence in humans suggests a correlation between nicotine smoking and severe respiratory symptoms with COVID-19 infection. In lung tissue, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) appears to mechanistically underlie viral entry. Here, we investigated whether e-cigarette vapor inhalation alters ACE2 and nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) expression in male and female mice. Read More

J Clin Epidemiol 2021 Apr 7. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Outcomes After Critical Illness and Surgery (OACIS) Group, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.

Objective: This structured methodology review evaluated statistical approaches used in RCTs enrolling patients at high risk of death and makes recommendations for reporting future RCTs.

Study Design And Setting: Using PubMed, we searched for RCTs published in five general medicine journals from January 2014 to August 2019 wherein mortality was ≥10% in at least one randomized group. We abstracted primary and secondary outcomes, statistical analysis methods, and patient samples evaluated (all randomized patients vs. Read More

Eur J Pharm Biopharm 2021 Apr 7. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Centre for Marine Sciences, Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal; Research Institute for Medicines (iMed.ULisboa), Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Gama Pinto, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address:

Tuberculosis remains a leading cause of death, therapeutic failure being mainly due to non-compliance with prolonged treatments, often associated with severe side-effects. New therapeutic strategies are demanded and, considering that the lung is the primary site of infection, direct lung delivery of antibiotics is possibly an effective approach. Therapeutic success in this context depends on suitable carriers that reach the alveoli where Mycobacterium hosts (macrophages) reside, as well as on their ability to promote macrophage capture and intracellular accumulation of drugs. Read More

Sleep 2021 Apr 10. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

The Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.

Study Objectives: To examine if sleep symptomatology was associated with subjective cognitive concerns or objective cognitive performance in a dementia-free community-based sample.

Methods: A total of 1421 middle-aged participants (mean±standard deviation = 57±7; 77% female) from the Healthy Brain Project completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) to measure sleep quality, insomnia symptom severity, and daytime sleepiness, respectively. Participants were classified as having no sleep symptomatology (normal scores on each sleep measure), moderate sleep symptomatology (abnormal scores on one sleep measure), or high sleep symptomatology (abnormal scores on at least two sleep measures), using established cut-off values. Read More

Mol Biol Rep 2021 Apr 10. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Biochemistry Division of Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt.

One of the most recent of tumor molecular characterization approaches is the microRNA (miR) expression profile. No single marker is sufficiently accurate for clinical use. Numerous biomarkers panels were created for three main purposes: tumor subtype, classification and, early detection, and prediction of tumor responses to treatment and prognosis of patients. Read More

Cancer Immunol Immunother 2021 Apr 10. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital, University of South China, No. 69, Chuanshan Road, Hengyang, 421001, Hunan Province, People's Republic of China.

Rb1-inducible coiled-coil 1 (RB1CC1) has been demonstrated to function as an inhibitor of proline-rich/Ca-activated tyrosine kinase 2 (PYK2) by binding to the kinase domain of PYK2, which promotes the proliferation, invasion, and migration of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cells. Additionally, in breast cancer, PYK2 positively regulates the expression of transcriptional co-activator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ) which in turn can enhance PDL1 levels in breast and lung cancer cells. The current study was performed to decipher the impact of RB1CC1 in the progression of RCC via regulation of the PYK2/TAZ/PDL1 signaling axis. Read More

J Biol Chem 2021 Jan 8;296:100262. Epub 2021 Jan 8.

Theoretical Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Electronic address:

In both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, multidrug and toxic-compound extrusion (MATE) transporters catalyze the efflux of a broad range of cytotoxic compounds, including human-made antibiotics and anticancer drugs. MATEs are secondary-active antiporters, i.e. Read More

Enzymes 2020 14;48:1-10. Epub 2020 Oct 14.

Scripps Research, Jupiter, FL and La Jolla, CA; Department of Molecular Medicine, United States. Electronic address:

This chapter calls out the following contributed articles, and gives a sense of why the tRNA synthetases are an endless frontier for scientific research and the unveiling of a vast world of new biology. Read More

Allergy 2021 Apr 10. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Federal Medico-biological Agency of Russia.

Background: First vaccines for prevention of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are becoming available but there is a huge and unmet need for specific forms of treatment. In this study we aimed to evaluate the anti-SARS-CoV-2 effect of siRNA both in vitro and in vivo.

Methods: To identify the mosteffective molecule out of a panel of 15 in silico designed siRNAs, an in vitro screening system based on vectors expressing SARS-CoV-2 genes fused with the firefly luciferase reporter gene and SARS-CoV-2-infected cells was used. Read More

Magn Reson Med 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany.

Purpose: Contrast-free lung MRI based on Fourier decomposition is an attractive method to monitor various lung diseases. However, the accuracy of the current perfusion quantification is limited. In this study, a new approach for perfusion quantification based on voxel-wise proton density and median signal decay toward the steady state for Fourier decomposition-based techniques is proposed called Q (Q ). Read More

Magn Reson Med 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Translational Medicine Program, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Purpose: To investigate the dependence of dissolved Xe chemical shift on the fraction of inhaled oxygen, F O , in the lungs of healthy rats.

Methods: The chemical shifts of Xe dissolved in red blood cells, δ , and blood plasma and/or tissue, δ , were measured using MRS in 12 Sprague Dawley rats mechanically ventilated at F O values of 0.14, 0. Read More

Med Phys 2021 Apr 10. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX, USA.

Purpose: To show that intrinsic radiosensitivity varies greatly for protons and carbon (C) ions in addition to photons, and that DNA repair capacity remains important in governing this variability.

Methods: We measured or obtained from the literature clonogenic survival data for a number of human cancer cell lines exposed to photons, protons (9.9 keV/μm), and C-ions (13. Read More

Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

St. Petersburg State Research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology, Ligovskiy ave, 2-4, St. Petersburg, 191036, Russia.

We present two cases of lobectomy in lung cancer patients who recovered from COVID-19 before surgical treatment. In both cases, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery was initiated and hilar fibrosis was detected; as a result, conversion was performed in one case. There were no postoperative complications and mortality. Read More

Nicotine Tob Res 2021 Apr 10. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Department of Psychology, California State University San Marcos, San Marcos, CA, USA.

Introduction: Most adult cigarette smokers who use e-cigarettes are dual cigarette and e-cigarette (CC-EC) users, yet little is known about relative consumption of cigarettes to e-cigarettes and any associated harm reduction.

Methods: Rate of substitution from cigarettes to e-cigarettes at week 6 and change in biomarkers of exposure and potential harm were examined among dual CC-EC users [64/114 (56%); 35 Black, 29 Latino] in an e-cigarette switching randomized trial.

Results: Dual users averaged 79% substitution of cigarettes for e-cigarettes at week 6, resulting in a reduction from baseline of 70. Read More

Eur Heart J Qual Care Clin Outcomes 2021 Apr 10. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Adult Congenital Heart Centre and Centre for Pulmonary Hypertension, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, United Kingdom.

Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2021 Apr 10. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.

J Infect Dis 2021 Apr 10. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Cancer Virology Program, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

Background: COVID-19 patients manifest with pulmonary symptoms reflected by diffuse alveolar damage (DAD), excessive inflammation, and thromboembolism. The mechanisms mediating these processes remain unclear.

Methods: We performed multicolor staining for SARS-CoV-2 proteins and lineage markers to define viral tropism and lung pathobiology in 5 autopsy cases. Read More