SUMMARY BackgroundThe role of Helicobacter pylori in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer disease in patients with uraemia remains unclear.

Silver has antiseptic properties, anti-inflammatory properties, and is a broad-spectrum antibiotic for multidrug-resistant strains of bacteria. The commercially available product, Silverlon®, is a silver-plated three-dimensional polyamide fabric with a high silver concentration of 546 mg/100 cm(2). Thus, fibroblast cell growth is affected when exposed to the Silverlon® treated cell medium. Our study produced an activated carbon fiber wound dressing that incorporated various silver concentrations (in cooperation of Bio-Medical Carbon Technology) to examine antimicrobial properties and determine fibroblast cell viability upon exposure to the silver impregnated dressing material as compared to other commercially available products such as calcium alginate dressing, Sorbalgon®, and silver-polyamide fabric dressing, Silverlon®. The silver impregnated activated carbon fiber dressing induced less damage to fibroblast cells compared to the effect produced by Silverlon® and exhibited similar antibacterial abilities in vitro. An in vivo analysis showed that various silver concentrations impregnated activated carbon fiber dressings promoted tissue reconstruction for wound healing in rats with Pseudomonas aeruginosa infected wounds.

Rationale: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is an aggressive disease with high propensity of metastasis. Among patients with early-stage disease, more than 30% of them may relapse or develop metastasis. There is an unmet medical need to stratify patients with early-stage LUAD according to their risk of relapse/metastasis to guide preventive or therapeutic approaches. In this study, we identified 4 genes that can serve both therapeutic and diagnostic (theranostic) purposes. Methods: Three independent datasets (GEO, TCGA, and KMPlotter) were used to evaluate gene expression profile of patients with LUAD by unbiased screening approach. Upon significant genes uncovered, functional enrichment analysis was carried out. The predictive power of their expression on patient prognosis were evaluated. Once confirmed their theranostic roles by integrated bioinformatics, we further conducted in vitro and in vivo validation. Results: We found that four genes ( ADAM9 , MTHFD2 , RRM2, and SLC2A1) were associated with poor patient outcomes with an increased hazard ratio in LUAD. Knockdown of them, both separately and simultaneously, suppressed lung cancer cell proliferation and migration ability in vitro and prolonged survival time in metastatic tumor mouse models. Moreover, these four biomarkers were found to be overexpressed in tumor tissues from LUAD patients, and the total immunohistochemical staining scores correlated with poor prognosis. Conclusions: These results suggest that these four identified genes could be theranostic biomarkers for stratifying high-risk patients who develop relapse/metastasis in early-stage LUAD. Developing therapeutic approaches for the four biomarkers may benefit early-stage LUAD patients after surgery.

Cutaneous angiosarcoma is a rare and invasive endothelial-derived sarcoma that occurs most frequently in the scalp and facial skin of elderly men. It is frequently accompanied by thin-walled cavitary pulmonary metastasis, and is often obscure on chest radiograph. We report a case of angiosarcoma of the scalp with cystic metastasis to the lung in a 63-year-old man, presenting as recurrent bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax. Lung metastasis was missed at the first episode of pneumothorax because the lung-expanded chest radiograph showed no significant abnormality. Two months later, bilateral pneumothorax recurred, and high-resolution computed tomography revealed multiple cystic, cavitary and nodular lesions. Pulmonary metastasis was confirmed by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, and pleurodesis was performed. After the operation, the patient received chemotherapy; no recurrence of pneumothorax was found during 6 months of follow-up. Pneumothorax in the elderly should be differentiated from malignant metastatic lung tumors.