Background:The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are prognostic factors for various types of cancer. In this study, we assessed the association of NLR and PLR with the prognosis of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) in patients who received the standard treatment.Methods:We retrospectively reviewed patients who were diagnosed with SCLC and treated with platinum-based chemotherapy between July 2006 and October 2013 in Gyeongsang National University Hospital Regional Cancer Center and Changwon Samsung Hospital.Results:In total, 187 patients were evaluated. Compared with low NLR (<4), high NLR (⩾4) at diagnosis was associated with poor performance status, advanced stage, and lower response rate. Median overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were worse in the high-NLR group (high vs low, 11.17 vs 9.20 months, P=0.019 and 6.90 vs 5.49 months, P=0.005, respectively). In contrast, PLR at diagnosis was not associated with OS or PFS (P=0.467 and P=0.205, respectively). In multivariate analysis, stage, lactate dehydrogenase, and NLR at diagnosis were independent prognostic factors for OS and PFS.Conclusions:NLR is easily measurable and reflects the SCLC prognosis. A future prospective study is warranted to confirm our results.
We describe a simple approach for rejecting unwanted scattered light in two types of time-resolved pump-probe measurements, time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) and time-resolved incoherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (TRIARS). Sharp edged optical filters are used to create spectrally distinct pump and probe beams from the broad spectral output of a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser oscillator. For TDTR, the diffusely scattered pump light is then blocked by a third optical filter. For TRIARS, depolarized scattering created by the pump is shifted in frequency by approximately 250 cm(-1) relative to the polarized scattering created by the probe; therefore, spectral features created by the pump and probe scattering can be easily distinguished.
We report ultrafast optical measurements of the attenuation of 50 and 100 GHz longitudinal acoustic-phonon pulses in Si. Picosecond acoustic measurements were made at temperatures 50Ͻ T Ͻ 300 K on thinned ͑50-m-thick͒ wafers. The measured phonon lifetimes at 300 K, Ϸ5 -7 ns, are an order of magnitude less than expected based on three-phonon scattering rates derived from thermal conductivity data. We find instead that relaxational damping is the dominant mechanism in this frequency and temperature range. This attenuation sets an intrinsic limit on the quality factor of nanomechanical resonators that operate near room temperature.
Adhesion between epithelial cells mediates apical-basal polarization, cell proliferation, and survival, and defects in adhesion junctions are associated with abnormalities from degeneration to cancer. We found that the maintenance of specialized adhesions between cells of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) requires the phosphatase PTEN. RPE-specific deletion of the mouse pten gene results in RPE cells that fail to maintain basolateral adhesions, undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and subsequently migrate out of the retina entirely. These events in turn lead to the progressive death of photoreceptors. The C-terminal PSD-95/Dlg/ZO-1 (PDZ)-binding domain of PTEN is essential for the maintenance of RPE cell junctional integrity. Inactivation of PTEN, and loss of its interaction with junctional proteins, are also evident in RPE cells isolated from ccr2 −/− mice and from mice subjected to oxidative damage, both of which display age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Together, these results highlight an essential role for PTEN in normal RPE cell function and in the response of these cells to oxidative stress.[Keywords: PI3K signaling; PTEN; retinal pigment epithelium (RPE); epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT); age-related macular degeneration (AMD)] Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org.
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