Swallowing function in the patients with PSD was significantly improved using TDT combined with NMES. Stimulating electrodes placed at the suprahyoid region or on both suprahyoid and infrahyoid regions resulted in no difference of effect. However, NMES on suprahyoid region could further improve the moving distance of hyoid bone anteriorly.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT), which is a procedure that uses photosensitizing drug to apply therapy selectively to target sites, has been proven to be a safe treatment for cancers and conditions that may develop into cancers. Nano-sized TiO 2 has been regarded as potential photosensitizer for UV light driven PDT. In this study, four types of TiO 2 nanofibers were prepared from proton tri-titanate (H 2 T 3 O 7 ) nanofiber. The as-obtained nanofibers were demonstrated as efficient photosensitizers for PDT killing of HeLa cells. MTT assay and flow cytometry (FCM) were carried out to evaluate the biocompatibility, percentage of apoptotic cells, and cell viability. The non-cytotoxicity of the as-prepared TiO 2 nanofibers in the absence of UV irradiation has also been demonstrated. Under UV light irradiation, the TiO 2 nanofibers, particularly the mixed phase nanofibers, displayed much higher cell-killing efficiency than Pirarubicin (THP), which is a common drug to induce the apoptosis of HeLa cells. We ascribe the high cellkilling efficiency of the mixed phase nanofibers to the bandgap edge match and stable interface between TiO 2 (B) and anatase phases in a single nanofiber, which can inhibit the recombination of the photogenerated electrons and holes. This promotes the charge separation and transfer processes and can produce more reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are responsible for the killing of HeLa cells.

Recent advances in electrospun anisotropic architectures and porous structures, as well as their applications in tissue engineering, are presented.

most frequent among females (the ratio between affected men and women is 2:1). [1,2] Approximately 270 000 new cases of RCC and 116 000 RCC-related deaths are reported worldwide per year. [3] Among the reported patients, clear cell RCC (ccRCC) cases account for 70-80%. [4] The cure rate of advanced ccRCC patients with a 5-year survival rate is as low as 11.7%, so efficient treatment is necessary. [5,6] Surgery is the most common treatment for ccRCC. However, with the high invasiveness and high resistance to chemotherapeutic agents, advanced ccRCC is difficult to cure once metastasis occurs. [7] In recent years, therapeutics focused on killing cancer cells via nanomaterial-based phototoxicities, such as photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT), have been widely studied. [8,9] PDT is an effective clinical approach that uses a photoactivatable compound as a photosensitizer and irradiation with appropriate wavelength light. Under illumination, the photosensitizer can be activated as a generator of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to kill cancer cells efficiently. PTT is also an effective means of cancer treatment, in which photothermal agents can catalyze the production of local heat under illumination to kill cancer cells. [9] PTT can increase the blood flow and Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is a serious and tenacious disease. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) are effective means of cancer treatment. However, PDT combined with PTT has been rarely reported in ccRCC treatment. In the present study, by developing the core-shell structured TiO 2 @red phosphorus nanorods (TiO 2 @RP NRs) as a photosensitizer, the feasibility and effectiveness of synchronous PDT and PTT treatments for ccRCC are demonstrated. The core-shell structured TiO 2 @ RP NRs are synthesized to drive the PDT and PTT for ccRCC, in which the RP shell is the sensitizer even in the near-infrared (NIR) region. The optimized TiO 2 @RP NRs can respond to NIR and produce local heat under irradiation. The NRs are estimated in ccRCC treatments via cell counting kit-8 assay, propidium iodide staining, qRT-PCR, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) probes in vitro, while terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling is conducted in vivo. After NIR irradiation, TiO 2 @RP NRs can efficiently kill ccRCC cells by producing local heat and ROS and cause low injury to normal kidney cells. Furthermore, treatment with TiO 2 @RP NRs and NIR can kill significant numbers of deep-tissue ccRCC cells in vivo. This work highlights a promising photo-driven therapy for kidney cancer.