Cold atmospheric plasma for selectively ablating metastatic breast cancer cells

Traditional breast cancer treatments such as surgery and radiotherapy contain many inherent limitations with regards to incomplete and nonselective tumor ablation. Cold atomospheric plasma (CAP) is an ionized gas where the ion temperature is close to room temperature. It contains electrons, charged particles, radicals, various excited molecules, UV photons and transient electric fields. These various compositional elements have the potential to either enhance and promote cellular activity, or disrupt and destroy them. In particular, based on this unique composition, CAP could offer a minimally-invasive surgical approach allowing for specific cancer cell or tumor tissue removal without influencing healthy cells. Thus, the objective of this research is to investigate a novel CAP-based therapy for selectively bone metastatic breast cancer treatment. For this purpose, human metastatic breast cancer (BrCa) cells and bone marrow derived human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were separately treated with CAP, and behavioral changes were evaluated after 1, 3, and 5 days of culture. With different treatment times, different BrCa and MSC cell responses were observed. Our results showed that BrCa cells were more sensitive to these CAP treatments than MSCs under plasma dose conditions tested. It demonstrated that CAP can selectively ablate metastatic BrCa cells in vitro without damaging healthy MSCs at the metastatic bone site. In addition, our study showed that CAP treatment can significantly inhibit the migration and invasion of BrCa cells. The results suggest the great potential of CAP for breast cancer therapy

HS-Diffusion: Learning a Semantic-Guided Diffusion Model for Head Swapping

Image-based head swapping task aims to stitch a source head to another source body flawlessly. This seldom-studied task faces two major challenges: 1) Preserving the head and body from various sources while generating a seamless transition region. 2) No paired head swapping dataset and benchmark so far. In this paper, we propose an image-based head swapping framework (HS-Diffusion) which consists of a semantic-guided latent diffusion model (SG-LDM) and a semantic layout generator. We blend the semantic layouts of source head and source body, and then inpaint the transition region by the semantic layout generator, achieving a coarse-grained head swapping. SG-LDM can further implement fine-grained head swapping with the blended layout as condition by a progressive fusion process, while preserving source head and source body with high-quality reconstruction. To this end, we design a head-cover augmentation strategy for training and a neck alignment trick for geometric realism. Importantly, we construct a new image-based head swapping benchmark and propose two tailor-designed metrics (Mask-FID and Focal-FID). Extensive experiments demonstrate the superiority of our framework. The code will be available: https://github.com/qinghew/HS-Diffusion

Robust Target Detection of Intelligent Integrated Optical Camera and mmWave Radar System

Target detection is pivotal for modern urban computing applications. While image-based techniques are widely adopted, they falter under challenging environmental conditions such as adverse weather, poor lighting, and occlusion. To improve the target detection performance under complex real-world scenarios, this paper proposes an intelligent integrated optical camera and millimeter-wave (mmWave) radar system. Utilizing both physical knowledge and data-driven methods, a long-term robust radar-camera fusion algorithm is proposed to solve the heterogeneous data fusion problem for detection improvement. For the occlusion scenarios, the proposed algorithm can effectively detect occluded targets with the help of memory through performing long-term detection. For dark scenarios with low-light conditions, the proposed algorithm can effectively mark the target in the dark picture as well as provide rough stickman imaging. The above two innovative functions of the hybrid optical camera and mmWave radar system are tested in real-world scenarios. The results demonstrate the robustness and significant enhancement in the target detection performance of our integrated system

The Strong Cell-based Hydrogen Peroxide Generation Triggered by Cold Atmospheric Plasma.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is an important signaling molecule in cancer cells. However, the significant secretion of H2O2 by cancer cells have been rarely observed. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is a near room temperature ionized gas composed of neutral particles, charged particles, reactive species, and electrons. Here, we first demonstrated that breast cancer cells and pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells generated micromolar level H2O2 during just 1 min of direct CAP treatment on these cells. The cell-based H2O2 generation is affected by the medium volume, the cell confluence, as well as the discharge voltage. The application of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) in cancer treatment has been intensively investigated over the past decade. Several cellular responses to CAP treatment have been observed including the consumption of the CAP-originated reactive species, the rise of intracellular reactive oxygen species, the damage on DNA and mitochondria, as well as the activation of apoptotic events. This is a new previously unknown cellular response to CAP, which provides a new prospective to understand the interaction between CAP and cells in vitro and in vivo. The short-lived reactive species in CAP may activate cells in vivo to generate long-lived reactive species such as H2O2, which may trigger immune attack on tumorous tissues via the H2O2-mediated lymphocyte activation

The impact of diabetes on chronic pain in different body regions among adults aged 50 and older: a cross-sectional analysis

ObjectiveThis study investigates the association between diabetes and chronic pain across various body regions in individuals aged 50 years and older, while assessing the influence of gender, hypertension status, age, and glycemic control on this relationship.MethodsData from the 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) database included 10,315 participants, with 1,983 diabetic and 8,332 non-diabetic individuals. Logistic regression models assessed the relationship between diabetes and chronic pain, adjusting for confounders. Subgroup analyses were conducted based on gender, age, and hypertension status, and the risk of pain in diabetic patients with well-controlled glycemia was compared to that in non-diabetic individuals.ResultsDiabetes significantly increased the risk of pain in multiple body regions (p < 0.05). Diabetes was associated with a higher risk of headaches in males [OR = 1.33 (1.05–1. 69), p = 0.02] and individuals aged 65 or older [OR = 1.28 (1.04–1.58), p = 0.02]. Among non-hypertensive individuals, diabetes was not associated with an increased risk of pain. In females, hypertensives, and individuals under 65, diabetes significantly increased pain across multiple regions (p < 0.05). Diabetic individuals with well-controlled glycemia still showed a higher risk of finger [OR = 1.34 (1.03–1.76), p = 0.03] and toe pain [OR = 1.44 (1.05–1.99), p = 0.03] compared to non-diabetics.ConclusionDiabetes is linked to increased pain in multiple body regions, especially in females, hypertensives, and those under 65. Even with good glycemic control, diabetic individuals remain at higher risk for finger and toe pain

Association Between Three-Dimensional Transrectal Ultrasound Findings and Tumor Response to Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: An Observational Study

BackgroundThere is a significant demand for the development of non-surgical methods for the evaluation of complete response to tumor therapy. Predicting ability and image quality of routine imaging has not been satisfactory. To avoid the deficiencies, we assessed the capability of three-dimensional transrectal ultrasound in predicting the response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in rectal cancer patients.MethodsThe inclusion criteria were patients with locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma, receiving capecitabine-based neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, distance from anal verge (≤6 cm), clinical stage T3-4 and/or N+ without evidence of distant metastasis, and restaging ycT0-3a (T3a <5 mm) after the end of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Three-dimensional transrectal ultrasound was performed 7 weeks after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy to discern the patients with complete response from the others. Eight main parameters were obtained from three-dimensional transrectal ultrasound: thickness of muscularis on the residual side, thickness of contralateral muscularis, angle of residual arc, regularity of the shape, integrity of the mucosal layer, blurring of the margin, internal echo, and posterior echo. The association between tumor response and three-dimensional transrectal ultrasound parameters was analyzed, and a model was developed by logistic regression.ResultsBetween 2014 and 2019, 101 patients were recruited; 72 cases received total mesorectal excision, and 29 cases underwent watch-and-wait. Among the three-dimensional transrectal ultrasound parameters, the adjusted-thickness of the muscularis (P<0.01), angle of the residual arc (P<0.01), and regularity of the residual shape (P<0.01) were strongly associated with tumor response. In the dataset with total mesorectal excision cases (TME dataset), the residual adjusted-thickness (odds ratio [OR]=4.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.44–16.6, P=0.01) and regularity of the residual shape (OR=5.00, 95% CI=1.13–22.2, P=0.03) were kept in the final logistic model. The area under the curve of the logistic model was 0.84. Among these parameters, residual adjusted-thickness correlated significantly with tumor response. Additionally, we observed similar results in the whole population of 101 cases (whole dataset) and in the cross-validation.ConclusionThree-dimensional transrectal ultrasound model is a valuable method for predicting tumor response in rectal cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, which should be included as a factor for evaluating clinical complete response.Trial RegistrationThis trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02605265. Registered 9 November 2015 - Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT0260526

The Specific Vulnerabilities of Cancer Cells to the Cold Atmospheric Plasma-Stimulated Solutions.

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), a novel promising anti-cancer modality, has shown its selective anti-cancer capacity on dozens of cancer cell lines in vitro and on subcutaneous xenograft tumors in mice. Over the past five years, the CAP-stimulated solutions (PSS) have also shown their selective anti-cancer effect over different cancers in vitro and in vivo. The solutions used to make PSS include several bio-adaptable solutions, mainly cell culture medium and simple buffered solutions. Both the CAP-stimulated medium (PSM) and the CAP-stimulated buffered solution (PSB) are able to significantly kill cancer cells in vitro. In this study, we systematically compared the anti-cancer effect of PSM and PSB over pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells and glioblastoma cells. We demonstrated that pancreatic cancer cells and glioblastoma cells were specifically vulnerable to PSM and PSB, respectively. The specific response such as the rise of intracellular reactive oxygen species of two cancer cell lines to the H2O2-containing environments might result in the specific vulnerabilities to PSM and PSB. In addition, we demonstrated a basic guideline that the toxicity of PSS on cancer cells could be significantly modulated through controlling the dilutability of solution

The analgesic effect of green light on neuropathic pain: a mini-review of the literature and a proposal for future work

Medically refractory, severe, and unrelenting neuropathic pain remains a public health challenge worldwide. Green light has been found to have an analgesic effect on neuropathic pain. Interestingly, this analgesic effect is prolonged even after green light exposure. Peripheral and central mechanisms include the inhibition of the inflammatory response and the activation of the endogenous cannabinoid system and nerve circuits between the lateral geniculate nucleus and other brain regions, such as the dorsal raphe nucleus and the rostral ventromedial medulla, which may mediate the analgesic effect of green light. An increasing number of clinical studies highlight the side effects of traditional analgesics. The antinociceptive effect of green light has been proven in fibromyalgia and migraine patients. However, the effect of green light on neuropathic pain has not been reported in clinical settings. Here, we review the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the antinociceptive effect of green light. Furthermore, the green light parameters (intensity, duration, and wavelength) used in clinical trials are also summarized