Erciyes Üniversitesi

Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality both globally and in our country. In Turkey, we conducted a multicenter investigation into the effectiveness of second-line treatments and real-life data for patients with RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer (NCT04757311).

In this retrospective analysis, records from 28 centers were collected, and histopathological, molecular, and clinical characteristics were documented. Patients were categorized into groups based on their second-line biological treatments: anti-EGFR (Group A and Group B, panitumumab and cetuximab) and anti-VEGF (Group C, bevacizumab and aflibercept). They were then compared within these groups.

A total of 588 patients with documented RAS wild-type status were evaluated. The median OS was 15.7, 14.3 and 14.7 months in Group A, Group B and Group C, respectively ( p   =  0.764). The median PFS of the patients in second-line setting that received panitumumab, cetuximab and bevacizumab/aflibercept were 7.8, 6.6 and 7.4 months, respectively ( p   =  0.848).

According to the results of our real-life data study, there is no significant difference in efficiency between the combination of biological agent and chemotherapy used in the second-line treatments.

Over the last few decades, micropollutants have been found in the natural surface water, and their presence poses a series of risks to living organisms in the aquatic biotope. Nanofiber membranes have been shown as a new strategy for separating micron-size pollutants due to their tight pore size and high water permeability. Here, a high-efficient multi-layered nanofiber membrane with improved mechanical strength was prepared using the lamination technique. First, polyamide 6 (PA6), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibers webs were selected. Then nanofibers were laminated on support under various temperatures. Prepared membranes were characterized using SEM, contact angle, pore size, and air permeability tests. The significance of lamination condition on membrane structure was investigated experimentally and statically. The membranes were examined for the treatment of synthetic micropollutants. According to the results, PAN and PA6 nanofiber membranes exhibited high water permeability (over 3000 L/(m2hbar)) under low pressure, whereas PVDF membranes showed zero permeability. Besides, the prepared nanofiber membranes could separate micropollutants from water with up to 99.91% separation efficiency. Prepared nanofiber membranes hold great promise for practical applications in environmental remediation.