In spite of remarkable improvements in cancer treatments and survivorship, cancer still remains as one of the major causes of death worldwide. Although current standards of care provide encouraging results, they still cause severe systemic toxicity and also fail in preventing recurrence of the disease. In order to address these issues, biomaterial-based implantable drug delivery systems (DDSs) have emerged as promising therapeutic platforms, which allow local administration of drugs directly to the tumor site. Owing to the unique properties of biopolymers, they have been used in a variety of ways to institute biodegradable implantable DDSs that exert precise spatiotemporal control over the release of therapeutic drug. Here, the most recent advances in biopolymer-based DDSs for suppressing tumor growth and preventing tumor recurrence are reviewed. Novel emerging biopolymers as well as cutting-edge polymeric microdevices deployed as implantable antitumor DDSs are discussed. Finally, a review of a new therapeutic modality within the field, which is based on implantable biopolymeric DDSs, is given.

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Biopolymers for Antitumor Implantable Drug Delivery Systems: Recent Advances and Future Outlook

Just in time manufacturing

The role of endoscopy in the assessment and treatment of esophageal cancer

// Johnny C Akers 1,* , Wei Hua 2,* , Hongying Li 3,* , Valya Ramakrishnan 1 , Zixiao Yang 2 , Kai Quan 2 , Wei Zhu 2 , Jie Li 1 , Javier Figueroa 1 , Brian R Hirshman 1 , Brittney Miller 1 , David Piccioni 4 , Florian Ringel 5 , Ricardo Komotar 6 , Karen Messer 3 , Douglas R Galasko 7 , Fred Hochberg 1 , Ying Mao 7,8,** , Bob S Carter 1,** and Clark C Chen 1,** 1 Center for Theoretical and Applied Neuro-Oncology, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA 2 Department of Neurosurgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China 3 Biostatistics Department, Moores Cancer Center, UC San Diego Health System, La Jolla, CA, USA 4 Department of Neurosurgery, Moores Cancer Center, UC San Diego Health System, La Jolla, CA, USA 5 Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universitat Munchen, Munich, Germany 6 Department of Neurological Surgery, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA 7 Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA 8 State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Institutes of Brain Science, The Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China * These authors shared responsibility as first authors ** These authors shared responsibility as senior authors Correspondence to: Clark C Chen, email: // Keywords : extracellular vesicle, CSF, liquid biopsy Received : April 12, 2017 Accepted : May 19, 2017 Published : June 01, 2017 Abstract Purpose: To develop a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) miRNA diagnostic biomarker for glioblastoma Experimental Design: Glioblastoma tissue and matched CSF from the same patient (obtained prior to tumor manipulation) were profiled by TaqMan OpenArray ® Human MicroRNA Panel CSF miRNA profiles from glioblastoma patients and controls were created from three discovery cohorts and confirmed in two validation cohorts Results: miRNA profiles from clinical CSF correlated with those found in glioblastoma tissues Comparison of CSF miRNA profiles between glioblastoma patients and non-brain tumor patients yielded a tumor “signature” consisting of nine miRNAs The “signature” correlated with glioblastoma tumor volume ( p =0008) When prospectively applied to cisternal CSF, the sensitivity and specificity of the ‘signature’ for glioblastoma detection were 67% and 80%, respectively For lumbar CSF, the sensitivity and specificity of the signature were 28% and 95%, respectively Comparable results were obtained from analyses of CSF extracellular vesicles (EVs) and crude CSF Conclusion: We report a CSF miRNA signature as a “liquid biopsy” diagnostic platform for glioblastoma

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A cerebrospinal fluid microRNA signature as biomarker for glioblastoma.

Obstructing esophageal cancer produces severe dysphagia with ensuing death within 90 days. Palliation is possible with modalities like stent placement, laser, and photodynamic therapy. However, these treatments have a high rate of complications, and the overall mortality is not altered. A new alternative treatment evaluated in this study is endoscopic intratumoral injection with cisplatin/epinephrine (CDDP/epi) gel. CDDP/epi gel injections were administered weekly for 3 to 8 weeks in nine patients, median age, 72 years; mean tumor volume (+/-SEM), 41.44 (+/-22.4) cm3. Eight patients had stage IV, and one had stage III esophageal carcinoma. The mean dysphagia score (+/-SEM) was 3.5 (+/-0.17). All patients were followed up until death. Dysphagia resolved in eight patients with reduction in mean dysphagia score (+/-SEM) from 3.5 (+/-0.17) to 0.75 (+/-0.28; p = 0.005). Tumor volume was reduced by 75% in one patient and by 50% in two patients. The median survival was 4 months. The longest follow-up has been 15 months (458 days). In this pilot study, intratumoral injection of CDDP/epi gel restored swallowing in eight of nine patients and was an effective and safe outpatient treatment in patients with obstructive esophageal cancer.

Intratumoral therapy of cisplatin/epinephrine injectable gel for palliation in patients with obstructive esophageal cancer

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on just-in-time (JIT) and to present a general survey of JIT implementation practices adopted by the manufacturing organisations. The published literature has been deeply analysed and arranged systematically in this paper. This paper examines the evolution of JIT and its implementation in the organisations. Various strategies, elements and important issues of JIT are discussed in detail. This paper also highlights the contribution of JIT towards improving competencies of the organisations. After going through a large number of papers written on the subject, the JIT implementation practices employed by manufacturing organisations all over the world have been extensively reviewed and analysed in this paper. The approaches suggested by various researchers and practitioners have been discussed and the reasons behind failure of JIT programmes in the organisations have been critically evaluated. This paper also discusses the success factors and facilitators of JIT implementation in an organisation. This paper contains a comprehensive listing of publications in the field of JIT implementation and various articles have been classified in accordance with the attributes of JIT.

Just-in-time manufacturing: literature review and directions

Purpose



– The purpose of this paper is to create awareness of contributions made by just-in-time manufacturing (JIT) practice towards building performance measures in Indian manufacturing industry. Implications of JIT implementation issues in Indian manufacturing industry have been critically evaluated in this paper. 




Design/methodology/approach



– While conducting this study, survey of reasonable number of manufacturing organisations have been made so as to ascertain contributions made by JIT initiatives in the Indian manufacturing industries for achieving major performance measures. The correlations between various JIT implementation dimensions and performance parameters have been worked out by employing various statistical tools and bringing out significant factors contributing effectively towards achieving manufacturing performance measures. 




Findings



– The study divulges that attitude of management, participation of workers, relationship of organisation with suppliers and customers, adoption of latest manufacturing methods and successful adaptation of effective JIT initiatives can significantly contribute towards enhancing performance measures in the organisation. The study also reveals that the holistic JIT manufacturing methods outscore the traditional manufacturing practices towards improving the manufacturing performance. The study highlights that detailed JIT implementation over a reasonable period can greatly contribute towards achievement in performance of organisation. 




Originality/value



– The present study analyses the impact of JIT manufacturing method on performance of organisation and highlights the need for aligning organisational efforts in establishing manufacturing methods for attaining improvements in performance of manufacturing organisations. The paper highlighted the status of JIT manufacturing initiatives in the Indian context and the preparedness of Indian manufacturing industry to meet the challenges imposed by the Western world by employing aggressive JIT manufacturing strategies.

An evaluation of just in time (JIT) implementation on manufacturing performance in Indian industry

The manufacturing industry has experienced an unprecedented degree of change in the last three decades. Cost reduction without compromising on quality has become the motto of every manufacturing organisation, to survive in the global market. In the manufacturing industry, product quality has become a key factor in determining a firm's success or a failure in a global market place. The study highlights the contributions of JIT initiatives in enhancing manufacturing performance of Indian manufacturing industries. The study also highlights the critical success factors necessary for realisation of various manufacturing excellence attributes. This research addresses the implementation of just-in-time production system with focus on various Indian manufacturing industries. The goal of this research is to investigate what is the impact of the JIT on the production of these industries. The contributions of JIT on manufacturing performance improvement initiatives towards enhancing manufacturing competencies of the organisations have been investigated by employing various statistical, graphical and modelling techniques in the research work. The study also highlights the critical success factors necessary for realisation of various manufacturing excellence attributes.

Justification of JIT study through structural equation modelling of JIT model using AMOS for Indian manufacturing industries

Research on JIT had always been a major problem in the study on business management. The quality of product always depends upon the infrastructural sufficiency of the enterprise, its abilities to manage their human resources, equipment and facilities. The quality requirements and competitive price all over the world had forced organisations to use various manufacturing methods such as total quality management (TQM), total productive maintenance (TPM) and just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing effectively so as to achieve higher performances in business. This pragmatic research gauges the JIT critical factors to determine the strategic success factors in uncertain environment using analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The study outcome criteria include success rate of JIT as a whole as well as success rate of each input attribute of JIT. The research outcomes are applicable to manufacturing organisations in India, suggesting them the adoption of flexibility of JIT as a major antagonistic advantage with a higher ambiguity and delivery with a lower uncertainty.

Gurinder Singh

Papers

Intratumoral therapy of cisplatin/epinephrine injectable gel for palliation in patients with obstructive esophageal cancer

Just-in-time manufacturing: literature review and directions

An evaluation of just in time (JIT) implementation on manufacturing performance in Indian industry

Justification of JIT study through structural equation modelling of JIT model using AMOS for Indian manufacturing industries

Analytical hierarchy process for justification of JIT implementations in Indian manufacturing industries