Hepatocellular carcinoma: Efficacy of transcatheter oily chemoembolization in relation to macroscopic and microscopic patterns of tumor growth among 100 patients with partial hepatectomy

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of transcatheter oily chemoembolization (TOCE) for hepatoceliular carcinoma (HCC) on the basis of microscopic and macroscopic findings postembolization. Methods: HCCs ranging in size from 0.5 to 13 cm (mean 3.6 cm) were obtained from partial hepatectomies of 100 consecutive patients who had undergone TOCE between 20 and 246 days (mean 59.5 days) prior to surgery. The efficacy of TOCE was assessed on the basis of the necrotic to live cell ratio of the tumors. The microscopic pattern of tumor growth was grouped into expanding type (complete capsule formation) and replacing type (incomplete or no capsule). There were five types of macroscopic groupings: single nodule, single nodule with extranodular growth (SNE), contiguous and noncontiguous multinodular, and massive growth type. Results: Among 79 cases with the expanding type, 29 (37%) had 100% HCC necrosis, but none with 100% necrosis were in the replacing type. By macroscopic grouping, the efficacy of TOCE decreased from the single nodule type (50% of patients had 100% necrosis) to the SNE type (21%), and the other types (9%).     

Polyether toxin analysis of the top minnow (Poecilia vitatta)

A detailed toxicity analysis was performed on the top minnow utilizing the stick‐enzyme immunoassay (S‐EIA), the mouse bioassay, the guinea pig atrium assay and fluorometric HPLC. The S‐EIA test indicated 96% of the samples tested contained polyether toxins. Mice injected with acetone extractions from top minnow displayed symptoms of toxicity while the guinea pig atrium assay demonstrated the presence of a polar, Na⁺ channel inhibitor.     

基于蒙特利尔病变部位分型的克罗恩病患者临床特征分析

目的 探讨回肠末段型（L1）、结肠型（L2）及回结肠型（L3）克罗恩病（CD）患者的临床特征、实验室检查、疾病行为等方面的差异。方法 回顾性研究2021年1月—2022年6月武汉大学人民医院181例CD患者的临床资料,其中L1型CD患者66例,L2型CD患者20例,L3型CD患者95例。收集患者临床资料和实验室检查结果等,分析3组患者在临床特征和实验室检查结果等方面的差异。多因素二元Logistic回归分析L1、L2和L3型CD患者临床特征。绘制受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线,分析部分临床特征预测CD病变部位的效能。结果 L1组患者平均年龄大于L3组患者（P <0.05）。L1组患者黏液脓血便构成比低于L2和L3组患者（P <0.05）。L1组患者平均血小板计数低于L3组患者（P <0.05）。L1组患者肛周病变构成比低于L2和L3组患者（P <0.05）。多因素二元Logistic回归分析结果显示,L2型CD［O^R =1.017（95% CI：1.004,1.031）］和L3型CD［O^R =1.026（95% CI：1.016,1.037）］与CD疾病活动指数（CDAI）相关（P <0.05）,L3型CD［O^R =7.088（95% CI：2.390,21.018）］与肛周病变风险增加相关（P <0.05）。ROC曲线分析结果显示,与L1型CD比较,当血沉为29.50 mm/h时,L2型CD的ROC曲线下面积（AUC）为0.724（95% CI：0.579,0.868）,此时预测L2型CD敏感性为77.8%（95% CI：0.519,0.926）,特异性为64.1%（95% CI：0.510,0.754）;当血小板计数取临界值307×10⁹/L时,L3型CD的AUC为0.702（95% CI：0.618,0.785）,此时预测L3型CD敏感性为72.3%（95% CI：0.602,0.826）,特异性为65.2%（95% CI：0.554,0.752）。结论 L1型、L2型及L3型CD患者的临床表现、实验室检查、疾病行为等均存在差异,基于这些特征将有助于鉴别CD患者的不同病变部位。     

土荆皮甲酸的抗生育作用和毒性

土荆皮甲酸(Pseudolaric acid A),是从金钱松(Pseudolarix kamepferi)的根皮中分离得到的一个新型的二萜类化合物,将其混悬于1%羧甲基纤维素中,经口服给药,对大鼠、仑鼠及狗均可产生明显的抗早孕作用,其抗早孕的有效剂量各为7.5mg/kg,60mg/kg,0.5mg/kg qd×3d,土荆皮甲酸经皮下及阴道给药也能产生明显的抗早孕作用,其对大鼠口服的ED_(50),LD_(50)及95%可信限是14.5(11.7～17.7)mg/kg和219.8(193～250)mg/kg,得治疗指数10.2。狗的亚急性毒性试验表明,土荆皮甲酸对狗的中毒作用主要为呕吐、腹泻、便血等消化道的症状,显微镜下可见胃肠道粘膜及粘膜下组织广泛的出血点,其它器官未见到明显的病理变化。     

Prognostic and immunohistochemical validation of the capella classification of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours: an analysis of 82 sporadic cases

AIMS: To study the clinical outcome of 82 cases of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours classified according to the recent histological and prognostic classification of Capella. METHODS AND RESULTS: Eighty-two surgical cases of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours were examined histologically with immunohistochemical staining of paraffin sections using streptavidin-biotin complex and application of antibodies against chromogranin A and 10 hormonal peptides. Classification in four groups correlated with long follow-up and outcome of these cases. Histological examination showed 30 group I, four group II, 41 group III and seven group IV tumours. Twenty-one (70%) of group I tumours were insulinomas, whereas 25% of group III tumours were glucagonomas and 25% were unclassified. Most group IV tumours were unclassified, showing no immunohistochemical staining with any of the 10 hormonal peptides tested. Outcome was clearly correlated with tumour group. Among the 14 patients who died of the disease, four had group IV and 10 group III tumours. Thus, unclassified asymptomatic tumours without immunohistochemical staining had a poorer prognosis than asymptomatic tumours with staining. CONCLUSION: This study validates the Capella classification as easy to apply and useful in predicting clinical outcome.     

Classification of Breast Masses Using Selected Shape,Edge-sharpness,and Texture Features with Linear and Kernel-based Classifiers

Breast masses due to benign disease and malignant tumors related to breast cancer differ in terms of shape, edge-sharpness, and texture characteristics. In this study, we evaluate a set of 22 features including 5 shape factors, 3 edge-sharpness measures, and 14 texture features computed from 111 regions in mammograms, with 46 regions related to malignant tumors and 65 to benign masses. Feature selection is performed by a genetic algorithm based on several criteria, such as alignment of the kernel with the target function, class separability, and normalized distance. Fisher's linear discriminant analysis, the support vector machine (SVM), and our strict two-surface proximal (S2SP) classifier, as well as their corresponding kernel-based nonlinear versions, are used in the classification task with the selected features. The nonlinear classification performance of kernel Fisher's discriminant analysis, SVM, and S2SP, with the Gaussian kernel, reached 0.95 in terms of the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve. The results indicate that improvement in classification accuracy may be gained by using selected combinations of shape, edge-sharpness, and texture features.     

How many lymph nodes are necessary to stage early and advanced adenocarcinoma of the sigmoid colon and upper rectum?

The lymph-node yields in specimens resected for colorectal adenocarcinoma show considerable variations, raising the question whether the minimum lymph-node number recommended by the UICC (International Union Against Cancer) for pN0 classification represents an appropriate quality standard for specimen work-up. The number of pericolic lymph nodes recovered from 568 archival surgical colorectal carcinoma specimens located in the sigmoid or upper rectum showed a highly statistically significant correlation with both the pT category and the presence of metastases (P<0.0005). The median lymph-node yield in standardized (i.e., resembling in size surgically removed cancer specimens) tumor-free specimens obtained during autopsies was 13 lymph nodes, compared with 20.5 when diverticula were present and more than 30 in specimens with chronic inflammation or from patients with systemic infections. In 48 pT2 and pT3 carcinoma specimens prospectively dissected in the same way, median numbers of 18 (pT2) and 23 (pT3) lymph nodes were detected (range between 8 and 39 nodes). The lymph-node numbers recommended in previous studies and by the UICC often seem to be too low to declare a specimen free of metastases. Although the great variation in lymph-node counts requires the recovery of all lymph nodes for pN0 classification, recommendations considering the pT status and additional factors like diverticula and inflammatory changes can be useful as a quality standard for specimen work up.     

Event-Related Potential Correlates of Two Stages of Information Processing in Physical and Semantic Discrimination Tasks

Event-related potentials were studied while subjects performed physical and semantic discrimination tasks. Two negative components, N_A and N2, were observed in both kinds of discriminations. The earlier component, N_A, had a constant onset latency, but its peak latency varied as a function of stimulus complexity. N2 latency varied in relation to changes in the peak of N_A. RT and P3 followed N2 by similar amounts of time across tasks. The N_A and N2 components were interpreted as reflecting partially overlapping sequential stages of processing associated with pattern recognition and stimulus classification, respectively.