Non-robotic minimally invasive gastrectomy as an independent risk factor for postoperative intra-abdominal infectious complications: A single-center,retrospective and propensity score-matched analysis

BACKGROUND Minimally invasive surgery for gastric cancer(GC) has gained widespread use as a safe curative procedure especially for early GC.AIM To determine risk factors for postoperative complications after minimally invasive gastrectomy for GC.METHODS Between January 2009 and June 2019, 1716 consecutive patients were referred to our division for primary GC. Among them, 1401 patients who were diagnosed with both clinical and pathological Stage Ⅲ or lower GC and underwent robotic gastrectomy(RG) or laparoscopic gastrectomy(LG) were enrolled. Retrospective chart review and multivariate analysis were performed for identifying risk factors for postoperative morbidity.RESULTS Morbidity following minimally invasive gastrectomy was observed in 7.5% of the patients. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that non-robotic minimally invasive surgery, male gender, and an operative time of ≥ 360 min were significant independent risk factors for morbidity. Therefore, morbidity was compared between RG and LG. Accordingly, propensity-matched cohort analysis revealed that the RG group had significantly fewer intra-abdominal infectious complications than the LG group(2.5% vs 5.9%, respectively; P = 0.038), while no significant differences were noted for other local or systemic complications.Multivariate analyses of the propensity-matched cohort revealed that non-robotic minimally invasive surgery [odds ratio = 2.463(1.070–5.682); P = 0.034] was a significant independent risk factor for intra-abdominal infectious complications.CONCLUSION The findings showed that robotic surgery might improve short-term outcomes following minimally invasive radical gastrectomy by reducing intra-abdominal infectious complications.     

Agminated fibroblastic connective tissue nevus in a 1‐year‐old boy

Fibroblastic connective tissue nevus (FCTN) is a benign cutaneous mesenchymal lesion characterized by proliferation of CD34‐positive fibroblastic/myofibroblastic spindle‐shaped cells. We report a case of agminated FCTN on the right lower abdomen of a 1‐year‐old boy.     

Cell cycle control and CDC28/Cdc2 homologue and related gene cloning of Cryptococcus neoformans]

In Cryptococcus neoformans the DNA content of cells having tiny buds varied rather widely, depending on growth phases and strains used. Typically, buds of C. neoformans emerged soon after initiation of DNA synthesis in the early exponential phase. However, bud emergence was delayed to G2 during transition to the stationary phase, and in the early stationary phase budding scarcely occurred, although roughly half of the cells completed DNA synthesis. The timing of budding in C. neoformans was shifted to later cell cycle points with progression of the growth phase of the culture. Similarly, a deficit in oxygen was demonstrated to delay the timing of budding, prolong the G2 phase and cause accumulation of cells after DNA synthesis, but before commitment to budding. The C. neoformans homologue of the main cell cycle control gene CDC28/Cdc2 was isolated using degenerate RT-PCR. The full-length coding region was then amplified using primers to target the regions around the start and stop codons. The gene was called CnCdk1 and was found to have high homologies to S. cerevisiae CDC28 and S. pombe cdc2. To determine its function, its ability to rescue S. cerevisiae cdc28-temperature sensitive mutants was tested. S. cerevisiae cdc28-4 and cdc28-1N strains transformed with the pYES2-CnCdk1 construct exhibited growth at the restrictive temperature. Results of the sequence analysis and the ability of CnCdk1 to complement the S. cerevisiae cdc28-ts mutations support its assumed role as the CDC28/cdc2 homologue in C. neoformans.     

Treatment of HTLV-I-associated myelopathy with high-dose intravenous gammaglobulin

Summary Fourteen patients with HTLV-1-associated myelopathy were treated with high-dose intravenous gammaglobulin (IVGG). Ten received 10 g/day of IVGG and 4 received 400 mg/kg of body-weight/day of IVGG for 5 consecutive days. Improvement of spastic paraparesis was observed in 10 within 7 days of the commencement of IVGG. The therapeutic effects were sustained for more than 3 weeks in some patients. There were no side effects. Analysis of factors of relevance to the clinical improvement with IVGG showed that the beneficial response was preferentially found in patients having a high CSF titre of anti-HTLV-I antibodies, a high CSF IgG level and a marked brain MRI abnormality.     

Urotensin I-like immunoreactivity in amacrine cells of the goldfish retina

Urotensin I-like immunoreactivity (UILI), in different localization from that of corticotropin releasing factor-like immunoreactivity (CRFLI), in the goldfish retina has been demonstrated by means of radioimmunoassay, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and immunohistochemistry. Radioimmunoassay showed 350 +/- 40 pg/mg prot. of UILI in goldfish retina extracts. The immunoreactive material present in the retina was also characterized by reversed phase HPLC. Some of the UILI co-eluted with synthetic carp UI, though the HPLC experiments suggested the existence of other UILI substance(s) with less hydrophobicity than synthetic UI. By immunohistochemistry, UILI and CRFLI were seen in different amacrine cells of the goldfish retina. It is suggested that UI may be involved in the fish visual transmission system together with CRF and other neuropeptides.     

Inhibition of NMDA-induced protein kinase C translocation by a Zn chelator: Implication of intracellular Zn

The role of intracellular Zn²⁺ in the translocation of protein kinase C from cytosol to membrane fractions was examined by the [³H]phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate (PDBu) binding method in guinea pig cerebral synaptoneurosomes. N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA, 100 μM) and calcium ionophore A23187 (0.3–30 μM) decreased the binding activity in the cytosol with a concomitant increase in the membrane fractions. Pretreatment of synaptoneurosomes with a heavy metal chelator, N,N,N′,N′-tetrakis-(2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine (TPEN), inhibited the NMDA- and A23187-induced changes of the distribution of [³H]PDBu binding sites in cytosol and membrane fractions. The inhibitory effect of TPEN was negated by a preincubation of TPEN with equimolar Zn²⁺ but not by that with Ca²⁺. The addition of 500 μM Zn²⁺ to the lysate of synaptoneurosomes induced an increase of [³H]PDBu binding activity in the membrane fraction with a concomitant decrease in the cytosol fraction, as did 100 μM Ca²⁺. Low concentrations of Zn²⁺ (10 μM), which alone had no effect on the distribution of the binding, significantly enhanced the effect of 10 μM Ca²⁺ in the lysate. Under those conditions TPEN inhibited the Zn²⁺-potentiated Ca²⁺-dependent changes in the binding. These results suggest that intracellular Zn²⁺ is essential for the agonist-induced translocation of protein kinase C in guinea pig synaptoneurosomes.     

The influence of in-season injury prevention training on lower-extremity kinematics during landing in female soccer players.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the influence of in-season injury prevention training on hip and knee kinematics during a landing task. DESIGN: Longitudinal pre-post intervention study. SETTING: Testing sessions were conducted in a biomechanics research laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Eighteen female soccer players between the ages of 14 and 17 participated in this study. All subjects were healthy with no current complaints of lower extremity injury. INTERVENTIONS: Testing sessions were conducted prior to and following a season of soccer practice combined with injury prevention training. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: During each testing session three-dimensional kinematics were collected while each subject performed a drop landing task. Peak hip and knee joint angles were measured during the early deceleration phase of landing and compared between pre- and post-training using paired t-tests. RESULTS: Following a season of soccer practice combined with injury prevention training, females demonstrated significantly less hip internal rotation (7.1 degrees vs. 1.9 degrees; P = 0.01) and significantly greater hip abduction (-4.9 degrees vs. -7.7 degrees; P = 0.02). No differences in knee valgus or knee flexion angles were found post-season. CONCLUSIONS: Female soccer players exhibited significant changes in hip kinematics during a landing task following in-season injury prevention training. Our results support the premise that a season of soccer practice combined with injury prevention training is effective in altering lower extremity motions that may play a role in predisposing females to ACL injury.     

A case of parathyroid hormone-related peptide producing gallbladder carcinoma presenting humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy]

Humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy (HHM) in neoplastic syndrome has been most commonly reported in squamous cell carcinoma. Gallbladder carcinoma with HHM is uncommon. In this report, we describe a male case of gallbladder carcinoma with marked hypercalcemia and a high level of serum parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP). An immunohistochemical examination using PTHrP was also positive.