Overweight and obesity as risk factors for biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy

International Journal of Clinical Oncology - Previous studies have shown a relationship between the occurrence and recurrence of prostate cancer; however, this relationship remains controversial....     

Dermoscopic features of actinic keratosis and follow up with dermoscopy: A pilot study

Actinic keratosis (AK) is a common precursor of sun‐related squamous cell carcinoma. AK is difficult to be differentiated from other malignancies with the naked eyes. Dermoscopic features of AK were previously described in some studies, but not extensively investigated. We investigated the dermoscopic features of AK in Asians and assessed dermoscopy as a post‐treatment monitoring tool of AK. We retrospectively examined 34 AK lesions which had been diagnosed by histology. The changes of dermoscopic features and histopathological findings were assessed in all these lesions before and after treatment. Before treatment, 18 lesions were pigmented and 16 lesions were non‐pigmented AK dermoscopically. The frequent dermoscopic features of AK were keratin/scales (79.4%), red pseudonetwork (73.5%), targetoid‐like appearance (55.9%), rosette sign (38.2%) and absent fissures/ridges, crypts and milia‐like cysts. All the lesions had been treated with either photodynamic therapy, cryotherapy or 5% imiquimod cream. After treatment, dermoscopic features of 33 AK lesions were decreased or disappeared, and skin biopsies confirmed that atypical keratinocytes disappeared. One lesion showed accentuated and new dermoscopic features after treatment, and skin biopsy also showed progressing squamous cell carcinoma. In conclusion, scales, red pseudonetwork, targetoid‐like appearance and rosette sign were common dermoscopic findings of AK in Asians. In most cases, the treatment response correlated with the changes in dermoscopic features. These findings suggest that dermoscopy is a useful tool to monitor AK.     

Polychlorinated dibenzo‐p‐dioxins and dibenzofurans levels in piglet liver with various diseases

This study deals with the levels of toxic polychlorinated dibenzo‐p‐dioxin and furan congeners (PCDD/Fs) in the livers of piglets affected by infectious diseases using isotope dilution high‐resolution gas chromatography/high‐resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS). Seventeen toxic congeners in the liver samples infected with bacterial and viral diseases were compared. For porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) samples, the North American‐ and European‐type PRRS diseases were observed. This study shows that there are significantly different levels of PCDD/Fs, present, which vary according to the types of diseases as evidenced by our analysis of the piglet liver samples.     

A case of primary small cell carcinoma arising from the common bile duct]

Small cell carcinoma is usually seen in the lung, but rarely involves the gastrointestinal tract including biliary tract. A 65 year-old man was admitted because of obstructive jaundice. A smooth-surfaced round intraluminal mass with proximal bile duct dilatation was seen in the proximal common bile duct on endoscopic retrograde cholangiogram. Under the diagnosis of bile duct cancer, pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy was done. Pathology revealed a 2 cm sized small cell carcinoma in the proximal common bile duct and distal common hepatic duct. On immunohistochemical stain, the tumor cells were positive for neuroendocrine markers CD56 and synaptophysin. After surgery, the patient received 5 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy with VIP (etoposide, ifosfamide, and cisplatin) regimen. However, the patient died of liver metastasis 12 months after the diagnosis. We report a case of extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma arising from the common bile duct.     

A Novel Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Correction Method for Mitochondrial Ca2+ Measurement with FURA-2-FF in Single Permeabilized Ventricular Myocytes of Rat

Fura-2 analogs are ratiometric fluoroprobes that are widely used for the quantitative measurement of [Ca²⁺]. However, the dye usage is intrinsically limited, as the dyes require ultraviolet (UV) excitation, which can also generate great interference, mainly from nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) autofluorescence. Specifically, this limitation causes serious problems for the quantitative measurement of mitochondrial [Ca²⁺], as no available ratiometric dyes are excited in the visible range. Thus, NADH interference cannot be avoided during quantitative measurement of [Ca²⁺] because the majority of NADH is located in the mitochondria. The emission intensity ratio of two different excitation wavelengths must be constant when the fluorescent dye concentration is the same. In accordance with this principle, we developed a novel online method that corrected NADH and Fura-2-FF interference. We simultaneously measured multiple parameters, including NADH, [Ca²⁺], and pH/mitochondrial membrane potential; Fura-2-FF for mitochondrial [Ca²⁺] and TMRE for Ψ_m or carboxy-SNARF-1 for pH were used. With this novel method, we found that the resting mitochondrial [Ca²⁺] concentration was 1.03 µM. This 1 µM cytosolic Ca²⁺ could theoretically increase to more than 100 mM in mitochondria. However, the mitochondrial [Ca²⁺] increase was limited to ~30 µM in the presence of 1 µM cytosolic Ca²⁺. Our method solved the problem of NADH signal contamination during the use of Fura-2 analogs, and therefore the method may be useful when NADH interference is expected.     

Clinical safety of drug-eluting stents in the Korea acute myocardial infarction registry.

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES) may be useful in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but safety issues still need to be solved. This study was undertaken to investigate the incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and stent thrombosis in DES-implanted AMI patients in real-life clinical practice. METHODS AND RESULTS: On-line registry of AMI cases at the web site www.kamir.or.kr has been performed in 41 primary PCI centers in Korea and between November 2005 and September 2006, 1,541 surviving patients who had been implanted with either Cypher or Taxus stents were enrolled for analysis during a 6-month clinical follow-up. There were 2 groups: group I [834 patients, 61.9+/-11.9 years: sirolimus-eluting stent (Cypher)], group II [707 patients, 62.9+/-12.0 years: paclitaxel-eluting stent (Taxus)]. At both 1 and 6 months the incidence of MACE was not significantly different between the 2 groups. There were 17 cases of stent thrombosis, but the incidence of stent thrombosis was not significantly different between the 2 groups (group I:II=9 (1.1%):8 (1.1%), p=1.000). The stent type, length, number, lesion complexity and diabetes were not significant for the incidence of MACE or stent thrombosis after adjustment. CONCLUSION: MACE and stent thrombosis rates did not differ between 2 types of DES identified in Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry (KAMIR). DES can be used in patients with AMI with a relatively low 6-month MACE rate.