Akt/PKB activation in gastric carcinomas correlates with clinicopathologic variables and prognosis

Akt/protein kinase B (PKB) plays an important role in cell survival. However, the role of Akt in the biology of gastric cancer has not been well studied. We sought to investigate the expression of Akt or phosphorylated Akt (pAkt) in human gastric carcinomas and to analyze the relationship between Akt or pAkt and the clinicopathologic parameters. The expressions of Akt and pAkt were evaluated immunohistochemically in 311 gastric carcinomas using the tissue array method. Akt expression was detected in 74% of the tumors and pAkt expression in 78%. pAkt was highly expressed in the early stage of pTNM (p=0.011). We also found an inverse association between pAkt and lymphatic invasion (p=0.01) or lymph node metastasis (p=0.008). pAkt expression was significantly correlated with a higher survival in patients with stage I carcinomas (p=0.0003). Interestingly, combined evaluation revealed that the group with pAkt-positive and lymph node-negative carcinomas showed a better prognosis than the other groups (p<0.0001). In addition, pAkt was shown to correlate positively with APC (p=0.002) and Smad4 (p<0.0001) expression. These findings suggest that pAkt expression may help to predict the clinical outcome of gastric cancer patients.     

Influence of HRT on prognostic factors for breast cancer: a systematic review after the Women's Health Initiative trial

INTRODUCTION: Mortality due to breast cancer has been reported to be the same or even lower in HRT users than in non-users. This has been attributed to earlier diagnosis and to better prognosis. Nevertheless, more advanced disease in HRT users was reported recently by the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study. The objective of this study was to assess, using a systematic review of current literature, whether the data of the WHI study are in contradiction to observational data. METHODS: We selected 25 studies, for which we evaluated the methodology, the characteristics of the studied populations, confounding breast cancer risk factors and prognostic indicators. RESULTS: The WHI study, showing a worsening of some prognostic parameters, is in contradiction to most published observational studies. Most observational studies are retrospective, not well matched and did not consider most confounding factors. Their methodology and selection criteria varied considerably and the number of patients was often small. No differences in the distributions of histology, grade or steroid receptors were observed in the WHI trial, while this was the case in some of the observational studies. Other parameters (S phase, protein Neu, Bcl-2 gene, protein p53 and E-cadherin, cathepsin D) were not reported in the WHI trial. CONCLUSIONS: In view of these data, the current clinical message to patients should be changed: one can no longer declare that breast cancers developed while using HRT are of better prognosis.     

Amygdala kindling and muricide in rats

It was demonstrated that home cage muricide in the Wistar rat was uneffected by bilateral amygdala after-discharge threshold (ADT) reduction. The subsequent kindling of the amygdala, however, resulted in an apparent facilitation in the onset of the predatory response. In a larger predatory arena, the above manipulations had no effect upon the muricide response of Royal Victoria Hooded rats. There were no obvious amygdala EEG correlates of muricidal versus non-muricidal rats, e.g., differences in ADT, AD duration, kindling rate, etc. In addition, the ADT of the two amygdalae were seemingly independent. Similarly, ADT reduction and/or kindling had no effect upon the contralateral amygdala ADT. As has been previously shown, kindling of one amygdala significantly facilitated the rate of motor seizure development from the second, as well as provoking changes in the onset latency to motor seizure. The muricide data were discussed in the context of kindled induced synaptic facilitation and functional lesion effects.     

Clinical and long-term follow-up study in patients with spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage of unknown aetiology

Summary Clinical characteristics and the outcomes of 50 patients with confirmed subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) of unknown aetiology were evaluated. Twenty-nine of these patients were interviewed with a mean follow-up of 7.7 years. Seven patients experienced early rebleeding during hospitalization, and one patient experienced late rebleeding during the follow-up period.On admission to the hospital the consciousness level was clear in 43 of the patients, drowsy in 6, and semicomatose in only 1. Of 10 patients who underwent computerized tomography (CT) within 3 days after SAH, 6 showed no abnormal CT findings and 3 had mild subarachnoid blood. Another patient showed severe SAH. Neurological deficit due to symptomatic vasospasm persisted in only 1 case.Two patients died after re-bleeding during hospitalization, and two others died during the follow-up, thereby representing an overall mortality rate of 8%. Of the latter cases, one died of an unrelated disease, and the other died suddenly from an unknown cause. The remaining forty-six patients (92%) had a good outcome. These results confirm previously reported clinical characteristics, namely that the symptoms of the majority of such cases are mild, the incidence of symptomatic vasospasm is rare, the risk of late re-bleeding is very low (less than 1% per year), and the prognosis is good. The CT findings suggest that some of these features resulted from only mild SAH. Thus, SAH of unknown aetiology seems to be a disease entity with a good prognosis.     

Adenocarcinoma arising in Barrett's esophagus

A review of nine adenocarcinomas of the esophagus arising in Barrett's epithelium was undertaken. We found the disease among white males disproportionately. Risk factors and incidence rate remain to be clarified. Only one patient was in a surveillance program and only he had carcinoma discovered "early." He still survives while only one of the eight whose diagnosis followed investigation of symptoms remains alive.     

胃癌EGF及EGFR表达和预后的关系

目的 :探讨表皮生长因子 (EGF)及表皮生长因子受体 (EGFR)表达和胃癌预后的关系。方法 :对 6 2例病人的胃癌标本进行EGF及EGFR的免疫组化链霉亲和素 生物素酶标法 (LSAB)检测。结果 :EGF表达阳性者的胃癌淋巴结转移率为 77 3% ,其 5年生存率为 18 2 % ,EGFR表达阳性者的淋巴结转移可能性为 82 1% ,5年生存率为14 3%。结论 :胃癌EGF或EGFR表达阳性者均易出现淋巴结转移 ,且 5年生存率均低 ,二者可作为评估胃癌预后指标     

胎儿脐动脉血流速度指数的临床应用研究

目的：探讨胎儿脐血流S／D值检测的临床意义。方法：采用SRF608型胎儿脐血流检测仪对600例孕妇进行脐血流检查,判定标准为S／D值大于或等于该孕周正常范围的90th%为异常,即S／D≥3．0。结果：妊高征,宫内发育迟缓（IUGR）、脐绕颈、宫内窘迫等病理妊娠中S／D值≥90th%者与正常组比较发生率明显上升,差异非常显著（P＜0．01）。且上述病理妊娠组中S／D比值≥90th%者分娩新生儿发生窒息率明显高于＜90th%者,差异非常显著（P＜0．01）。结论：脐动脉血流波型检测在指导临床处理及评估胎儿预后方面有着重要的作用。     

鼻咽癌组织中微血管的分布

目的：观察鼻咽癌组织中微血管的分布及存在状况,探讨其与鼻咽癌的临床病理联系。方法：采用免疫组织化学Ｓ－Ｐ法,检测血栓调节蛋白在鼻咽癌血管内皮细胞的表达,进行微血管的定性半定量研究。结果：鼻咽癌组织中微血管的分布不均匀。极性消失。血管呈分支芽状弥漫分布于癌组织中,或呈条索状围绕癌细胞团。微血管的数目与癌细胞的增殖指数屯预后正相关。结论：鼻咽癌组织中微血管数与患者的生存期有关。