Matrix metalloproteinases-2 and -9 in cervical cancer: different roles in tumor progression

The incidence of uterine cervical cancer has increased slightly in Western countries, with an increase in relatively young women. Overexpression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)-2 and -9 has turned out as a prognostic factor in many cancers. We compared the expression of the proteins MMP-2 and MMP-9 in cervical primary tumors with clinical outcome and risk factors of cervical cancer. One hundred sixty-one patients with cervical cancer treated in Ume? University Hospital or Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden, between 1991 and 1995 were included in the study. Paraffin-embedded tissue samples obtained prior to treatment were examined immunohistochemically by specific antibodies for MMP-2 and MMP-9. Forty-two percent of the tumors were intensively positive for MMP-2 and 31% for MMP-9. Nineteen percent of the samples were intensively positive for both proteinases and 47% negative or weak for both. Overexpression of MMP-2 seemed to predict unfavorable survival under Kaplan-Meier analysis and in the multivariate analysis. Early sexual activity and low parity seemed to correlate to overexpression of MMP-2. MMP-9 was not associated with survival or sexual behavior. Intensive MMP-9 was noted in grade 1 tumors. We conclude that MMP-2 and MMP-9 have different roles in uterine cervical cancer. MMP-2 could be associated with aggressive behavior, but MMP-9 expression diminishes in high-grade tumors.     

Clinical and histopathologic factors related to prognosis in primary squamous cell carcinoma of the vagina

The goal of this retrospective study concerning primary carcinoma of the vagina (PCV) was to analyze clinical and histopathologic prognostic factors in one of the largest known material, which comprised 314 patients. PCV is a rare disease, and the majority of published studies are based on small materials; therefore, the established knowledge concerning prognostic factors is insufficient. Routine treatment is based on irradiation with risk for undertreatment or overtreatment, which leads to unnecessary complications in the absence of prognostic factors. The overall 5-year disease-specific survival rate in this study was 45% and in stage I 75%. In the univariate statistical analysis, several factors correlated significantly with disease-specific survival. However, in the multivariate analysis, there were only three factors that independently could predict poor survival-high age at diagnosis, large tumors (> or =4 cm), and advanced stage. Common background factors with no prognostic significance were prior hysterectomy, other gynecological malignancies, and pelvic irradiation. In conclusion, this study has elucidated three strong prognostic factors that might be considered in the choice of therapy and also for modification of the FIGO guidelines. Increased knowledge concerning complementary biologic markers to discriminate between low- and high malignant tumors is however of great importance.     

胃癌穿孔24例治疗分析

目的 :探讨胃癌穿孔的临床特点 ,指导临床诊治和提高疗效。方法 :对本院 2 4例胃癌穿孔病人采用不同手术方式治疗。其中 8例行单纯修补术 ,2例在穿孔修补术后 3周早期施行二期根治性手术 ,3例行穿孔修补加胃空肠吻合术 ,7例行姑息性胃大部切除术 ,4例行胃癌根治术。结果 :本组死亡 4例 ,其余病例中位生存期分别为 7,13 .2 ,2 5 .1个月。结论 :采取积极的治疗措施 ,可望延长患者的生存时间和提高生存质量     

The Broad Spectrum of Quality in Deceased Donor Kidneys

The quality of the deceased donor organ clearly is one of the most crucial factors in determining graft survival and function in recipients of a kidney transplant. There has been considerable effort made towards evaluating these organs culminating in an amendment to allocation policy with the introduction of the expanded criteria donor (ECD) policy.
Our study, from first solitary adult deceased donor transplant recipients from 1996 to 2002 in the National Scientific Transplant Registry database, presents a donor kidney risk grade based on significant donor characteristics, donor–recipient matches and cold ischemia time, generated directly from their risk for graft loss. We investigated the impact of our donor risk grade in a naïve cohort on short- and long-term graft survival, as well as in subgroups of the population.
The projected half-lives for overall graft survival in recipients by donor risk grade were I (10.7 years), II (10.0 years), III (7.9 years), IV (5.7 years) and V (4.5 years). This study indicates that there is great variability in the quality of deceased donor kidneys and that the assessment of risk might be enhanced by this scoring system as compared to the simple two-tiered system of the current ECD classification.     

Investigation of the Effect of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy on Stage Ⅱ Breast Cancer

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in treatment of Stage Ⅱ breast cancer. METHODS The data from 113 patients with breast cancer of the same pathologic type in Stage Ⅱ,during the period of 1995 to 2001,were analyzed retrospectively.Among the patients,47 were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy,and 66 received no adjuvant therapy before surgery（control group）.After the patients of the neoadjuvant chemotherapy group had received 2 courses of chemotherapy with the CMF regimen,the surgical procedure was conducted. RESULTS Complete remission（CR）was attained in 9 of the 47 cases receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy and partial remission（PR）was reached for 22 cases.The rate of breast-conserving surgery was enhanced from 22.73%to 46.81%（P〈0.05）in the neoadjuvant treatment group. There was no difference in the 5-year overall survival（OS）and disease-free survival（DFS）rate between the two groups（P〉0.05）,but the 5-year OS and DFS of the cases with clinical tumor remission was higher compared to the control group（P〈0.05）. CONCLUSION Neoadjuvant chemotherapy can enhance the rate of breast conservation for Stage Ⅱ breast cancer and may improve the prognosis of the cases with clinical remission.     

雌激素提高皮瓣存活面积的实验性研究

目的研究不同剂量雌激素对皮瓣存活面积的影响,并探讨其作用机制。方法新西兰白兔30只,随机分为A、B、O三组。在兔背作超长型皮瓣,其蒂部注射雌激素,三组间剂量不同。术后检测皮瓣血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）、一氧化氮（NO）、皮瓣存活面积（S）等指标。结果A组、B组皮瓣的NO、VEGF、S较O组增加;皮瓣存活面积S与VEGF表达、NO含量之间呈正相关。结论雌激素处理可使皮瓣VEGF表达上调、NO含量增加。     

Developing Organ Offer and Acceptance Measures: When 'Good' Organs Are Turned Down

Turndowns of offers of deceased donor kidneys for transplantation can contribute to inefficiencies in the organ distribution system and inequality in access to donated organs. Match run data were obtained for 4967 'good' kidneys placed and transplanted in 2005 after fewer than 50 offers. These kidneys were not recovered from donation after cardiac death or expanded criteria donors, or from donors with a history of substance abuse. On average, these good kidneys were not accepted until after seven offers to candidates and after offers to 2.4 programs. Models for the likelihood of acceptance found several donor and candidate characteristics to be significantly related to acceptance rates (p < 0.05). After accounting for these variables, there remained 2- to 3-fold differences among transplant programs in acceptance rates. These models could be used to identify kidney transplant centers with exceptional acceptance practices. Several strategies might be employed to increase acceptance rates for good organs.     

A ‘Weight‐Listing’ Paradox for Candidates of Renal Transplantation?

Research suggests that end-stage renal disease patients with elevated body mass index (BMI) have superior outcomes on dialysis. In contrast, low and high BMI patients represent the highest risk cohorts for kidney transplant recipients. The important question remains concerning how to manage transplant candidates given the potentially incommensurate impact of BMI by treatment modality. We conducted a retrospective analysis of waitlisted and transplanted patients in the United States from 1990 to 2003. We constructed Cox models to evaluate the effect of BMI on mortality of waitlisted candidates and identified risk factors for rapid weight change. We then assessed the impact of weight change during waitlisting on transplant outcomes. Decline in BMI on the waiting list was not protective for posttransplant mortality or graft loss across BMI strata. Substantial weight loss pretransplantation was associated with rapid gain posttransplantation. The highest risk for death was among listed patients with low BMI (13-20 kg/m(2), adjusted hazard ratio = 1.47, p < 0.01). Approximately one-third of candidates had a change in BMI category prior to transplantation. While observed declines in BMI may be volitional or markers of disease processes, there is no evidence that candidates have improved transplant outcomes attributable to weight loss. Prospective trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy of weight loss protocols for candidates of kidney transplantation.     

Peritoneal dialysis patient survival: a comparison between a Swedish and a Korean centre.

BACKGROUND: Dialysis patient mortality remains high, and this high mortality may be due to many factors. In peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients, old age, co-morbid diseases, malnutrition, low residual renal function (RRF) and a high peritoneal transport rate have been shown to influence survival, but the relative importance of these factors may differ between different patient populations. Besides, centre practice patterns may differ between centres and may influence patient survival. In addition, the literature suggests that dialysis patient survival may be better in Asian than in Caucasian patients. METHODS: The influence of centre and patient characteristics on patient survival was investigated in 132 Korean and 106 Swedish incident PD patients, who underwent initial biochemical measurements and assessment of adequacy of dialysis, nutritional status, RRF and peritoneal transport characteristics. RESULTS: At the start of PD, Korean patients had a higher prevalence of diabetes, peritoneal Kt/V(urea), peritoneal creatinine clearance and peritoneal fluid removal, and lower body mass index, RRF and dialysate to plasma creatinine concentration ratio (D/P Cr) compared with Swedish patients. Significantly more patients from Korea were placed on temporary haemodialysis before PD (100 out of 132) when compared with Swedish patients (21 out of 106). During the follow-up, there was a significantly higher rate of transfer to other units in Korea and a significantly higher rate of kidney transplantation in Sweden. On Kaplan-Meier analysis, overall patient survival did not differ and relative risk for death was also not different between the two centres even after adjustment for age, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, RRF and D/P Cr. On Cox proportional hazards multivariate analysis, age, diabetes, RRF and D/P Cr were found to be independent predictors of mortality in the combined cohort of patients. While age, diabetes and D/P Cr were independent predictors of mortality in Korean patients, age and RRF independently predicted mortality in Swedish patients. CONCLUSION: Although there were significant differences in centre and patient characteristics, we were unable to confirm a survival advantage for Korean over Swedish PD patients. The results of this study suggest that the reported difference in survival between Asian and Caucasian dialysis patients may have been due, in part, to differences in centre and patient characteristics rather than to race as such. The genetic influence on patient characteristics remains, however, to be elucidated.