The role of endoscopic ultrasound for portal hypertension in liver cirrhosis

Journal of Medical Ultrasonics - Chronic liver disease is still a major problem because disease progression will ultimately lead to liver cirrhosis. Portal hypertension is the hallmark in advanced...     

Anthropometric and reproductive factors and risk of esophageal and gastric cancer by subtype and subsite: Results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort

Obesity has been associated with upper gastrointestinal cancers; however, there are limited prospective data on associations by subtype/subsite. Obesity can impact hormonal factors, which have been hypothesized to play a role in these cancers. We investigated anthropometric and reproductive factors in relation to esophageal and gastric cancer by subtype and subsite for 476,160 participants from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. Multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox models. During a mean follow-up of 14 years, 220 esophageal adenocarcinomas (EA), 195 esophageal squamous cell carcinomas, 243 gastric cardia (GC) and 373 gastric noncardia (GNC) cancers were diagnosed. Body mass index (BMI) was associated with EA in men (BMI ≥30 vs. 18.5–25 kg/m²: HR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.25–3.03) and women (HR = 2.66, 95% CI: 1.15–6.19); however, adjustment for waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) attenuated these associations. After mutual adjustment for BMI and HC, respectively, WHR and waist circumference (WC) were associated with EA in men (HR = 3.47, 95% CI: 1.99–6.06 for WHR >0.96 vs. <0.91; HR = 2.67, 95% CI: 1.52–4.72 for WC >98 vs. <90 cm) and women (HR = 4.40, 95% CI: 1.35–14.33 for WHR >0.82 vs. <0.76; HR = 5.67, 95% CI: 1.76–18.26 for WC >84 vs. <74 cm). WHR was also positively associated with GC in women, and WC was positively associated with GC in men. Inverse associations were observed between parity and EA (HR = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.14–0.99; >2 vs. 0) and age at first pregnancy and GNC (HR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.32–0.91; >26 vs. <22 years); whereas bilateral ovariectomy was positively associated with GNC (HR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.04–3.36). These findings support a role for hormonal pathways in upper gastrointestinal cancers.     

Patterns in metabolite profile are associated with risk of more aggressive prostate cancer: A prospective study of 3,057 matched case–control sets from EPIC

Metabolomics may reveal novel insights into the etiology of prostate cancer, for which few risk factors are established. We investigated the association between patterns in baseline plasma metabolite profile and subsequent prostate cancer risk, using data from 3,057 matched case–control sets from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). We measured 119 metabolite concentrations in plasma samples, collected on average 9.4 years before diagnosis, by mass spectrometry (AbsoluteIDQ p180 Kit, Biocrates Life Sciences AG). Metabolite patterns were identified using treelet transform, a statistical method for identification of groups of correlated metabolites. Associations of metabolite patterns with prostate cancer risk (OR_1SD) were estimated by conditional logistic regression. Supplementary analyses were conducted for metabolite patterns derived using principal component analysis and for individual metabolites. Men with metabolite profiles characterized by higher concentrations of either phosphatidylcholines or hydroxysphingomyelins (OR_1SD = 0.77, 95% confidence interval 0.66–0.89), acylcarnitines C18:1 and C18:2, glutamate, ornithine and taurine (OR_1SD = 0.72, 0.57–0.90), or lysophosphatidylcholines (OR_1SD = 0.81, 0.69–0.95) had lower risk of advanced stage prostate cancer at diagnosis, with no evidence of heterogeneity by follow-up time. Similar associations were observed for the two former patterns with aggressive disease risk (the more aggressive subset of advanced stage), while the latter pattern was inversely related to risk of prostate cancer death (OR_1SD = 0.77, 0.61–0.96). No associations were observed for prostate cancer overall or less aggressive tumor subtypes. In conclusion, metabolite patterns may be related to lower risk of more aggressive prostate tumors and prostate cancer death, and might be relevant to etiology of advanced stage prostate cancer.     

Spontaneous neuronal hyperactivity in the medial and intralaminar thalamic nuclei of patients with deafferentation pain

Electrical activity was recorded from single cells in the thalamus of 10 patients with chronic pain associated with deafferentation. Under local anesthesia, these patients underwent either electrode implantation or thalamotomy for treatment of their pain. In eight of the 10 patients, single units were identified as discharging spontaneously in high-frequency, often rhythmic, bursts. The discharges were of two types: short bursts comprised of two to six spikes with a burst frequency of one to four per second; and long trains of 30 to 80 spikes of similar frequency. Reconstruction of electrode trajectories indicated that recordings were made from the region corresponding to the lateral aspect of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus, the central lateral nucleus, a small part of the central median nucleus, and the parafascicular nucleus. In the eight patients in whom spontaneous neuronal burst activity was exhibited, it was impossible to study activity evoked by natural cutaneous stimulation due to the continuous spontaneous neuronal discharges. Both animal and human studies have suggested that pain related to deafferentation is accompanied by spontaneous hyperactivity in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and in the ventral posterior thalamic nuclei. The authors present evidence of spontaneous neuronal hyperactivity in the intralaminar thalamic nuclei of patients with pain related to deafferentation. The findings suggest that spontaneous neuronal discharge in patients with pain related to deafferentation is more widespread in the central nervous system than has been previously appreciated. The results have important implications for the surgical treatment of chronic pain.     

The use of microfluorometry to study DNA in nasopharyngeal carcinomas: a possible prognostic tool?

A microfluorometric method was used to determine the nuclear DNA content in the nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPC) of 25 patients treated before 1983. Eleven patients are still alive with no evidence of disease (NED), while the rest died of their disease (DOD). All of the patients received a cycle of radiotherapy, while some also received chemotherapy or neck dissections. The neoplastic cells studied were taken from the original biopsy blocks, deparaffinized, isolated by enzymatic treatment and mechanical fragmentation, and then Feulgen-stained. The cytofluorometric measurement was carried out by a microphotometer equipped for fluorescence excitation and connected to a computer. This method allowed us to construct a histogram of the DNA content in the neoplastic cells. Different neoplastic classes were identified and represent the heteroclonality of the tumor, which can be expressed by the heteroclonality index (HCT). From the collected data it appears that the NED patients all had a low HTC (less than 1) and only 7 of the DOD patients had low HTCs (less than 1). Six of the DOD patients with a low HTC were in advanced stages of their tumor at the time of diagnosis, while the remaining patient did not complete his treatment. Our results show that the DNA analysis of the NPC cell population may offer a useful tool in predicting the biological behavior of this tumor and also improving its treatment.