Postoperative development of sarcopenia is a strong predictor of a poor prognosis in patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction and upper gastric cancer

Background

There were few studies assessed the postoperative sarcopenia in patients with cancers. The objective of present study was to assess whether postoperative development of sarcopenia could predict a poor prognosis in patients with adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction, (AEG) and upper gastric cancer (UGC).

Gastric volvulus and giant Bochdalek hernia in an adult patient that were safely repaired by endoscopic reduction and elective laparoscopic surgery

A Bochdalek hernia (BH) is a congenital abnormality with incomplete closure of the diaphragm. It is usually manifested in infants but rarely in adults. Here, we report an adult patient with gastric volvulus and giant BH that were safely repaired by endoscopic reduction and elective laparoscopic surgery, respectively. A 79-year-old woman presented with left upper abdominal pain but no history of trauma. CT revealed a giant BH with gastric volvulus. After emergency endoscopic reduction of the volvulus, elective laparoscopic repair of the BH was performed. The 8 × 8-cm defect was repaired with interrupted nonabsorbable sutures and a mesh. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful, and no complications or recurrence were observed in the 6 months that followed.     

Spontaneous recovery of fear differs among early – late adolescent and adult male mice

Adolescence is a vulnerable period for developing anxiety-related mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which requires a long-term course of therapy when a traumatic event has been experienced during childhood. However, the biological mechanism underlying these age-dependent characteristics remains unclear. In the present study, we used early adolescent, late adolescent and adult (4-, 8-, and 15-week old) male mice to examine age differences in fear memory, fear extinction, and spontaneous recovery of fear. We also measured the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 2 in the dorsal hippocampus (dHip) and the basolateral amygdala (BLA) following a spontaneous recovery test. Our major findings were as follows: (1) early adolescent and adult mice did not recover the fear response; only late adolescent mice recovered the fear response. (2) The ERK2 in the dHip was more activated after the spontaneous recovery test in late adolescent mice than in adult mice, and the ERK2 in the BLA was more activated after the spontaneous recovery test in adult mice than in late adolescent mice. These results suggest that there exists a unique period in which spontaneous recovery occurs and that these late adolescent behavioral signatures may be related to alteration in the ERK2 phosphorylation in the dHip and BLA.     

Intake of arsenic from water, food composites and excretion through urine, hair from a studied population in West Bengal, India.

To evaluate the main intake source of arsenic by the villagers from arsenic-affected families in Jalangi and Domkol blocks in Mushidabad district, West Bengal-India, we determined the concentrations of arsenic in tube-well water and in food composites, mainly including vegetables and cereals collected from the surveyed families which were cultivated in that region. The daily dietary intakes of arsenic by the villagers were estimated and the excretions of arsenic through urine and hair were determined. The arsenic concentrations in hair and urine of the studied population living in mild (2.78 microg/L), moderate (30.7 microg/L) and high (118 microg/L) arsenic-affected families were 133, 1,391 and 4,713 microg/kg and 43.1, 244 and 336 microg/L, respectively. The linear regressions show good correlations between arsenic concentrations in water vs hair (r(2)=0.928, p<0.001) and water vs urine (r(2)=0.464, p<0.01). Approximately 29.4%, 58.1% and 62.1% of adult population from mild, moderate and high arsenic-affected families were suffering from arsenical skin manifestations. The mean arsenic concentrations of food composites (vegetables and cereals) in high arsenic-affected families are not significantly different from mild arsenic-affected families. The daily dietary intakes of arsenic from water and food composites of the studied population, living in high, moderate and mild arsenic-affected families were 568, 228 and 137 microg, respectively. The linear regressions show good correlations between arsenic concentrations in hair vs daily dietary intake (r(2)=0.452, p<0.001) and urine vs daily dietary intake (r(2)=0.134, p<0.001). The water for drinking contributed 6.07%, 26.7% and 58.1% of total arsenic in our study from mild, moderate and high arsenic-affected families. The result suggested that the contaminated water from high arsenic-affected families should be the main source for intake of arsenic. On contrary, the contribution of arsenic-contaminated food composites from mild and moderate arsenic-affected families might be the main source for intake of arsenic. The Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) values of arsenic in our study were 3.32, 5.75 and 12.9 microg/kg body weight/day from mild, moderate and high arsenic-affected families, respectively, which is higher than the recommended PTWI value of arsenic (2.1 microg/kg body weight/day).     

Fit and fill analysis of a newly designed femoral stem in cementless total hip arthroplasty for patients with secondary osteoarthritis

The fit and fill of the femoral canal are critical to the success of cementless femoral stems in total hip arthroplasty. It is difficult for conventional stems to provide a good fit and fill for the femora of patients with secondary osteoarthritis. Based on measurements of 100 femora of these patients, we designed two types of Fukui Medical School (FMS) stems with a proximal lateral flare that differed in the medial radius. We compared the fit and fill of the FMS stems with those of four conventional stems, using computer simulation. The mean proximal fit and total fit of the FMS stems were 46% and 53% respectively, a significant improvement compared with the other stems examined. The mean fill of FMS stems was 82% at the lower end of the lesser trochanter and 84% at the upper end of the isthmus, values that were significantly higher than those of the other stems. Since September 1995, we have implanted FMS stems in 15 hips with secondary osteoarthritis. Radiographic evaluations showed that the canal fill of the FMS stems was significantly greater in the proximal femur compared with other stems previously inserted at our department. A summary of this paper was presented at the 9th Symposium on Computer-Assisted Radiology; June 1995, Berlin, and at the 8th International Symposium on Technology in Arthroplasty; September 1995, Puerto Rico.