[Analysis of correlation factors and risk prediction for acute appendicitis associated with appendiceal neoplasms].

Objective: To examine the correlation factors of acute appendicitis associated with appendiceal neoplasms. Methods: Consecutive 712 patients with acute appendicitis who treated at Department of General Surgery, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 2002 to December 2016 were analyzed retrospectively. There were 314 females and 398 males, aging (42.5±16.2) years (range: 14 to 94 years). Among the 712 cases, 36 patients were diagnosed with acute appendicitis associated with appendiceal neoplasms, the other 676 patients had no appendiceal neoplasm. The patients' clinical baseline characteristics and clinical parameters were compared between the two groups. The correlation factors of acute appendicitis associated with appendiceal neoplasms were evaluated by using the univariate (χ2 test or t test) and multivariate Logistic regression analysis. The area under curve of receiver operating characteristic curves was utilized to evaluate the discriminatory power of the predictive models. Results: According to the univariate analysis, gender, age, body mass index, the duration of chronic right low abdominal pains≥3 months, the frequency of recurrently acute right lower abdominal pain≥2, the frequency of acute right lower abdominal pain, past history of diabetes, hypertension or coronary heart disease, the level of neutrophils and leukocytes preoperatively, stercolith and periappendiceal effusion, and modified Alvarado score were positively correlated with appendiceal neoplasms (all P<0.05). Then four variables were incorporated into the model eventually by multivariate Logistic regression analysis, which were as follows: age (increased per decade) (OR=2.23, 95%CI: 1.68 to 2.95, P<0.01), gender (female) (OR=4.21, 95%CI: 1.74 to 10.19, P=0.001), the duration of chronic right low abdominal pains (more than 3 months) (OR=2.53, 95%CI: 1.01 to 3.37, P=0.048), and modified Alvarado score (decreased per 1 score) (OR=2.54, 95%CI: 1.87 to 3.34, P<0.01). The area of curve was 0.93 (95%CI: 0.88 to 0.97), which indicated that the model exhibits an excellent ability to discriminate between appendiceal neoplasms and acute appendicitis. Conclusions: The older age, female, the duration of chronic right low abdominal pains, and lower modified Alvarado score are independent correlation factors for acute appendicitis associated with appendiceal neoplasms. Clinicians should be alert for the above clinical characteristics and choose optimal treatment for acute appendicitis associated with appendiceal neoplasms.

[Human papillomavirus and laryngeal cancer].

Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma is one of the common head and neck cancers, and it ranks the second in the incidence of head and neck cancers. Smoking and alchol are considered the main causes of the disease in the past. Since 1982, when scholars first proposed that human papillonavirus(HPV) was associated with the development of laryngeal cancer, there have been a large number of studies on the correlation between HPV and laryngeal cancer, but the results are different. Therefore, this article summarizes the progress of related researches on the relationship between HPV and laryngeal cancer in recent years, and explores the impact of HPV on the treatment strategy of laryngeal cancer.

Expression of GLUT-1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and its clinical significance.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between the expression of glucose transporter-1 (GLUT-1) and the clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty-three patients with NPC (the NPC group) and 24 patients with chronic nasopharyngitis (the control group) who were treated between December 2014 and February 2016 were selected for this study. Pathological nasopharyngeal tissues were collected from patients. The expression of GLUT-1 was detected by immunohistochemistry. The expression of GLUT-1 was correlated with clinicopathological features and survival time. RESULTS: The positive GLUT-1 expression rate in the NPC group was 58.73% (37/63), which was significantly higher than in the control group (29.17%, 7/24) (p<0.01). The positive GLUT-1 expression rate was significantly correlated with clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, and Epstein-Barr (EB) virus infection (p<0.05). The 3-year survival rate of GLUT-1-positive NPC patients was 75.00% and was significantly lower than that of GLUT-1-negative NPC patients (88.89%) (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: GLUT-1 was highly expressed in the nasopharyngeal tissues of patients with NPC, and its expression was associated with clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, and EB virus infection.

[The conversion therapy for unresectable gastric cancer].

The unresectable gastric cancer refers to be unable to accept radical gastrectomy because of advanced stage, which is mainly treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, and obtains only poor prognosis in the past. In recent years, however, some scholars found that the unresectable gastric cancer cases which were treated with systematic chemotherapy, radiochemotherapy, interventional therapy, hyperthermic intraperitoneal peroperative chemotherapy and so on, could be converted into resectable (radical D2 gastrectomy) cases successfully, and their survival time and quality of life are promoted significantly. The conversion therapy for unresectable gastric cancer provides a novel surgical strategy for the comprehensive treatment of part of the advanced gastric cancer patients.

[Retrospective clinical analysis of surgical treatment for gastric stump carcinoma].

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the clinical feature and surgical procedures of gastric stump carcinoma (GSC) and to identify the prognostic factors which influence survival rate of GSC patients. METHODS: Clinical data of 167 patients who underwent R0 resection for gastric stump carcinoma at Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital between January 1990 and December 2012 was collected. There were 144 male and 23 female cases. The clinicopathological features of GSC patients were compared between those who underwent initial surgery for benign disease (GSC-B group, 78 cases) and for gastric cancer (GSC-M group, 89 cases). The analysis of therapeutic methods and survival time were also performed.t-test was used to compare the quantitative data between two groups. Pearson χ(2) test was used to compare the various clinicopathological characteristics between the two groups. Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the survival rate. Multivariate survival analysis was based on the Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: Compared with GSC-M group, the interval time between initial gastrectomy and surgery in GSC-B group was longer ( (28.2±10.2) years vs. (10.8±1.0) years, t=15.902, P=0.001). There were 56 patients (71.8%) who received BillrothⅠ reconstruction in GSC-B group, and 49 patients (55.1%) who received BillrothⅡ reconstruction in GSC-M group, the difference of anastomosis method between the two groups was statistically significant (χ(2)=25.770, P=0.001). Compared with GSC-M group, the tumor of GSC-B group was usually located at the anastomotic site (χ(2)=6.975, P=0.031). The overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates of the 167 patients were 87%, 60%, and 41%. The 5-year survival rates for TNM stagesⅠ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ were 65%, 43%, and 22%, respectively (P= 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that small intestinal or esophageal infiltration (HR=1.957, 95%CI: 1.096 to 3.494, P=0.023), tumor location (HR=1.618, 95%CI: 1.104 to 2.372, P=0.014), and TNM stage (HR=2.307, 95%CI: 1.708 to 3.118, P=0.001) have independent effect on survival. The metastasis rates of perigastric lymph nodes, jejunum anastomosis and mesenteric lymph nodes were very high (56.3% and 65.2%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The GSC appears earlier in patients with gastrectomy for malignant disease than those with benign disease. Appropriate curative resection including residual lymph node dissection is very important to improve the prognosis. Small intestinal or esophageal infiltration, tumor location, and TNM stage have independent effect on survival.

Does aluminum inhibit pollen germination via extracellular calmodulin?

The effect of aluminum (Al) on pollen germination and its mechanism of action were investigated. Pollen germination and pollen tube elongation were inhibited by Al at pH 4.5. This inhibitory effect was reversed by the addition of purified calmodulin (CaM), whereas neither the calcium binding-protein S-100 nor Al chelator citric acid at the same concentrations had any obvious effect on Al-inhibited pollen germination. The presence of either the membrane-impermeable CaM inhibitor anti-CaM antiserum or Ca2+ chelator EGTA completely suppressed the effect of exogenous CaM. These results indicate the involvement of extracellular calmodulin in the short-term effects of Al on pollen germination and pollen tube elongation.