Clinical significance of extra-thyroid 99mTc-pertechnetate uptake before initial radioiodine therapy for differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the clinical characteristics of extra-thyroid 99mTc-pertechnetate uptake in order to explore the effect of the phenomenon on radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy for differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) and its clinical significance. METHODS: This study retrospectively selected patients with DTC and extra-thyroid 99mTc-pertechnetate uptake. The clinical features, location, location count and extra-thyroid 99mTc-pertechnetate uptake distribution were analysed, combined with the uptake rate, stimulated thyroglobulin (sTg) level, post-therapy whole-body scan and curative effect. RESULTS: A total of 38 patients were enrolled in the study and 65 extra-thyroid 99mTc-pertechnetate foci were detected. Thirty-four patients showed abnormal 99mTc-pertechnetate uptake in the lymph nodes (26 of 38; 68.4%), lungs (four of 38; 10.5%) and bones (four of 38; 10.5%). The corresponding uptake rates were 0.2%, 0.2% and 0.8%, respectively. The uptake rate and sTg were significantly positively correlated (r = 0.36). 131I uptake was found in 36 patients at the 99mTc-pertechnetate uptake site. The number of iodine uptake foci was significantly higher than that of 99mTc-pertechnetate uptake foci. The sTg value and pathological staging significantly differed between the excellent and nonexcellent response groups (Z = -2.947 and Z = -2.348, respectively). CONCLUSION: Extra-thyroid 99mTc-pertechnetate uptake mostly indicated metastases with specific clinical features, which may have prognostic value for the judgment of iodine uptake function and the RAI therapy plan.

Enhanced asymmetric transmission due to Fabry-Perot-like cavity.

In this paper, a three layered metamaterial composed of a ring-chain structure sandwiched between two layers of twisted sub-wavelength cut-wire arrays is proposed and investigated. The designed structure is optimized such that asymmetric transmission with an extremely broad bandwidth, sharp rejection stop-band and high transmittance is achieved. The physical mechanism is accounted for that the metallic layers form the Fabry-Perot-like resonance cavity, enhancing the polarization conversion efficiency between two orthogonal linearly polarized waves. To some extent, this approach offers a way to strengthen asymmetric transmission effect.

Effect of Chinese drugs for supplementing Qi, nourishing Yin and activating blood circulation on myocardial perfusion in patients with acute myocardial infarction after revascularization.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of Chinese drugs for supplementing qi, nourishing yin and activating blood circulation on the myocardial perfusion in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients after revascularization. METHODS: Eighty patients with anterior or inferior ventricular wall AMI, who had received revascularization by intravenous thrombolysis or coronary bypass, were randomized into the treated group and the control group equally, both treated with conventional Western medical treatment, but combined, respectively, with Xinyue Capsule (, XYC) plus Composite Salvia Tablet (CST) and placebo for 3 months. Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) was performed 14 days and 3 months after revascularization, respectively on every patient to observe blood perfusion extent (b value), myocardial perfusion velocity (k value) and local blood fl ow volume (k x b) in left ventricular infarction-related vascular segments under stressed state. RESULTS: With 5 cases dropping out in the observation period (3 in the treated group and 2 in the control group), the trial was completed in 75 patients in total. The 14-day DSE shows that the b value and k x b value of left anterior ventricular wall mid segment and apex segment, and the k value of apex segment in patients with anterior wall AMI, as well as the b value and k x b of basal segment in patients with inferior wall AMI in the treated group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The 3-month DSE shows that the b value of apex segment, k x b value of basal segment, mid segment and apex segment of left anterior ventricular wall in patients with anterior wall AMI as well as the b value and k x b value of basal segment of left inferior ventricular wall in patients with inferior wall AMI were all higher in the treated group than those in the control group, respectively (P<0.05). The comparison between 14-day DSE and 3-month DSE in the treated group showed that the b value of apex segment of left anterior ventricular wall in patients with anterior wall AMI and the k x b value of apex segment and mid segment of left inferior ventricular wall in patients with inferior wall AMI significantly increased along with the on-going treatment (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Therapy with Chinese drugs for supplementing qi, nourishing yin and activating blood circulation in combination with conventional Western medical treatment could obviously improve the blood perfusion at the myocardial tissue level in infarction-related vascular segments.

Primary small cell malignant melanoma of the rectum: case report of a very rare tumor.

Rectal/anorectal malignant melanomas are highly aggressive tumors with a poor prognosis and low 5-year survival rate. They are also very rare. Of the well-known histological variants of malignant melanoma, the small cell subtype is also very uncommon; consequently, small cell anorectal malignant melanoma is an exceedingly rare occurrence. In this article, the authors provide a detailed clinicopathological description of small cell malignant melanoma of the rectum, documenting clinical, histological, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural features, to add to the sparse references on this tumor in the literature. The patient was a 53-year-old woman with a mass 2 cm from the anus, which was surgically removed. In histological sections, the tumor was a small cell malignant melanoma, with a tumor cell diameter of 7.6+/-1.0 microm, and a range of 5.5-10.7 microm (N = 100). Tumor cells were positive for S-100 protein and HMB-45 and contained sparse but unambiguous type II melanosomes. This article is one of the few detailed clinicopathological documentations of a small cell malignant melanoma of the rectum (anorectum) and the first to have the diagnosis confirmed ultrastructurally by the identification of melanosomes. The present case adds to the 3 mainly or entirely small cell anorectal malignant melanomas described in the literature. There are also at least 12 other cases with less well-defined numbers of small tumor cells or with small cells admixed with other cell morphologies. Documentation of these unusual morphological variants is important for identifying any distinctive outcome they might exhibit compared with conventional malignant melanoma.

[Application of immunohistochemistry-laser microdissection-PCR technique in detecting p53 gene mutation in paraffin sections of gastric cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the application of immunohistochemistry-laser microdissection-polymerase chain reaction (IHC-LMD-PCR) technique in detecting p53 gene mutations using paraffin sections of advanced gastric cancers. METHODS: The expression of p53 protein in 41 paraffin-embedded advanced gastric cancer samples was assessed by immunohistochemistry. The p53-positive or negative carcinoma cells and normal foveolar cells far from the main tumor were then isolated by LMD. The DNA was extracted and p53 gene at exon 5 - 8 amplified by PCR. The products were then analyzed by single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and automated sequencing. RESULTS: p53 gene was successfully amplified in all the 41 specimens. Overexpression of p53 protein was noted in 11 cases. Mutations of p53 gene were found in 15 cases. Eight of the 11 p53-overexpressed cases had p53 gene mutations. On the other hand, p53 gene mutations were found in only 7 of the 30 p53 protein-negative cases. The presence of p53 gene mutations significantly correlated with p53 protein overexpression (P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: IHC-LMD-PCR technique can be successfully applied in paraffin sections of gastric cancers for the detection of p53 gene mutations. The results correlate well with overexpression of p53 protein.

[Effect of STAT3 phosphorylation and p53 expression on human epidermal non melanoma cutaneous tumors].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of stat3 phosphorylation and p53 expression on human epidermal non-melanoma cutaneous tumours. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry technique was employed to measure the expression of p-stat3 and p53 protein in skin tissue from 30 cases of skin squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 20 cases of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), 20 cases of seborrhoeic keratosis (SK) and 20 normal subjects. RESULT: (1) p-stat3 protein was abnormally increased in SCC and BCC as compared with normal skin and SK. Expression of p-stat3 in SCC was also significantly higher than that in BCC. (2) Expression of p-stat3 was higher in poorly-differentiated cancers than that in well-differentiated cancers in SCC. The positive rate of p-stat3 expression was correlated with the depth of tumor invasion, but not with tumor size. (3) There was no p53 protein expression on normal skin and SK, it was significantly upregulated in SCC and BCC. In SCC, the intensity of p53 expression was associated with tumor differentiation. There was no correlation between the positive rate of p53 expression and the depth of tumor invasion, whereas the positive rate of p53 expression was correlated with the sun-exposure area. (4) There existed positive correlation between the expression intensity of p-stat3 and p53 in SCC (r=0.641, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: (1) The overexpression of p-stat3 may play an important role in the development of epidermal tumors. (2) The abnormal activation of stat3 may be related to metastatic potentials in SCC. (3) Both p53 gene and stat3 may contribute to the pathogenesis of skin SCC.

[Study on gastrointestinal stromal tumors by electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the histogenesis and neural differentiation of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). METHODS: The ultrastructural morphology and neural differentiated antigen expression were studied in 20 cases of GIST using electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: All of the 20 cases mentioned were positive for c-kit expression. The ultrastructural features of neural differentiation were observed in 7 cases, while no neural or myogenic differentiation seen in 12 cases. Myogenic differentiation to smooth muscle was observed in one case. The ultrastructural features of neural differentiation included scattered or cluster distribution of dense core granules in cytoplasm and cytoplasmic processes; formation of synaptic construction of cell processes; and neurogenic-like processes. In some cases pinocytotic vesicles under the cell membrane and skenoid fibers were seen. Neural differentiation with dense core granules was seen in one case in benign, one case in borderline and five cases in malignant group. The positive reactivity of neural differentiated antigen NSE, CD99, S-100p and CD56 in cases of the neural differentiation group appeared in seven, seven, five and four cases respectively, which were significantly higher than that of the undifferentiated group. CONCLUSIONS: It's rather difficult to differentiate GIST accompanying with neural differentiation from gastrointestinal autonomic nerve tumor if depending only on its histology and immunophenotype appearance, since many features were overlapping in both tumors. Examination of the neural ultrastructures and neural differentiated antigen in GIST might be helpful to clarify the neural differentiation and potential behavior of GIST.