Effects of aqueous soybean, mistletoe and red clover extracts on activities of adenosine deaminase and xanthine oxidase enzyme.

Soybean (Glycine max), mistletoe (Viscum album) and red clover (Trifolium pratence) have been argued to have anti-cancer effects. In the present study it was aimed to investigate possible effects of these plant extracts on the activities of DNA turn-over enzymes, namely adenosine deaminase (ADA) and xanthine oxidase (XO) in cancerous and non-cancerous gastric and colon tissues. For this aim, 6 cancerous and 6 non-cancerous adjacent human gastric tissues, and 7 cancerous and 7 non-cancerous adjacent colon tissues were obtained by surgical operations. Our results suggest that aqueous soybean, mistletoe and red clover extracts may exhibit anti-tumoral activity by depleting hypoxanthine concentration in the cancer cells through XO activation, which may lead to lowered salvage pathway activity necessary for the cancer cells to proliferate in the cancerous colon tissue. Some foods like soybean, mistletoe and red clover may provide nutritional support to medical cancer therapy through inhibiting and/or activating key enzymes in cancer metabolism (Tab. 4, Ref. 33).

Prognostic value of plasma D-dimer levels in patients with colorectal cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Plasma D-dimer levels have been shown to be increased in patients with various solid tumours including lung, prostate, cervical, ovarian, breast and colon cancer. The purpose of this prospective study was to estimate the plasma D-dimer level of patients with colorectal cancer before surgery and to assess whether it has a prognostic value. METHOD: The study comprised 51 patients with colorectal cancer. Variables including demographic, clinical, operative and pathological findings and routine laboratory tests were recorded. In addition, tumour markers, coagulation tests and plasma D-dimer levels were evaluated. RESULTS: Histological types other than well-differentiated adenocarcinoma, relatively advanced tumour stage and a high preoperative plasma D-dimer level were the prognostic factors that were associated with shorter postoperative survival according to univariate analyses. The presence of vascular invasion was associated with higher preoperative D-dimer levels. However, there was no statistically significant relationship between postoperative survival and the presence of vascular invasion. CONCLUSION: Postoperative survival was significantly shorter in colorectal cancer patients with elevated preoperative D-dimer levels. Evaluation of preoperative D-dimer level can be used to predict postoperative survival.

Effects of gender difference in early cytokine levels in trauma patients.

BACKGROUND: Experimental studies conducted on laboratory animals have demonstrated that gender differences affect the outcome following trauma-hemorrhage but, it is not clear yet whether the manipulation of sex steroids during clinical trauma affects the outcome. This study was designed to determine whether gender based changes occur in cytokine responses after trauma-hemorrhage. METHODS: Plasma cytokine, estradiol, and prolactin levels of 100 consecutive abdominal trauma patients admitted to an emergency unit were measured to determine if there is a gender based difference. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in trauma severity between male and female patients. Plasma interleukin-1beta levels were found to be significantly higher in male patients compared to females following trauma hemorrhage (p = 0.003). On the other hand, there was no significant difference in plasma interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-*, and prolactin levels between the male and female patients (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the role of sex steroids on immunomodulatory processes following trauma-hemorrhage should be further investigated before studies are undertaken to evaluate the effect of hormonal manipulation in patients with trauma (Tab. 1, Fig. 1, Ref. 26).

Liposarcoma of the thyroid gland: a case report.

Primary liposarcoma of the thyroid gland is exceedingly rare with only five previous reports in the literature. We report a case of a 40-year-old male patient with nodular goitre with the suspicion of malignancy in Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy. Total thyroidectomy was performed. The histopathological examination revealed a well-differentiated thyroid liposarcoma. The patient recovered uneventfully. Postoperatively, radiotherapy was given to the neck region. During a 2-year follow-up period, no recurrence of the disease occured.

Cooling for the reduction of postoperative pain: prospective randomized study.

Hernia surgery has been associated with severe pain within the first 24 h postoperatively. The application of cold or cryotherapy has been in use since at least the time of Hippocrates. The physiological and biological effects from the reduction of temperature in various tissues include local analgesia, inhibited oedema formation and reduced blood circulation. Our hypothesis was that cold therapy, applied by means of ice packs, following inguinal hernia surgery, controlled pain postoperatively. Forty patients scheduled for inguinal hernia repair were enrolled in a double-blind, randomized study. Postoperatively, chipped ice in a plastic bag (cold group), and a plastic bag containing only room temperature water (control) were placed over the incision for 20 min. Postoperative pain data were collected at 2, 6 and 24 h after operation according to the well validated visual analogue scale (VAS). The highest pain levels were recorded 2 h postoperatively for both groups. Pain levels then gradually decreased for both the trial groups during the first 24 h postoperatively. There were significant differences in the VAS scores between the groups at 2, 6 and 24 h. We conclude that local cooling is a safe and effective technique for providing analgesia following inguinal hernia repair.

Comparison of quality-of-life outcomes of Stoppa vs bilateral Lichtenstein procedure.

Hernia repair is one of the most frequent procedures in surgery. The aim of this study is to compare the early and long-term health status and clinical outcomes of patients in the postoperative period of Stoppa and bilateral Lichtenstein hernia repair in bilateral groin hernias. The Stoppa group consisted of 22 patients, and the bilateral Lichtenstein group had 23 patients. Both groups were similar with respect to age, gender, ASA score, and postoperative follow-up periods. A multidimensional measure of health status, the Short Form-36 (SF-36), was administered at 15 days and 6 months postoperatively. Although there is no difference between the two groups in the early postoperative period, three of eight health concepts measured with SF-36 (physical functioning, role limitation-physical, general health perception) showed a significant difference in long-term health status. We conclude that long-term quality of life following Stoppa operations is superior to bilateral Lichtenstein hernia repair in bilateral groin hernias.

The results of surgical techniques in hepatic hydatidosis: treatment with drainage versus treatment without drainage--a 6-year experience.

Fifty-nine consecutive patients who underwent surgery for hepatic hydatid cysts between 1 March 1988 and 31 July 1994, were included in this study. The aim was to compare the results of surgical techniques with respect to post-operative complications, morbidity and recurrence of the disease. Patients were divided into two groups. The first group (1) of patients (n = 30) were treated surgically without drainage and the second group (2) of patients (n = 29) were treated surgically with tube drainage of the cystic cavity. In the study, there were 12 (20.33%) male and 47 (79.66%) female patients, with an age range of between 16 and 85 years. In five of the patients a communication between the cyst and the biliary system was documented. 11.8% of the cysts were localized extrahepatically. Post-operative morbidity was 10% in group 1 and 44.7% in group 2 (P < 0.05). Average post-operative hospital stay was 8.5 days in group 1 and 18.6 days in group 2 (P < 0.05). During the follow-up period, which lasted from 1 to 6 years, recurrence rates were not significantly differentiated in the two groups (P > 0.05).