Radiotherapy of unicentric mediastinal Castleman's disease.

Castleman's disease is a slowly progressive and rare lymphoproliferative disorder. Here, we report a 55-year-old woman with superior mediastinal Castleman's disease being misdiagnosed for a long term. We found a 4.3 cm mass localized in the superior mediastinum accompanied with severe clinical symptoms. The patient underwent an exploratory laparotomy, but the mass failed to be totally excised. Pathologic examination revealed a mediastinal mass of Castleman's disease. After radiotherapy of 30 Gy by 15 fractions, the patient no longer presented previous symptoms. At 3 months after radiotherapy of 60 Gy by 30 fractions, Computed tomography of the chest showed significantly smaller mass, indicating partial remission. Upon a 10-month follow-up, the patient was alive and free of symptoms.

[Superselective intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy for recurrent cancer in the remnant stomach after partial gastrectomy].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of superselective intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced recurrent cancer in the remnant stomach after previous partial gastrectomy. METHODS: Eighteen patients with advanced recurrent cancer in the remnant stomach that were non-resectable as confirmed in the operations were included in this study, who subsequently received superselective intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy. RESULTS: Improvement of the symptoms to various degrees were achieved in all patients after the therapy, with the total rate of tumor reduction of 77.8% and pathologically confirmed improvement rate of 83.3%. The 0.5-, 1.0-, 1.5- and 2.0-year survival rates were 94.4%, 66.7%, 50.0% and 27.8% respectively. CONCLUSION: Superselective catheterization is effective in treatment of advanced recurrent cancer in the remnant stomach, which can significantly prolong the tumor-bearing survival period of the patients.

Clinical observation of gastric bypass in treatment of type 2 diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (GBP) is the main surgical procedure used in type 2 diabetes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the different types of GBP in treatment of type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Patients with type 2 diabetes were randomly divided into two groups: those who underwent gastrojejunal loop anastomosis bypass and those who underwent gastrojejunal Roux-en-Y bypass. Blood glucose alterations, operation time, and operation complications were observed. RESULTS: Gastrojejunal loop anastomosis bypass and gastrojejunal Roux-en-Y bypass were both effective in the treatment of selected patients with type 2 diabetes. Compared with gastrojejunal Roux-en-Y bypass, gastrojejunal loop anastomosis bypass had the advantages of easier implementation, shorter operation time, and fewer operation complications. CONCLUSIONS: Gastrojejunal loop anastomosis is effective in treatment of type 2 diabetes. It is safe, easy to implement, and worthy of clinical popularization.

Differential regulation and recovery of intracellular Ca2+ in cerebral and small mesenteric arterial smooth muscle cells of simulated microgravity rat.

BACKGROUND: The differential adaptations of cerebrovasculature and small mesenteric arteries could be one of critical factors in postspaceflight orthostatic intolerance, but the cellular mechanisms remain unknown. We hypothesize that there is a differential regulation of intracellular Ca(2+) determined by the alterations in the functions of plasma membrane Ca(L) channels and ryanodine-sensitive Ca(2+) releases from sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) in cerebral and small mesenteric vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) of simulated microgravity rats, respectively. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to 28-day hindlimb unweighting to simulate microgravity. In addition, tail-suspended rats were submitted to a recovery period of 3 or 7 days after removal of suspension. The function of Ca(L) channels was evaluated by patch clamp and Western blotting. The function of ryanodine-sensitive Ca(2+) releases in response to caffeine were assessed by a laser confocal microscope. Our results indicated that simulated microgravity increased the functions of Ca(L) channels and ryanodine-sensitive Ca(2+) releases in cerebral VSMCs, whereas, simulated microgravity decreased the functions of Ca(L) channels and ryanodine-sensitive Ca(2+) releases in small mesenteric VSMCs. In addition, 3- or 7-day recovery after removal of suspension could restore the functions of Ca(L) channels and ryanodine-sensitive Ca(2+) releases to their control levels in cerebral and small mesenteric VSMCs, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The differential regulation of Ca(L) channels and ryanodine-sensitive Ca(2+) releases in cerebral and small mesenteric VSMCs may be responsible for the differential regulation of intracellular Ca(2+), which leads to the altered autoregulation of cerebral vasculature and the inability to adequately elevate peripheral vascular resistance in postspaceflight orthostatic intolerance.

[Expression and clinical significance of LRP16 gene in human breast cancer].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Estrogen directly up-regulates LRP16 gene expression via activating its receptor (ER), and the overexpression of LRP16 promotes the proliferation of human breast cancer cells. This study was to detect the mRNA level of LRP16 gene in breast cancer, and investigate its correlation to the clinicopathologic features. METHODS: The mRNA level of LRP16 in carcinoma and matched peritumor tissues from 22 breast cancer patients was detected by Northern blot, and that in the tissues from 30 patients was detected by semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The expression of Ki-67, ER, and progesterone receptor (PR) in the carcinoma tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: According to the results of Northern blot, compared with that in peritumor tissues, LRP16 was overexpressed by 2 folds in 9 (40.9%) out of 22 breast cancer samples. Of the 9 samples with LRP16 overexpression, 7 were ER-positive, and 8 were PR-positive; of the 13 samples without LRP16 overexpression, 6 were ER-positive, and 5 were PR-negative. The positive rates of ER and PR were significantly higher in the samples with LRP16 overexpression than in the samples without LRP16 overexpression (P<0.05). Only 1 of the 9 samples with LRP16 overexpression was negative for both ER and PR, but 7 of the 13 without LRP16 overexpression were negative for both of them. The proportion of the tumors with diameters of 3.0-4.5 cm was significantly higher in the patients with LRP16 overexpression than in those without LRP16 overexpression (8/9 vs. 5/13, P=0.031). Axillary lymph node metastasis was detected in 12 out of 22 patients, including 8 of the 9 patients with LRP16 overexpression and 4 of the 13 without LRP16 overexpression (P=0.011). In addition, LRP16 overexpression was detected in 6 of the 8 patients with Ki-67 overexpression, and 2 of the 14 patients without Ki-67 overexpression (P=0.026). According to the results of RT-PCR, LRP16 was overexpressed in 9 (30%) out of 30 breast cancer samples. All of the 9 samples with LRP16 overexpression were positive for both ER and PR, with Ki-67 overexpression, tumor diameters of more than 3.5 cm and axillary lymph node metastasis. The differences between the patients with or without LRP16 overexpression were significant (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: LRP16 overexpression is closely correlated to the positive rates of ER and PR, Ki-67 level, tumor diameter, and axillary lymph node metastasis of breast cancer, and might be involved in the proliferation and metastasis of human breast cancer.