Utilization of Interdisciplinary Tumor Boards for Sarcoma Care in Germany: Results from the PROSa Study.

Background: Data on institutional structures of sarcoma care in Germany are scarce. The utilization of an interdisciplinary tumor board (IDTB) is an essential part of modern cancer care. We investigated to which extent and when IDTB are used in sarcoma care.

Faecal pyruvate kinase isoenzyme type M2 for colorectal cancer screening: a meta-analysis.

Aim: To present a critical discussion of the efficacy of the faecal pyruvate kinase isoenzyme type M2 (faecal M2-PK) test for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening based on the currently available studies.

Methods: A literature search in PubMed and Embase was conducted using the following search terms: fecal Tumor M2-PK, faecal Tumour M2-PK, fecal M2-PK, faecal M2-PK, fecal pyruvate kinase, faecal pyruvate kinase, pyruvate kinase stool and M2-PK stool.

Results: Stool samples from 704 patients with CRC and from 11 412 healthy subjects have been investigated for faecal M2-PK concentrations in seventeen independent studies.

Long-term results of endoscopic balloon dilatation of lower gastrointestinal tract strictures in Crohn's disease: a prospective study.

Aim: To examine the long-term results of endoscopic treatment in a prospective study conducted over a period of 10 years, 1997 to January 2007.

Methods: A total of 25 patients (20 female and five male: aged 18-75 years), with at least one symptom of stricture not passable with the standard colonoscope and with a confirmed scarred Crohn's stricture of the lower gastrointestinal tract, were included in the study. The main symptom was abdominal pain.

Colorectal cancer screening by non-invasive metabolic biomarker fecal tumor M2-PK.

Aim: To evaluate the utility of the innovative fecal tumor M2-Pyruvate kinase (M2-PK) test in our daily clinical routine, as a marker for the pre-selection of patients who should subsequently undergo colonoscopy for the diagnosis or exclusion of colorectal cancer.

Methods: Fecal tumor M2-PK was measured in stool samples of 96 study participants (33 patients with colorectal cancer, 21 patients with rectal carcinoma and 42 controls) who all underwent total colonoscopy.

Results: In 39 of 42 individuals in the control group, fecal tumor M2-PK was below 4.

From blood monocytes to adipose tissue-resident macrophages: induction of diapedesis by human mature adipocytes.

Obesity has been suggested to be a low-grade systemic inflammatory state, therefore we studied the interaction between human adipocytes and monocytes via adipose tissue (AT)-derived capillary endothelium. Cells composing the stroma-vascular fraction (SVF) of human ATs were characterized by fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis and two cell subsets (resident macrophages and endothelial cells [ECs]) were isolated using antibody-coupled microbeads. Media conditioned by mature adipocytes maintained in fibrin gels were applied to AT-derived ECs.