An ent-kaurane diterpenoid from Croton tonkinensis induces apoptosis by regulating AMP-activated protein kinase in SK-HEP1 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer with high mortality worldwide. Traditional chemotherapy for HCC is not widely accepted by clinical practitioners because of its toxic side effects. Thus, there is a need to identify chemotherapeutic drugs against HCC.

Risk stratification of pT1-3N0 patients after radical cystectomy for adjuvant chemotherapy counselling.

Background: In pT1-T3N0 urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) patients, multi-modal therapy is inconsistently recommended. The aim of the study was to develop a prognostic tool to help decision-making regarding adjuvant therapy.

Methods: We included 2145 patients with pT1-3N0 UCB after radical cystectomy (RC), naive of neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy.

Plasmid IL-12 electroporation in melanoma.

Intratumoral gene electroporation uses electric charges to facilitate entry of plasmid DNA into cells in a reproducible and highly efficient manner, especially to accessible sites such as cutaneous and subcutaneous melanomas. Effective for locally treated disease, electroporation of plasmid DNA encoding interleukin-12 can also induce responses in untreated distant disease, suggesting that adaptive immune responses are being elicited that can target melanoma-associated antigens. In vivo electroporation with immunomodulatory cytokine DNA is a promising approach that can trigger systemic anti-tumor immune responses without the systemic toxicity associated with intravenous cytokine delivery and potentially offer complete long-term tumor regression.

Accurate risk assessment of patients with asymptomatic hematuria for the presence of bladder cancer.

Purpose: Bladder cancer is frequently diagnosed during a workup for hematuria. However, most patients with microscopic hematuria and many with gross hematuria are not appropriately referred to urologists. We hypothesized that in patients presenting with asymptomatic hematuria the risk of having bladder cancer can be predicted with high accuracy.

Economic burden of acute pesticide poisoning in South Korea.

Objectives: To investigate the magnitude and characteristics of the economic burden resulting from acute pesticide poisoning (APP) in South Korea.

Methods: The total costs of APP from a societal perspective were estimated by summing the direct medical and non-medical costs together with the indirect costs. Direct medical costs for patients assigned a disease code of pesticide poisoning were extracted from the Korean National Health Insurance Reimbursement Data.

Understanding cultural issues in the diabetes self-management behaviors of Korean immigrants.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore potential factors affecting the self-management behaviors of Korean immigrants with type 2 diabetes mellitus (KIT2Ds).

Methods: A qualitative descriptive design guided this study. Semistructured interviews lasting 45 to 60 minutes were conducted with 20 KIT2Ds in the participants' preferred language; in all cases, this was Korean.

Disease-free survival as a surrogate for overall survival in upper tract urothelial carcinoma.

Objectives: The primary endpoint in trials of perioperative systemic therapy for urothelial carcinoma is 5-year overall survival (OS). A shorter-term endpoint could significantly speed the translation of advances into practice. We hypothesized that disease-free survival (DFS) could be a surrogate endpoint for OS in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) patients treated with radical nephroureterectomy (RNU).

Magnolol-induced apoptosis in HCT-116 colon cancer cells is associated with the AMP-activated protein kinase signaling pathway.

Colon cancer is the third most common malignancy around the world. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy are generally used to treat colon cancer, but no effective therapy for advanced colon carcinoma is available. Therefore, there is a need to identify other therapeutic agents against this disease.

Cost-effective treatment of low-risk carcinoma not invading bladder muscle.

Unlabelled: Study Type - Therapy (cost effectiveness analysis) Level of Evidence 2a What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? Bladder cancer is one of the costliest malignancies to treat throughout the life of a patient. The most cost-effective management for low-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer is not known. The current study shows that employing cystoscopic office fulguration for low-risk appearing bladder cancer recurrences can materially impact the cost-effectiveness of therapy.

Loss of SPINK1 expression is associated with unfavorable outcomes in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder after radical cystectomy.

Background: We assessed the association of serine protease inhibitor Kazal type I (SPINK1) expression with clinicopathologic outcomes in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) patients treated with radical cystectomy (RC).

Materials And Methods: Tissue microarrays comprising 438 consecutive UCB patients treated with RC between 1988 and 2003 and 62 cases of normal urothelium controls were evaluated for SPINK1 protein expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Semiquantitative evaluation was performed by 2 pathologists blinded to clinical outcomes (loss of expression: <50% cells or intensity 0-2).

Predictors of cancer-specific mortality after disease recurrence following radical cystectomy.

Unlabelled: Study Type - Therapy (case series) Level of Evidence 4 What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? Outcomes after disease recurrence in patients with urothelial carcinoma of the bladder treated with radical cystectomy are variable, but the majority of patients die from the disease within 2 years after disease recurrence. Knowledge about prognostic factors that may influence survival after disease recurrence is limited. We found that outcomes after disease recurrence in patients with urothelial carcinoma of the bladder are significantly affected by common clinicopathological factors.

High current density and nonlinearity combination of selection device based on TaO(x)/TiO2/TaO(x) structure for one selector-one resistor arrays.

We demonstrate a high-performance selection device by utilizing the concept of crested oxide barrier to suppress the sneak current in bipolar resistive memory arrays. Using a TaO(x)/TiO(2)/TaO(x) structure, high current density over 10(7) A cm(-2) and excellent nonlinear characteristics up to 10(4) were successfully demonstrated. On the basis of the defect chemistry and SIMS depth profile result, we found that some Ta atoms gradually diffused into TiO(2) film, and consequently, the energy band of the TiO(2) film was symmetrically bent at the top and bottom TaO(x)/TiO(2) interfaces and modified as a crested oxide barrier.

A comparative study of breast-specific gamma imaging with the conventional imaging modality in breast cancer patients with dense breasts.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) as compared with mammography (MMG) and ultrasonography (US).

Methods: This study retrospectively enrolled 121 women with breast cancer (45.0 ± 8.

Effectiveness of breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) for breast cancer in Korea: a comparative study.

Despite the fact that mammography has been the golden standard in breast cancer detection for several decades, its sensitivity decreases for women with dense breast tissue, which happens to be common in Korea. As an alternative, breast ultrasonography can be effective diagnostic modalities that complement the defect of mammography. Recently, breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) has been introduced as a new diagnostic modality for breast cancer.

Extranodal extension is a powerful prognostic factor in bladder cancer patients with lymph node metastasis.

Background: Lymph node metastasis (LNM) is the most powerful pathologic predictor of disease recurrence after radical cystectomy (RC). However, the outcomes of patients with LNM are highly variable.

Objective: To assess the prognostic value of extranodal extension (ENE) and other lymph node (LN) parameters.

Structural characterization of an intrinsically unfolded mini-HBX protein from hepatitis B virus.

The hepatitis B virus x protein (HBX) is expressed in HBV-infected liver cells and can interact with a wide range of cellular proteins. In order to understand such promiscuous behavior of HBX we expressed a truncated mini-HBX protein (named Tr-HBX) (residues 18-142) with 5 Cys → Ser mutations and characterized its structural features using circular dichroism (CD) spectropolarimetry, NMR spectroscopy as well as bioinformatics tools for predicting disorder in intrinsically unstructured proteins (IUPs). The secondary structural content of Tr-HBX from CD data suggests that Tr-HBX is only partially folded.

Outcomes and prognostic factors in patients with a single lymph node metastasis at time of radical cystectomy.

Objectives: To identify clinicopathological factors that predict outcomes in patients with a single lymph node (LN) metastasis (pN1) treated with radical cystectomy (RC) for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB). LN metastasis is an established predictor of clinical outcomes in patients. While most patients with large LN burden experience disease recurrence, lymphadenectomy can be curative in patients with pN1 disease.

Risk of cancer-specific mortality following recurrence after radical nephroureterectomy.

Purpose: To describe the natural history and identify predictors of cancer-specific survival in patients who experience disease recurrence after radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) for upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).

Methods: Of 2,494 UTUC patients treated with RNU without neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 597 patients experienced disease recurrence. A total of 148 patients (25 %) received adjuvant chemotherapy before disease recurrence.

Accurate preoperative prediction of non-organ-confined bladder urothelial carcinoma at cystectomy.

Unlabelled: WHAT'S KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT? AND WHAT DOES THE STUDY ADD?: Upstaging to non-organ-confined (NOC) disease is frequent at the time of radical cystectomy for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB). Pre-surgical models that can accurately predict which patients are likely to have more extensive disease are sparse. The present study developed an accurate nomogram for the prediction of NOC-UCB based on a cohort of patients with clinically organ-confined disease.

Fatty acid synthase inhibition by amentoflavone suppresses HER2/neu (erbB2) oncogene in SKBR3 human breast cancer cells.

Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is a potential therapeutic target for treatment of cancer and obesity, and is highly elevated in 30% of HER2-overexpressing breast cancers. Considerable interest has developed in searching for novel FASN inhibitors as therapeutic agents in treatment of HER2-overexpressing breast cancers. Amentoflavone was found to be effective in suppressing FASN expression in HER2-positive SKBR3 cells.

Development of a fibre-optic dosemeter to measure the skin dose and percentage depth dose in the build-up region of therapeutic photon beams.

In this study, a fibre-optic dosemeter (FOD) using an organic scintillator with a diameter of 0.5 mm for photon-beam therapy dosimetry was fabricated. The fabricated dosemeter has many advantages, including water equivalence, high spatial resolution, remote sensing and real-time measurement.

Impact of smoking on oncologic outcomes of upper tract urothelial carcinoma after radical nephroureterectomy.

Background: Cigarette smoking is a common risk factor for developing upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).

Objective: To assess the impact of cigarette smoking status, cumulative smoking exposure, and time from cessation on oncologic UTUC outcomes in patients treated with radical nephroureterectomy (RNU).

Design, Setting, And Participants: A total of 864 patients underwent RNU at five institutions.

Pathologic nodal staging score for bladder cancer: a decision tool for adjuvant therapy after radical cystectomy.

Background: Radical cystectomy (RC) with pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) is the standard of care for high-risk non-muscle-invasive and muscle-invasive bladder cancer (BCa).

Objective: To develop a model that allows quantification of the likelihood that a pathologically node-negative patient has, indeed, no positive nodes.

Design, Setting, And Participants: We analyzed data from 4335 patients treated with RC and PLND without neoadjuvant chemotherapy at 12 international academic centers.