CT Imaging as a Single Modality for Clinical Staging of Gastric Cancer in Limited Resource Centers: A Retrospective Pilot Study.

Background: Gastric cancer disproportionately impacts populations in resource-limited settings. Within a safety-net network, we assessed the utility of computed tomography (CT) as a single staging modality.

Methods: We utilized a clinical database of gastric cancer patients treated within the Los Angeles County safety-net hospital system from 2016 to 2023 in conjunction with retrospective imaging review by certified radiologists.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is associated with improved disease-free survival in pancreatic cancer patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy with vascular resection.

Background And Objectives: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is becoming favored for all pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Patients with seemingly resectable disease infrequently still display vascular involvement intraoperatively. Outcomes following NAC versus upfront surgery in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) with vascular resection are unknown.

Rab9 Mediates Pancreatic Autophagy Switch From Canonical to Noncanonical, Aggravating Experimental Pancreatitis.

Background: Autophagosome, the central organelle in autophagy process, can assemble via canonical pathway mediated by LC3-II, the lipidated form of autophagy-related protein LC3/ATG8, or noncanonical pathway mediated by the small GTPase Rab9. Canonical autophagy is essential for exocrine pancreas homeostasis, and its disordering initiates and drives pancreatitis. The involvement of noncanonical autophagy has not been explored.

Dysregulation of mannose-6-phosphate-dependent cholesterol homeostasis in acinar cells mediates pancreatitis.

Disordered lysosomal/autophagy pathways initiate and drive pancreatitis, but the underlying mechanisms and links to disease pathology are poorly understood. Here, we show that the mannose-6-phosphate (M6P) pathway of hydrolase delivery to lysosomes critically regulates pancreatic acinar cell cholesterol metabolism. Ablation of the Gnptab gene encoding a key enzyme in the M6P pathway disrupted acinar cell cholesterol turnover, causing accumulation of nonesterified cholesterol in lysosomes/autolysosomes, its depletion in the plasma membrane, and upregulation of cholesterol synthesis and uptake.

The obesity paradox: Underweight patients are at the greatest risk of mortality after cholecystectomy.

Background: Elevated body mass index is a risk factor for gallstone disease and cholecystectomy, but outcomes for low body mass index patients remain uncharacterized. We examined the association of body mass index with morbidity, mortality, and resource use after cholecystectomy.

Methods: The 2005 to 2016 American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program was retrospectively analyzed for adult patients undergoing laparoscopic and open cholecystectomy.

Transgenic expression of GFP-LC3 perturbs autophagy in exocrine pancreas and acute pancreatitis responses in mice.

Pancreatitis is a common, sometimes fatal, disease of exocrine pancreas, initiated by damaged acinar cells. Recent studies implicate disordered macroautophagy/autophagy in pancreatitis pathogenesis. ATG8/LC3 protein is critical for autophagosome formation and a widely used marker of autophagic vacuoles.

Acute toxicity and early cosmetic outcome in patients treated with multilumen balloon brachytherapy with skin spacing ≤ 7.0 millimeters.

Purpose: To review institutional experience treating patients who underwent breast conserving surgery and adjuvant accelerated partial breast irradiation with multilumen balloon brachytherapy (MLB) with close skin spacing (≤7 mm).

Material And Methods: Since July 2009, 26 patients with skin spacing ≤ 7.0 mm were treated with breast-conserving therapy and adjuvant MLB brachytherapy.