Prognostic impact of clinical outcome after endoscopic gastroduodenal stent placement for malignant gastric outlet obstruction: a multicenter retrospective cohort study using a time-dependent analysis.

Background: Endoscopic gastroduodenal stent (GDS) placement is widely used as a safe and effective method to rapidly improve gastrointestinal symptoms of malignant gastric outlet obstruction (MGOO). While previous studies reported the utility of chemotherapy after GDS placement for prognosis improvement, they did not fully address the issue of immortal time bias.

Objectives: To examine the association between prognosis and clinical course following endoscopic GDS placement, using a time-dependent analysis.

[A case of diaphragmatic hernia following colonoscopy].

An 89-year-old woman with a history of traumatic injury was referred to our hospital for further evaluation of anemia. Two days after colonoscopy, she complained of intermittent abdominal pain. An abdominal computed tomography confirmed a left diaphragmatic defect with a herniated transverse colon.

[Multiple gastrointestinal stromal tumors during nilotinib treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia in a patient with neurofibromatosis type 1].

A 60-year-old woman with neurofibromatosis type 1 presented to our hospital with melena. She reported a 1-year history of treatment with nilotinib hydrochloride hydrate for chronic myelogenous leukemia. Contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography revealed multiple intestinal tumors that were subsequently diagnosed as gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) using single-balloon enteroscopy.

Nucleostemin in injury-induced liver regeneration.

The high regenerative capacity of liver contributes to the maintenance of its size and function when injury occurs. Partial hepatectomy induces division of mature hepatocytes to maintain liver function, whereas severe injury stimulates expansion of undifferentiated hepatic precursor cells, which supply mature cells. Although several factors reportedly function in liver regeneration, the precise mechanisms underlying regeneration remain unclear.

Identification of tumor-initiating cells in a highly aggressive brain tumor using promoter activity of nucleostemin.

Controversy remains over whether the cancer stem cell (CSC) theory applies to all tumors. To determine whether cells within a highly aggressive solid tumor are stochastically or hierarchically organized, we combined a reporter system where the nucleostemin (NS) promoter drives GFP expression (termed NS-GFP) with a mouse brain tumor model induced by retroviral Ras expression on a p16(Ink4a)/p19(Arf)-deficient background. The NS-GFP system allowed us to monitor the differentiation process of normal neural stem/precursor cells by analyzing GFP fluorescence intensity.

Identification of stem cells during prepubertal spermatogenesis via monitoring of nucleostemin promoter activity.

The nucleostemin (NS) gene encodes a nucleolar protein found at high levels in several types of stem cells and tumor cell lines. The function of NS is unclear but it may play a critical role in S-phase entry by stem/progenitor cells. Here we characterize NS expression in murine male germ cells.