Neuroimaging and neuroendocrine insights into food cravings and appetite interventions in obesity.

This article reviews the previous studies on the distinction between food cravings and appetite, and how they are regulated by hormones and reflected in brain activity. Based on existing research, food cravings are defined as individual preferences influenced by hormones and psychological factors, which differ from appetite, as they are not necessarily related to hunger or nutritional needs. The article also evaluates the neuroimaging findings about food cravings, and interventions to reduce food cravings, such as mindfulness training, alternative sweeteners, non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and imaginal retraining, and points out their advantages, disadvantages, and limitations.

Development of Chinese food picture library for inducing food cravings.

Cue-induced food cravings are strong desires directed toward specific foods, usually ones with high caloric content, and can lead to overeating. However, although food cravings vary according to individual preferences for specific high-calorie food subtypes, a structured library of food craving-inducing pictures including multiple categories of high-calorie foods does not yet exist. Here, we developed and validated a picture library of Chinese foods (PLCF) consisting of five subtypes of high-calorie foods (i.

Colorectal cancer treatment in octogenarians: elective or emergency surgery?

Background: The purpose of this research was to assess the characteristics of octogenarian patients with colorectal cancer and compare specific outcomes due to different types of surgical procedures used to treat the disease.

Methods: A total of 346 octogenarian patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer between April 2000 and April 2010 were retrospectively assessed according to elective (n = 261) or emergent (n = 85) admission group. The two groups were compared for clinical variables, surgical procedures, morbidity and mortality, ICU admission, length of hospital stay and overall survival.

Histological complete response to a combined docetaxel/cisplatin/fluorouracil neoadjuvant chemotherapy for T4 stage gastric adenocarcinoma.

Local advanced gastric carcinoma has a very poor prognosis. When a T4 gastric carcinoma has invaded the surrounding tissues and organs, curative resection is unlikely. We present here a case of a 63-year-old woman with a T4 unresectable gastric adenocarcinoma.

Factors associated with mortality risk for malignant colonic obstruction in elderly patients.

Background: Acute colonic obstruction is the most common complication of colorectal cancer (CRC) in elderly patients. Medical treatment has been associated with higher perioperative morbidity and mortality rates. There is a need for identification of elderly CRC patients who will do poorly so that results can be improved.

Prevalence, clinicopathological characteristics, treatment, and prognosis of intestinal metastasis of primary lung cancer: a comprehensive review.

Aim: Lung cancer is mostly diagnosed at the advanced stage of disease. This review focused on prevalence, clinicopathological characteristics, treatment, and prognosis of intestine metastasis of primary lung cancer.

Methods: Published literature was searched using PubMed/Medline databases to extract studies on primary lung cancer metastasized to the intestine and then analyzed statistically.

Delayed surgery for rectal cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy: a promising method in its infancy.

Background: Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) is used to downstage locally advanced rectal cancer before surgery. Accumulating data suggest that tumor response to nCRT is time dependent. A delay between nCRT and surgery may increase the proportion of patients that achieve a favorable response.

Minimally invasive video-assisted thyroidectomy for accidental papillary thyroid microcarcinoma: comparison with conventional open thyroidectomy with 5 years follow-up.

Background: Minimally invasive video-assisted thyroidectomy (MIVAT) has received increasing attention for malignant thyroid diseases. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of MIVAT with conventional open thyroidectomy (CT) for papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC).

Methods: Thirty-one patients were treated with MIVAT and 37 with CT.

Association of hypomethylation of LINE-1 repetitive element in blood leukocyte DNA with an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Global DNA hypomethylation has been associated with increased risk for cancers of the colorectum, bladder, breast, head and neck, and testicular germ cells. The aim of this study was to examine whether global hypomethylation in blood leukocyte DNA is associated with the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A total of 315 HCC cases and 356 age-, sex- and HBsAg status-matched controls were included.

Comparison of self-expanding metal stents and urgent surgery for left-sided malignant colonic obstruction in elderly patients.

Background: Acute left-sided malignant colonic obstruction is common in elderly patients and multiple treatment options exist. To date, the use of self-expanding metallic stents (SEMS) in elderly patients has not been adequately described.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to compare mortality, avoidance of stoma, and short-term survival in elderly patients with malignant bowel obstruction treated with either colonic stenting or surgery.

Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist reduced apoptosis and attenuated intestinal mucositis in a 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy model in mice.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between changes in IL-1β expression and intestinal apoptosis after chemotherapy. And we further determine whether interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) reduces apoptosis in vivo after 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) chemotherapy in the small intestine.

Methods: Intestinal mucositis was induced in mice by intraperitoneal injection of a single dose of 5-FU (200 mg/kg).

Association of genetic polymorphisms in STAT1 gene with increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective: Although signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1), a transcription factor, plays a critical role in carcinogenesis and has been implicated as a tumor suppressor, few studies have investigated the associations between polymorphisms of this gene and the risk of cancer development. The aim of this study was to examine whether STAT1 gene polymorphisms are associated with the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: Ten single nucleotide polymorphisms in the STAT1 gene were genotyped by TaqMan assays in 469 HCC cases and 558 age-, sex- and HBsAg-matched controls in a Chinese population.

[Expression of omentin in adipose tissues in obese and type 2 diabetic patients].

Objective: To analyze the mRNA expression of omentin mRNA level in subcutaneous and omental adipose tissues of normal, obese, and type 2 diabetic individuals and to investigate the relationship between omentin mRNA expression and serum omentin level, body fat parameters, glucose and lipid metabolism, and insulin resistance indexes.

Methods: 36 patients with benign diseases undergoing selective abdominal operation, 19 males and 17 females, aged 20 - 65, included 12 with normal glucose regulation and normal weight (NGR-NW group), 12 with normal glucose regulation and overweight/obesity (NGR-OW/OB group), and 12 with type 2 diabetes and overweight/obesity (T2DM-OW/OB group). Abdominal subcutaneous and omental adipose tissues were obtained during operation.

Association of transforming growth factor-beta 1 polymorphisms with genetic susceptibility to TNM stage I or II gastric cancer.

Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta1) inhibits the proliferation of tumors in early stages of cancers, whereas it promotes tumor growth and metastasis in later stages of cancers. To examine the effect of the TGF-beta1 polymorphisms on gastric cancer risk, we studied the association between C-509T and T+29C (Leu10Pro) polymorphisms in TGF-beta1 and gastric cancer risk in 414 cases and 414 controls in the Chinese population. When the overall gastric cancer cases were compared with the controls, no significant difference was found in genotype distributions for both the polymorphisms examined.