Influence of overweight on patients with gastric cancer after undergoing curative gastrectomy: an analysis of 689 consecutive cases managed by a single center.

Hypothesis: Overweight (body mass index [calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared], > or =25.0) has an effect on surgical results, postoperative complications, and long-term survival in patients with gastric cancer who underwent curative gastrectomy.

Design: Retrospective study from January 1, 1992, through December 31, 2002.

High CCR7 mRNA expression of cancer cells is associated with lymph node involvement in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is one of the biological malignant tumors. Once a tumor invades the submucosa, an incidence of lymph node (LN) metastases is very high, thus resulting in poor survival. Recently, chemokines have been reported to play an important role in organ-specific metastases in several malignancies.

[Bacillus cereus bacteremia in Crohn's disease with multiple ileal stricture on maintenance azathioprine therapy].

We describe a case of 36-year-old Japanese man with Crohn's disease, complicated by Bacillus cereus bacteremia on maintenance azathioprine therapy. Although anti-microbial agents were ineffective, the patient became well immediately after a partial resection of the ileum with multiple severe stenosis.

Multifocal metanephric adenoma in childhood.

Metanephric adenoma is the most commonly occurring member of the metanephric tumor family, which also includes metanephric adenofibroma and metanephric stromal tumor. According to the World Health Organization classification, however, it is not commonly multifocal. Reported herein is the case of a 9-year-old boy with multifocal metanephric adenoma.

Neurofibromatosis type 1-related gastrointestinal stromal tumors: a special reference to loss of heterozygosity at 14q and 22q.

Purpose: Multiple gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) rarely occur in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1). In contrast to sporadic GISTs characterized by frequent allelic losses of 1p, 14q and 22q and mutations of KIT or PDGFRA gene with the activation of the downstream RAS-MAPK pathway, the molecular pathogenetic mechanisms of NF-1-related GISTs (NF-1 GISTs) remain unclear.

Methods: Thirty-one GISTs and two foci of Cajal cell hyperplasia (CCH) were obtained from five patients with NF-1.

Clinicopathological and immunohistochemical study of extrapleural and pleural solitary fibrous tumors: A special emphasis on the comparison between ordinary tumors and their malignant variant.

Solitary fibrous tumors (SFTs) are rare spindle cell tumors that usually arise in the pleura, although they also occur in extrapleural sites. SFTs usually have a favorable clinical course; however, a small number of metastasizing cases have been reported. We evaluated the detailed clinicopathological findings of 20 extrapleural and 16 pleural SFTs.

Correlation between beta-catenin widespread nuclear expression and matrix metalloproteinase-7 overexpression in sporadic desmoid tumors.

Desmoid tumors (desmoid-type fibromatoses) are locally aggressive soft tissue tumors associated with the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway (APC-beta-catenin-Tcf pathway). Matrix metalloproteinase-7, which is one of the target genes of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway, has been reported to play an important role in tumor progression. We examined the immunohistochemical expression of beta-catenin and matrix metalloproteinase-7 in 72 samples (63 primary and 9 recurrent samples, 63 patients) of sporadic desmoid tumors without familial adenomatous polyposis, and the genetic alteration of the beta-catenin gene in 33 frozen materials (22 primary and 11 recurrent samples, 22 patients).

Multiple early gastric cancer with gastritis cystica profunda showing various histological types.

We report a case of multiple early gastric cancer showing varied histological types associated with gastritis cystica profunda (GCP). A 61-year-old man who had early gastric cancer associated with GCP underwent a distal gastrectomy with lymphadenectomy. Histological examination showed various histological types of cancer -well differentiated, moderately differentiated, poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, mucinous adenocarcinoma and signet ring cell carcinoma- that had developed independently in the mucosal and submucosal layers of the resected specimen.

[Case of gastric cancer with isolated brain metastasis successfully managed by gamma knife radiotherapy and chemotherapy].

We describe a 51-year-old man case of a huge gastric cancer with an initial presentation of isolated brain metastasis. The patient was successfully managed by gamma knife radiotherapy, followed by chemotherapy using 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin. He has continued oral administration of TS-1 on an outpatient basis with disease free survival for more than one year.

Effect of community-based nutrition education intervention on calcium intake and bone mass in postmenopausal Vietnamese women.

Objective: To examine the effect of community-based nutrition education intervention on calcium intake and bone mass in Vietnamese postmenopausal women.

Design: A controlled trial was conducted in two groups as intervention and control. The intervention group was given nutrition education during 18 months to improve calcium intake, while the control subjects had the usual diet.

Development and validation of food frequency questionnaire to assess calcium intake in postmenopausal Vietnamese women.

This study was done to develop a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) for assessing calcium intake in Vietnamese based on data from the National Nutrition Survey in 2000. From the data, a total of 36 calcium-rich food items were selected for the FFQ by ranking food items according to their contribution to the population intake of nutrients. The FFQ was validated in 140 postmenopausal women by comparing estimates of calcium intake from the FFQ with those from multi-pass 24 h recalls.

Laparoscopic resection for gastrointestinal stromal tumors of the stomach.

Background: We reviewed our experience with primary gastrointestinal tumors (GISTs) after surgical treatment.

Methods: Between 1998 and 2003, 56 patients who underwent surgical treatment for primary GIST of the stomach were enrolled in this study. Statistical analyses of the risk factors for recurrence were assessed.

Analysis of the prognostic factors and evaluation of surgical treatment for synchronous liver metastases from gastric cancer.

Background And Aims: Whether or not a synchronous resection of liver metastases from gastric cancer provides a survival benefit has been a key issue. We identify the significant prognostic factors and clarify the beneficial effect on the survival of liver surgical treatment.

Materials And Methods: We reviewed 72 patients who underwent a gastrectomy for gastric cancer with synchronous liver metastases and classified the liver metastases into three grades, such as H1: metastases were limited to one of the lobes, H2: there were a few scattered metastases in both lobes, and H3: there were numerous scattered metastases.

Aberrantly spliced alpha-dystrobrevin alters alpha-syntrophin binding in myotonic dystrophy type 1.

Background: Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a multisystemic disorder caused by a CTG repeat expansion in the DMPK gene. Aberrant messenger RNA (mRNA) splicing of several genes has been reported to explain some of the symptoms in DM1, but the cause of muscle wasting is still unknown. By contrast, many forms of muscular dystrophy are caused by abnormalities of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC).

Tumor vaccine therapy against recrudescent tumor using dendritic cells simultaneously transfected with tumor RNA and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor RNA.

Recently, dendritic cells (DC) transfected with tumor RNA have been used as a cancer vaccine. The efficacy of a cancer vaccine using DC transfected tumor RNA was examined. Of particular interest was whether a vaccine using DC transfected with recrudescent tumor RNA is effective for the treatment of a regrowing tumor after prior immunotherapy.

Streptococcal preparation OK-432 promotes the capacity of dendritic cells (DCs) to prime carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses induced with genetically modified DCs that express CEA.

Cancer immunotherapy using dendritic cells (DCs) adenovirally transduced with the whole tumor-associated antigen (TAA) gene is an effective approach. Streptococcal preparation OK-432 is useful for stimulating DCs in terms of maturation. In this study, we established carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) using in vitro stimulation with adenovirally modified human DCs that express CEA.

An analysis of the factors contributing to a reduction in the incidence of pulmonary complications following an esophagectomy for esophageal cancer.

Background: Pulmonary complications occur most frequently following a transthoracic esophagectomy for esophageal cancer and would get to be lethal occasionally. In this study, we sought to determine the effect of respiratory physiotherapy, corticosteroid administration, and the use of the video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) esophagectomy with a small thoracotomy incision, on the incidence of pulmonary complications following a transthoracic subtotal esophagectomy.

Materials And Methods: Approximately 184 patients who had undergone a right transthoracic subtotal esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the thoracic esophagus were studied.

[Crohn's ileocolitis with initially superimposed cytomegalovirus infection, resembling intestinal tuberculosis].

We describe a case of 41-year-old Japanese man with Crohn's ileocolitis and cytomegalovirus infection, confirmed by histology of ileal ulcers. Although his colonoscopic and radiological features resembled those of intestinal tuberculosis, granulomas of typical Crohn's disease were evident on histology of biopsy specimens taken from the duodenum and colon. The lesions remain unchanged even after 1.

Primary hepatic low-grade B-cell lymphoma of MALT-type associated with Helicobacter pylori infection.

Primary marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of mucosa associated tissue (MALT) type in the liver is extremely rare, and the etiology of this disease is yet to be clarified. We present the first report of a primary hepatic low-grade lymphoma of MALT-type associated with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection.

An autopsy case of Merkel cell carcinoma presenting aggressive intraabdominal metastasis and duodenal obstruction.

A 85-year-old Japanese woman was urgently admitted to our hospital complaining of vomiting 20 months after the initial diagnosis of Merkel cell carcinoma on the right eyelid. The patient died of a huge intra-abdominal mass with complete obstruction of the distal duodenum two months later. On autopsy, the mass measuring 18 x 12 x 5 cm in size was histologically diagnosed as metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma and directly invaded the stomach, pancreas, and distal duodenum.

Benefits of gene transduction of granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor in cancer vaccine using genetically modified dendritic cells.

Granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is a key cytokine for the generation and stimulation of dendritic cells (DCs), and it may also play a pivotal role in promoting the survival of DCs. In this study, the feasibility of creating a cancer vaccine using DCs adenovirally transduced with the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) gene and the GM-CSF gene was examined. In addition, the effect of the co-transduction of GM-CSF gene on the lifespan of these genetically modified DCs was determined.