Gastroesophageal reflux disease, mood swings, and frozen shoulder: A two-sample, two-step Mendelian randomization study.

A Mendelian randomization (MR) study was undertaken to establish a causal link between gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and frozen shoulder (FS), examining whether the risk of GERD with FS is mediated through mood fluctuations. Genetic loci from populations of independent European ancestry were selected as instrumental variables for GERD, FS, and mood swings. The primary analysis employed the inverse-variance weighted method supplemented by 3 additional analytical methods.

ALG3-CDG: lethal phenotype and novel variants in Chinese siblings.

Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are a group of genetic, mostly multisystem disorders, which often involve the central nervous system. ALG3-CDG is one the some 130 known CDG. Here we report two siblings with a severe phenotype and intrauterine death.

Role of microRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer related death worldwide. HCC develops through a multistep process that involves genetic and epigenetic changes. In addition to genetic and epigenetic mechanisms, recent studies have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) play essential roles in hepatocellular carcinogenesis through the post-transcriptional regulation of tumor associated-genes.

Differential diagnosis of gallbladder wall thickening: the usefulness of contrast-enhanced ultrasound.

he purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the differential diagnosis of gallbladder wall (GBW) thickening and determine the predictors of malignant GBW thickening. One hundred fifty-nine patients with GBW thickening, including 76 men and 83 women, from eight institutions were enrolled. CEUS was performed after injection of a sulfur hexafluoride microbubble-based ultrasound contrast agent.

Bipolar radiofrequency ablation for liver tumors: comparison of contrast-enhanced ultrasound with contrast-enhanced MRI/CT in the posttreatment imaging evaluation.

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in treatment response evaluation after percutaneous bipolar radiofrequency ablation (BRFA) for liver tumors.

Methods: From May 2012 to May 2014, 39 patients with 73 tumors were treated by BRFA. One month after the treatment, CEUS and CEMRI/CECT were conducted to evaluate the treatment response.

Acoustic radiation force impulse imaging: a new tool for the diagnosis of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma.

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of ARFI imaging in differentiating between benign and malignant thyroid nodules <1 cm.

Materials And Methods: 173 pathologically proven thyroid nodules (77 benign, 96 malignant) in 157 patients were included in this study. Receiver-operating characteristic curve (ROC) analyses were performed to assess the diagnostic performance of conventional ultrasound (US) and ARFI imaging in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC).

Solitary schwannoma of the gallbladder: a case report and literature review.

Schwannomas occurring in the gallbladder are extremely rare. Preoperative diagnosis of gallbladder schwannomas appears to be very difficult because they are normally asymptomatic and are often found incidentally. Until now, only five cases have been reported in the literature.

The safety and treatment response of combination therapy of radioimmunotherapy and radiofrequency ablation for solid tumor: a study in vivo.

Objection: To investigate the safety and treatment response of radioimmunotherapy (RIT) in combination with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of VX2 tumor on rabbit.

Materials And Methods: A total of 36 rabbits bearing VX2 tumor on the thigh were randomly assigned into 3 groups (group I: 1-2 cm; group II: 2-3 cm; group III: 3-4 cm) and 4 subgroups (A: as control, just puncture the tumor using the RFA electrode without power output; B: RFA alone; C: 131I-chTNT intratumoral injection alone; D: RFA+131I-chTNT intratumoral injection 3 days later). The variation of blood assay, weight and survival among different groups and subgroups were used to assess the treatment safety.

Conventional US, US elasticity imaging, and acoustic radiation force impulse imaging for prediction of malignancy in thyroid nodules.

Purpose: To evaluate conventional ultrasonography (US), US elasticity imaging (EI), and acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging in thyroid nodule malignancy prediction.

Materials And Methods: This prospective study was institutional review board approved; informed consent was obtained. Study included 375 patients (mean age, 51 years; range, 18-75 years) with 441 pathologically proven thyroid nodules.

Sorafenib blocks the HIF-1α/VEGFA pathway, inhibits tumor invasion, and induces apoptosis in hepatoma cells.

Hypoxia and hypoxia-driven angiogenesis play an important role on the recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after insufficient radiofrequency ablation. The hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α/vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGFA) pathway plays an important part in this process. Sorafenib is a multikinase inhibitor with activity against several receptor tyrosine kinases.

Management of hepatocellular carcinoma: The role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common neoplasm and the third cause of cancer death worldwide. Contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has been applied for more than ten years and plays increasingly important roles in the management of HCC. On the basis of the Guideline and Good Clinical Practice Recommendations for CEUS in the liver-update 2012 and related literature about the management of HCC, we summarize the main roles and applications of CEUS in the management of HCC, including HCC surveillance, diagnosis, CEUS-guided treatment, treatment response evaluation and follow-up.

Nano/microparticles and ultrasound contrast agents.

Microbubbles have been used for many years now in clinical practice as contrast agents in ultrasound imaging. Recently, their therapeutic applications have also attracted more attention. However, the short circulation time (minutes) and relatively large size (two to ten micrometers) of currently used commercial microbubbles do not allow effective extravasation into tumor tissue, preventing efficient tumor targeting.

Radiofrequency ablation before intratumoral injection of (131)I-chTNT improves the tumor-to-normal tissue ratio in solid VX2 tumor.

Purpose: This study was aimed to investigate whether the tumor necrosis induced by radiofrequency ablation (RFA) can improve the ratio of tumor-to-normal tissue (T/NT) after intratumoral injection of (131)I-chTNT.

Materials And Method: Eighteen New Zealand rabbits bearing VX2 tumor on the thigh were randomly divided into two treatment groups (control group: intratumoral injection of (131)I-chTNT alone; RFA group: RFA + intratumoral injection of (131)I-chTNT 3 days after RFA) and each group was further divided into three subgroups I, II, and III (1-2 cm, 2-3 cm, and 3-4 cm in maximum diameter, respectively), by the tumor size. SPECT was performed to evaluate the T/NT on days 1, 8, and 15 after (131)I-chTNT injection.

Role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in follow-up assessment after ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Aim: To assess the usefulness of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) during follow-up after percutaneous ablation therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: A total of 141 patients with HCCs who received percutaneous ablation therapy were assessed by paired follow-up CEUS and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT). The follow-up scheme was designed prospectively and the intervals between CEUS and CECT examinations were less than 14 d.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound versus conventional ultrasound in the diagnosis of polypoid lesion of gallbladder: a multi-center study of dynamic microvascularization.

Objective: To assess the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the diagnosis of polypoid lesions of gallbladder (PLGs).

Methods: CEUS was performed to 116 patients (mean age, 49.6 years; range, 21-80 years) with PLGs from 8 university hospitals.

Parametric imaging with contrast-enhanced ultrasound: usefulness for characterization of dynamic effects of microvascularization for hepatocellular carcinoma and focal nodular hyperplasia.

Objective: To evaluate whether parametric imaging with contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is equal to experienced radiologists after review of CEUS in differentiating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH).

Methods: An image processing software was used to quantitatively analyze the CEUS clips of 30 HCCs (mean diameter, 3.4±0.

Sorafenib suppresses the rapid progress of hepatocellular carcinoma after insufficient radiofrequency ablation therapy: an experiment in vivo.

Background: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a widely applied treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but insufficient RFA can promote rapid progression of the residual tumor through the hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α)/vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) pathway. Although sorafenib has been successfully applied to advanced HCC, the use of sorafenib in residual tumor cells after RFA has rarely been tested.

Purpose: To evaluate the potential role of sorafenib as an adjunct to RFA to reduce the recurrence rate after insufficient RFA.