Mean number of lymph nodes in colonic cancer specimen: possible quality control index for surgical performance.

Unlabelled: Lymphatic involvement in colonic cancer explains the need for extensive lymphadenectomy for intended curative operations. Surgical skills may determine the actual extent of the procedure and indirectly the number of lymphnodes (LN) removed from each specimen.

Material And Methods: We looked on a series of 329 consecutive patients with colonic cancer who underwent a standardized procedure including extensive lymphadenectomy.

Laparoscopic retrieval of gossypibomas--short series and review of literature.

Unlabelled: Laparoscopic removal of retained abdominal foreign bodies represents an obscure domain of minimally invasive surgery. Although not an infrequent situation in general surgical practice, there are very few papers presenting laparoscopic approache in these circumstances. An iatrogenic foreign body following surgery, is a serious complication that may lead to medico-legal problem.

Varenicline for smoking cessation intervention in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Introduction: In smoking-related chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), smoking cessation was previously demonstrated to reduce lung function decline and disease morbidity if it resulted in a sustained tobacco abstinence. Varenicline is a newer pharmacologic therapeutic agent able to reduce withdrawal symptoms in smokers, and this makes it particularly valuable in inducing abstinence in patients with significant addiction.

Areas Covered: This paper discusses the results of a randomized, placebo-controlled study evaluating the effects of a smoking cessation intervention including varenicline in patients with COPD.

Inhaled gentamicin in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis: effects of long-term therapy.

Bronchiectasis is a disease state defined by irreducible dilations of the airways. If they occur in diseases other than cystic fibrosis they are termed non-CF bronchiectasis. The common denominator is the increased risk of recurrent infections with bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus or Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Aclidinium bromide in experimental asthma.

Underlying inflammation in asthma increases the activity of the cholinergic nervous system, contributing to bronchoconstriction/airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR) and mucus hypersecretion. Inhaled anticholinergics with shorter duration of action were initially used and then discontinued when other bronchodilators became available. Previous preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated that tiotropium bromide, a long-acting anticholinergic currently approved for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, might be an effective therapy in asthma.

Targeting the Toll-like receptor 7 pathway in asthma: a potential immunomodulatory approach?

In allergic airways, as in asthma, inflammation and impaired functioning of toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) has been found. The augmentation of this receptor with agonist compounds resulted in bronchodilation and a switch of the T(H)2 inflammatory pattern, specific for allergic conditions, to T(H)1 inflammation, characterised by an increased production of interferon-γ. This was a preclinical study evaluating the effects of two TLR7 agonists, imiquimod and resiquimod, on the isolated guinea pig trachea.

Cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator potentiators as promising cystic fibrosis therapies.

Introduction: Several types of mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) gene lead to abnormal CFTR protein and alterations of chloride and sodium transmembrane transportation in cystic fibrosis (CF). Some investigational compounds such as VX-770 can improve CFTR protein function.

Areas Covered: This paper discusses the results of a Phase II study investigating the safety and efficacy of VX-770 in patients with CF.

Tiotropium in the treatment of asthma.

Existing asthma therapies are not always able to achieve disease control. The addition of tiotropium bromide to inhaled corticosteroids might be effective in improving disease outcome. This paper discusses the results of a study evaluating the effects of tiotropium bromide added to inhaled corticosteroids when compared to other regimens in patients with uncontrolled asthma.

Crizotinib for EML4-ALK positive lung adenocarcinoma: a hope for the advanced disease? Evaluation of Kwak EL, Bang YJ, Camidge DR, et al. Anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibition in non-small-cell lung cancer. N Engl J Med 2010;363(18):1693-703.

Introduction: In lung adenocarcinoma, certain mutations such as echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) are associated with lower sensitivity to chemotherapy, when used conventionally as the first-line therapy in the advanced stage of the disease.

Areas Covered: This paper discusses the clinical and therapeutic importance of ALK mutations in NSCLC and the early clinical results of a Phase I study assessing crizotinib in patients with ALK mutations.

Expert Opinion: Abnormal ALK is evolving as an important therapeutic target in patients with more aggressive lung adenocarcinoma.

Immunohistochemical analysis of steroid receptors, proliferation markers, apoptosis related molecules, and gelatinases in non-neoplastic and neoplastic endometrium.

Endometrioid endometrial carcinoma developed from endometrial hyperplasia is associated with anomalies of proliferation, apoptosis, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression. Our study was designed to investigate steroid receptor (ER, PR) expression and its correlation with proliferative activity (PCNA), apoptosis (Fas, FasL, Bcl-2, Bax, and p53), gelatinases (MMP-2 and MMP-9) and their tissue specific inhibitor (TIMP-1 and TIMP-2) immunoexpression in endometrial carcinogenesis. A total of 38 cases were investigated, 10 non-neoplastic, 11 hyperplastic, and 17 carcinomatous endometria.

Palliative gastrectomy in patients with stage IV gastric cancer--our recent experience.

Background: Patients with metastatic gastric cancer are usually not good operative candidates. Recent improvements in surgical techniques allowed palliative gastric resection and other surgical procedures.

Method: We have examined the place of palliative gastrectomy and its impact on survival in stage IV gastric cancer patients admitted in 2003-2008 period.

GM-CSF pathway correction in pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.

Importance Of The Field: Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare disease in which the abnormalities in surfactant metabolism are caused most often by impairments of GM-CSF pathway at different levels in different disease subsets (congenital, secondary, acquired/idiopathic) and for which there are only few, costly invasive therapeutic methods.

Areas Covered In This Review: This review discusses these impairments, and their pathogenic and clinical consequences along with potential corrective therapies such as exogenous inhaled GM-CSF.

What The Reader Will Gain: Among the PAP disease subsets, in autoimmune PAP the GM-CSF autoantibodies play a major role in disease pathogenesis and their deleterious pulmonary effects can be blocked efficaciously with inhaled GM-CSF.

Laparoscopic management of gastrointestinal stromal tumours.

Unlabelled: Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) represent the most common non-epithelial tumour of the digestive tract. Laparoscopic approach may be considered ideal for the resection of these tumours. Their particular biological behaviour allows for a curative resection even without large resection margins and extensive lymphadenectomies.

Raxibacumab for inhalational anthrax: an effective specific therapeutic approach?

Importance Of The Field: Inhalational anthrax is a disease with a high lethality potential and current therapeutic interventions with antibiotics to manage the bacteraemia might not always be fully effective. Blocking the activity of the toxins with raxibacumab, a fully-human mAb directed against the protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis, may serve as an adjunct treatment. The existing ones are aimed at preventing post-exposure bacteraemia but might not be always fully protective.

The influence of magnesium on morphine-induced stimulation of the reward system.

The present study was designed to assess the influence of magnesium (Mg) as MgCl(2) (10 or 40 mg/kg b.wt/day i.p.

Research on serum and saliva concentration of some bivalent cations in patient with suppurations of the oro-maxillo-facial area.

Unlabelled: Bivalent cations, such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper and manganese play important roles in some physiological and pathological processes on the human body.

Aim: To determine possible modifications in serum and saliva concentration of total-Ca2+, total-Mg2+, Zn2+ and Cu2+ in patients with suppurative infections of the oro-maxillo-facial area and eventually their significance for the mentioned pathology.

Material And Method: Study included 47 patients with suppurative infections of the oro-maxillo-facial area, hospitalised during 2006-2008 in the oro-maxillo-facial clinic of "Sfântul Spiridon" Hospital Iaşi and 43 healthy control volunteers.

Small bowel malignant melanoma--report of three cases and review of literature.

Malignant melanomas have a predilection to metastasize to the small bowel. Three patients with malignant melanoma involving the small bowel are reported. Two patients were operated on for small bowel obstruction and the third for gastrointestinal bleeding with anemia.

The effects of Sambucus nigra polyphenols on oxidative stress and metabolic disorders in experimental diabetes mellitus.

The paper focuses on certain natural polyphenolic extracts from common elder fruit (Sambucus nigra), and also on their effects in diabetes mellitus. The results reveal that the glycosylated hemoglobin values are much higher in the diabetic group and they are significantly lower in the group protected by polyphenols. The natural polyphenol compounds reduce the lipids peroxides, neutralize the lipid peroxil radicals and inhibit the LDL oxidation.

Tuberculous synovitis of the knee in a 65-year-old man.

Introduction: Tuberculous (TB) synovitis is a rare, treatable, potentially lethal form of extrapulmonary TB resulting from massive lymphohematogenous dissemination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). We presented a case of TB synovitis of the knee in a Caucasian HIV-negative man from Romania, a high TB incidence country.

Correlations between C-reactive protein and metabolic syndrome or other associated diseases.

The aim of the paper is to present few aspects about the implication of the C-reactive protein (CRP) in the metabolic syndrome. High-sensitivity (hs) CRP is a marker of subclinical inflammation and it is a mediator of atherosclerotic disease. A recent study indicates a possible dose-effect relationship between waist circumference and hs-CRP levels.

Nutritional status evaluation and survival in haemodialysis patients in one centre from Romania.

Background: Protein-energy wasting is a common complication and an important predictive factor for mortality in chronic dialysis patients. Therefore, nutritional status needs to be regularly assessed in these patients, by using several methods, and, if malnutrition is present, its possible causes should be thoroughly searched for and properly treated.

Material And Methods: In 149 prevalent haemodialysis patients (82 men, mean age 53.