Loss of c-Cbl expression correlates with de-differentiation status and lymphatic metastasis in gastric cancer

Context: C-Cbl is an important negative regulator of the cell signaling that acts as an adaptor protein and E3 ubiquitin ligase. The role of c-Cbl in development and regulation of human cancer has aroused intensive attention. Aims: In this study, we aimed to assess the correlation between the expression of c-Cbl and clinicopathological parameters and explored the role of c-Cbl in the development and progression of GC. Settings and Design: This is a Pilot study. Methods and Materials: In total, 84 tissue samples including 44 gastric cancers (GC) and 40 matched adjacent normal tissues were collected after surgery. Then tissue microarray (TMA) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) technology were combined to detect the protein expression of c-Cbl. Statistical Analysis Used: Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA). Results: We have studied the correlation between c-Cbl expression and clinicopathological parameters. Our study showed that c-Cbl has a low expression in 61.4% (27/44) of GC tissues, and the incidence of cases was significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues (P < 0.0001). In addition, the correlation between c-Cbl expression and gastric carcinoma subtype (P = 0.027), histological type (P = 0.033), Borrmann classification (P = 0.009), histological differentiation (P = 0.0005), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.007), and intravascular tumor thrombus (P = 0.036) has also been revealed. Conclusions: Our results show that c-Cbl is down-regulated in GC tissues compared with normal gastric tissue, which may play an important role in the development and progression of GC.

Analysis of the clinicopathological features of hepatocellular carcinoma in elderly patients.

The peak age of onset of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is continually increasing worldwide. This study aims to evaluate whether there exists any significant difference in the clinicopathological features between younger- and elderly-HCC.1082 Consecutive patients with HCC who underwent liver resection at Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University from 1995 to 1998 were studied. The patients were divided into elderly-HCC (>or=65 years of age) and younger-HCC (< 65 years of age). Important clinicopathological features of the patients and postoperative survival rates were compared between these two groups. Among 1082 patients studied, 108 were elderly-HCC and 974 were younger-HCC. The resection rate of the elderly-HCC was significantly higher than that of the younger-HCC. The 1, 3 and 5-year survival rates of the elderly-HCC were not significantly different from those of the younger-HCC. Compared with the younger-HCC, the elderly-HCC had (1) less HBsAg-positive rate; (2) more frequent anti-HCV positivity ; (3) lower proportion with AFP value >or=400 microg/dl; (4) a relatively small tumor diameter; (5) higher proportion of stage I-II patients; (6) a relatively low metastasis rate. However, there were no statistically significant differences in other clinicopathological features (including gender, symptoms, tumor number, tumor venous invasion, tumor differentiation, capsular formation, type of cirrhosis) between the two groups. There is a certain extent difference in clinicopathological features between elderly and younger-HCC patients, but the postoperative survival rate is comparable between the two groups.

Observation on clinical efficacy of combined therapy of zinc supplement and jinye baidu granule in treating human cytomegalovirus infection / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the clinical efficacy of the combined therapy of zinc supplement and Jinye Baidu granule (JBG) on human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and forty patients with positive HCMV-IgM were randomly divided into four groups, with 35 cases in each group, that is, the control group (only medicated with JBG), the high-, moderate- and low-dose zinc combined groups (treated with JBG combined with zinc gluconate tablet at dose of 30 mg, 20 mg, 10 mg every day respectively). The negative conversion rate of HCMV-IgM was observed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Insignificant difference in the negative conversion rate was shown in comparison of the control group with the low dose group (P > 0.05), and in comparison of the high dose with the moderate dose group (P > 0.05); however, the rate was significantly lower in the control group than that in the moderate dose and high dose group (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Combined therapy of zinc supplement and JBG can significantly increase the negative conversion rate of HCMV-IgM. The optimal dosage of zinc gluconate tablet was 20 mg once a day.</p>

Epidemiology of human geohelminth infections (ascariasis, trichuriasis and necatoriasis) in Lushui and Puer Counties, Yunnan Province, China.

Between April and June of 1998, the prevalence and intensity of geohelminth infections caused by hookworm, Ascaris and Trichuris were investigated in two rural Yunnan villages. In Liuku, a village of Lisu indigenous people in Lushui County, there was an overall geohelminth prevalence of 72% (48%, 43% and 16% for hookworm infection, ascariasis, and trichuriasis, respectively). The prevalence of ascariasis was greatest among preschool and school aged children, whereas the prevalence of trichuriasis was greatest among teenagers and the prevalence of hookworm increased until the age of 10-15 and then remained high throughout adulthood. In Linger, a village of Han Chinese, located in Puer County, there was an overall geohelminth prevalence of 77% (30%, 60% and 36% for hookworm infection, ascariasis, and trichuriasis, respectively). The differences in prevalence for hookworm and ascariasis were statistically significant. The prevalence of hookworm in Linger increased steadily with age and did not plateau, but there were no discernible patterns of prevalence versus age for either ascariasis or trichuriasis. Heavy trichuriasis infections were noted to occur in Linger. In both villages, more than 98% of the hookworm infections were of light and moderate intensity. Both by morphologic identification of third-stage infective larvae (L3) from eggs as well as identification of adult hookworms recovered from adult residents after treatment with quantrel, Necator americanus was identified as the exclusive hookworm in each village. Geohelminth infections caused by Ascaris, Trichuris and hookworm remain highly endemic to the rural areas of Yunnan Province in southwestern China.