Germ cell tumor's survival rate in young patients

Background: Germ cell tumors are neoplasms that originate from multi potential germ cells and can be intra or extra gonadal. According to pathologic classification, they have different subtypes. They account for 3% of pediatric malignancies and most commonly happen in children before the age of 15 years old. Epidemiologic evidence about pediatric germ cell tumors is scant in our region

Objectives: The aim of current study was to determine demographic characteristics, recurrence and survival rate of germ cell tumor patients under the age of 21 years

Patients and Methods: During a 10-year period [1996 - 2006], 106 patients under the age of 21 years suffering from germ cell tumor were admitted to our centers. We extracted the data needed for our study from patients' medical records in the hospitals

Results: Thirty seven boys and 69 girls with a mean age of 8.4 +/- 7.8 years were included. Most tumors were diagnosed before the age of one year [37%]. The most common pathologic subtype was mature teratoma [44%]. Ovary [35%] was the most common primary site. Surgery plus chemotherapy were used to treat 54 patients and BEP was the most common chemotherapy regimen. Metastasis and recurrent tumor were seen in 22% and 8% of cases, respectively. Four-year overall survival was 89%

Conclusions: Our study showed that demographic characteristics of GCT patients in our population are similar to patients of other geographic regions in the world. Primary tumor site, histologic subtype and metastasis were significant prognostic factors for survival

Protective effect of ginger volatile oil against acetic acid-induced colitis in rats: a light microscopic evaluation / 中西医结合学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Ulcerative colitis is a chronically recurrent inflammatory bowel disease of unknown origin. In the present study, the effect of ginger (rhizome of Zingiber officinale Roscoe) volatile oil on a rat model of colitis was evaluated.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Volatile oil of ginger with doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg, prednisolone (4 mg/kg), or vehicle were administered orally to groups of male Wistar rats (n = 6) for 5 d. Animals were randomly divided into 6 groups, each group consisting of 6 rats. Colitis was induced by intracolonic instillation of 2 mL of 4% (v/v) acetic acid solution. All rats were sacrificed 24 h later and the tissue injuries were assessed macroscopically and histopathologically.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Ginger volatile oil with all doses reduced colon weight/length ratio (P < 0.01) and the effects were similar to the reference drugs. Higher oral doses of volatile oil (200 and 400 mg/kg) reduced ulcer severity (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01), ulcer area (P < 0.01) and ulcer index (P < 0.01). On the other hand, evaluation of microscopic scores showed that the dose of 400 mg/kg of volatile oil was effective to reduce inflammation severity (P < 0.01) and inflammation extent (P < 0.05) compared to the control group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>It is concluded that ginger volatile oil could effectively reduce symptoms of experimental colitis in a dose-dependent manner.</p>