Changes in Nutritional Status according to Biochemical Assay, Body Weight, and Nutrient Intake Levels in Gastrectomy Patients

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in nutritional status of gastrectomy patients. The anthropometric and biochemical data were measured at pre-operation, at discharge, 1 month after discharge, and 3 months after discharge. Nutrient intake levels, nutrients adequacy ratio (NAR), mean adequacy ratio (MAR), and the proportion of patients with intake levels inferior to those of dietary reference intakes (DRIs) were analyzed at discharge, 1 month after discharge, and 3 months after discharge. Finally, the data on 23 patients (15 male and 8 female) were collected and used for statistical analysis. Fifteen patients underwent subtotal gastrectomy, and 8 patients underwent total gastrectomy. Compared to pre-operation, body weight and body mass index of subjects significantly decreased at discharge, 1 month after discharge, and 3 months after discharge (P<0.001). Serum albumin (P<0.001), total lympocyte count (P<0.001), total cholesterol (P<0.001), hemoglobin (P<0.001), hematocrit (P<0.001), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (P<0.05) were significantly different between pre-operation, at discharge, 1 month after discharge, and 3 months after discharge. The proportions of patients with lower nutrient intake levels than DRIs were substantial. MAR at discharge, 1 month after discharge, and 3 months after discharge were 0.70, 0.80 and 0.91, respectively. Especially, the NARs of folate, niacin, vitamin B2, vitamin C, and zinc were all low. Considering the various nutritional problems of gastrectomy patients, systematic medical nutrition therapy is needed after gastrectomy.

Methylation Profiles of CpG Island Loci in Major Types of Human Cancers

Several reports have described aberrant methylation in various types of human cancers. However, the interpretation of methylation frequency in various human cancers has some limitations because of the different materials and methods used for methylation analysis. To gain an insight into the role of DNA hypermethylation in human cancers and allow direct comparison of tissue specific methylation, we generated methylation profiles in 328 human cancers, including 24 breast, 48 colon, 61 stomach, 48 liver, 37 larynx, 24 lung, 40 prostate, and 46 uterine cervical cancer samples by analyzing CpG island hypermethylation of 13 genes using methylation-specific PCR. The mean numbers of methylated genes were 6.5, 4.4, 3.6, 3.4, 3.1, 3.1, 3.1, and 2.1 in gastric, liver, prostate, larynx, colon, lung, uterine cervix, and in breast cancer samples, respectively. The number of genes that were methylated at a frequency of more than 40% in each tumor type ranged from nine (stomach) to one (breast). Generally genes frequently methylated in a specific cancer type differed from those methylated in other cancer types. The findings indicate that aberrant CpG island hypermethylation is a frequent finding in human cancers of various tissue types, and each tissue type has its own distinct methylation pattern.