Association of immunohistochemical profiles with histotypes in endometrial carcinomas.

OBJECTIVE: Although a large number of endometrial cancer patients are cured with surgery alone, there are significant numbers of patients with more aggressive variants of endometrial carcinoma for whom the prognosis remains poor. We investigated the effects of prevalence, histotypes, and immunohistochemical profiles on prognostic value in a hospital-based population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study of surgically resected primary endometrial carcinoma was included. Immunohistochemical stains were performed on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue microarray sections for ß-Catenin, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), HER-2, MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, PMS2, and p53. RESULTS: Loss of mismatch repair expression was detected in 25.4% of samples (29/114, mean age 57 years) of the tumors. The following loss of expression was observed in patients: MLH1/PMS2 in 16.6% of patients, MSH6 in 7.0% of patients, MLH1 in 0.9% of patients, and MSH6/PMS2/MLH1 in 0.9% of patients. Immunohistochemistry of p53 was analyzed for 111 patients. A total of 13 patients (11.7%, mean age 64 years) had p53-abnormal expression (absent, cytoplasmic or diffuse strong positive patterns), and more than half (9/13, 69.2%) had endometrioid histotype. Abnormalities in p53 were significantly associated with histotype (p = 0.001), advanced tumor stage (p = 0.038), death of disease (p = 0.002), PR percentage (p = 0.002), and HER-2 expression (p = 0.018). Immunohistochemical nuclear localization of ß-Catenin was detected in 7.1% of the cohort. The combination of p53 and nuclear ß-Catenin expressions was not significantly predictive of disease-free or overall survival. CONCLUSION: The results of this study are useful for management of endometrial cancer in patients with DNA mismatch repair, abnormal p53 expression, or nuclear localization of ß-Catenin.

Dual drug-loaded biofunctionalized amphiphilic chitosan nanoparticles: Enhanced synergy between cisplatin and demethoxycurcumin against multidrug-resistant stem-like lung cancer cells.

Lung cancer kills more humans than any other cancer and multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer stem-like cells (CSC) is emerging as a reason for failed treatments. One concept that addresses this root cause of treatment failure is the utilization of nanoparticles to simultaneously deliver dual drugs to cancer cells with synergistic performance, easy to envision - hard to achieve. (1) It is challenging to simultaneously load drugs of highly different physicochemical properties into one nanoparticle, (2) release kinetics may differ between drugs and (3) general requirements for biomedical nanoparticles apply. Here self-assembled nanoparticles of amphiphilic carboxymethyl-hexanoyl chitosan (CHC) were shown to present nano-microenvironments enabling simultaneous loading of hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs. This was expanded into a dual-drug nano-delivery system to treat lung CSC. CHC nanoparticles were loaded/chemically modified with the anticancer drug cisplatin and the MDR-suppressing Chinese herbal extract demethoxycurcumin, followed by biofunctionalization with CD133 antibody for enhanced uptake by lung CSC, all in a feasible one-pot preparation. The nanoparticles were characterized with regard to chemistry, size, zeta potential and drug loading/release. Biofunctionalized and non-functionalized nanoparticles were investigated for uptake by lung CSC. Subsequently the cytotoxicity of single and dual drugs, free in solution or in nanoparticles, was evaluated against lung CSC at different doses. From the dose response at different concentrations the degree of synergy was determined through Chou-Talalay's Plot. The biofunctionalized nanoparticles promoted synergistic effects between the drugs and were highly effective against MDR lung CSC. The efficacy and feasible one-pot preparation suggests preclinical studies using relevant disease models to be justified.

Inhibition and enhancement of cesium two-photon transition under control field.

The probability of two-photon transition (TPT) under a control field to inhibit the quantum interference and enhance the nonlinear optical cross section is observed. Essentially, this is a V-type electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) with TPT instead of one photon transition. Numerical simulation based on solving the steady state density matrix can qualitatively fit the experimental data. A model of double-Lorentzian profile is used to fit the observed spectrum and give the de-convolution information of the inhibition of TPT spectrum due to EIT and enhancement on the wings of TPT. The frequency shift of the inhibit center is linear to the intensity of the control field (one-photon) and quadratic to the intensity of probe field (two-photon). Under the control field, a factor of 10 enhancements on the wings of the TPT is observed.

Direct measurement of the Atom number in a Bose condensate.

We report on directly measuring the atom number in a Bose- Einstein condensate by the method of optical pumping. Only the branching ratio of the spontaneous decay in the system and the absorption energy of a probe laser beam are required to determine the atom number. The measured absorption energy is not affected by the measurement condition such as the intensity, detuning, and polarization of the probe beam, the magnetic field, etc. We have shown that atom numbers as low as a few thousands can be measured. The atom number is an important parameter in the studies of Bose condensates and its accuracy is greatly improved by this sensitive and robust method.

Laparoscopic vertical banded gastroplasty: 5-year results.

BACKGROUND: Vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG) has been a popular bariatric operation for the past 2 decades, and this operation has evolved into a laparoscopic procedure. However, reports of laparoscopic VBG (LVBG) from large series with longer results are limited. METHODS: From October 1998 to May 2002, 612 consecutive patients underwent LVBG. Mean age was 30.1 years and mean BMI 43.0 kg/m2. Laparoscopic Mason gastroplasty was performed. The change of BMI, obesity-related co-morbidities, and GI quality-of-life index (GIQLI) were studied. RESULTS: The major and minor complication-rate was 1.14% and 4.58% respectively. The mortality-rate was 0.16%. Mean BMI fell from 43.1 kg/m2 to 31.2, 31.3, 31.4, 32.2, and 32.8 kg/m2 at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years respectively, with 93% follow-up. Revision rate was 9.2%. GIQLI decreased from 113.0 to 106.6, 110.9, 111.9, 112.1, and 106.4 at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years. CONCLUSION: LVBG is safe and effective in weight reduction. The GIQLI failed to improve postoperatively even with good resolution of obesity-related co-morbidities. In carefully selected patients with diligent postoperative follow-up, LVBG is a bariatric surgery option.