Effects of yoga on improving quality of life in patients with breast cancer: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Complications of breast cancer treatment can cause physical and psychosocial distress in patients. Yoga demonstrates substantial potential as a supportive therapy for patients with breast cancer. Our aim is to conduct a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effectiveness of yoga in enhancing the quality of life (QoL) of patients with breast cancer. METHODS: We searched for studies published before March 2020 in the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases. Individual effect sizes were standardized, and the pooled effect size was calculated using a random effect model. Measured outcomes included QoL, anxiety and depression, stress, fatigue, pain severity, and sleep quality. RESULTS: In total, 26 trials involving 2069 patients were reviewed. Significant enhancement in QoL was observed immediately after the yoga intervention. The pooled mean differences in social (weighted mean difference [WMD]: 1.36, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.12-2.61), emotional (WMD: 1.46, 95% CI 0.26-2.66), and functional well-being (WMD: 2.04, 95% CI 0.21-3.87) were significantly higher in the yoga group than in the control group. Patients practicing yoga exhibited significant improvements in physical well-being, mental well-being, and sleep quality as well as reductions in anxiety, depression, stress, fatigue, and pain severity after the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Yoga may enhance QoL in patients with breast cancer experiencing post-treatment complications. Therefore, we recommend yoga as a supportive therapy for patients with breast cancer to relieve post-treatment distress.

Intracranial Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor with Sarcomatous Local Recurrence.

CASE DESCRIPTION: A 20-year-old woman presented with a rare intracranial inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) manifesting as headache and insomnia. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a tumorous lesion with heterogeneous enhancement at the right temporal lobe, as well as perifocal edema with midline shift. The tumor was totally resected with the margin free. Pathologic examination showed IMT with myofibroblastic cells admixed with collagen fibers. Sarcomatous change in morphology was observed in tumor recurrence within 7 months. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical resection and whole brain radiation are recommended in patients with IMT.

A fast and convenient new technique to detect the therapeutic target, K-ras mutant, from peripheral blood in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Activating mutation of the K-ras gene was one of the earliest discoveries of genetic alterations in lung cancer. Moreover, K-ras somatic mutations might be suggested for predicting resistance to molecular antibodies targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). However, activated K-ras mutant detection methods are limited to traditional techniques. The techniques are complicated and are used only in tissue samples, which are limited for clinical applications. In a previous study, we established a low-cost, convenient, and easy technique for detecting activated K-ras in a small number of circulating tumor cells by the colorimetric membrane array method (CLMA). However, the sensitivity still needs further improvement. The aim of this study is to develop a new platform with chemiluminescence as reporter and weighted values of target genes on the chip in order to achieve a more sensitive, easier to read, and more accurate platform-weighted chemiluminecent membrane array (WCHMA). In advance, we collected 209 peripheral blood samples of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from patients to evaluate clinical K-ras activation detection using Activating KRAS Detection Chip both conducted by CLMA and WCHMA. Results show 71 specimens with K-ras mutation, of which 59 were identified as positive through CLMA and 66 were positive through WCHMA. After statistical analysis, the sensitivity of CLMA was found to be 83% and the specificity was 96%. On the other hand, the sensitivity of WCHMA increased to 93% and the specificity remained at 94%. Results of the detection limitation of peripheral blood on two platforms are: 3cancer cells/cm(3) blood using WCHMA, which is better than 5cancer cells/cm(3) blood using CLMA. Further analysis on the correlation between the test results and clinical pathological features shows that the mean score obtained using WCHMA is significantly correlated to TNM stage, tumor size, and metastasis.

MMP13 is potentially a new tumor marker for breast cancer diagnosis.

Within the past decade, the incidence of breast cancer in Taiwan has been rising year after year. Breast cancer is the first most prevalent cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in Taiwan. The early stage of breast cancer not only have a wider range of therapeutic options, but also obtain a higher success rate of therapy than those with advanced breast cancer. A test for tumor markers is the most convenient method to screen for breast cancer. However, the tumor markers currently available for breast cancer detection include carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 15.3 (CA15.3), and carbohydrate antigen 27.29 (CA27.29) exhibited certain limitations. Poor sensitivity and specificity greatly limits the diagnostic accuracy of these markers. This study aims to identify potential tumor markers for breast cancer. At first, we analyzed genes expression in infiltrating lobular carcinoma, metaplastic carcinoma, and infiltrating ductal carcinoma of paired specimens (tumor and normal tissue) from breast cancer patients using microarray technology. We selected 371 overexpressed genes in all of the three cell type. In advanced breast cancer tissue, we detected four genes MMP13, CAMP, COL10A1 and FLJ25416 from 25 overexpressed genes which encoded secretion protein more specifically for breast cancer than other genes. After validation with 15 pairs of breast cancer tissue and paired to normal adjacent tissues by membrane array and quantitative RT-PCR, we found MMP13 was 100% overexpressed and confirmed to be a secreted protein by Western blot analysis of the cell culture medium. The expression level of MMP13 was also measured by immunohistochemical staining. We suggest that MMP13 is a highly overexpressed secretion protein in breast cancer tissue. It has potential to be a new tumor marker for breast cancer diagnosis.