Wetting state and mechanical property alteration for the Fe3Si films using rapid thermal annealing under various temperatures.

The current research demonstrates the modification of the wetting behavior and mechanical features as well as structure and morphology of Fe3Si films created via facing target sputtering by the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) with the set RTA temperatures (TRTA) of 200, 400, 600, and 800 °C. Following the RTA process, the crystallinity of Fe3Si developed under 400 °C or below. At the 600 °C and 800 °C TRTA, new crystal orientations emerged for FeSi and then ß-FeSi2, respectively. Together with composition results, the Fe3Si films were proven to change into FeSi and then FeSi2 under a high TRTA regime. At temperatures of 600 °C and 800 °C, large crystallites, including the scraggly interface, were observed. The root-mean-square roughness roughened slightly according to the RTA process at TRTA of 600 °C or above. The hydrophobic properties of the Fe3Si film surfaces became hydrophilic after the RTA procedure at a TRTA value above 400 °C. The hardness value of the Fe3Si films evidently increased through RTA at 600 °C and 800 °C. Thus, above 400 °C, the RTA process significantly alters the physical features of as-created Fe3Si films.

[A Case of Jejunal Ectopic Pancreatic Cancer with Intestinal Perforation].

This patient was a 96-year-old woman. She was referred to our hospital with abdominal pain and vomiting. The levels of the tumor markers CEA and CA19-9 were elevated, at 39.47 ng/mL and 918.5 U/mL, respectively. She was diagnosed with peritonitis with digestive tract perforation by abdominal CT and an emergency operation was performed. At laparotomy, dirty ascites was observed in the peritoneal cavity. A perforation, 1 cm in diameter was found in the jejunum 15 cm from the Treitz ligament, and a mass, 2 cm in diameter was also palpated on the mesentery side. We performed jejunectomy including the tumor. The submucosal tumor was 2 cm in size and the mucosal surface of the perforation was ulcerated. Pathohistological inspection of the extracted sample revealed no heteromorphism in the small intestine mucosal plane. A moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma was diagnosed in the submucosal layer of the heterotopic pancreas of Heinrich typeⅡ. No tumor cells were found in the perforation. Thirteen previous cases of ectopic pancreatic cancer have been reported and this was the 14th case.

[Risk factors for tumor recurrence after curative resection in patients with Stage IIIa colon and rectosigmoid cancer].

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to elucidate the risk factors for recurrence of Stage IIIa colon and rectosigmoid cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The subjects were 93 patients with Stage IIIa colon and rectosigmoid cancer who underwent radical colectomy in this department between 2001 and 2011. Various risk factors for recurrence were examined. RESULTS: The overall recurrence rate was 18% (17/93 cases). Univariate analysis identified a risk factor for recurrence: depth of tumor invasion( ≥serosa exposed[ SE])(hazard ratio[ HR] 10.04, 95% confidence interva[l CI] 3.26-30.89, p<0.0001). The rate of 1, 2, and 3-year relapse-free survival of patients with respect to the depth of tumor invasion( ≥SE) were 76%, 61%, and 56%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Tumor depth SE or serosa infiltrating( SI) was a risk factor for the recurrence of Stage IIIa colon and rectosigmoid cancer.

[A case of lethal interstitial pneumonia after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer].

We report a case of lethal interstitial pneumonia that occurred after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer. A 76-year-old man with no history of interstitial pneumonia received 2 courses of S-1 (100 mg/body) following 1 course of S-1 plus cisplatin( CDDP) from June 2012. He complained of dyspnea on exertion 6 days after completion of the treatment. Chest radiography and computed tomography (CT) revealed diffuse interstitial lesions in bilateral lung fields. Bronchoalveolar lavage( BAL) revealed an increased number of lymphocytes and leukocytes. Transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) revealed interstitial pneumonia with fibrous thickening in the alveolar septum. The drug lymphocyte stimulation test (DLST) was positive for S-1 and negative for CDDP. These results suggested that S-1 had induced interstitial pneumonia. Steroid therapy( 40 mg/day prednisolone following 500 mg methylprednisolone pulse therapy) and an antibiotic agent were administered but were ineffective. He rapidly developed respiratory failure and required tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation on hospital day 24, and died on hospital day 38.

[Radiofrequency (RF) ablation for liver metastases of colorectal cancer].

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for liver metastases of colorectal cancer. METHODS: RFA was used to treat 31 tumors (median diameter 1.5 cm, range 0.5-3.9 cm) in 13 patients of liver metastases of colorectal cancer. The median number of tumors treated per patient was 2. 9 (range, 1-10). RESULTS: Two patients had complications; bleeding and liver dysfunction. Four (12.9%) of 31 lesions developed a local recurrence after the treatment. We achieved a local control in 2 (92.6%) of 27 lesions <3.0 cm in diameter. In 4 (30.8%) of 13 patients, new metastases were observed at follow-up. One year survival rate from the initial ablation was 92.3% and 2-year was 46.2%. One year total local recurrence rate from the initial ablation was 55.6%. CONCLUSION: In the case of tumor greater than 3 cm, RF ablation is an effective method to treat hepatic metastases from colorectal carcinoma.

The protective effect of interleukin-11 on the cell death induced by X-ray irradiation in cultured intestinal epithelial cell.

Interleukin-11 (IL-11) is a well known anti-inflammatory cytokine that is associated with cell growth, and also participates in limiting X-ray irradiation induced intestinal mucosal injury. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of IL-11 on the cell injury induced by X-ray irradiation in rat intestinal epithelial IEC-18 cells. Recombinant human IL-11 (rhIL-11) treated cells were irradiated and then examined for cell viability. To evaluate irradiation injury, trypan blue staining was used to detect the dead cells. The viability of irradiated cells was up-regulated by rhIL-11 treatment and also resulted in the activation of p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (p90RSK) and S6 ribosomal protein (S6Rp). Wortmannin, a specific inhibitor of PI3K, suppressed the activation of S6Rp in rhIL-11 treated cells, and decreased the up-regulation of viability by rhIL-11 treatment in irradiated cells. The TUNEL assay was also perfomed to estimate the rate of apoptosis in X-ray induced cell death. There was no difference in the results between trypan blue staining and the TUNEL assay. Further, rhIL-11 down-regulated the expression of cleaved caspase-3 in irradiated cells. These results suggest that rhIL-11 may play an important role in protection from radiation injury.

Expression of p-STAT3 in human gastric carcinoma: significant correlation in tumour invasion and prognosis.

Signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs) belong to a family of transcription factors activated in response to cytokines and growth factors. Constitutive activation of STAT3 has been observed in a growing number of tumour-derived cell lines, as well as in tumor specimens from human cancers. Our aim was to determine the relationship between the expression of phosphorylated STAT3 (p-STAT3) and clinicopathological factors in human gastric adenocarcinoma. One-hundred and eleven cases of surgically resected human gastric adenocarcinoma were studied by immunohistochemistry. Fifty-five (49.5%) cases showed positive staining for the p-STAT3 proteins. The expression of p-STAT3 was significantly correlated with several clinicopathological factors. Moreover, expression of p-STAT3 was detected by Western blot analysis in 2 different kinds of cultured human gastric carcinoma cell lines and 4 cases of gastric carcinoma tissue obtained at surgery. Western blot analysis confirmed the presence of p-STAT3 in these specimens. In univariate survival analysis, p-STAT3 expression was associated with inferior survival (p<0.05). Constitutive activation of STAT3 may play an important role in the tumorigenesis of gastric adenocarcinoma, and the detailed mechanism of STAT3 signaling pathway in gastric adenocarcinoma deserves further investigation.

Activation of STAT3 is a marker of poor prognosis in human colorectal cancer.

It is known that the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a key signaling molecule implicated in the regulation of growth and malignant transformation. Constitutive activation of STAT3 has been observed in a number of tumour-derived cell lines, as well as in a wide variety of human malignancies. The present study was conducted to examine p-STAT3 (activated form of STAT3) expression and its association with clinicopathological factors and prognosis in human colorectal adenocarcinomas. Expression of p-STAT3 was immunohistochemically examined in 108 cases of colorectal adenocarcinoma tissue obtained at surgery. and was found in 57.4% of tumours (62 of 108). p-STAT3 immunoreactivity significantly correlated with the depth grading of tumour invasion (p<0.001), lymphatic invasion (p<0.05), Dukes' classification (p<0.05), stage (p<0.001) and prognosis after operation (p<0.001). Expression of p-STAT3 was a marker of poor prognosis in overall survival (p<0.01). Expression of p-STAT3 was detected by Western blot analysis in three colon carcinoma tissue samples obtained at surgery. To our knowledge, this is the first study on the poor prognosis of p-STAT3 in human colorectal adenocarcinomas. These findings suggest that expression of p-STAT3 is an important factor related to tumour invasion and poor prognosis of human colorectal adenocarcinoma.

Expression of interleukin-11 and interleukin-11 receptor alpha in human colorectal adenocarcinoma; immunohistochemical analyses and correlation with clinicopathological factors.

AIM: There is strong evidence that interleukin-11 (IL-11) is involved in the regulation of tumor progression, cellular growth and differentiation. Recently, interleukin-11 receptor (IL-11R) has been detected on some cancer cells. In this study, we investigated the expression of IL-11 and IL-11R in colorectal adenocarcinoma. METHODS: To elucidate the involvement of IL-11 and IL-11Ra in human intestinal adenocarcinomas, we examined 115 cases of surgically resected human colonic adenocarcinoma and 11 cases of adenoma by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. RESULTS: Among 115 cases of adenocarcinoma, 100 cases (87.0%) showed positive staining in the cytoplasm of carcinoma cells for the IL-11, and 87 cases (75.6%) were positive for the IL-11Ra. Six cases (54.5%) and four cases (36.4%) of 11 adenomas were positive for IL-11 and IL-11Ra, respectively. The expression of IL-11Ra correlated with the histological differentiation (P = 0.033503), the depth of tumor invasion (P = 0.006395), Dukes'classification (P = 0.015648) and lymphatic invasion (P = 0.003865). However, the expression of IL-11Ra was not correlated with the venous invasion and the presence of lymph node metastasis. The expression of IL-11 was not correlated with any clinicopathological factors. In Western blot analysis, two human colorectal carcinoma cell lines and four tissues of surgically resected human carcinoma expressed both IL-11 and IL-11Ra proteins. CONCLUSION: IL-11 and IL-11Ra are highly expressed in human colorectal adenocarcinoma and the IL-11Ra expression is correlated with clinicopathological factors. These findings suggest that the expression of IL-11Ra is an important factor for the invasion of human colorectal adenocarcinoma.