Enhanced therapeutic efficacy of transarterial chemoembolisation treatment in hepatocelluar carcinoma (HCC) by mTOR inhibitor RAD001: implication for a novel treatment regimen in HCC

Oral Presentationpublished_or_final_versionThe 16th Medical Research Conference, Department of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 22 January 2011. In Hong Kong Medical Journal, 2011, v. 17 n. 1, suppl. 1, p. 25, abstract no. 3

Validation of the Drug Abuse Screening Test (Dast-10): A Study on Illicit Drug Use among Chinese Pregnant Women

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The effects of stent porosity on the endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms located near a bifurcation

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A preclinical study on the combination therapy of everolimus and transarterial chemoembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma

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Emergence of CD26+ cancer stem cells with metastatic properties in colorectal carcinogenesis

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Identification of microRNA 885-5p as a novel regulator of tumor metastasis by targeting CPEB2 in colorectal cancer

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Computational fluid dynamics study of bifurcation aneurysms treated with pipeline embolization device: side branch diameter study

An intracranial aneurysm, abnormal swelling of the cerebral artery, may lead to undesirable rates of mortality and morbidity upon rupture. Endovascular treatment involves the deployment of a flow-diverting stent that covers the aneurysm orifice, thereby reducing the blood flow into the aneurysm and mitigating the risk of rupture. In this study, computational fluid dynamics analysis is performed on a bifurcation model to investigate the change in hemodynamics with various side branch diameters. The condition after the deployment of a pipeline embolization device is also simulated. Hemodynamic factors such as flow velocity, pressure, and wall shear stress are studied. Aneurysms with a larger side branch vessel might have greater risk after treatment in terms of hemodynamics. Although a stent could lead to flow reduction entering the aneurysm, it would drastically alter the flow rate inside the side branch vessel. This may result in side-branch hypoperfusion subsequent to stenting. In addition, two patient-specific bifurcation aneurysms are tested, and the results show good agreement with the idealized models. Furthermore, the peripheral resistance of downstream vessels is investigated by varying the outlet pressure conditions. This quantitative analysis can assist in treatment planning and therapeutic decision-making.published_or_final_versio

Prevalence of electronegative electroretinograms in a healthy adult cohort

Objective: An electronegative electroretinogram (ERG) can indicate important ocular or systemic disease. This study explored the prevalence of electronegative responses to dark-adapted stimuli in a largely healthy cohort. Methods: and Analysis 211 participants recruited from the TwinsUK cohort underwent ERG testing incorporating international standard (International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision (ISCEV)) protocols and additional stimuli. Responses were recorded using conductive fibre electrodes, following pupil dilation and 20 min dark adaptation. Responses analysed were to the ISCEV standard and strong flashes (3.0 and 10 cd/m2 s), and to additional white flashes (0.67–67 cd/m2 s). A-wave and b-wave amplitudes were extracted; b:a ratios were calculated and proportions of eyes with ratios<1 were noted. Results: Mean (SD) age was 62.4 (11.4) years (median, 64.3; range 23–86 years). 93% were female. Mean (SD) b:a ratios for right and left eyes, respectively, were 1.86 (0.33) and 1.81 (0.29) for the standard flash, and 1.62 (0.25) and 1.58 (0.23) for the stronger flash; average b:a ratio was lower for the stronger flash (p<0.0001). No waveforms were electronegative. For additional flashes, b:a ratio decreased with increasing flash strength. No electronegative waveforms were seen except in three eyes (0.7%) for the strongest flash; in some cases, drift in the waveform may have artefactually reduced the b:a ratio. Conclusion: For standard dark-adapted stimuli, no participants had electronegative waveforms. The findings support the notion that electronegative waveforms (in response to standard flash strengths) are unusual, and should prompt further investigation

Over-expression of miR-106b promotes cell migration and metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma by activating epithelial-mesenchymal transition process

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one the the most fatal cancers worldwide. The poor prognosis of HCC is mainly due to the developement of distance metastasis. To investigate the mechanism of metastasis in HCC, an orthotopic HCC metastasis animal model was established. Two sets of primary liver tumor cell lines and corresponding lung metastasis cell lines were generated. In vitro functional analysis demonstrated that the metastatic cell line had higher invasion and migration ability when compared with the primary liver tumor cell line. These cell lines were subjected to microRNA (miRNAs) microarray analysis to identify differentially expressed miRNAs which were associated with the developement of metastasis in vivo. Fifteen human miRNAs, including miR-106b, were differentially expressed in 2 metastatic cell lines compared with the primary tumor cell lines. The clinical significance of miR-106b in 99 HCC clinical samples was studied. The results demonstrated that miR-106b was over-expressed in HCC tumor tissue compared with adjacent non-tumor tissue (p = 0.0005), and overexpression of miR-106b was signficantly correlated with higher tumor grade (p = 0.018). Further functional studies demonstrated that miR-106b could promote cell migration and stress fiber formation by over-expressing RhoGTPases, RhoA and RhoC. In vivo functional studies also showed that over-expression of miR-106b promoted HCC metastasis. These effects were related to the activation of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. Our results suggested that miR-106b expression contributed to HCC metastasis by activating the EMT process promoting cell migration in vitro and metastasis in vivo. © 2013 Yau et al.published_or_final_versio