Foreign body ingestion mimicking irritable bowel syndrome: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Foreign body ingestion is associated with a variety of symptoms and complications, often mimicking various diseases. This case report describes an unusual presentation following foreign body ingestion.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 56-year-old Greek Caucasian woman presented to a primary care setting, in rural Crete, Greece, with complaints of abdominal pain, cramping and bloating, for the last four months. Alternating constipation and diarrhea was reported. The patient had unknowingly ingested a foreign body that resulted in an irritable bowel syndrome-like presentation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This case report emphasizes the need for a high index of suspicion from physicians for a wide differential in their approach to abdominal complaints, as well as the importance of an individualized approach to patients in the setting of clinical medicine.</p

Metformin: A Salutary Candidate for Colorectal Cancer Treatment in Patients with Diabetes.

The current study is a review of the literature on patients with diabetes who are diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC), encompassing recent research on CRC and the molecular level changes occurring in these patients on the basis of varying environmental as well as non-environmental factors. It has been noted that nearly 50% of all patients undergo the systemic treatment module; however, most of them exhibit drug resistance. In addition, targeted gene therapy has also been used in treatment but has been found to be effective only in patients with a specified molecular profile (or else this might lead to an increased risk of developing resistant mutations). This has led to increasing interest among researchers in finding innovative treatment options. Metformin, a biguanide, has been widely used in treating diabetes. The drug has been reportedly used in cases of hypothesis-generating retrospective population studies of diabetic patients showing reduced incidence of cancer. Metformin helps in reduction of excess insulin levels that possess various effects on cell signaling and metabolism. Nonetheless, there is need for an in-depth study on its molecular mechanism to fill any existing research gaps

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma: Promising target in glioblastoma

© 2018 Edizioni Minerva Medica. Glioblastoma, also known as glioblastoma multiforme, is the most common and worldwide-spread cancer that begins within the brain. Glio-blastomas represent 15% of brain tumors. The most common length of survival following diagnosis is 12 to 14 months with less than 3% to 5% of people surviving longer than five years. Without treatment, survival is typically 3 months. Among all receptors, special attention has been focused on the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) in glioblastoma. PPARs are ligand-activated intracellular transcription factors. The PPAR subfamily consists of three subtypes encoded by distinct genes named PPARa, PPARp/S, and PPARy. PPARy is the most extensively studied subtype of PPAR. There has been interesting preliminary evidence suggesting that diabetic patients receiving PPARy agonists, a group of anti-diabetics, thiazolidinedione drugs, have an increased median survival for glioblastoma. In this paper, the recent progresses in understanding the potential mechanism of PPARy in glioblastoma are summarized

Functional role of DNA mismatch repair gene PMS2 in prostate cancer cells

DNA mismatch repair (MMR) enzymes act as proofreading complexes that maintains genomic integrity and MMR-deficient cells show an increased mutation rate. MMR has also been shown to influence cell signaling and the regulation of tumor development. MMR cons