Use Of Chinese Medicine Among Colorectal Cancer Patients: A Nationwide Population-Based Study.

Background: Traditional Chinese medicine (CM) appears to be used worldwide, especially by cancer patients. The aim of the present study was to explore CM uses and CM non-users by patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).Materials and methods: A retrospective study was conducted using registration and claims data sets for 2007 from the National Health Insurance Research Database. Patients with colorectal cancer were identified from the Registry for Catastrophic illness Patients. Binary logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios as the measure of association with the use of CM.Results: A total of 61,211 CRC patients diagnosed in 2007 were analysis. Most CM users preferred to visit private clinics (46.9%) with 306,599 visits. In contrast, the majority of CM non-users preferred to visit private hospitals (42.2%) with 538,769 visits. Among all 176,707 cancer-specific CM visit, there were 66.6% visits to CM outpatient department (OPD) of private hospitals, while in 477,612 non-cancer-specific CM visits, 62.0% was for private clinics. The proportion of expenses for diagnostic fees for CM user in CM visits was much less than that for WM visits and CM non-users (US$4.6 vs. 29.3 vs. 33.5). The average cost for CM user in CM was less than that for WM visits and CM non-users (US$6.3 vs. 25.9 vs. 30.3). Female patients, younger age, and patients not living in the northern region, with higher EC or more comorbidities were more likely to receive CM treatment.Conclusion: The prevalence and costs of insurance-covered CM among CRC patients were low. Further longer longitudinal study is needed to follow up this trend.Key words: Chinese Medicine, Digestive System Neoplasms, Health Insuranc

Office Space Bacterial Abundance and Diversity in Three Metropolitan Areas

People in developed countries spend approximately 90% of their lives indoors, yet we know little about the source and diversity of microbes in built environments. In this study, we combined culture-based cell counting and multiplexed pyrosequencing of environmental ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequences to investigate office space bacterial diversity in three metropolitan areas. Five surfaces common to all offices were sampled using sterile double-tipped swabs, one tip for culturing and one for DNA extraction, in 30 different offices per city (90 offices, 450 total samples). 16S rRNA gene sequences were PCR amplified using bar-coded “universal” bacterial primers from 54 of the surfaces (18 per city) and pooled for pyrosequencing. A three-factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) found significant differences in viable bacterial abundance between offices inhabited by men or women, among the various surface types, and among cities. Multiplex pyrosequencing identified more than 500 bacterial genera from 20 different bacterial divisions. The most abundant of these genera tended to be common inhabitants of human skin, nasal, oral or intestinal cavities. Other commonly occurring genera appeared to have environmental origins (e.g., soils). There were no significant differences in the bacterial diversity between offices inhabited by men or women or among surfaces, but the bacterial community diversity of the Tucson samples was clearly distinguishable from that of New York and San Francisco, which were indistinguishable. Overall, our comprehensive molecular analysis of office building microbial diversity shows the potential of these methods for studying patterns and origins of indoor bacterial contamination. “[H]umans move through a sea of microbial life that is seldom perceived except in the context of potential disease and decay.” – Feazel et al. (2009)

Small but crucial : the novel small heat shock protein Hsp21 mediates stress adaptation and virulence in Candida albicans

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The optimal number of lymph nodes examined in stage II colorectal cancer and its impact of on outcomes

Background: Lymph node status is the most important prognostic factor for colorectal cancer. The number of lymph nodes that should be histologically examined has been controversial. The aims of this study were to assess the impact of the number of lymph nodes examined on survival of patients with stage II colorectal cancer and to determine the optimal number of lymph nodes that should be examined.Methods: The study included 664 patients who underwent resection for stage II colorectal cancer. The clinical and histopathologic data of the patients were prospectively collected and analyzed.Results: The median number of lymph nodes examined was 12 (range: 1 to 58). The 5-year disease free survival rate was significantly higher for patients with 12 or more lymph nodes examined compared to those with less than 12 lymph nodes examined. The significant difference in 5-year disease free survival persisted if the dividing number increased progressively from 12 to 23. However, the difference in survival was most significant (lowest p value and highest hazard ratio) for the number 21. The 5-year disease free survival of patients with 21 or more lymph nodes examined was 80% whereas that of patients with less than 21 lymph nodes examined was 60% (p = 0.001, hazard ratio 2.08). Multivariate analysis showed that 21 or more lymph nodes examined was a factor that independently influenced survival. The 5-year disease free survival also increased progressively with the number of lymph node examined up to the number 21. After the number 21, the survival rate did not increase further. It was likely that 21 was the optimal number, at and above which the chance of lymph node metastasis was minimal.Conclusions: The number of lymph nodes examined in colorectal cancer specimen significantly influences survival. It is recommended that at least 21 lymph nodes should be examined for accurate diagnosis of stage II colorectal cancer. © 2010 Choi et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.published_or_final_versio

Y-chromosomal STRs haplotypes in the Taiwanese Paiwan population

The distribution of Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (Y-STR) haplotypes was determined in a population of Taiwanese Paiwan aboriginals. Using 17 Y-STR markers, a total of 135 haplotypes were observed, 102 of which were unique. The overall haplotype diversity for the 17 Y-STR loci tested was 0.9922 and the discrimination capacity was 0.6490. In addition, three novel intermediate alleles at the DYS448 locus were also found

KSHV PAN RNA Associates with Demethylases UTX and JMJD3 to Activate Lytic Replication through a Physical Interaction with the Virus Genome

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the cause of Kaposi's sarcoma and body cavity lymphomas. KSHV lytic infection produces PAN RNA, a highly abundant noncoding polyadenylated transcript that is retained in the nucleus. We recently demonstrated that PAN RNA interacts with several viral and cellular factors and can disregulate the expression of genes that modulate immune response. In an effort to define the role of PAN RNA in the context of the virus genome we generated a recombinant BACmid that deleted the PAN RNA locus. Because of the apparent duplication of the PAN RNA locus in BAC36, we generated BAC36CR, a recombinant BACmid that removes the duplicated region. BAC36CR was used as a template to delete most of the PAN RNA locus to generate BAC36CRΔPAN. BAC36CRΔPAN failed to produce supernatant virus and displayed a general decrease in mRNA accumulation of representative immediate early, early and late genes. Most strikingly, K-Rta expression was decreased in lytically induced BAC36CRΔPAN-containing cell lines at early and late time points post induction. Expression of PAN RNA in trans in BAC36CRΔPAN containing cells resulted in an increase in K-Rta expression, however K-Rta over expression failed to rescue BAC36CRΔPAN, suggesting that PAN RNA plays a wider role in virus replication. To investigate the role of PAN RNA in the activation of K-Rta expression, we demonstrate that PAN RNA physically interacts with the ORF50 promoter. RNA chromatin immunoprecipitation assays show that PAN RNA interacts with demethylases JMJD3 and UTX, and the histone methyltransferase MLL2. Consistent with the interaction with demethylases, expression of PAN RNA results in a decrease of the repressive H3K27me3 mark at the ORF50 promoter. These data support a model where PAN RNA is a multifunctional regulatory transcript that controls KSHV gene expression by mediating the modification of chromatin by targeting the KSHV repressed genome

Inhibitory effect on expression of angiogenic factors by antiangiogenic agents in renal cell carcinoma

Since it has been widely recognised that renal cell carcinoma is refractory to standard therapies such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, a new modality of treatment is needed. One of the potential alternative therapies for renal cell carcinoma may be inhibition of angiogenesis. In this study, we analysed the inhibitory effects of several potential agents on expression of angiogenic factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor, which are the main mediators in angiogenesis of renal cell carcinoma. We used medroxyprogesterone acetate, interferon-alpha, interferon-gamma, minocycline hydrochrolide and genistein, which are known to be antiangiogeneic. Northern blot analyses revealed that, among the five agents examined, genistein had a strong inhibitory effect on expression of vascular endothelial growth factor mRNA and basic fibroblast growth factor mRNA. Medroxyprogesterone acetate and interferon-alpha did not significantly decrease the level of either vascular endothelial growth factor mRNA or basic fibroblast growth factor mRNA. Interferon-gamma and minocycline had mild inhibitory effects on vascular endothelial growth factor mRNA and basic fibroblast growth factor mRNA expression. Genistein also inhibited both vascular endothelial growth factor mRNA and basic fibroblast growth factor mRNA expression after treatment with epidermal growth factor and hypoxia. These findings suggest that one of the mechanisms of the inhibition of angiogenesis by genistein is suppression of the expression of the angiogenic factors vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor in renal cell carcinoma