Utility of Contrast-Enhanced FDG-PET/CT in the Clinical Management of Pancreatic Cancer Impact on Diagnosis, Staging, Evaluation of Treatment Response, and Detection of Recurrence

Objectives: Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography/contrast-enhanced computed tomography (PET/CE-CT) involving whole-body scanning first by non-CE-CT and FDG-PET followed by CE-CT has been used for detailed examination of pancreatic lesions. We evaluated PET/CE-CT images with regard to differential diagnosis, staging, treatment response, and postoperative recurrence in pancreatic cancer. Methods: Positron emission tomography/CE-CT was conducted in 108 patients with pancreatic cancer and in 41 patients with other pancreatic tumor diseases. Results: The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) overlapped in benign and malignant cases, suggesting that differential diagnosis of pancreatic tumors based on the SUVmax is difficult. In the evaluation of staging in 31 resectable pancreatic cancer by PET/CE-CT, the diagnostic accuracy rate was more than 80% for most factors concerning local invasion and 94% for distant metastasis but only 42% for lymph node metastasis. Significant positive correlations were found between the SUVmax and tumor size/markers, suggesting that SUVmax may be a useful indicator for the treatment response. Regarding the diagnosis of the postoperative recurrence, PET/CE-CT correctly detected local recurrence in all the 11 cases of recurrence, whereas abdominal CE-CT detected only 7 of 11 cases, suggesting that PET/CE-CT is superior in this context. Conclusions: Positron emission tomography/CE-CT is useful for the clinical management of pancreatic cancer

Interaction between lung cancer cells and astrocytes via specific inflammatory cytokines in the microenvironment of brain metastasis

The incidence of brain metastasis is increasing, however, little is known about molecular mechanism responsible for lung cancer-derived brain metastasis and their development in the brain. In the present study, brain pathology was examined in an experimental model system of brain metastasis as well as in human brain with lung cancer metastasis. In an experimental model, after 3–6 weeks of intracardiac inoculation of human lung cancer-derived (HARA-B) cells in nude mice, wide range of brain metastases were observed. The brain sections showed significant increase in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive astrocytes around metastatic lesions. To elucidate the role of astrocytes in lung cancer proliferation, the interaction between primary cultured mouse astrocytes and HARA-B cells was analyzed in vitro. Co-cultures and insert-cultures demonstrated that astrocytes were activated by tumor cell-oriented factors; macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1). Activated astrocytes produced interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1 β (IL-1β), which in turn promoted tumor cell proliferation. Semi-quantitative immunocytochemistry showed that increased expression of receptors for IL-6 and its subunits gp130 on HARA-B cells. Receptors for TNF-α and IL-1β were also detected on HARA-B cells but down-regulated after co-culture with astrocytes. Insert-culture with astrocytes also stimulated the proliferation of other lung cancer-derived cell lines (PC-9, QG56, and EBC-1). These results suggest that tumor cells and astrocytes stimulate each other and these mutual relationships may be important to understand how lung cancer cells metastasize and develop in the brain

Pengaruh Komunikasi Terapeutik Perawat Terhadap Kepuasan Pasien Di Rawat Jalan RSUD Jogja

The Objective of this study is to know influence of nurse therapeutic communication to satisfaction of patients satisfaction in RSUD Yogyakarta. The study was a quantitative research methods such as surveys of descriptive inferential research with cross sectional approach. Number of samples in this research is 285 sample in inpatient and 140 in emergency room. The instrument used a questionnaire. Analysis of data using multiple linear regression. This study show that there is the influence of therapeutic communication nurse to satisfaction of outpatients and Emergency room in RSUD Yogyakarta, and orientation phase is a phase that most influence on patient satisfaction. The most influential to therapeutic communication is termination stage

Cytotoxic Terpene Quinones from Marine Sponges

The 1,4-benzoquinone moiety is a common structural feature in a large number of compounds that have received considerable attention owing to their broad spectrum of biological activities. The cytotoxic and antiproliferative properties of many natural sesquiterpene quinones and hydroquinones from sponges of the order Dictyoceratida, such as avarol, avarone, illimaquinone, nakijiquinone and bolinaquinone, offer promising opportunities for the development of new antitumor agents. The present review summarizes the structure and cytotoxicity of natural terpenequinones/hydroquinones and their bioactive analogues and derivatives