Prognostic Factors Associated with Survival in Patients with Primary Duodenal Adenocarcinoma

Background/Aims: The prognostic factors in primary duodenal adenocarcinoma remain controversial. This study evaluated the prognostic factors associated with survival in patients with primary duodenal adenocarcinoma. Methods: From March 1996 to June 2008, the medical records of 30 patients with a final diagnosis of primary duodenal epithelial malignancy seen at two referral centers were reviewed retrospectively. The prognostic factors for survival were evaluated 6 months and 1, 2, and 5 years after the diagnosis. Results: The median survival was 5.7 months. The survival rate was 46.7 % (14/30), 16.7 % (5/30), 10 % (3/30), and 6.7 % (2/30) at 6 months and 1, 2, and 5 years, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that cancer-direct-ed treatment, including curative surgery or chemotherapy, was a common independent risk factor at all follow-up times. Total bilirubin, cytology, and TNM stage were independent risk factors for survival at 1, 2, and 5 years. The white blood cell count was an independent risk factor at 1 year only. The actuarial probability of survival in patients undergoing cancer-directed treatment was significantly higher than in those without treatment at 6 months (71.4 vs. 25.0%, p < 0.01), 1 year (28.6 vs. 6.3%, p < 0.01), 2 years (21.4 vs. 0%, p < 0.01), and 5 years (14.3 vs. 0%, p < 0.01). Conclusions: The prognostic factors in patients with primary duodenal adenocarcinoma were total bilirubin, TNM stage, cytology, and cancer-directed treatments until the 5-year follow-up. Especially, cancer-directed treat-ments improved patient survival. (Korean J Intern Med 2011;26:34-40

Clinical Significance of Colonic Diverticulosis Associated with Bowel Symptoms and Colon Polyp

This study was done to evaluate prospectively the clinical significance of colonic diverticulosis. In the 1,030 consecutive outpatients undergoing colonoscopy, the information on the demographics, the patterns of bowel symptoms, and the prevalence of colon polyp were analyzed according to the presence of colonic diverticulosis. The mean age of 1,030 patients were 52.2 yr and 59.3% were male. The prevalence of diverticulosis was 19.7% (203/1,030). Of 203 diverticulosis patients 85.2% were in proximal group, 5.4% in distal group and 9.4% in both group. Six (3.0%) patients were found to have diverticulitis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that an old age, diabetes and the presence of polyp were significant factors associated with proximal or both diverticulosis. A significant difference was demonstrated between the patients of distal diverticular group and the controls for the symptom frequency scores within the previous 4 weeks. The items, which showed difference, were hard stool, urgency, flatus, chest discomfort and frequent urination. In conclusion, old age, diabetes and the presence of colon polyp were associated with proximal diverticulosis. The temporal symptoms were more frequent in distal diverticulosis than in proximal diverticulosis in the study subjects

A Case of Combined Hepatocellular-Cholangiocarcinoma with Underlying Schistosomiasis

Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma is a rare form of primary liver cancer showing features of both hepatocellular and biliary epithelial differentiation. We report here on a case with collision tumor, which apparently was the coincidental occurrence of both hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma underlying schistosomiasis. A 39-year-old-Philippine female was transferred to our hospital for evaluation of a liver mass that was found on ultrasonography at a local hospital. HBsAg and Anti-HCV were negative and serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level was normal. The tumor mass was histologically diagnosed as adenocarcinoma by sono-guided biopsy before the operation. Partial lobectomy was performed and we histologically identified the concurrent occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma, (a "collision type carcinoma")

Evaluation of Phage Display Discovered Peptides as Ligands for Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA)

The aim of this study was to identify potential ligands of PSMA suitable for further development as novel PSMA-targeted peptides using phage display technology. The human PSMA protein was immobilized as a target followed by incubation with a 15-mer phage display random peptide library. After one round of prescreening and two rounds of screening, high-stringency screening at the third round of panning was performed to identify the highest affinity binders. Phages which had a specific binding activity to PSMA in human prostate cancer cells were isolated and the DNA corresponding to the 15-mers were sequenced to provide three consensus sequences: GDHSPFT, SHFSVGS and EVPRLSLLAVFL as well as other sequences that did not display consensus. Two of the peptide sequences deduced from DNA sequencing of binding phages, SHSFSVGSGDHSPFT and GRFLTGGTGRLLRIS were labeled with 5-carboxyfluorescein and shown to bind and co-internalize with PSMA on human prostate cancer cells by fluorescence microscopy. The high stringency requirements yielded peptides with affinities KD∼1 μM or greater which are suitable starting points for affinity maturation. While these values were less than anticipated, the high stringency did yield peptide sequences that apparently bound to different surfaces on PSMA. These peptide sequences could be the basis for further development of peptides for prostate cancer tumor imaging and therapy. © 2013 Shen et al

Localisation of RNAs into the germ plasm of vitellogenic xenopus oocytes

We have studied the localisation of mRNAs in full-grown Xenopus laevis oocytes by injecting fluorescent RNAs, followed by confocal microscopy of the oocyte cortex. Concentrating on RNA encoding the Xenopus Nanos homologue, nanos1 (formerly Xcat2), we find that it consistently localised into aggregated germ plasm ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particles, independently of cytoskeletal integrity. This implies that a diffusion/entrapment-mediated mechanism is active, as previously reported for previtellogenic oocytes. Sometimes this was accompanied by localisation into scattered particles of the “late”, Vg1/VegT pathway; occasionally only late pathway localisation was seen. The Xpat RNA behaved in an identical fashion and for neither RNA was the localisation changed by any culture conditions tested. The identity of the labelled RNP aggregates as definitive germ plasm was confirmed by their inclusion of abundant mitochondria and co-localisation with the germ plasm protein Hermes. Further, the nanos1/Hermes RNP particles are interspersed with those containing the germ plasm protein Xpat. These aggregates may be followed into the germ plasm of unfertilized eggs, but with a notable reduction in its quantity, both in terms of injected molecules and endogenous structures. Our results conflict with previous reports that there is no RNA localisation in large oocytes, and that during mid-oogenesis even germ plasm RNAs localise exclusively by the late pathway. We find that in mid oogenesis nanos1 RNA also localises to germ plasm but also by the late pathway. Late pathway RNAs, Vg1 and VegT, also may localise into germ plasm. Our results support the view that mechanistically the two modes of localisation are extremely similar, and that in an injection experiment RNAs might utilise either pathway, the distinction in fates being very subtle and subject to variation. We discuss these results in relation to their biological significance and the results of others

What we talk about when we talk about "global mindset": managerial cognition in multinational corporations

Recent developments in the global economy and in multinational corporations have placed significant emphasis on the cognitive orientations of managers, giving rise to a number of concepts such as “global mindset” that are presumed to be associated with the effective management of multinational corporations (MNCs). This paper reviews the literature on global mindset and clarifies some of the conceptual confusion surrounding the construct. We identify common themes across writers, suggesting that the majority of studies fall into one of three research perspectives: cultural, strategic, and multidimensional. We also identify two constructs from the social sciences that underlie the perspectives found in the literature: cosmopolitanism and cognitive complexity and use these two constructs to develop an integrative theoretical framework of global mindset. We then provide a critical assessment of the field of global mindset and suggest directions for future theoretical and empirical research

Peccei-Quinn NMSSM in the light of 125 GeV Higgs

We study the phenomenology of the Peccei-Quinn invariant extension of the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM) in view of the recent discovery of a 125 GeV Higgs boson. The minimal model having no quadratic and cubic terms of the NMSSM singlet field predicts a light singlino-like lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). The model is strongly constrained by the Higgs invisible decay and the dark matter characteristic of the LSP, while some constraints can be relaxed by assuming that the saxion, the CP-even companion of the axion in the Peccei-Quinn sector, causes a late-time entropy production diluting the thermal LSP density. The collider signal of the model contains multi-jet and $h/W/Z$ plus missing energy, which can be discovered in the early stage of the 14 TeV LHC running.Comment: 40 pages, 10 figures, 6 tables. v3: references added, several statements added and corrected, comments on the small tadpole soft term added in sec. 2.

On Naturalness of the MSSM and NMSSM

With a bottom-up approach, we consider naturalness in the MSSM and NMSSM. Assuming the light stops, the LHC gluino search implies that the degree of fine tuning in both models is less than 2.5%. Taking the LHC hints for the SM-like Higgs boson mass m_h\sim125 GeV seriously, we find that naturalness will favor the NMSSM. We study the Higgs boson mass for several scenarios in the NMSSM: (1) A large \lambda and the doublet-singlet Higgs boson mixing effect pushing upward or pulling downward m_h. The former case can readily give the di-photon excess of the Higgs boson decay whereas the latter case can not. However, we point out that the former case has a new large fine-tuning related to strong \lambda-RGE running effect and vacuum stability. (2) A small \lambda and the mixing effect pushing m_h upward. Naturalness status becomes worse and no significant di-photon excess can be obtained. In these scenarios, the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) as a dark matter candidate is strongly disfavored by the XENON100 experiment. Even if the LSP can be a viable dark matter candidate, there does exist fine-tuning. The above naturalness evaluation is based on a high mediation scale for supersymmetry breaking, whereas for a low mediation scale, fine-tuning can be improved by about one order.Comment: JHEP version, adding some comments/references and improving Englis