Can the colour of per-rectal bleeding estimate the risk of lower gastrointestinal bleeding caused by malignant lesion?

PURPOSE: To estimate the risk of lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGIB) caused by malignant lesion in patients presenting with per-rectal bleeding (PRB), by using visual aid as an objective measurement of PRB colour. METHODS: This was a prospective observational study on patients presented with PRB to Family Medicine Specialty Clinic, who undergo flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS) or colonoscopy (CLN) from December 2012 to September 2013. Patients aged 40 years old or above, haemodynamically stable, with normal haemoglobin level were included. Patients with a history of previous colonic surgery, refused to have FS or CLN, with ophthalmologic diseases such as colour blindness were excluded. Parameters including subjective description of PRB colour, number of chosen red colour by patients, source and distance of bleeding from anal verge were recorded for analysis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to identify the optimal cutoff level of colour for diagnosing colonic lesion. Diagnostic accuracy was assessed by area under the ROC curve (AUC). Accountability of this model was assessed by logistic regression. RESULTS: The dark PRB colour was associated with diagnosis of tumour (p < 0.001) and advanced neoplastic polyp (p < 0.001). The light PRB colour was associated with the diagnosis of piles (p < 0.001). The performance of our model to predict tumour or advanced neoplastic polyps by colour (AUC, 0.798) had a better discriminative power than that to predict colonic lesion alone (AUC, 0.610) by ROC curve analysis. CONCLUSION: Objective measurement of PRB colour accurately estimated the risk of LGIB caused by malignant lesion in patients presenting with PRB.postprin

The efficacy of Chinese herbal medicine as an adjunctive therapy for colorectal cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Although Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been widely used as an adjunctive therapy for colorectal cancer in Asia, its efficacy is not well defined. The purpose of this systematic review is to assess the efficacy of CHM as an adjunctive therapy to chemotherapy for the patients with colorectal cancer. Randomized controlled trials with CHM to treat colorectal cancer were extensively searched in seven databases. Two researchers independently assessed the quality and validity of included trials and extracted outcome data for synthesis. 20 trials were included for analysis. Compared to using chemotherapy alone, CHM combined with chemotherapy significantly increased 1- and 3-year survival rate [odds ratio (OR) 2.41, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.32-4.41; OR 2.40, 95% CI 1.49-3.87]. The combined therapy significantly slowed colorectal cancer progression (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.32-0.77) and improved quality of life (OR 3.43, 95% CI 2.35-5.02). It had positive effects in immunoregulation. CHM as an adjunctive therapy also had significant advantages in reducing the adverse effects of chemotherapy. This systematic review suggests that CHM as an adjunctive therapy with chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone has significant efficacy in terms of prolonging survival, enhancement of tumor response, improvement of quality of life, immunoregulation, and alleviation of acute adverse effects. However, a firm conclusion could not be reached because of the poor quality of the included trials. Further trials with higher quality are required and the efficacy in other forms of advantages remains to be further determined. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Associations of mRNA:microRNA for the shared downstream molecules of EGFR and alternative tyrosine kinase receptors in non-small cell lung cancer

2016-2017 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journal201804_a bcmaVersion of RecordPublishe

Combination therapy of gefitinib and miR-30a-5p may overcome acquired drug resistance through regulating the PI3K/AKT pathway in non-small cell lung cancer

202009 bcmaVersion of RecordPublishe

MiR-30a-5p overexpression may overcome EGFR-inhibitor resistance through regulating PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines

2016-2017 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journal201804_a bcmaVersion of RecordPublishe

MiR-30 family potentially targeting PI3K-SIAH2 predicted interaction network represents a novel putative theranostic panel in non-small cell lung cancer

2016-2017 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalbcrcVersion of RecordPublishe