Incisional hernia treatment with polypropylene graft: results of 10 years

Purpose: To report herein our results of tension-free repair of large incisional hernia with polypropylene mesh using a modification of the method that was described by Usher. Method: Two hundred ninety-one patients who were operated on between January 1994 and December 2004 were studied. Two hundred thirty-two patients were female (79.7%), and 59 were male (20.3%). The average follow-up period was 55 months. The patients were evaluated for infection, recurrences, hematoma and seroma formation, sinuses and enterocutaneous fistula formation. Results: Infection was observed in eight patients (2.7%). Graft removal due to infection was encountered only in two patients (0.6%). Recurrence was observed in six patients (2.1%). Two patients (0.6%) developed hematoma while another two developed seroma. No patient developed enterocutaneous fistula. Conclusion: By using our modified technique wecan decrease the expected complications after tension-free repair of large incisional hernias. © Springer-Verlag 2006

Enhancing antioxidant defense system of mung bean with a salicylic acid exogenous application to mitigate cadmium toxicity

Cadmium (Cd) accumulation is an emerging environmental hazard and has detrimental effects on plant growth and development. Salicylic acid (SA) is a well-known plant growth regulator that can initiate various molecular pathways to ameliorate Cd toxicity. The experiment was executed to scrutinize the mediatory role of SA to accelerate the defensive mechanism of mung bean in response to Cd stress. Mung bean plants were exposed to 0, 5, 10 and 15 mg Cd kg-1 of soil. Exogenous application of SA 0, 10-6 and 10-3 M was added prior flowering. Results exhibited that Cd stress considerably reduced the growth-related attributes i.e. shoot length, root length, fresh and dry biomass, total soluble protein, total amino acids, relative water contents and photosynthetic pigments. Cadmium stress showed a significant increase in antioxidants levels such as peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), ascorbic acid (AsA), and catalase (CAT) and promoted the accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents. However, exogenously applied SA significantly improved plant biomass and photosynthetic pigments under Cd stress. Moreover, SA improved the defensive system by enhancing antioxidants’ activities under the increasing concentration of Cd stress. Furthermore, SA reduced the Cd uptake, membrane damage and, H2O2 and MDA accumulation. The study's findings concluded that exogenous-applied SA enhanced plant growth, promoted the antioxidant activities, and reduced the oxidative damage in mung bean seedlings under Cd stress

Investigating the Correlation Between Long-Term Response in Patients with Metastatic HER2+ Breast Cancer and the Activity of Regulatory T Cells: A Retrospective Study

Mustafa Degirmenci,1 Gulden Diniz,2 Dudu Solakoglu Kahraman,3 Mustafa Sahbazlar,4 Lokman Koral,5 Umut Varol,6 Ruchan Uslu7 1Department of Medical Oncology, Health Sciences University, Izmir, Turkey; 2Department of Pathology, Izmir Democracy University, Izmir, Turkey; 3Department of Pathology, University of Health Sciences, Izmir, Turkey; 4Department of Medical Oncology, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey; 5Department of Medical Oncology, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Canakkale, Turkey; 6Department of Medical Oncology, Izmir Democracy university, Izmir, Turkey; 7Department of Medical Oncology, izmir Medicana Hospital, Izmir, TurkeyCorrespondence: Mustafa Degirmenci, Medical Oncology Department of Health Sciences University, Kazım Dirik Mah. Fatih Sultan Mehmet Cad. No: 29/1 Seyhan Sitesi C blok D:10 35040, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey, Email [email protected]: Trastuzumab is commonly utilized in the management of metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. Our main goal was to examine the clinical outcomes and immune markers of patients who received trastuzumab and chemotherapy treatment.Methods: Between 1995 and 2012, a total of 98 patients diagnosed with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer were retrospectively analyzed at Ege University Hospital and Tepecik Training and Research Hospital. The clinicopathological characteristics and clinical outcomes of the patients were assessed, and the associations between response rates, survival and the immune profiles of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes were statistically evaluated.Results: The average age of patients at the time of diagnosis was 50.1± 10.3 (ranging from 30 to 79) years. The mean follow-up period for all patients was 97.9± 53.8 months. Among the patients, complete response was observed in 24.5%, partial response in 61.2%, and stable disease in 8.2% of cases. The average progression-free survival was 50.3± 26.9 months (ranging from 1 to 163 months), and the average overall survival was 88.8± 59.4 months (ranging from 12 to 272 months). After analyzing all cases, it was found that patients who were younger (p=0.006), exhibited higher CD3-positivity (p=0.041), presented with higher FOXP3-positivity (p=0.025), showed complete or at least partial response to treatment (p=0.008), and experienced a long-term response to trastuzumab (and chemotherapy) treatment had longer survival (p=0.001).Conclusion: Patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, who initially respond positively to palliative trastuzumab and chemotherapy treatment, can achieve long-term tumor remission lasting for several years.Keywords: metastatic breast cancer, trastuzumab, forkhead box p3, long-term respons

Inhibition of APN/CD13 leads to suppressed progressive potential in ovarian carcinoma cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Aminopeptidase N (APN/CD13), a 150-kDa metalloprotease, is a multifunctional cell surface aminopeptidase with ubiquitous expression. Recent studies have suggested that APN/CD13 plays an important role in tumor progression of several human malignancies. In the current study, we investigated the role of APN/CD13 in ovarian carcinoma (OVCA) progression.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We first examined the expression of APN/CD13 at the protein level in a variety of OVCA cell lines and tissues. We subsequently investigated whether there was a correlation between APN/CD13 expression and invasive potential of various OVCA cell lines. Moreover, we investigated the function of APN/CD13 in OVCA cells using bestatin, an APN/CD13 inhibitor, or transfection of siRNA for APN/CD13.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We confirmed that APN/CD13 was expressed in OVCA tissues and cell lines to various extents. There was a positive correlation between APN/CD13 expression and migratory potential in various OVCA cell lines with accordingly enhanced secretion of endogenous MMP-2. Subsequently, we found a significant decrease in the proliferative and migratory abilities of OVCA cells after the addition of bestatin or the inhibition of APN/CD13 expression by siRNA. Furthermore, in an animal model, daily intraperitoneal administration of bestatin after inoculation of OVCA cells resulted in a decrease of peritoneal dissemination and in prolonged survival of nude mice.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The current data indicate the possible involvement of APN/CD13 in the development of OVCA, and suggest that clinical use of bestatin may contribute to better prognosis for ovarian carcinoma patients.</p

Neurostructural subgroup in 4291 individuals with schizophrenia identified using the subtype and stage inference algorithm

Machine learning can be used to define subtypes of psychiatric conditions based on shared biological foundations of mental disorders. Here we analyzed cross-sectional brain images from 4,222 individuals with schizophrenia and 7038 healthy subjects pooled across 41 international cohorts from the ENIGMA, non-ENIGMA cohorts and public datasets. Using the Subtype and Stage Inference (SuStaIn) algorithm, we identify two distinct neurostructural subgroups by mapping the spatial and temporal ‘trajectory’ of gray matter change in schizophrenia. Subgroup 1 was characterized by an early cortical-predominant loss with enlarged striatum, whereas subgroup 2 displayed an early subcortical-predominant loss in the hippocampus, striatum and other subcortical regions. We confirmed the reproducibility of the two neurostructural subtypes across various sample sites, including Europe, North America and East Asia. This imaging-based taxonomy holds the potential to identify individuals with shared neurobiological attributes, thereby suggesting the viability of redefining existing disorder constructs based on biological factors