Sirikan Yamada

Gastric cancer is regarded as the fifth most common cancer globally but the third most common cancer death. Although systemic chemotherapy is the primary treatment for advanced gastric cancer patients, the outcome of chemotherapy is unsatisfactory. Novel therapeutic strategies and potential alternative treatments are therefore needed to overcome the impact of this disease. At a cellular level, mitochondria play an important role in cell survival and apoptosis. A growing body of studies have shown that mitochondria play a central role in the regulation of cellular function, metabolism, and cell death during carcinogenesis. Interestingly, the impact of mitochondrial dynamics, including fission/fusion and mitophagy, on carcinogenesis and cancer progression has also been reported, suggesting the potential targeting of mitochondrial dynamics for the treatment of cancer. This review not only comprehensively summarizes the homeostasis of gastric cancer cells, but the potential therapeutic interventions for the targeting of mitochondria for gastric cancer therapy are also highlighted and discussed.

Background: After therapeutic endoscopy is performed in high-risk patients with peptic ulcer bleeding, rebleeding occurs in about 25 to 30%. High dose intravenous proton pump inhibitors (PPI) have been recommended for the use in high-risk patients to prevent rebleeding following successful therapeutic endoscopy. Objective: Compare the efficacy between pantoprazole high dose bolus injections and continuous intravenous infusion to prevent rebleeding in peptic ulcer patients after initial hemostasis is achieved by the therapeutic endoscopy. Material and Method: A clinical block randomized control trial was conducted at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital in massive peptic ulcer bleeding patients. All patients underwent endoscopic diagnosis and treatment within six hours of admission. Hemostasis was achieved by therapeutic endoscopy in 28 patients who received 80 mg pantoprazole as a loading dose before intervention. They were randomized into two groups. The first group was given a high ...

Copyright © 2014 Kijja Jearwattanakanok et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. The differential diagnoses of acute appendicitis obstetrics, and gynecological conditions (OB-GYNc) or nonspecific abdominal pain in young adult females with lower abdominal pain are clinically challenging. The present study aimed to validate the recently developed clinical score for the diagnosis of acute lower abdominal pain in female of reproductive age.Method. Medical records of reproductive age women (15–50 years) whowere admitted for acute lower abdominal pain were collected. Validation data were obtained from patients admitted during a different period from the development data. Result. There were 302 patients in the validation cohort. For appendicitis, the score had a sensitivity of 91.9%, a specificity of...

Background. The differential diagnoses of acute appendicitis obstetrics, and gynecological conditions (OB-GYNc) or nonspecific abdominal pain in young adult females with lower abdominal pain are clinically challenging. The present study aimed to validate the recently developed clinical score for the diagnosis of acute lower abdominal pain in female of reproductive age.Method. Medical records of reproductive age women (15–50 years) who were admitted for acute lower abdominal pain were collected. Validation data were obtained from patients admitted during a different period from the development data.Result. There were 302 patients in the validation cohort. For appendicitis, the score had a sensitivity of 91.9%, a specificity of 79.0%, and a positive likelihood ratio of 4.39. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive likelihood ratio in diagnosis of OB-GYNc were 73.0%, 91.6%, and 8.73, respectively. The areas under the receiver operating curves (ROC), the positive likelihood ratios, f...

Background. Obstetrics and gynecological conditions (OB-GYNc) are difficult to be differentiated from appendicitis in young adult females presenting with acute lower abdominal pain. Timely and correct diagnosis is clinically challenging.Method. A retrospective data analysis was performed on 542 female patients who were admitted to a tertiary care hospital with a chief complaint of acute lower abdominal pain. Diagnostic indicators of appendicitis and OB-GYNc were identified by stepwise multivariable polytomous logistic regression. Diagnostic performances of the scores were tested.Result. The developed clinical score is comprised of (1) guarding or rebound tenderness, (2) pregnancy, (3) sites of abdominal tenderness, (4) leukocytosis, (5) peripheral neutrophils ≥75%, and (6) presence of diarrhea. For diagnosis of appendicitis, the area under the ROC curve was 0.8696, and the sensitivity and specificity were 89.25% and 70.00%. For OB-GYNc, the corresponding values were 0.8450, 66.67%, ...

After therapeutic endoscopy is performed in high-risk patients with peptic ulcer bleeding, rebleeding occurs in about 25 to 30%. High dose intravenous proton pump inhibitors (PPI) have been recommended for the use in high-risk patients to prevent rebleeding following successful therapeutic endoscopy. Compare the efficacy between pantoprazole high dose bolus injections and continuous intravenous infusion to prevent rebleeding in peptic ulcer patients after initial hemostasis is achieved by the therapeutic endoscopy. A clinical block randomized control trial was conducted at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital in massive peptic ulcer bleeding patients. All patients underwent endoscopic diagnosis and treatment within six hours of admission. Hemostasis was achieved by therapeutic endoscopy in 28 patients who received 80 mg pantoprazole as a loading dose before intervention. They were randomized into two groups. The first group was given a high dose of pantoprazole, 40 mg bolus injections...

Thailand has the lowest incidence of gastric cancer in the world. Helicobacter pylori infection, a low serum pepsinogen I/II ratio, and interleukin (IL)-1beta-511 polymorphisms are suspected to be risk factors for gastric cancer. A total of 167 Thais, comprising 56 cancer patients and 111 volunteers without cancer, underwent an esophagogastroduodenoscopic examination and three fixed-point biopsies; a cancer tissue biopsy was also done, and blood samples were collected. The subjects without cancer were divided into normal subjects and chronic gastritis patients. IL-1beta-511 polymorphisms were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism, and the serum levels of pepsinogen I and II were determined by a radioimmunoassay. Helicobacter pylori IgG antibody and tissue pathology were tested in all groups. The pepsinogen I/II ratio was significantly lower in the gastric cancer group than in the normal and chronic gastritis groups [odds ratio (OR), 2.3; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.10-4.80; P = 0.025]. Gastric cancer patients were positive for the H. pylori IgG antibody more frequently than negative (OR, 2.946; 95% CI, 1.4-6.39; P = 0.005). However, only 15 (27%) cancer patients were both positive for H. pylori IgG antibody and had low serum pepsinogen I/II. The C/C genotype was found more frequently in the gastric cancer group than in the group with a normal gastric mucosa (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.50-0.81; P = 0.014). A low serum pepsinogen I/II ratio combined with positivity for H. pylori IgG, and a IL-1beta-511 C/C genotype may be independent risk factors for gastric cancer in Thais.

To evaluate (1) the association of the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) test and interleukin-8 (IL-8) mRNA expression alone and the severity of gastric cancer (GC); (2) the association of both tests were added to patients' characteristics to identifli Thai suspected patients of gastric cancer who would receive the most benefit; and (3) diagnostic value of levels of IL-8 mRNA expression for gastric cancer. A cross-sectional analytical study was completed with 220 patients with 86 GC patients who underwent endoscopy with gastric surgery divided into non-metastasis and metastasis groups, and 134 patients with benign lesions who underwent endoscopic examination, at the Gastrointestinal Surgery and Endoscopy Unit, Chiang Mai University Hospital between 2006 and 2010. Of 220 patients, 86 cases of diagnosed gastric adenocarcinoma were in an advanced stage and 134 cases were non-cancer patients. The IL-8 mRNA expression showed predominant association with advanced GC when compared to H. pylori infection alone [OR (95%CI); 0.86 (0.49-1.53) vs 5.44 (3.08-9.62)] when including the patients' characteristics the highest of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AuROC) of the model were males older than 40 years of age [AuROC (95%CI); 0.81 (0.75-0.86)]. However, preliminary testing for diagnostic indices of four cut-off points of IL-8 mRNA expression to predict the severity of GC cases found an increasing suboptimal trend from the likelihood ratio of positive to differentiate the severity in the GC group. The IL-8 mRNA expression showed a predominant association with GC when compared to H. pylori infection, especially in males older than 40 years of age who may benefit most from this test. The future research of IL-8 mRNA expression to predict severity in the gastric cancer group should be warranted.

The efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy for advance resectable gastric cancer is controversial. Recently, less than 20% of the patients that received surgery can survive locally advance gastric cancer for 5 years. The purpose of the present study was to compare the therapeutic efficacy of the combination 5-fluoruracil (5-FU) with cisplatinum based and single 5-FU based regimen for the treatment of gastric cancer after post-operative gastric resection. Patients were recruited if they underwent curative RO gastric resection surgery with standard Dl or D2 lymph node dissection. Between 2002 and 2007, we conducted a cohort study, and collected prospective data of 88 patients with advanced gastric cancer They were analyzed for median survival time and rate, recurrence rate, and chemotherapy toxicity prevalence. The median survival time was the primary study endpoint. The median survival time was compared between groups by a log-rank test. In the present study, combined 5-FU based regimen d...

This is the case-report of a rare cause of chronic small intestinal obstruction by eosinophilic enteritis. A 53-year-old woman presented with an 8-month history of severe intermittent abdominal colick associated with malnutrition, weight loss, and bowel habit change. Several investigations were done but failed to demonstrate the cause. Exploratory laparotomy was therefore performed and the cause of partial small bowel obstruction was found to be eosinophilic enteritis.

This case study reviews the experience of a Thai family who traveled to Japan for living-related liver transplantation. The recipient experienced multiple problems after transplantation, which placed additional stress on the family. The cultural gap and language barrier resulted in a lack of understanding and often made it difficult for the medical team and family to communicate effectively. However, the use of interpreters helped to resolve these problems. This study shows that it is especially important for transplant coordinators and social workers to facilitate the collaboration and understanding between families and the medical team when cultural and language differences exist.

Background.   Helicobacter pylori infection is associated not only with gastroduodenal ulcers but with the development of gastric cancer. Interleukin-1 β (IL-1 β) is a potent inhibitor of gastric secretion. The −31 C-to-T base transition in the intron of this gene has been reported to be involved in carcinogenic changes within the stomach, especially in H. pylori-infected individuals. Methods. In this

This study was designed to compare genetic differences in single-nucleotide polymorphisms of the S-mephenytoin 4'-hydroxylation (CYP2C19) gene among four Asian populations. Polymerase chain reaction with restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis of CYP2C19 was conducted in Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese populations. All genotype frequencies were analyzed. Wild-type homozygote and wild-type heterozygote genotypes were extensive proton pump inhibitor (PPI) metabolizers. Mutant-type heterozygote and mutant-type homozygote genotypes were poor PPI metabolizers. No significant differences in CYP2C19 phenotype, calculated based on genotype frequencies, (P > 0.05) were found among the four populations. Many factors, including CYP2C19 polymorphisms, affect the success rate of Helicobacterpylori eradication with PPI-based therapy. We suspect that CYP2C19 polymorphisms may not be the main factor associated with differences among these four Asian populations in the success rates of H. pylori eradication with PPI-based therapy.