Objective To investigate the expression of vascular endothelial cell growth factor-C (VEGF-C) and its receptor--vascular endothelial cell growth factor receptor-3 (VEGFR-3) in breast cancer tissue and its correlation with metastasis of lymphonodi axillares.Methods Fifty-eight cases of breast cancer samples and 10 cases of tumor adjacent non-carcinomatous tissue were measured by immunohistochemical staining for expression of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3. Their expression rates were compared between axillary lymph node metastasis and non-metastasis groups.Results The positive rates of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 as well as the number of VEGFR-3 positive vessels were significantly higher than those in lymph node non-metastasis group (87.5% vs 55.9%; 83.3% vs 38.2%; 8.54±2.54 vs 4.73±2.46, respectively).Conclusion The high expression of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 as well as the increase in the number of VEGFR-3 positive vessels are related to lymph node metastasis of human breast cancer. VEGF-C/VEGFR-3 system may be a new specific target which contributes to blockage of lymphatic metastasis in breast cancer.

Objective To observe the effect of core stability training on lumbar disc herniation using changes in surface-electromyography signals from the core muscles.Methods Sixty patients with lumbar disc herniation were equally divided into an experimental group who were given the core stability training in addition to their regular physical therapy and a control group given the regular physical therapy only.The total course of treatment was 8 weeks.Each patient was assessed before the experiment and after 4 and 8 weeks of the intervention using the numeric rating scales of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association,the Oswestry disability index and integrated electromyogram (iEMG),root mean square (RMS) and medium frequency (MF) of the electromyographic signals from the rectus abdominis,obliqus externus abdominis,erector spinae,lumbar multifidus and gluteus medius muscles.Results No significant differences between the two groups were observed in any of the measurements before or after four weeks of the treatment.After 4 and 8 weeks of treatment,both groups had significant improvements in all of the measurements compared with before the experiment.Between 4 and 8 weeks the experimental group showed significant improvement in all of the measurements which was not matched in the control group.By the end of the treatment,all of the measurements of the experimental group were,on average,significantly better than those of the control group.Conclusions Both core stability training and regular physical therapy have similar effects on patients with lumbar disc herniation in the short term.However,continued core stability training improves the ability of core muscles and relieves pain and dysfunction better than prolonged regular physical therapy.