No abstract available.
Family Practice* ; Humans ; Outpatients* ; Thyroid Diseases* ; Thyroid Gland*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Pregnancy*

No abstract available.
Female ; Ovary* ; Teratoma*

OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to evaluate the results of conization by loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) and cold coagulation as a definitive treatment in the patients with FIGO stage Ia1 squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. METHODS: One hundred eighty-seven patients were diagnosed as stage Ia1 cervical squamous cell carcinomas from 1995 to 2004 by conization with LEEP and cold coagulation. Fifty-nine patients who wanted to preserve fertility and/or refused further surgical treatment were followed-up without further treatment. Eleven patients of the 59 had involved ectocervical resection margins. All patients were followed-up with cervicovaginal smear and colposcopic examination at a regular interval. Disease recurrence was defined as a histologic diagnosis of dysplasia or more. RESULTS: The median follow-up period was 69.0 months (range 8 to 103). All 59 patients had no lymphvascular space invasion (LVSI). In four patients, the ectocervical margins were involved by dysplasia, in seven patients, by carcinoma in-situ. There were no specific differences in ages, depth of stromal invasion and HPV status between the groups with and without involved margins. All 59 patients did not recur during follow-up period. CONCLUSION: Conization with LEEP and cold coagulation was feasible and could be used as a definitive therapy for the patients with stage Ia1 cervical squamous cell carcinoma. This study suggests that conization might play a role in a patient with positive margins (dysplasia or CIS) when LVSI is not demonstrated.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Cervix Uteri* ; Conization* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Fertility ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Recurrence

Albizzia julibrissin (AJ) is an herbal medicine that shows low toxicity, promotes promoting blood circulation and mitigates the inflammation and has mild side effects. Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the most common diseases that occurs in older males and often results in lower urinary tract symptoms. This study was conducted to evaluate the protective effect of AJ against BPH using LNCaP cells and Sprague Dawley rats treated with testosterone. Treatment with AJ extract reduced the expression of androgen receptor (AR) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in vitro. In vivo, rats were divided into 6 groups: 1 (Normal Control); 2 (Testosterone propionate (TP) alone); 3 (TP + finasteride); 4 (TP + AJ 10 mg/kg); 5 (TP + AJ 50 mg/kg); 6 (TP + AJ 300 mg/kg). The groups treated with AJ showed reduced the relative prostate weights and BPH-related proteins were altered, with decreased AR, PSA and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) observed by western blot. Histopathological analysis revealed the therapeutic effect of AJ, with a decreased thickness of epithelial cells and reduced level of PCNA and 5α-reductase type 2. These results suggest that AJ extract could ameliorate testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia.
Albizzia ; Animals ; Blood Circulation ; Blotting, Western ; Diethylpropion ; Epithelial Cells ; Herbal Medicine ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; In Vitro Techniques ; Inflammation ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; Male ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ; Prostate ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptors, Androgen ; Testosterone ; Weights and Measures

Liver cancer is a common tumor and currently the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally. Liver cancer is highly related to inflammation as more than 90% of liver cancer arises in the context of hepatic inflammation, such as hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infection. Despite significant improvements in the therapeutic modalities for liver cancer, patient prognosis is not satisfactory due to the limited efficacy of current drug therapies in anti-metastatic activity. Therefore, developing new effective anti-cancer agents with anti-metastatic activity is important for the treatment of liver cancer. In this study, SP-8356, a verbenone derivative with anti-inflammatory activity, was investigated for its effect on the growth and migration of liver cancer cells. Our findings demonstrated that SP-8356 inhibits the proliferation of liver cancer cells by inducing apoptosis and suppressing the mobility and invasion ability of liver cancer cells. Functional studies revealed that SP-8356 inhibits the mitogen-activated protein kinase and nuclear factor-kappa B signaling pathways, which are related to cell proliferation and metastasis, resulting in the downregulation of metastasis-related genes. Moreover, using an orthotopic liver cancer model, tumor growth was significantly decreased following treatment with SP-8356. Thus, this study suggests that SP-8356 may be a potential agent for the treatment of liver cancer with multimodal regulation.

Liver cancer is a common tumor and currently the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally. Liver cancer is highly related to inflammation as more than 90% of liver cancer arises in the context of hepatic inflammation, such as hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infection. Despite significant improvements in the therapeutic modalities for liver cancer, patient prognosis is not satisfactory due to the limited efficacy of current drug therapies in anti-metastatic activity. Therefore, developing new effective anti-cancer agents with anti-metastatic activity is important for the treatment of liver cancer. In this study, SP-8356, a verbenone derivative with anti-inflammatory activity, was investigated for its effect on the growth and migration of liver cancer cells. Our findings demonstrated that SP-8356 inhibits the proliferation of liver cancer cells by inducing apoptosis and suppressing the mobility and invasion ability of liver cancer cells. Functional studies revealed that SP-8356 inhibits the mitogen-activated protein kinase and nuclear factor-kappa B signaling pathways, which are related to cell proliferation and metastasis, resulting in the downregulation of metastasis-related genes. Moreover, using an orthotopic liver cancer model, tumor growth was significantly decreased following treatment with SP-8356. Thus, this study suggests that SP-8356 may be a potential agent for the treatment of liver cancer with multimodal regulation.

In this study, we investigated the efficacy of Celtis choseniana Nakai (C. choseniana) as complementary herbal medicine to ameliorate androgenic alopecia (AGA). The effects of C. choseniana on AGA were evaluated using testosterone propionate-induced AGA mouse model and dihydrotestosterone-treated human hair follicle dermal papilla cells. In vivo, C. choseniana treatment deactivated androgen signaling by reducing the concentration of serum dihydrotestosterone level and expressions of 5α-reductase 2 and androgen receptor. Next, C. choseniana treatment increased the hair regrowth rate. Histological studies demonstrated that C. choseniana induced the anagen phase in testosterone propionate-induced AGA mouse model. Cellular proliferation was promoted by C. choseniana treatment via increasing the expression of proliferation factors, such as proliferating cell nuclear antigen and cyclin D1. Furthermore, C. choseniana treatment increased the expression of proteins related to the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. In addition, dickkopf-1, a Wnt inhibitor, was downregulated with C. choseniana treatment. Likewise, C. choseniana treatment promoted cellular proliferation in vitro. This study demonstrated the inhibitory effect of C. choseniana on androgen-induced AGA. Moreover, C. choseniana induced activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, resulting in prolonged anagen and cellular proliferation. Therefore, we suggest that C. choseniana can be used as a therapeutic agent to alleviate AGA.

BACKGROUDN: Docetaxel is a highly effective chemotherapeutic agent with proven efficacy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, myelosuppression can be a substantial concern when docetaxel is administered every 3 weeks. Weekly administration of low-dose docetaxel has demonstrated a comparable efficacy together with a distinct toxicity profile with reduced myelosuppression. We conducted a phase II study of weekly administration of docetaxel and cisplatin or carboplatin in patients with advanced NSCLC to evaluate efficacy and safety. METHODS: Twenty-nine patients with advanced or metastatic NSCLC who had not received prior treatment were enrolled in the study. The patients received intravenous infusions of docetaxel (35 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, 15) and cisplatin (75 mg/m2 on day 1) or carboplatin (AUC 6), followed by a week of rest. RESULTS: Twenty-six patients were assessable for efficacy and all patients were assessable for toxicity determination. The overall response rate of the regimen was 44.8%. The median survival was 11.3 months, and the 1-year survival rate was 37%. Of the hematologic toxicities, grade 3/4 neutropenia were observed in 12.6% of the patients, but there were no episodes of neutropenic fever. Non-hematologic toxicities were mild. CONCLUSIONS: With this weekly dosing regimen, although efficacy is comparable, myelosuppression is substantially less, and the overall tolerability profile is better than with dosing every 3 weeks.
Carboplatin ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Cisplatin ; Fever ; Humans ; Infusions, Intravenous ; Neutropenia ; Platinum* ; Survival Rate