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A 71-year-old woman presented with epigastric pain after having meals visited our hospital. On examination, she was diagnosed with gallstone cholecystitis, complicated with common bile duct stones. She was treated appropriately, and her conditions improved. It was fortuitously noted that she had a

SUMMARYHelicobacter suishosted by hogs is the most prevalent gastric non-Helicobacter pylori Helicobacterspecies found in humans. Recent studies suggest that theH. suisinfection has already induced many cases of gastric disease. However, the infection period and route ofH. suisfrom hogs remain unclear. Because diagnostic methods based on the urease activity ofH. suisoften yield negative judgments, there is no reliable method for diagnosingH. suisinfection in clinical practice without gastric biopsy specimens. We developed the world’s first ELISA to simultaneously diagnoseH. suisandH. pyloriinfection in a single test. The area under the ROC curve was 0.9648 or 0.9200 for identifyingH. suisorH. pyloriinfection, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values for identifyingH. suisinfection were 100%, 92.6%, 76.9%, and 100%, and those for identifyingH. pyloriinfection were 88.2%, 87.5%, 65.2%, and 96.6%, respectively. (150 words)

Liver function influences the plasma antithrombin (AT)-III levels. AT-III is beneficial for patients with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) and low plasma AT-III levels. However, whether these levels affect prognosis in patients with cirrhosis-associated PVT remains unknown. This retrospective study involved 75 patients with cirrhosis and PVT treated with danaparoid sodium with or without AT-III. The plasma AT-III level was significantly lower in patients with liver failure-related death than in those with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-related death (p = 0.005), although the Child–Pugh and albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) scores were not significantly different between these two groups. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of the plasma AT-III levels showed cutoff values of 54.0% at 5-year survival. Low plasma AT-III levels (

This study aimed to examine the range of beige colored mucosa (BCM) in patients with esophageal eosinophilic infiltration (EEI) using narrow-band imaging (NBI). In this retrospective study, EEI was confirmed histologically in 12 consecutive patients from January 2014 to December 2017. The BCM tone on NBI without magnifying endoscopy was evaluated, and red, green, and blue (RGB) values of BCM and normal mucosa were measured. BCM was macroscopically classified into 2 groups (bright and dark) using cluster analysis. Histopathological analysis was performed in 1 patient who underwent biopsy for both normal mucosa and BCM. All 12 patients presented with BCM. Endoscopy revealed fixed rings, longitudinal furrows, mucosal edema, and exudate in 3, 12, 10, and 8 patients, respectively. Strictures were absent. Five patients had findings suggestive of gastroesophageal reflux disease. In the cluster analysis, 5 and 7 patients had bright and dark BCM, respectively. Consistent results were noted when we categorized patients according to their macroscopic characteristics. RGB values of the BCM and normal mucosa were measured-normal mucosa: R: 99.8 ± 16.5, G: 121.7 ± 23.1, and B: 93.4 ± 19.2; BCM: R: 152.0 ± 31.3, G: 123.9 ± 35.0, and B: 97.5 ± 29.5. BCM had significantly higher R values than normal mucosa (P = .0001). All parameters were significantly lower in the dark BCM group than in the bright BCM group (P.001). Histopathological analysis revealed expansion of the epithelial intercellular space, eosinophilic infiltration, and basal cell hyperplasia at the BCM sites. BCM was observed in all cases of EEI. RGB values differed between bright and dark BCM. Assessing BCM tone using NBI is a potentially novel diagnostic method for EEI.

Cancer stemness evinces interest owing to the resulting malignancy and poor prognosis. We previously demonstrated that hepatic stem cell-like hepatocellular carcinoma (HpSC-HCC) is associated with high vascular invasion and poor prognosis. Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1), a Wnt signaling regulator, is highly expressed in HpSC-HCC. Here, we assessed the diagnostic and prognostic potential of serum DKK-1. Its levels were significantly higher in 391 patients with HCC compared with 205 patients with chronic liver disease. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed the optimal cutoff value of DKK-1 to diagnose HCC and predict the 3-year survival as 262.2 and 365.9 pg/mL, respectively. HCC patients with high-serum DKK-1 levels showed poor prognosis. We evaluated the effects of anti-DKK-1 antibody treatment on tumor growth in vivo and of recombinant DKK-1 on cell proliferation, invasion, and angiogenesis in vitro. DKK-1 knockdown decreased cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. DKK-1 supplementation promoted angiogenesis in vitro; this effect was abolished by an anti-DKK-1 antibody. Co-injection of the anti-DKK-1 antibody with Huh7 cells inhibited their growth in NOD/SCID mice. Thus, DKK-1 promotes proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells and activates angiogenesis in vascular endothelial cells. DKK-1 is a prognostic biomarker for HCC and a functional molecule for targeted therapy.