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AIM Patient body composition is an important indicator of metabolic status and is associated with cancer progression. Because body composition varies between men and women, we aimed to examine the difference in clinical impact of preoperative body composition according to sex. METHOD We used an integrated dataset of 559 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. The association between preoperative body composition indices [body mass index (BMI), visceral to subcutaneous fat area ratio (VSR) and skeletal muscle index (SMI)] and patient outcome, clinicopathological factors and preoperative inflammation and nutritional status was analysed, comparing men and women. RESULTS Preoperative low BMI and low SMI in men was significantly associated with unfavourable overall survival (OS) [BMI: hazard ratio (HR) 2.22, 95% CI 1.28-4.14, P = 0.004; SMI: HR 2.54, 95% CI 1.61-4.07, P

Aim Preoperative anaemia is associated with adverse outcomes in colorectal cancer (CRC). To clarify the reason for this we aimed to comprehensively assess the association of preoperative anaemia with tumour characteristics, host systemic inflammation and nutrition status, and perioperative blood transfusion. Method We used an integrated database of 592 CRC patients. The association of preoperative anaemic subtype, calculated from haemoglobin and erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume levels, with patient outcome, preoperative serum data relating to systemic inflammation and nutrition and perioperative blood transfusion was analysed. Results Preoperative anaemia was significantly associated with poorer overall survival and relapse-free survival (RFS); in particular microcytic anaemia had a trend to poorer RFS than other forms of anaemia (P = 0.0648). In addition, preoperative anaemia was significantly correlated with right-sided tumours, greater depth of tumour invasion, use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, poorer prognostic nutritional index and higher modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS). Microcytic anaemia in particular had a strong association with a greater depth of tumour invasion (P = 0.0072) and higher mGPS (P = 0.0058) than other causes of anaemia. Perioperative blood transfusion for CRC patients with anaemia was associated with adverse outcomes. Conclusions Preoperative anaemia, especially microcytic anaemia, was associated with poor patient outcomes, possibly due to poor systemic inflammatory and nutritional status, and it was not improved by perioperative blood transfusion. Our data suggest that preoperative anaemia and the anaemic subtype may serve as an easily available predictor of outcome in CRC.

It has become evident that P-cadherin, one of the classical cadherins, contributes to the malignant behavior of several types of cancer. In this study, we analyzed the expression of P-cadherin and its clinicopathological and prognostic values in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, we investigated the functional role of P-cadherin in these cancer cells by knockdown and overexpression in vitro and by analyzing the correlation between the P-cadherin expression and its promoter methylation status. Thirty of 59 ICC cases (51%) and 36 of 73 pancreatic cancer cases (49%) stained positive for P-cadherin with mainly membranous distribution in tumor cells by immunohistochemistry. P-cadherin expression was significantly correlated with several clinicopathological factors, which reflect tumor behavior, and was identified as an independent adverse prognostic factor for disease-free survival in patients with ICC (relative risk [RR] 2.93, P = 0.04) and pancreatic cancer (RR 2.68, P = 0.005) via multivariate analyses. P-cadherin downregulation by siRNA suppressed migration and invasion, and P-cadherin overexpression induced the opposite effects in both ICC and pancreatic cancer cells, without any effects on cell proliferation. P-cadherin expression was related to its promoter methylation status in both cell lines and cancer tissues. In summary, P-cadherin overexpression may serve as a useful biomarker of invasive phenotype and poor prognosis; P-cadherin expression was found to be regulated by its promoter methylation. These results suggest that P-cadherin represents a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of ICC and pancreatic cancer.

With attention focused on flood hazard risk from place to place on a whole flood plain before and after flood hazard reduction and mitigation countermeasures are implemented, the present study proposes a method for evaluating flood hazard risk described using a local inundation depth and its frequency of occurrence. The method is composed of a rainfall run-off model, a 1-D channel flow model, a depth-integrated 2-D flood model, and several sub-models, such as of a potential damage curve and an evacuation rating curve. To test the applicability of the proposed method, a flood plain located in the northern lake area of Shiga prefecture is chosen for discussion. The spatial distribution of damage resulting from each flood is thus evaluated before and after countermeasures are implemented.

With the aim of fabricating a thermoelectric power device using III-nitride semiconductors, we recently studied thermoelectric properties of Al1−xInxN and InOsNt prepared by radio-frequency sputtering. For Al0.55In0.45N, the maximum value of power factor was 3.63 × 10−4 W/mK2 at 873 K. For InO0.82N0.86, it was 3.75 × 10−4 W/mK2 at 973 K. (© 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

We present a male autopsied case of chondrodysplasia punctata with abnormal face, symmetrical proximal limb shortness, severe psychomotor developmental delay, respiratory muscle weakness, and death at the age of 2 years. Although his clinical manifestations were similar to those of rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata (RCDP), biochemical studies using skin fibroblasts did not document the peroxisomal dysfunction described in RCDP. In addition, the sterol profile, for which abnormalities have recently been reported in cases of X-linked dominant form chondrodysplasia punctata (CDPX2), was normal both in the liver and in the fibroblasts. This patient may represent a new lethal form of chondrodysplasia punctata.