Search

Objectives: Traditional preoperative reminding services have been applied to enhance the quality of bowel preparation for colonoscopy. In this study we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an automated electronic reminder system (E‐reminder) on improving bowel preparation and the quality of preoperative education before colonoscopy. Methods: From August 2021 to March 2022, 833 outpatients aged 50–75 years who underwent colonoscopy were included and randomly assigned to the E‐reminder group and the control group. While the control group received routine preoperative education. The E‐reminder group received automatic phone call, text message reminders and web services regarding the details of bowel preparation before the colonoscopic examination. The quality of bowel preparation was evaluated by the Boston Bowel Preparation Scale (BBPS) score and the previously validated objective evaluation scale of automatic BBPS (e‐BBPS). Results: In manual assessment, the rate of adequate bowel preparation was improved in the E‐reminder group of intention‐to‐treat population using BBPS (60.7% vs 54.5%, P = 0.01). The percentage of objective evaluated adequate bowel preparation using e‐BBPS in the E‐reminder group of per‐protocol population was significantly higher than that in the control group (76.9% vs 69.2%, P = 0.02). Conclusions: E‐reminder was an effective tool to improve the quality of bowel preparation and compliance with medical instructions. It may be regarded as an efficient and convenient education tool, improving the quality of medical service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have demonstrated that human ether-à-go-go-related potassium channel (hERG1) is highly expressed in many tumor cell lines, as well as in primary human cancers, and, hence, have a critical role in cell cycle progress and proliferation. In this study, hERG1 expression was investigated in gastric cancer by immunohistochemistry and/or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). It was discovered that hERG1, which was negatively expressed in surrounding non-tumor tissues, switched to aberrantly positive expression in gastric cancer. Statistically, there were significant differences in hERG1 protein expression according to factors such as serosal invasion, venous invasion, lymph node metastases, other organ metastases, and stage. The mean survival time for the hERG1-positive expression group was significantly shorter than the negative group, the survival rates for the positive group were significantly lower than the negative group, and hERG1 expression was found to be an independent prognostic factor. In summary, hERG1 channel was proved to be a potential biomarker for gastric cancer invasion and survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The c-kit protooncogene receptor and its ligand-stem cell factor regulating the proliferation and survival of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) have been described. The aim of this study was to determine the expression of c-kit mRNA and c-kit protein in the gallbladders in guinea pigs of high cholesterol diet (HCD). The gallbladder samples from 16 guinea pigs of HCD and from 16 guinea pigs of standard diet (StD) were used for this study. Expression of c-kit mRNA was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and expression of c-kit protein was detected by Western blot analysis. Serum total cholesterol (TC) (39 +/- 6 vs. 109 +/- 20 mg/dl), low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (24 +/- 4 vs. 71 +/- 10 mg/dl), high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (2.4 +/- 0.4 vs. 7.0 +/- 1.6 mg/dl), and triglyceride (TG) (58 +/- 8 vs. 118 +/- 23 mg/dl) concentrations were significantly higher in the HCD group than in the StD group of guinea pigs (P < 0.001, respectively). Decreased expression of c-kit mRNA was demonstrated in the HCD group compared with the StD group. The ratio of c-kit mRNA and GAPDH was 0.56 +/- 0.09 in controls and 0.50 +/- 0.07 in the HCD group (P = 0.033). C-kit protein expression significantly declined in the HCD group. The mean value of optical density was 129 +/- 25 in the StD group and 103 +/- 19 in the HCD group (P = 0.0009). The data indicate that the expression of c-kit mRNA and c-kit protein significantly decreased in the gallbladders in guinea pigs of HCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To report our experience and to evaluate the application of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) in the qualitative diagnosis of retroperitoneal space-occupying lesions., Methods: Twenty-six patients with retroperitoneal space-occupying lesions confirmed by CT or MRI were studied. All the patients underwent endoscopic ultrasonography guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) at the Department of Gastroenterology, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Hubei Province, China from August 2009 to August 2011. Different parameters were evaluated, such as complications of EUS-FNA, the ratio of definite pathological diagnosis, and the pathologic types of all the specimens., Results: Of the 26 patients, 24 had definite pathological diagnosis; the ratio of histodiagnosis was 92.3%. There were no complications such as hemorrhage, infection, or injury to the abdominal viscera in the process of EUS-FNA. Eight patients had benign tumors, with a ratio of 33.3%, and 16 patients had malignant tumors, with a ratio of 66.7%. Two patients had no definite pathological diagnosis because of the shortness of tissue sample. Eight patients did not undergo operation due to the diagnosis of benign tumors., Conclusion: The EUS-FNA has the advantage of lower complications, and higher diagnostic ratio, which is valuable in the qualitative diagnosis of retroperitoneal space-occupying lesions.