world journal of gastroenterology

(World Journal of Gastroenterology) A research team from China developed short hairpin RNA against heparanase (HPA), and determined its effects on HPA expression and the malignant characteristics of gastric cancer cells.

Their study showed that stable knockdown of HPA can efficiently decrease the invasiveness, metastasis and angiogenesis of human gastric cancer cells.

In contrast, stable knockdown of HPA does not affect the cell proliferation.

(World Journal of Gastroenterology) A research team from Taiwan identified factors that were related to the short term effectiveness of percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage in cholangiocarcinoma patients and evaluated the impact of palliative drainage on their survival.

They found the short term effectiveness of percutaneous biliary drainage was related to patient's prothrombin time or the extent of tumor involvement.

It, however, had no impact on survival.

(World Journal of Gastroenterology) Helicobacter pylori has been accepted as an important pathogen inducing gastric cancer.

A research group from Taiwan investigated optimal intervention point of Celecoxib, to inhibit H. pylori-associated gastric carcinogenesis in Mongolian gerbils.

They found that short-term use resulted in less severe inflammation and inhibited the invasion degree of gastric cancer.

Therefore, Celecoxib could be used in the later stages of H. pylori infection to achieve safe and effective chemoprevention of gastric adenocarcinoma.

(World Journal of Gastroenterology) A research team from Japan investigated whether eradication of H. pylori in peptic ulcer patients prevented gastric cancer.

They found that eradication did not significantly reduce the incidence of cancer in their patients, who had a mean age of 52.9 years at registration, after a mean follow-up period of 5.6 years.

(World Journal of Gastroenterology) A research team analyzed the differences and relevance of Yes-associated protein and survivin, and explored the correlation and significance of their expression in gastric carcinoma and precancerous lesions.

It was found that YAP might play an important role as a carcinogenic factor and might induce survivin expression.

Detecting both markers together might help in early diagnosis of gastric carcinoma.

(World Journal of Gastroenterology) A research team from China evaluated the imaging features of pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms in multi-detector row computed tomography.

They found that MDCT with computed tomography angiography and multiplanar volume reformations or curved reformations techniques can elucidate the imaging features of IPMNs and help predict the malignancy of these tumors.

(World Journal of Gastroenterology) A research team from Indonesia identified the distribution of hepatitis B virus subgenotype and basal core promoter mutations among patients with HBV-associated liver disease in Indonesia.

They found HBV genotype B/B3 and C/C1 are the major genotypes in Indonesia. Mutations in BCP, such as A1762T/G1764A and T1753V, might have an association with manifestations of liver disease.

(World Journal of Gastroenterology) A research team form South Korea investigated possible predictive factors for rebleeding after angiographically negative findings in patients with acute non-variceal gastrointestinal bleeding.

They found that clinical factors including underlying malignancy, liver cirrhosis, and hematemesis are important predictors for rebleeding after angiographically negative findings in patients with acute non-variceal gastrointestinal bleeding.

(World Journal of Gastroenterology) A research team from Turkey has investigated the proficiency level reached in laparoscopic splenectomy using the learning curve method.

They found that, unlike the widely accepted "L" shape, the learning curve for laparoscopic splenectomy was a horizontal lazy "S" with two distinct slopes.

An improvement was observed after the first 5 cases. The learning curve was flat up to the 25th case.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) is common among individuals whose job requires repetitive isometric maneuvers or awkward body positions.

However, the prevalence of MSD among endoscopists is not well known. There are neither detailed descriptions nor analyses of the severity of the symptoms, risk factors, and management in eastern countries.

A research article to be published on July 21, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question.