Efficacy and safety of gemcitabine-oxaliplatin combined with huachansu in patients with advanced gallbladder carcinoma

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of gemcitabine-oxaliplatin (GEMOX) combined with huachansu (cinobufagin) injection treatment in patients with locally advanced or metastatic gallbladder carcinoma (GBC), and to assess the quality of life (QOL) of such patients. METHODS: Twenty-fi ve patients with locally advanced or metastatic GBC were treated with intravenous gemcitabine (1000 mg/m2) over 30 min on days 1 and 8, 2 h infusion of oxaliplatin (120 mg/m2) on day 1, and 2-3 h infusion of huachansu (20 mL/m2) on days -3-11, every 3-4 wk. Treatment was continued until occurrence of unacceptable toxicity or disease progression. QOL of patients was assessed by the EORTC QLQ-C30 at baseline, at the end of the fi rst, third and sixth chemotherapy cycles, and 1 mo after the treatment. RESULTS: Among the 25 patients with a median age of 64 years (range 42-78 years), 23 were evaluable in the study. A total of 137 cycles of therapy were performed and the median cycle was 5 (range 1-8) per patient. Out of the 23 patients whose response couldbe evaluated, 8 partial responses (PR) were observed (34.8%), while 7 patients (30.4%) demonstrated a stable disease (SD). The disease control rate was 65.2%. Progression of cancer was observed in 8 (34.8%) patients. The median progression-free and overall survival time was 5.8 mo (95% CI: 4.5-7.1 mo) and 10.5 mo, respectively. The therapy was well tolerated, with moderate myelosuppression as the main toxicity. Anemia grade 2 was seen in 16.0%, neutropenia grade 3 in 8.0% and thrombocytopenia grade 3 in 24.0% of patients, respectively. Non-hematologic toxicity ranged from mild to moderate. No death occurred due to toxicity. The QOL of patients was improved after chemotherapy, and the scores of QOL were increased by 10 to 20 points. CONCLUSION: GEMOX combined with huachansu (cinobufagin) injection is well tolerated, effective, thus improving the QOL of patients with advanced GBC.

Epidemiology and molecular genetics of congenital cataracts

Congenital cataract is a crystallin severe blinding disease and genetic factors in disease development are important. Crystallin growth is under a combination of genes and their products in time and space to complete the coordination role of the guidance. Congenital cataract-related genes, included crystallin protein gene (CRYAA, CRYAB, CRYBA1/A3, CRYBA4, CRYBB1, CRYBB2, CRYBB3, CRYGC, CRYGD, CRYGS), gap junction channel protein gene (GJA1, GJA3, GJA8), membrane protein gene (GJA3, GJA8, MIP, LIM2), cytoskeletal protein gene (BF-SP2), transcription factor genes (HSF4, MAF, PITX3, PAX6), ferritin light chain gene (FTL), fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and so on. Currently, there are about 39 genetic loci isolated to which primary cataracts have been mapped, although the number is constantly increasing and depends to some extent on definition. We summarized the recent advances on epidemiology and genetic locations of congenital cataract in this review.

Effects of propofol versus urapidil on perioperative hemodynamics and intraocular pressure during anesthesia and extubation in ophthalmic patients

AIM: To compare the effect of propofol versus urapidil on hemodynamics and intraocular pressure during anesthesia and extubation for ophthalmic patients. METHODS: Eighty-two surgical patients (Class: ASA I-II) were randomly assigned to propofol (n = 41) and urapidil groups (n = 41). Their gender, age, body mass, operation time and dosage of anesthetics had no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). The patients of propofol and urapidil groups were given propofol (1.5mg/kg) and urapidil (2.5mg/kg) respectively; and two drugs were all diluted with normal saline to 8mL. Then the drugs were given to patients by slow intravenous injection. After treatment, the patients were conducted immediate suction, tracheal extubation, and then patients wore oxygen masks for 10 minutes. By double-blind methods, before the induction medication, at the suction, and 5, 10 minutes after the extubation, we recorded the systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), pH, PaO2, PaCO2, SaO(2) and intraocular pressure (TOP) respectively. The complete recovery time of the patients with restlessness (on the command they could open eyes and shaking hands) was also recorded during the extubation. The data were analyzed by using a professional SPSS 15.0 statistical software. RESULTS: The incidence of cough, restlessness and glossocoma was significantly lower in the propofol group than that in the urapidil group after extubation (P < 0.05). There were no episodes of hypotension, laryngospasm, or severe respiratory depression. There was no statistical difference in recovery time between two groups (P > 0.05). In propofol group, the BP and HR during extubation and thereafter had no significant difference compared with those before induction, while they were significantly lower than those before giving propofol (P < 0.05), and had significant difference compared with those in urapidil group (P < 0.05). Compared to preinduction, the BP of urapidil group showed no obvious increase during aspiration and extubation. The HR of urapidil group had little changes after being given urapidil, and it was obviously increased compared with that before induction. The stimulation of aspiration and extubation caused less cough and agitation in propofol group than that in urapidil group (P < 0.05). The IOP of propofol group showed no obvious increase during extubation compared with that in preinduction, while in the urpidil group, extubation caused IOP significantly increased (P < 0.05). The changes in these indicators between the two groups had no significant difference (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared to urapidil, propofol is superior for preventing the cardiovascular and stress responses and IOP increases during emergence and extubation for the ophthalmic patients. Moreover, it has no effects on patient's recovery.

Development of biomedical publications on ametropia research in PubMed from 1845 to 2010:a bibliometric analysis

We have carried out a bibliometric analysis on the development of ametropia literature to determine its growth rule and tendency, and to provide the basis for the problems related to ametropia research. Literatures that contained the descriptors of ametropia in title or paper published before Nov. 10, 2010 in PubMed databases (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Pubmed) were selected. As bibliometric indicators of ametropia, biomedical journals referring to ophthalmology by ISSN were calculated. The principal bibliometric indicators: Price's and Bradford's laws were applied on the increase or dispersion of scientific literature, the participation index of languages and the journals. By means of manual coding, literatures were classified according to documents study and statistical analysis. The literatures cited in ametropia, astigmatism, myopia and hypermetropia had accumulated to 26475, which consists of Review (n =1560), Randomized Controlled Trial (n =776), Practice Guideline (n =10), Meta-Analysis (n=23), Letter (n=1222), Editorial (n =328), Clinical Trial ( n =1726) and Others (n=20830); and Humans (n=23073), Animals (n=1434) and Others ( n=1968). 1136 literatures were included in PubMed Central, 22384 in MEDLINE and 2955 in others. The ametropia literatures rose every 5 years which of the ametropia-year cumulated amount of the literatures had three periods: before 1900, slowly increasing from 1901 to 1950, rapidly rising from 1951 to 2010 (increased approximate exponentiation exponent). Sixty kinds of languages were listed in PubMed databases, of which English was dominant for aborting to ametropia research documents before 2010 (77.32%, 20471/26475). The document language of top eight accounted for 95.58% (English, German, French, Japanese, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Chinese), and others for 4.42% (1171/26475). The SCI database includes 48 ophthalmologic journals and the impact factor of 39 journals is >= 1 on Thomson-Reuters in 2010. Of 48 ophthalmologic journals, there were 14785 documents (55.85%) of ametropia, astigmatism, myopia, and hypermetropia. Others were without exception. The bibliometric analysis results show that ametropia literature are increased progressively, approximate exponentiation Exponent during 1951-2010. In addition, ametropia research has become more popular since nearly half century.

Epidemiology and Rb 1 gene of retinoblastoma

Retinoblastoma (Rb) is the most common eye cancer in children and it can be inherited. Rb is quite rare and originators from the neural retina with a significant genetic component in etiology, which occurs in approximately 1 in every 20 0000 births. In children with the heritable genetic form of Rb, there is a mutation on chromosome 13, called the retinoblastoma 1 (Rb1) gene. Early diagnosis and intervention is critical to the successful treatment of the Rb. The Rb1 gene is the first cloned tumor suppressor gene. As a negative regulator of the cell cycle, Rb1 gene could maintain a balance between cell growth and development through binding to transcription factors and regulating the expression of genes involved in cell proliferation and differentiation. Thus, it is involved in cell cycle, cell senescence, growth arrest, apoptosis and differentiation. We summarized the recent advances on the epidemiology and Rb1 gene of Rb in this review.

TNF related apoptosis-inducing ligand and its receptors in ocular tumors

Most of the ocular tumors have poor prognosis, and they remain a difficult problem in the area of ophthalmology. With the rapid development of molecular biology and immunologic techniques and the deep research on ocular tumor related genes, it becomes possible to diagnose and treat malignant tumors from the molecular level. The tumor necrosis factor related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) super family, is a promising candidate, either alone or in combination with established cancer therapies, since it can initiate apoptosis through the activation of their death receptors. The ability of TRAIL to selectively induce apoptosis of transformed, virus-infected or tumor cells but not normal cells promotes the development of TRAIL-based cancer therapy. Here, we will review TRAIL and its receptors' structure, function, mechanism of action and application in ocular tumors therapy.

Bibliometric analysis on retinoblastoma literatures in PubMed during 1929 to 2010

AIM: To determine the growth rule and tendency of retinoblastoma (Rb) literature, and to provide the basis for research of diagnosis, treatment and on Rb. METHODS: Bibliometric analyses were carried out on Rb literatures which contain the descriptors of Rb in their titles or texts from 1929 to 2010 in PubMed database (www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/Pubmed). The biomedical journals referring to Rb by using bibliometric indicators were calculated. The principal bibliometric indicators, i.e, Price's and Bradford's laws to the increase or distribution of scientific literature, the participation index of languages and the journals were applied. By means of manual coding, Rb documents were classified according to documents studied and to statistical analysis. RESULTS: During 1929-2010, there were 16162 literatures in the PubMed database including the word Rb. According to the literature type, it includes Review (n=2026), Randomized Controlled Trial (n = 7), Practice guideline (n = 3), meta-analysis (n = 4), letter (n = 215), editorial (n = 98), clinical trial (n = 115) and others (n = 13694). By the statistical analysis, its equation is near power index (y = 3.0477 x(2.6088), R(2) = 0.9666). From 1929 to 2010, Rb literatures in English were primarily dominant (90.71%) and the amount of the literature in Chinese ranked the fourth (1.37%). By searching PubMed, 1420 (8.8%) literatures covered were from 41 of 48 ophthalmological, and 406 (2.5%) literatures from 44 of 86 pediatrics journals that correlated with retinoblastoma (SCI-indexed). The data showed that the literatures of Rb were gradually increasing year by year and were approximate near power index during 1929-2010, and the document publishes published mainly in ophthalmological journals, and in English (90.71%), and showing that the study on Rb is a popular subject in the last half century. CONCLUSION: The literatures of Rb are gradually increasing, mainly English in ophthalmologic journals.