Fe3O4 and Fe Nanoparticles by Chemical Reduction of Fe(acac)3 by Ascorbic Acid: Role of Water

Nanoparticles of Fe3O4 and Fe are chemically synthesized by reduction of Fe(acac)3 using ascorbic acid in controlled condition. It was observed that addition of water during the chemical synthesis process yields Fe3O4 nanoparticles, whereas if the reaction is carried out in absence of water yields Fe nanoparticles—which get oxidized upon exposure to air atmosphere. Fe3O4 (15 ± 5 nm) and Fe/iron oxide nanoparticles (7 ± 1 nm) were successfully synthesized in the comparative study reported herewith. Mechanism for formation/synthesis of Fe3O4 and Fe/iron oxide nanoparticles is proposed herewith in which added water acts as an oxygen supplier. Physico-chemical characterization done by SEM, TEM, EDAX, and XPS supports the proposed mechanism.

Is ERCP really necessary in case of suspected spontaneous passage of bile duct stones?

AIM:To investigate the usefulness of magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) and the need for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in cases of suspected spontaneous passage of stones into the common bile duct.METHODS:Thirty-six patients with gallbladder stones were clinically suspected of spontaneous passage of stones into the common bile duct because they presented with clinical symptoms such as abdominal pain and fever,and showed signs of inflammatory reaction and marked rise of hepatobiliary enzymes.These symptoms resolved and they showed normalized values of blood biochemical parameters after conservative treatment without evidence of stones in the common bile duct on MRCP.All these patients were subjected to ERCP within 3 d of MRCP to check for the presence of stones.RESULTS:No stones were detected by ERCP in any patient,confi rming the results of MRCP.CONCLUSION:When clinical symptoms improve,blood biochemical parameters have normalized,and MRCP shows there are no stones in the common bile duct,it can be considered the stone has spontaneously passed and thus ERCP is not necessary.

Prognostic factors after palliative resection for colorectal cancer with incurable synchronous liver metastasis

Purpose: With the improvements in newer chemotherapeutic agents, there is currently no consensus regarding the validity of palliative resection of the primary tumor for colorectal cancer with incurable distant metastasis. We retrospectively analyzed prognostic factor in patients with colorectal cancer accompanied by incurable synchronous liver metastasis. Methods: 82 patients with incurable synchronous liver metastases, who underwent primary tumor resection alone, were enrolled. Results: The multivariate analysis revealed that the presence of ascites (P = 0.001, Hazard ratio = 2.96) and differentiation (P = 0.003, Hazard ratio = 3.68) were found to be significant independent prognostic factors. The median survival time among the patients with ascites was 4.8 months and that among the patients with poorly-differentiated or mucinous adenocarcinoma, or signet ring cell carcinoma (high grade differentiation) was 1.4 months, respectively. Conclusion: The presence of ascites and differentiation were prognostic factors in the patients with incurable liver metastases. Therefore, because prognosis is generally poor after primary tumor resection in the patients with ascites or high grade differentiation, the introduction of systemic chemotherapy with alleviation of symptoms related to the primary tumor should be taken into account as one of the therapeutic strategies.

The validity of predicting prognosis by the number of lymph node metastases in node-positive colon cancer

Background: We examined the possibility of predicting prognosis by the number of lymph node metastases. Methods: Two hundred and forty nine patients with lymph node metastases who underwent curative surgery for colon cancer were enrolled in this study. We calculated cancer-specific survival according to the number of lymph node metastases. Results: There was a tendency toward better rates of cancer-specific survivals among the patients with 1 LNM, compared with those with 2 LNM (p = 0.07). When comparing cancer-specific survival between the patients with 1, 2-3 and 4 or more lymph node metastases, cancer-specific survival was well stratified (p i.e., the patients with 1, 2 and 3 and 4 or more lymph node metastases. This study was in favor of the TNM classification in which N category is classified by the number of lymph node metastases.

Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio as a Prognostic Factor in Incurable Stage IV Colorectal Cancer

Objectives: Our aim is investigating the predictive potential of these available and convenient laboratory dates in stage IV colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Methods: We identified the cases of 114 consecutive patients who underwent the surgery at our Hospital between January 2006 and December 2012 by using the multivariate analysis, the Cox proportional-hazard regression model. Results: Multivariate analysis for the predictors of survival showed metastatic lesion resection [hazard ratio (HR) = 3.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.6 - 6.6;p = 0.007] and only primary lesion resection (HR = 1.9, 95% CI 1.1 - 4.0;p = 0.045) remained independently significant prognostic factors. Therefore, we divided in 3 groups, 1) metastatic lesion resection group with primary lesion resection (n = 52 in the Met/Prim lesion group), 2) primary lesion resection without metastatic lesion resection (n = 38 in the Primary lesion group) and 3) palliative operation (n = 24 in the Palliative group). Age was the only independent risk factor in the Met/Prim lesion group. In the Primary lesion group, Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) > 5, elevated Alanine aminotransferase and patients without chemotherapy were correlated with poor survival. In the Palliative group, NLR > 5 and patients who could not be treated with chemotherapy remained independent predictors of worse survival. Conclusions: NLR is not only simple and convenient for classification of patients, but also one of the important predictors of mortality for stage IV incurable CRC patients.

Analysis of a Questionnaire Survey regarding Current Conditions against Exposure to Anticancer Drugs and Reports of Cancer Chemotherapy at Outpatient Departments in Japan

[Background] Medical staff have many occasions to be exposed to anticancer drugs (ACDs) in the process of performing cancer chemotherapy. Although guidelines for the safe handling of ACDs have been published, actual measures against exposure to ACDs differ between hospitals, and no surveillance data regarding the conditions of each hospital in relation to performing chemotherapy in Japan are available. [Methods] To understand current measures against exposure to ACDs and problems related to cancer chemotherapy at outpatient departments, we conducted a questionnaire survey on doctors, pharmacists, and nurses in 10 leading hospitals for cancer chemotherapy in Japan. [Results] Responses were received from all 10 institutions. The hospital pharmacists prepared all ACDs for outpatients in each institution. All hospitals took basic measures against ACD exposure, such as using personal protective equipment and penetration-resistant waste containers. Conditions against exposure to ACDs generally improved between 2012 and 2015, especially in terms of conveyance of ACDs and use of a closed-system drug transfer device. However, no measures linking ACDs with administration routes or injection sites were commonly taken in any of the hospitals in 2015. [Conclusions] Conditions against ACD exposure improved between 2012 and 2015, possibly because new guidelines were issued. To improve measures for ACD exposure in Japan, preparing more appropriate manuals and offering more opportunities to medical staff for continuing education are considered important.

Efficacy of Postoperative Adjuvant Chemotherapy According to Prognostic Factor in Patients with Stage III Colon Cancer

Background: We retrospectively identified prognostic factors in patients with Stage III colon cancer and considered the effectiveness of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy based on these prognostic factors. Methods: Two hundred and thirty four patients with lymph node metastases who underwent curative surgery for colon cancer between 1999 and 2005 were enrolled in the present study. Firstly, clinicopathological factors and survival data, were analyzed to determine prognostic factors related to cancer-specific survival. Secondly, we examined the effectiveness of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy based upon these prognostic factors. Results: The multivariate analysis revealed that differentiation (P = 0.03, Hazard ratio = 2.50), lymphatic invasion (P = 0.02, Hazard ratio = 3.23) and the TNM classification, 7th?edition (P = 0.04, Hazard ratio = 1.94) were found to be significant independent prognostic factors. Among the patients classified as TNM IIIA, the recurrence-free survival rates were extremely good. Among the patients classified as IIIB and IIIC, there was no significant difference between the patients with and without postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Conclusion: The present study suggests that the patients with Stage IIIA colon cancer may not require postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. The addition of oxaliplatin to 5-FU should be considered for the patients with Stage IIIB and IIIC colon cancer, for whom the prognoses are far from satisfactory.

Impact of Chylous Ascites on Colon Cancer in Laparoscopic Surgery

Objectives: To investigate the epidemiology and risk factors of chylous ascites. Methods: We identified the cases of 913 consecutive patients who underwenturgery for colorectal cancerat our University Hospital between January 2005and December2016. We divided the patients into thosewith and those without chylous ascites and compared the two groups by age, gender, body mass index, tumor location, T, N factor, stage, operation time, intra-operative bleeding, and duration of postoperative hospital stay. Results: Chylous ascites developed in 8 of the 913 patients (0.8%). Neither age, sex, tumor location, and body mass indexnor number of lymph nodeswereassociated with postoperative chylous ascites. Ascites occurred significantly less frequently in the early stage of colorectal cancer than in the late stage (p = 0.04). There was no significant difference between the groups in operative factors, including operation time and blood loss. Postoperative hospital stays were longer in patients with chylous ascites (20.5 days) than in those without (11 days) (p = 0.02). Conclusions: Late stage was one of the risk factors for chylous ascites in the present study. Other risks, such as tumor location and blood loss,will vary from institution to institution.

Proposed Model of Electric Field Effects in High-Purity GaAs at Room Temperature

We have proposed a new model for the calculation of excitonic electroabsorption based on modified previously reported models for bulk structure. The excitonic absorption spectra in high purity GaAs have been theoretically studied in the presence of electric field at room temperature (RT). The Stark shift, linewidth broadening of exciton and extinction ratio have been calculated as a function of electric field. For the validity of our model we have compared with experimental result.