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Background: Pancreatic cancer is mostly diagnosed in advanced stages and treatment results are not satisfactory. L3 skeletal muscle index (SMI) has emerged as a prognostic factor in pancreatic cancer patients. We aimed to assess the association between sarcopenia and overall survival in patients with pancreatic cancer in this study. Methods: Patients who admitted to Department of Oncology between March 2012 and December 2019 and diagnosed as pancreatic cancer were evaluated. A total of 115 patients who had computerized tomography images and laboratory parameters were included in this retrospective single center study. We defined sarcopenia as a SMI <43,56 cm²/m² for females and <56,44 cm²/m² for males using the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve in the study population. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed by using Cox-regression modelling and survival curves were constructed by using Kaplan-Meier method. Results: 70% of the patients were male and the mean age was 64.9±9.9 (mean  SD). 70.6% of female patients and 67.9% of male patients were stage 4. The prevalence of sarcopenia in the whole patient group was 29.6%. By multivariate analysis, SMI (p=0.009) and advanced stage (p=0.003) were found as poor prognostic factor for overall survival (OS). The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was statistically significant higher in sarcopenic patients than in non-sarcopenic patients (p=0.031). Conclusion: In patients, who have sarcopenia at the time of diagnosis may be poorer overall survival of pancreas cancer and SMI may be considered as a potential prognostic factor.

Purpose: Digitoxin is a cardiac glycoside used in the treatment of heart failure. Inspired by its known antiinflammatory effect, this study aims to investigate the effect of digoxin in a sepsis model and to bring to light its effect and underlying mechanism in acute lung injury (ALI). Method: 28 wistar albino rats were divided into 4 groups. Sepsis model is performed by the feces intraperitoneal-injection procedure (FIP). Results: TNF-a, CRP, IL-6, IL 1-Beta, lactic acid, and MDA values were significantly decreased in the FIP+digitoxin group compared to the FIP+Saline group. When the same groups were examined, histological improvements such as decrease in alveolar inflammation and decrease in septal thickening in the digitoxin group and thorax CT were found to be significantly higher in the Hounsfield unit digitoxin group compared to the Saline group. Conclusion: Digitoxin has shown biochemical improvement in sepsis with all known mechanisms of action, and healing effects in both computerized tomography and histology in the lung.

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The aim of this study is to investigate the benefits of atorvastatin on the propionic acid-induced autism model via increasing sphingosine-1-phosphate and anti-inflammatory actions with imaging and brain tissue investigations. Materials and methodsTwenty-five mg/kg/day/rat of propionic acid (PPA) was administered intraperitoneally to 20 male Wistar rats, and 10 male Wistar rats were fed orally. Study groups were designed as follows: Group 1: Control Group (orally fed control, n=10); Group 2 (PPA+saline, n=10); Group 3 (PPA+Atorvastatin, n=10). The brain biochemical and histopathology assessments and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging were conducted across groups in order to compare them. ResultsThe PPA+Atorvastatin group was found to have significantly lower levels of brain malondialdehyde, IL-2 level, IL-17, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and lactate compared to the PPA+saline group. The PPA+Atorvastatin group had higher levels of nerve growth factor and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF-2) and sphingosine-1-phosphate. In histopathology assessments, the PPA+Atorvastatin group was found to have significantly higher neuronal counts of CA1 and CA2 in the hippocampus, and Purkinje cells in the cerebellum. ConclusionsCurrent findings suggest that atorvastatin increases sphingosine-1-phosphate levels and decreases inflammatory actions which characterize the autism rodent model implemented in this study. These preliminary results have to be confirmed by further experimental and clinical studies.

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