Background: In cancer cells, apoptosis is an important mechanism that influences the outcome of chemotherapy and the development of chemoresistance. To find the genes involved in chemoresistance and the development of gastric cancer, we used the suppression subtractive hybridization method to identify the genes that are overexpressed in gastric cancer tissues compared to normal gastric tissues. Results: In the suppression subtractive hybridization library we constructed, the most highly overexpressed genes were humanin isoforms. Humanin is a recently identified endogenous peptide that has anti-apoptotic activity and has been selected for further study due to its potential role in the chemoresistance of gastric cancer. Upregulation of humanin isoforms was also observed in clinical samples by using quantitative real-time PCR. Among the studied isoforms, humanin isoform 3, with an expression level of 4.166 ± 1.44 fold, was the most overexpressed isoform in GC.

To find genes involved in tumorigenesis and the development of esophageal cancer, the suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) method was used to identify genes that are overexpressed in esophageal cancer tissues compared to normal esophageal tissues. In our SSH library, the forkhead box O3 (FOXO3), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), and myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MYD88) genes were the most highly upregulated genes, and they were selected for further studies because of their potential role in the induction of autophagy. Upregulation of these genes was also observed in clinical samples using qRT-PCR. In addition, coexpression analysis of the autophagy-related genes Beclin1, ATG12, Gabarapl, PIK3C3, and LC3 demonstrated a significant correlation between the differentially overexpressed genes and autophagy. Autophagy is an important mechanism in tumorigenesis and the development of chemoresistance in cancer cells. The upregulation of FOXO3, GAPDH, and MYD88 variants in esophageal cancer suggests a role for autophagy and provides new insight into the biology of esophageal cancer. We propose that FOXO3, GAPDH, and MYD88 are novel targets for combating autophagy in esophageal cancer.

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common and life-threatening types of malignancies. Identification of the differentially expressed genes in GC is one of the best approaches for establishing new diagnostic and therapeutic targets. Furthermore, these investigations could advance our knowledge about molecular biology and the carcinogenesis of this cancer. To screen for the overexpressed genes in gastric adenocarcinoma, we performed suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) on gastric adenocarcinoma tissue and the corresponding normal gastric tissue, and eight genes were found to be overexpressed in the tumor compared with those of the normal tissue. The genes were ribosomal protein L18A, RNase H2 subunit B, SEC13, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A1, tetraspanin 8, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 2, NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4, and mitochondrially encoded ATP synthase 6. The common functions among the identified genes include involvement in protein synthesis, involvement in genomic stability maintenance, metastasis, metabolic improvement, cell signaling pathways, and chemoresistance. Our results provide new insights into the molecular biology of GC and drug discovery: each of the identified genes could be further investigated as targets for prognosis evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, evaluation of the response to new anticancer drugs, and determination of the molecular pathogenesis of GC.

Background: Currently, there is no standard for the use of systemic heparin during creation of Arteriovenous (AV) fistula to decrease the incidence of postoperative thrombotic complications. Objectives: The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of intra-operative IV heparin on patency rate and postoperative bleeding complications in patients undergoing surgery for AV fistula. Patients and Methods: A prospective, randomized controlled study was performed on 50 patients undergoing AV fistula creation, who were randomly divided in two groups. The control group received no systemic heparin and the heparin group received 5,000 units of intravenous heparin before clamping of theartery. Results: There was a significant difference in patency rate between the heparin and control groups (96% vs. 72%, P = 0.021), and there were no significant differences in operative time (P = 0.55). Perioperative bleeding was not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions:The results suggest that intra operative administration of heparin has statistically significant effects on patency rates yet not on postoperative bleeding complications. Larger trials with longer follow-up durations and assessment of maturation rates are needed to determine this effect on fistula outcome.

Pain is the most common complaint of patients on the first day after laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). This clinical trial compared the effects of intraperitoneal (IP) bupivacaine and intravenous (IV) pethidine on this pain. Forty-eight patients who underwent LC were randomly assigned to 2 groups of IP bupivacaine and IV pethidine. Postoperative pain, oral analgesic consumption, peak expiratory flow rate, and presence of nausea or vomiting was recorded at baseline and 4, 8, and 24 hours after surgery. Patients who received IP bupivacaine showed a significantly lower pain score (P = 0.022) and improved peak expiratory flow rate (P = 0.006), and received lower doses of ibuprofen (P = 0.003) within the first 24 hours after surgery. Likewise, the presence of nausea/vomiting was significantly lower in bupivacaine groups 1 and 4 hours after surgery (P = 0.003 and 0.005, respectively). Our results indicate that IP instillation of bupivacaine is more beneficial than traditional IV pethidine for pain reduction after LC.