Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequent human malignant neoplasms. CRC has an estimated incidence of more than 1,000,000 new cases annually worldwide. Approximately one out of three people who develop CRC dies from the disease. Furthermore, CRC often affects inhabitants of industrialized countries in comparison to less developed countries. Several markers of colon cancer, including CEA, CA-19-9, TPS, TAG-72 and lysosomal hydrolases, have been identified and are now being adopted in routine clinical practice. Increased values of these markers are often the first signal of recurrence or metastases, which is useful in prediction and prognosis of clinical outcome of patients with CRC. Determination of the activity of lysosomal exoglycosidases in body fluids may bring some hope of improving diagnosis of colorectal cancer. However, it has to be remembered that currently the most effective diagnostic method of CRC is endoscopy.

AIMS: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of overweight on surgical and long-term outcomes in a Western population of patients with gastric cancer (GC).METHODS: An electronic database of all patients with resectable GC treated between 1986 and 1998 at seven university surgical centres cooperating in the Polish Gastric Cancer Study Group was reviewed. Overweight was defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m 2 or higher.RESULTS: Four hundred and ninety-two of 1992 (25%) patients were overweight.Postoperatively, higher BMI was associated with higher rates of cardiopulmonary complications (16% vs 12%, P=0.001) and intra-abdominal abscess (6.9% vs 2.9%, P<0.001).However, other complications and mortality rates were unaffected. The median diseasespecific survival of overweight patients was significantly higher (36.7 months, 95%confidence interval (CI) 29.0 to 44.4) than those with BMI<25 kg/m 2 (25.7 months, 95%CI23.2 to 28.1; P=0.003). These differences were due to the lower frequencies of patients with T3 and T4 tumours, metastatic lymph nodes, distant metastases, and non-curative resections.A Cox proportional hazards model identified age, depth of infiltration, lymph node metastases, distant metastases, and residual tumour category as the independent prognostic factors.CONCLUSIONS: Overweight is not the independent prognostic factor for long-term survival in a Western-type population of GC.

Objective Accelerated transmembrane transport of long‐chain fatty acids dependent on fatty acid transporters is responsible for lipid accumulation and, eventually, the development of metabolic syndrome. This study determined the content of lipids (ceramide [CER], diacylglycerol [DAG], triacylglycerol, and free fatty acid [FFA]) and the expression of fatty acid translocase (FAT/CD36) and plasma membrane fatty acid‐binding protein in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue of women with morbid obesity without metabolic syndrome (MetSx−) or with metabolic syndrome (MetSx+) and compared the results with those of lean controls without metabolic syndrome. Methods Lipid content and fatty acid composition in each lipid subclass were estimated by gas liquid chromatography. For total, plasma membrane, and mitochondrial expression of fatty acid transporters, subfractionation with subsequent Western blot technique was used. Results A greater content of triacylglycerol in VAT of participants with obesity (MetSx−) was found. However, only the MetSx+ subjects had increased content of CER in VAT in relation to subcutaneous adipose tissue in MetSx+ and lean individuals. This was accompanied by increased total and membrane expression of FAT/CD36 in VAT in MetSx+ subjects. Accordingly, mitochondrial expression of FAT/CD36 and plasma membrane fatty acid‐binding protein was decreased in both groups of subjects with obesity. Conclusions Metabolic syndrome is associated with the accumulation of CER in VAT, possibly related to increased FAT/CD36 protein expression.

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Obesity is a major public health concern that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. The incidence of obesity has increased significantly in recent years, not only in adults, but also in adolescents and children. This is evidenced by rapidly developing bariatric surgery, the most effective method of treating morbid obesity. Obesity is a multifactorial disease, and its pathogenesis is not completely understood. Numerous studies have been performed to clarify pathogenetic mechanisms, based mostly on blood and sometimes urine samples. Saliva is easily accessible and can be obtained non-invasively. Our aim was to review studies performed on saliva obtained from obese subjects in order to answer the title question. Obese people have different composition of salivary bacteria. Changes in the concentration of sialic acid, phosphorus and peroxidase activity as well as a lower flow rate of stimulated whole saliva promote dental caries and periodontal disease. Concentrations of salivary uric acid, endocannabinoids and CRP are increased in obesity and may provide a useful index of cardiometabolic risk. Assessment of fasting salivary ghrelin might facilitate choosing the best type of bariatric surgery for a specific patient. A significant decrease in salivary cortisol in women with morbid obesity also seems interesting. There is sufficient evidence to state that the saliva of obese and lean subjects is different. Saliva as an easily accessible research material seems promising, as shown by the few studies performed so far.