The results suggest that genetic and epigenetic alteration of KLF6 may play a minor role in the development of HCC.

Accumulated evidence has established that aberrant regulation of histone deacetylases (HDACs) is one of the major causes of the development of human malignancies. Among different iso-enzymes of HDAC and sirtuins grouped as the HDAC super family, little is known as to how histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) causes carcinogenesis in solid tumors. Here, in order to investigate the possible role of HDAC2 in gastric carcinogenesis, we analyzed the expression of HDAC2 in 71 gastric adenocarcinomas by immunohistochemistry. Moderate to strong expression of HDAC2 was found in 44 (62%) out of a total of 71 tumors. The majority of positive tumors, which were detected in the nucleus but not in normal gastric epithelium, did not express HDAC2 or showed only weak positive staining. Interestingly, we also noted that HDAC2 expression appeared to be associated with tumor aggressiveness as HDAC2 expression was observed to be statistically significant in advanced gastric cancer (P=0.0023, Chi-square test) and in positive lymph node metastasis (P=0.0713, Chi-square test). Taken together, these results suggest that HDAC2 may play an important role in the aggressiveness of gastric cancer.

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this prospective study were to document the incidence of colon immediate postpolypectomy bleeding (IPPB) according to grade, and to identify potential risk factors of IPPB in patients who have received complete colonoscopy and polypectomy because of a colorectal polyp. METHODS:This was a prospective, cross-sectional study of 5,152 patients treated at 11 tertiary medical centers between July 2003 and July 2004. Patient-related, polyp-related, and procedure-related variables were evaluated as potential risk factors for IPPB. IPPB was defined as a bleeding occurring during the procedure and was graded as G1-G4. Risk factors associated with IPPB were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS:A total of 9,336 colonic polyps were removed in 5,152 patients, and 262 (2.8%) colorectal polyps in 215 patients presented with IPPB. Polyp-based multivariate analysis revealed that old age (≥65 yr), comorbid cardiovascular or chronic renal disease, anticoagulant use, polyp size greater than 1 cm, gross morphology of polyps such as pedunculated polyp or laterally spreading tumor, poorer bowel preparation, cutting mode of the electrosurgical current, and the inadvertent cutting of a polyp before current application were significant risk factors for IPPB.CONCLUSION: Nine factors have been found to be associated with IPPB and polypectomy should be undertaken with caution under these conditions.

We investigated an outbreak of Acinetobacter baumannii in an intensive care unit and in the surgery, medicine, neurology, and urology wards of the Kosin University Gospel Hospital in Busan, Korea. The outbreak involved 36 cases of infection by A. baumannii producing the OXA-23 ␤-lactamase over an 8-month period and was caused by a single pulsed-field gel electrophoresis clone. The epidemic isolates were characterized by a modified cloverleaf synergy test. Isoelectric focusing of crude bacterial extracts detected one nitrocefin-positive band with a pI value of 6.65. PCR amplification and characterization of the amplicons by direct sequencing indicated that the epidemic isolates carried a bla OXA-23 determinant. The epidemic isolates were characterized by a multidrug resistance phenotype that remained unchanged over the outbreak, including penicillins, cephamycins, extended-spectrum cephalosporins, carbapenems, monobactams, and aminoglycosides. This study shows that the bla OXA-23 resistance determinant may become an emerging therapeutic problem.Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as an important nosocomial pathogen in outbreaks of hospital infections and is ranked second after Pseudomonas aeruginosa among nosocomial pathogens of aerobic nonfermentative gram-negative bacilli (17,19). A. baumannii causes respiratory and urinary tract infections, meningitis, endocarditis, burn infections, and wound sepsis, especially in intensive care units (ICUs) (4). A. baumannii infections are often difficult to eradicate due to high-level resistance to many antibiotics as a result of both intrinsic and acquired mechanisms. ␤-Lactamase production is the most important mechanism of acquired ␤-lactam resistance in gram-negative pathogens (21). Carbapenems (e.g., imipenem and meropenem) have become the drugs of choice against Acinetobacter infections in many centers but are being compromised by the emergence of carbapenem-hydrolyzing ␤-lactamase (carbapenemase) of molecular classes B and D (14). Class B carbapenemases found thus far in Acinetobacter spp. include various IMP-and VIM-type metallo-␤-lactamases (http: //www.lahey.org/studies/webt.asp), but most Acinetobacter spp. produce zinc-independent members of ␤-lactamase molecular class D (1). Sequenced carbapenemases of this latter class from that species include the following two distinct clusters: (i) the OXA-23-like cluster (OXA-23 and -27) and (ii) the OXA-24-like cluster . OXA-23 and OXA-27 have 99% amino acid identity, whereas they have only 60% identity with those of OXA-24-like cluster (1,3,6,7).Over an 8-month period from January to August 2003, 193 A. baumannii isolates were isolated from 193 patients hospitalized at the Kosin University Gospel Hospital. The purpose of the present study was to investigate an outbreak of A. baumannii in Korea and to characterize the imipenem resistance mechanism of the outbreak isolates. MATERIALS AND METHODS Bacterial strains and susceptibility tests. A total of 193 nonrepetitive clinical isolates of A. baumannii were isolated from Ja...

The placement of orthodontic appliances affects the subgingival microbial composition even during the early period of orthodontic treatment, increasing the prevalence of periodontopathogens, especially in the molar region.

The overall prevalence of colorectal neoplasm in asymptomatic average-risk Koreans is comparable with that in Western countries. Being male and older are associated with a higher risk of colorectal neoplasm. Over half of proximal neoplasms are not associated with any distal sentinel lesions.

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