Tenofovir and entecavir were effective and potent drugs for prolonged treatment of HBV cirrhosis and improved the overall clinical course.

The majority of the cancer-associated deaths is due to metastasis—the spread of tumors to other organs. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which are shed from the primary tumor into the circulation, serve as precursors of metastasis. CTCs have now gained much attention as a new prognostic and diagnostic marker, as well as a screening tool for patients with metastatic disease. However, very little is known about the biology of CTCs in cancer metastasis. An increased understanding of CTC biology, their heterogeneity, and interaction with other cells can help towards a better understanding of the metastatic process, as well as identify novel drug targets. Here we present a novel ex vivo 3D system for culturing CTCs from breast cancer patient blood samples using porous poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) scaffolds. As a proof of principle study, we show that ex vivo culture of 12/16 (75%) advanced stage breast cancer patient blood samples were enriched for CTCs identified as CK+ (cytokeratin positive) and CD45− (CD45 negative) cells. The deposition of extracellular matrix proteins on the PCL scaffolds permitted cellular attachment to these scaffolds. Detection of Ki-67 and bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) positive cells revealed proliferating cell population in the 3D scaffolds. The CTCs cultured without prior enrichment exhibited dynamic differences in epithelial (E) and mesenchymal (M) composition. Thus, our 3D PCL scaffold system offers a physiologically relevant model to be used for studying CTC biology as well as for individualized testing of drug susceptibility. Further studies are warranted for longitudinal monitoring of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in CTCs for clinical association.

Proliferating trichilemmal tumor (PTT) is a benign tumor originating from the outer root sheath of a hair follicle. Malignant transformation in case of PTT is very rare and unusual finding. It is usually confused with squamous cell carcinoma both sharing many common features. So the identification of malignant PTT is very essential. Only 39 well-documented cases of malignant proliferating trichilemmal cyst have been published to date in the English language literature. We hereby present a case of a 75-year-old female patient with a rapidly growing swelling on the scalp.

Inguinal hernia repair is the most common surgery done by both young and experienced surgeons.

Background:The poor survival rate of surgically treated patients with oesophageal cancer has not improved substantially over the last 25 years, but combined modality therapy has shown early promising results. Methods: A prospective study was undertaken to determine the effect of pre-operative synchronous chemoradiotherapy followed by oesophagectomy in 53 patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oesophagus. The patient group was unselected, other than by fitness for surgery. Results: In 25% of patients, complete pathological regression of the tumour was achieved. All but one of the patients in this subgroup had T2 tumours on pre-operative clinical staging and two had evidence of lymph node involvement, but postoperative pathological examination revealed that pre-operative chemoradiotherapy had downstaged their disease to TONO. There was no hospital mortality in this subgroup and the actuarial 7 year survival was 69%. Conclusions: For squarnous oesophageal tumours deep to the submucosa this is an extremely good survival. For the present, this form of therapy for SCC of the oesophagus appears capable of achieving results comparable to, or better than, those reported for 3-field lymphadenectomy.

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Background and aims: Preliminary data suggests lower serum hepatitis B surface antigen level is associated with more severe liver fibrosis in HBeAg positive patients. We evaluated the association of HBsAg level with biochemical, virological, and histological features in asymptomatic patients with chronic HBV infection. Methods: HBsAg levels were measured at baseline in 481 asymptomatic, treatment naive patients with chronic HBV infection. Subjects were followed-up prospectively (median, 12; range, 8-36 months). Phases of HBV infection were defined after regular monitoring of HBV-DNA and transaminases. Liver histology was scored using the METAVIR system. Results: HBeAg positive (n, 126) patients were significantly younger than HBeAg negative (n, 355), median age 26 vs 30 years; P < 0.01. HBV genotype could be determined in 350 patients, 240 (68.57%) had genotype D and 100 (28.57%) had genotype A. HBsAg level had modest correlation with serum HBV DNA(r = 0.6 vs 0.4 in eAg positive & negative respectively). HBeAg + ve patients with fibrosis score ! F2 showed significantly lower median serum HBsAg levels and serum HBV DNA levels compared with patients with F0-F1 score (median, range; 4.51, 2.99-6.10 vs 5.06, 4.13-5.89, P < 0.01) and (8.39, 3.85-10.60, P < 0.01) respectively. Significant inverse correlation of HBsAg level was found with liver fibrosis in eAg positive group (r = À0.76; P < 0.001). HBsAg level cut off value 4.7 log 10 IU/ml predicted moderate to advance fibrosis (F ! 2) with 92% sensitivity, 85% specificity & 91% negative predictive value. Conclusion: Lower HBsAg level might reflect the status of advanced liver fibrosis in HBeAg positive chronic hepatitis B subjects. ( J CLIN EXP HEPATOL 2015;5:213-220)

Introduction To investigate whether the motor functional alterations in schizophrenia (SZ) are also associated with structural changes in the related brain areas using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Methods A sample of 14 right-handed SZ patients and 14 right-handed healthy control subjects matched for age, sex, and education were examined with structural high-resolution T1-weighted MRI; fMRI images were obtained during right index finger-tapping task in the same session. Results fMRI results showed reduced functional activation in the motor areas (contralateral precentral and postcentral gyrus) and ipsilateral cerebellum in SZ subjects as compared to healthy controls (n=14). VBM analysis also revealed reduced grey matter in motor areas and white matter reduction in cerebellum of SZ subjects as compared to controls. Conclusion The present study provides an evidence for a possible association between structural alterations in the motor cortex and disturbed functional activation in the motor areas in persons affected with SZ during a simple finger-tapping task.