Zhi Hua Ran

Screening of atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer by serum pepsinogen, gastrin‐17 and Helicobacter pylori immunoglobulin G antibodies

OBJECTIVE:  Currently the screening and diagnosis of gastric cancer and atrophic gastritis are mainly made by endoscopy and biopsy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of serum tests: serum pepsinogen I (PGI pepsinogen I/II ratio (PGR), gastrin‐17 (G‐17) and H. pylori‐immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to screen atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer.

Meta-analysis: circulating adiponectin levels and risk of colorectal cancer and adenoma.

OBJECTIVE:  To provide a systematic review with a meta‐analysis for addressing the association between circulating adiponectin levels and the risk of colorectal cancer and adenoma.

Comparison of immunochemical and guaiac-based fecal occult blood test in screening and surveillance for advanced colorectal neoplasms: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE:  To systematically evaluate whether immunochemical fecal occult blood tests (iFOBT) could improve clinical performance and test accuracy in screening and surveillance for advanced colorectal neoplasms.

MicroRNA 506 regulates expression of PPAR alpha in hydroxycamptothecin-resistant human colon cancer cells

Chemotherapeutic drug resistance remains a major obstacle to the successful treatment of colon cancer. Here, we show that 77 differentially expressed miRNAs were identified in SW1116/HCPT versus SW1116, and over‐expressed miR‐506 in SW1116/HCPT cells was validated. Then it was indicated that PPARα is a common target of miR‐506 by using a luciferase reporter assay. Our results also demonstrated that cytotoxic ability of HCPT requires the concomitant presence of PPARα, and that loss of PPARα expression imparts resistance to HCPTs anti‐tumor effects. All together, our studies indicate that miR‐506 over‐expression in established HCPT‐resistant colon cancer cell line confers resistance to HCPT by inhibiting PPARα expression, then providing a rationale for the development of miRNA‐based strategies for reversing resistance in HCPT‐resistant colon cancer cells.

PillCam colon capsule endoscopy versus conventional colonoscopy for the detection of severity and extent of ulcerative colitis.

To evaluate PillCam colon capsule endoscopy (PCCE) in detecting the severity and extent of active ulcerative colitis (UC), in comparison with conventional endoscopy.

Transcribed ultraconserved region in human cancers

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are transcripts longer than ~200 nucleotides with little or no protein-coding capacity. Growing evidence shows that lncRNAs present important function in development and are associated with many human diseases such as cancers, Alzheimer disease, and heart diseases. Transcribed ultraconserved region (T-UCR) transcripts are a novel class of lncRNAs transcribed from ultraconserved regions (UCRs). UCRs are absolutely conserved (100%) between the orthologous regions of the human, rat, and mouse genomes. The UCRs are frequently located at fragile sites and at genomic regions involved in cancers. Recent data suggest that T-UCRs are altered at the transcriptional level in human tumorigenesis and the aberrant T-UCRs expression profiles can be used to differentiate human cancer types. The profound understanding of T-UCRs can throw new light on the pathogenesis of human cancers.

Using cognitive theory to facilitate medical education

BackgroundEducators continue to search for better strategies for medical education. Although the unifying theme of reforms was “increasing interest in, attention to, and understanding of the knowledge base structures”, it is difficult to achieve all these aspects via a single type of instruction.MethodsWe used related key words to search in Google Scholar and Pubmed. Related search results on this topic were selected for discussion.ResultsDespite the range of different methods used in medical education, students are still required to memorize much of what they are taught, especially for the basic sciences. Subjects like anatomy and pathology carry a high intrinsic cognitive load mainly because of the large volume of information that must be retained. For these subjects, decreasing cognitive load is not feasible and memorizing appears to be the only strategy, yet the cognitive load makes learning a challenge for many students. Cognitive load is further increased when inappropriate use of educational methods occurs, e.g., in problem based learning which demands clinical reasoning, a high level and complex cognitive skill. It is widely known that experts are more skilled at clinical reasoning than novices because of their accumulated experiences. These experiences are based on the formation of cognitive schemata. In this paper we describe the use of cognitive schemata, developed by experts as worked examples to facilitate medical students’ learning and to promote their clinical reasoning.ConclusionWe suggest that cognitive load theory can provide a useful framework for understanding the challenges and successes associated with education of medical professionals.

Predictive and prognostic roles of BRAF mutation in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer treated with anti-epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibodies: A meta-analysis

This study aimed to evaluate the predictive and prognostic roles of BRAF mutation in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) treated with anti‐epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs).

Increased JNK1 signaling pathway is responsible for ABCG2-mediated multidrug resistance in human colon cancer.

Multidrug resistance remains a major obstacle to effective chemotherapy of colon cancer. ABCG2, as a half-transporter of the G subfamily of ATP-binding cassette transporter genes (ABC transporters), is known to play a crucial role in multidrug resistance. However, the molecular mechanism of controlling ABCG2 expression in drug resistance of colon cancer is unclear and scarcely reported. In the present study, we systematically investigate the potential role of the c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) signal pathway in ABCG2-induced multidrug resistance in colon cancer. In the hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT) resistant cell line SW1116/HCPT from human colon cancer cell line SW1116, ABCG2 is the major factor for multidrug resistance, other than well-studied ABCB1 or ABCC1. Our findings indicate that blocking the JNK pathway by pathway inhibitor SP600125 reduces the expression level and transport function of ABCG2 in drug-resistant cells SW116/HCPT. Notably, the experiments of small interfering RNA directed against JNK1 and JNK2 show that only silence of JNK1 gene has the equal effect as SP600125 on dephosphorylation of transcription factor c-Jun and the expression of ABCG2 protein, while the corresponding phenomena were not observed after silence of JNK2 gene. Meanwhile, SP600125 induces the apoptosis of SW116/HCPT cells by promoting the cleavage of PARP and suppressing the anti-apoptotic protein survivin and bcl-2, and increases the sensitivity of SW1116/HCPT to HCPT. Taken together, our work demonstrated that JNK1/c-jun signaling pathway was involved in ABCG2-mediated multidrug resistance in colon cancer cells. Definitely, inhibition of the JNK1/c-jun pathway is useful for reversing ABCG2-mediated drug resistance in HCPT-resistant colon cancer cells.

Meta‐analysis: The efficacy and safety of monoclonal antibody targeted to epidermal growth factor receptor in the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

OBJECTIVE:  To evaluate systematically the efficacy and safety of anti‐epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody added to a chemotherapeutic regimen in the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).