The detection of calcification on ultrasonography should increase the clinical index of suspicion for thyroid carcinoma and alert the physician. FSP calcification is valuable and has a very high specificity for predicting thyroid carcinoma, particularly for those younger than 45 years old or with calcified regional lymph nodes. To increase the sensitivity for the diagnosis of thyroid carcinoma, tests such as fine-needle aspiration cytology should also be performed. The use of these modalities could result in earlier detection of thyroid carcinoma. The use of ultrasound to detect calcification and FSP calcification is as efficient as thyroid papillary macrocarcinoma in predicting microcarcinoma.

miR-204 was found to be downregulated in gastric cancer (GC) tissues, and the effect of miR-204 function on gastric cancer remains as a mystery. Therefore, this study was aimed at investigating the potential role of miR-204 involved in GC progression. Tissues collected from 60 gastric cancer patients were selected as the case group, while the matched normal paracancer tissues as controls. miR-204 expression levels in tissues and GC cells were detected using real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR. Luciferase assay was adopted to validate the interaction between potential gene targets and miR-204. Transwell assay was performed to evaluate the metastasis of GC cells. By building the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) model in vitro through the addition of transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1), expressions of miR-204 and snai1 in the EMT model together with their respective effects on EMT were evaluated. miR-204 was significantly downregulated in GC tissues and invasive GC cells (P < 0.05). The over-expression of miR-204 or downregulation of snai1 could significantly inhibit the metastasis and invasion of GC cells both in vitro and in vivo. The upregulated miR-204 expression or inhibited snai1 expression could suppress the EMT process in EMT in vitro models. Our study provided evidence that miR-204 may suppress the metastasis and invasion of GC cells through the regulation of the EMT process by targeting snai1.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) differentiate from monocytes and are the M2-polarized macrophages in most human tumors, secreting generous vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to promote angiogenesis. Although it has been shown in vitro that interferon-γ (IFN-γ) can inhibit monocytes differentiating to M2 macrophages in the tumor microenvironment and switch TAMs from M2 into M1, suppressing the ability of secreting VEGF, its effects on TAMs in vivo remains unknown. Here we tried to examine the effects of IFN-γ on the recruitment of monocyte/macrophage differentiation of TAMs and tumor angiogenesis in vivo. We built a gallbladder cancer model by inoculating subcutaneously the human gallbladder cancer cell line (GBC-SD) into BALB/C nude mice and injected the recombinant mouse IFN-γ intratumorally. We found that in the IFN-γ group, the number of monocytes/macrophages was significantly higher than that in the control group (p < 0.01), and TAM differentiation rate, which we defined as the number of TAMs / the number of monocytes/macrophages × 100%, mice-VEGF concentration, and microvessels density (MVD) were significantly lower than those in the control group (p < 0.01, p < 0.05, and p < 0.01). Our results suggest that IFN-γ can induce monocytes/macrophages recruiting into the tumor microenvironment, but inhibit them, differentiating to TAMs in vivo, which may reduce the concentration of VEGF and angiogenesis in tumor.

AIM:To analyze the surgical management of adult primary retroperitoneal tumors (APRT) and the factors influencing the outcome after operation. METHODS: RESULTS:A total of 143 cases of APRT were treated surgically. Among them, 122 (85.3%) underwent complete resection, 16 (11.2%) incomplete resection, and 3 (3%) surgical biopsies. Twenty-nine (20.2%) u n d e r w e n t t u m o r re s e c t i o n p l u s m u l t i p l e o rg a n resections. Ninety-five malignant cases were followed up for 1 mo to 5 years. The 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survival rates of the patients subject to complete resection was 94.9%, 76.6% and 34.3% and that of patients with incomplete resection was 80.4%, 6.7%, and 0%, respectively (P < 0.001). The Cox multi-various regression analysis showed the completeness of tumor, sex and histological type were associated closely with local recurrence.