We have investigated the association of the recently identified IL6R polymorphisms with the serum levels of soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R). sIL-6R is generated by shedding of the membrane-bound receptor (IL-6Ralpha) or alternative mRNA splicing. In total, 115 healthy volunteers were genotyped, with 70 of them analyzed for sIL-6R levels. Using the PCR/RFLP methods, two important polymorphic sites were selected for genotyping: the 48892A/C (D358A) in exon 9 and the -183G/A in the promoter region. In exon 9, C allele carriers had higher sIL-6R level (P<0.0001) showing that this sequence variation, which corresponds to the proteolytic cleavage site of IL-6Ralpha, strongly influences the serum sIL-6R levels. In the promoter region, G allele carriers had lower sIL-6R levels (P<0.0082) compared with the A allele carriers. This could be attributed to the linkage disequilibrium (D'=0.54, chi2=51.3, P<0.0001) between the -183G/A and the 48892A/C gene polymorphisms.

Anatomic resection independently improves long-term survival in patients with T1-T2 hepatocellular carcinoma, probably because of the clearance of venous tumor thrombi within the resected domain.

Background: Accurate cost estimate and a profit and loss analysis are necessary for health care practice. We performed an actual financial analysis for an intensive care unit (ICU) of a university hospital in Japan, and tried to discuss the health care policy and resource allocation decisions that have an impact on critical intensive care.

Three hundred forty‐five patients with invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix, Stages Ib (211 patients) and II I (134 patients), underwent radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy. The influence of histologic factors including histologic subtype, maximum depth of cervical stromal invasion, degree of stromal invasion, longitudinal tumor diameter, lymph‐vascular space invasion, corpus invasion, parametrial invasion, vaginal invasion, and pelvic lymph node (PLN) metastases on survival were examined by multivariate analysis. Univariate analysis revealed that all the variables except corpus invasion and vaginal invasion were significant in survival (P < 0,05). Among these variables, however, PLN metastases, histologic subtype, and longitudinal tumor diameter were identified as independent and significant prognostic factors by multivariate analysis using Cox regression models. The prognostic index (PI), defined by the model (an indicator of the patient's place in the prognostic spectrum), was able to divide the patients into three prognostic groups. The key factors in the definition of these groups were (1) squamous cell carcinoma, small tumor diameter, and no PLN metastases for the good prognostic group and (2) PLN metastasis in two or more node groups, adenocarcinoma with one positive PLN group, or squamous cell carcinoma with one PLN group and large diameter for the poor prognostic group. These prognostic findings could predict the prognosis more precisely than that of clinical staging.