AIMS: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of overweight on surgical and long-term outcomes in a Western population of patients with gastric cancer (GC).METHODS: An electronic database of all patients with resectable GC treated between 1986 and 1998 at seven university surgical centres cooperating in the Polish Gastric Cancer Study Group was reviewed. Overweight was defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m 2 or higher.RESULTS: Four hundred and ninety-two of 1992 (25%) patients were overweight.Postoperatively, higher BMI was associated with higher rates of cardiopulmonary complications (16% vs 12%, P=0.001) and intra-abdominal abscess (6.9% vs 2.9%, P<0.001).However, other complications and mortality rates were unaffected. The median diseasespecific survival of overweight patients was significantly higher (36.7 months, 95%confidence interval (CI) 29.0 to 44.4) than those with BMI<25 kg/m 2 (25.7 months, 95%CI23.2 to 28.1; P=0.003). These differences were due to the lower frequencies of patients with T3 and T4 tumours, metastatic lymph nodes, distant metastases, and non-curative resections.A Cox proportional hazards model identified age, depth of infiltration, lymph node metastases, distant metastases, and residual tumour category as the independent prognostic factors.CONCLUSIONS: Overweight is not the independent prognostic factor for long-term survival in a Western-type population of GC.

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BackgroundThe number of studies regarding the incidence of multidrug resistant strains and distribution of genes encoding virulence factors, which have colonized the post-Soviet states, is considerably limited. The aim of the study was (1) to assess the Staphylococcus (S.) aureus nasal carriage rate, including Methicillin Resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains in adult Ukrainian population, (2) to determine antibiotic resistant pattern and (3) the occurrence of Panton Valentine Leukocidine (PVL)-, Fibronectin-Binding Protein A (FnBPA)- and Exfoliative Toxin (ET)-encoding genes.MethodsNasal samples for S. aureus culture were obtained from 245 adults. The susceptibility pattern for several classes of antibiotics was determined by disk diffusion method according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) guidelines. The virulence factor encoding genes, mecA, lukS-lukF, eta, etb, etd, fnbA, were detected by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).ResultsThe S. aureus nasal carriage rate was 40%. The prevalence of nasal MRSA carriage in adults was 3.7%. LukS-lukF genes were detected in over 58% of the strains. ET-encoding genes were detected in over 39% of the strains and the most prevalent was etd. The fnbA gene was detected in over 59% of the strains. All MRSA isolates tested were positive for the mecA gene. LukS-lukF genes and the etd gene were commonly co-present in MRSA, while lukS-lukF genes and the fnbA gene were commonly co-present in Methicillin Sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) isolates. No significant difference was detected between the occurrence of lukS-lukF genes (P > 0.05) and the etd gene (P > 0.05) when comparing MRSA and MSSA. The occurrence of the fnbA gene was significantly more frequent in MSSA strains (P < 0.05).ConclusionsIn Ukraine, S. aureus is a common cause of infection. The prevalence of S. aureus nasal carriage in our cohort of patients from Ukraine was 40.4%. We found that 9.1% of the strains were classified as MRSA and all MRSA isolates tested positive for the mecA gene. We also observed a high prevalence of PVL- and ET- encoding genes among S. aureus nasal carriage strains. A systematic surveillance system can help prevent transmission and spread of drug resistant toxin producing S. aureus strains.

Development of liver transplantation program provided more than 1000 transplantations and excellent long-term results. Liver failure caused by hepatitis C and B infections remains the most common cause of liver transplantation and structure of other indications is consistent with European data.

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