Background andResults: The perioperative complication rate was 26.9% in narrow gastric tube group and 48.1% in whole stomach group (P = 0.31). At the time of 3 weeks after surgery, the reflux and dyspnea scores were higher in whole stomach group than in narrow gastric tube group, which meant that the patients in whole stomach group suffered more severe problem. At the time of 6 months and 1 year after surgery, the reflux scores were lower in narrow gastric tube group than in whole stomach group, which revealed that there were less problems of reflux in the patients of narrow gastric tube group; meanwhile, the score of physical function scale in narrow gastric tube group was higher conversely, which suggested that the patients gain a better status in physical function. Nausea and vomiting is the only notable symptom that was worse in whole stomach group at the time of 2 years after surgery, which suggested that patients in whole stomach group suffered more severe nausea and vomiting.Conclusions: Narrow gastric tube reconstruction may be a good alternative choice for patients undergoing oncologic esophagectomy in view of better health-related quality of life after the surgery.

The prevalence of obesity among child-bearing women has increased significantly. The adverse consequences of maternal obesity on the descendants have been well accepted, although few studies have examined the underlying mechanisms. We investigated whether neonatal overfeeding in female mice alters metabolic phenotypes in the offspring and whether hypothalamic leptin signalling is involved. Neonatal overfeeding was induced by reducing the litter size to three pups per litter, in contrast to normal litter size of 10 pups per litter. Normal and neonatally overfed female mice were bred with normal male mice, and offspring of overfeeding mothers (OOM) and control mothers (OCM) were generated. We examined body weight, daily food intake, leptin responsiveness and the number of positive neurones for phosphorylated-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (pSTAT3) along with neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARH) and NPY in the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) of the brain stem. The body weight and daily food intake of OOM were significantly higher than those of OCM. Leptin significantly reduced food intake and increased the number of pSTAT3 positive neurones in the ARH of OCM mice, whereas no significant changes in food intake and pSTAT3 neurones were found in leptin-treated OOM mice. The number of NPY neurones in the ARH and NTS of the OOM mice was significantly higher than that of OCM mice. The results of the present study indicate that the obese phenotype from mothers can be passed onto the subsequent generation, which is possibly associated with hypothalamic leptin resistance.

Generalized arterial calcification of infancy (GACI) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the ENPP1 gene. It is characterized by early onset mineralization of the arterial blood vessels, often diagnosed prenatally, and characteristically associated with death in early childhood. There is no effective treatment for this devastating disorder. We previously characterized the Enpp1 asj mutant mouse as a model of GACI, and we have now explored the effect of elevated dietary magnesium in mothers during pregnancy and nursing and continuing in the offspring for the first 14 weeks of postnatal life. The mothers were kept on either control diet or an experimental diet supplemented with magnesium (five-fold). Upon weaning at 4 weeks of age the pups were placed either on control diet or high magnesium diet. The degree of mineralization in the offspring was assessed at 14 weeks of age by histopathology and chemical assay of calcium in aorta, kidney, and muzzle skin. Mice placed on high magnesium diet showed little, if any, evidence of mineralization when their corresponding mothers were also placed on diet enriched with magnesium during pregnancy and nursing. The reduced ectopic mineralization in these mice was accompanied by increased urinary calcium and magnesium content, suggesting that magnesium competes calciumphosphate binding thereby preventing the mineral deposition. These results have implications for dietary management of pregnancies in which the fetus is suspected of having GACI. Moreover, augmenting the diet with high magnesium may be beneficial for other ectopic mineralization diseases, including nephrocalcinosis and calcinosis cutis.