Our results suggest that irisin has an essential role in glucose utilization and lipid metabolism, and irisin is a promising pharmacological target for the treatment of diabetes and its complications.

The microenvironment of the tumor plays an important role in facilitating cancer progression and activating dormant cancer cells. Most tumors are infiltrated with inflammatory cells which secrete cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). To evaluate the role of TNF-α in the development of cancer we studied its effects on cell migration with a migration assay. The migrating cell number in TNF-α-treated group is about 2-fold of that of the control group. Accordingly, the expression of E-cadherin was decreased and the expression of vimentin was increased upon TNF-α treatment. These results showed that TNF-α can promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of MCF-7 cells. Further, we found that the expression of Snail, an important transcription factor in EMT, was increased in this process, which is inhibited by the nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) inhibitor aspirin while not affected by the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger N-acetyl cysteine. Consistently, specific inhibition of NFκB by the mutant IκBα also blocked the TNF-α-induced upregulation of Snail promoter activity. Thus, the activation of NFκB, which causes an increase in the expression of the transcription factor Snail is essential in the TNF-α-induced EMT. ROS caused by TNF-α seemed to play a minor role in the TNF-α-induced EMT of MCF-7 cells, though ROS per se can promote EMT. These findings suggest that different mechanisms might be responsible for TNF-α-and ROSinduced EMT, indicating the need for different strategies for the prevention of tumor metastasis induced by different stimuli. Correspondence

Oral Diseases (2011) 17 (Suppl. 1), 99–104 Objectives:  (i) To define the current state of oral medicine clinical practice internationally, and (ii) to make recommendations for future modeling of the practice of oral medicine. Materials and methods:  A survey was designed by an international panel of oral medicine experts to assess the current state of oral medicine practice internationally. The survey was sent to oral medicine experts across the world, and responses were electronically stored and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results:  Two hundred respondents completed the survey representing 40 countries from six continents. The two most common settings for an oral medicine practice were in a hospital and a dental school. More than 88% of respondents considered management of oral mucosal disease, salivary dysfunction, oral manifestations of systemic diseases, and facial pain in the definition of oral medicine. Conclusions:  (i) Oral medicine clinicians diagnose and manage a wide variety of orofacial conditions; (ii) There are significant differences in the definition of oral medicine clinical practice from country to country; (iii) India has the largest expansion of oral medicine services as defined by escalating numbers of clinicians within the specialty as compared with other countries; (iv) oral medicine practitioners have a wide range of professional responsibilities.

Primary intrapulmonary thymomas (PIT), which are intrapulmonary tumours without an associated mediastinal component, are very rare; only 29 cases of PIT have been described in the literature since 1951. This report presents a case of PIT in a 59-year old Chinese woman with a type A thymoma (including its pathogenesis, clinical pathological characteristics, immunological phenotype, treatment and prognosis), in the context of a review of the current literature. The origin of thymomas in this unusual location remains unknown. In this case, immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that the epithelial component was strongly positive for cytokeratin and focally reactive for epithelial membrane antigen. It is concluded that PIT should be considered when the histopathological appearance of a lung tumour is not typical of other pulmonary neoplasms. Complete resection appears sufficient in non-malignant tumours, while in cases of partial resection or malignancy, adjuvant radiotherapy should be considered. Long-term regular clinical follow-up is also warranted, due to the risk of late local recurrence.