To determine the role of pelvic fractures in auditing mortality resulting from trauma. This retrospective case-control study based on autopsy-evaluated circumstances of the deaths of patients with pelvic fractures. Of 2,583 patients injured in motor-vehicle collisions, 655 (25.4%) constituted the pelvic fracture (PFx) group, and 1,928 (74.6%) constituted the control group. One-third of the PFx group's fatalities had an Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 75 and were not preventable. The PFx group had a substantially higher median ISS than the control group (50 versus 34; p < 0.0001). Four hundred fifty-four patients (69.3%) in the PFx group with ISS 16 to 74 had substantially higher rates of associated injuries. Nearly half of the PFx group patients with ISS <or= 74 had a potential cause of major hemorrhage other than pelvic fracture. Twenty-three (3.5%) deaths were directly attributable to pelvic fractures. Postinjury median survival time was 55 minutes for the PFx group and 100 minutes for the control group (p < 0.0001). The time limit for management of the patients with pelvic fractures was short, as 527 (81.5%) died in the first 6 hours. It was evident that the more severe the injuries were, the sooner the deaths occurred. Of 151 subjects who left the emergency department alive, 61.6% were subjected to operation and 48.3% to abdominal operation. Pelvic fracture is an indicator of severe multiple trauma, but a small proportion of deaths are directly attributable to pelvic fracture. A method based on autopsy audited patients with pelvic fractures as a paradigm of injury revealed that pelvic fracture is an important injury to consider in auditing trauma care and indicated several issues that should be considered to reduce mortality.

Background: L-DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) is an enzyme that catalyses, mainly, the decarboxylation of L-DOPA to dopamine and was found to be involved in many malignancies. The aim of this study was to investigate the mRNA expression levels of the DDC gene and to evaluate its clinical utility in tissues with colorectal adenocarcinoma. Methods: Total RNA was isolated from colorectal adenocarcinoma tissues of 95 patients. After having tested RNA quality, we prepared cDNA by reverse transcription. Highly sensitive quantitative real-time PCR method for DDC mRNA quantification was developed using the SYBR Green chemistry. GAPDH served as a housekeeping gene. Relative quantification analysis was performed using the comparative C_T method ( 2 - ΔΔC T ). Results: DDC mRNA expression varied remarkably among colorectal tumours examined in this study. High DDC mRNA expression levels were found in well-differentiated and Dukes’ stage A and B tumours. Kaplan–Meier survival curves showed that patients with DDC-positive tumours have significantly longer disease-free survival (P=0.009) and overall survival (P=0.027). In Cox regression analysis of the entire cohort of patients, negative DDC proved to be a significant predictor of reduced disease-free (P=0.021) and overall survival (P=0.047). Conclusions: The results of the study suggest that DDC mRNA expression may be regarded as a novel potential tissue biomarker in colorectal adenocarcinoma.

Apoptosis is a tightly regulated process that plays a critical role in many biological events. Members of the BCL2 (Bcl-2) family of apoptosis-related genes have been found to be differentially expressed in various malignancies and have been proposed as prognostic tumor biomarkers. We have recently discovered and cloned a new member of the BCL2 gene family, BCL2L12, expressed in colon tissues. Here we have investigated expression of the BCL2L12 gene in colon cancer tissues and assessed its prognostic value. Total RNA was isolated from 96 specimens of malignant colon tissue. After testing the RNA quality, cDNA was prepared by reverse transcription. A highly sensitive real-time PCR method for BCL2L12 mRNA quantification was developed using SYBR^® Green chemistry. GAPDH served as a housekeeping gene. Relative quantification analysis was performed using the comparative C_T method (2^-ΔΔCT). High BCL2L12 expression levels were found in smaller (≤5 cm, p=0.027) and well-differentiated tumors (p=0.034), as well as in early-stage tumors (p=0.039). Survival analysis demonstrated that patients with BCL2L12-positive colon tumors have significantly longer disease-free survival and overall survival (p=0.015 and p=0.027, respectively). Our results suggest that BCL2L12 gene expression may represent a potential new biomarker for colon cancer.