BACKGROUND: Effective prognostic biomarkers and powerful target-therapeutic drugs are needed for improving the treatment of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the expression of FOXM1 and Aurora-A and their prognos

Chronic inflammation and cancer stem cells are known risk factors for tumorigenesis. The aetiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) involves a multistep pathological process that is characterised by chronic inflammation and hepatocyte damage, but the correlation between HCC, inflammation and cancer stem cells remains unclear. In this study, we examined the role of hepatic progenitor cells in a mouse model of chemical-induced hepatocarcinogenesis to elucidate the relationship between inflammation, malignant transformation and cancer stem cells. We used diethylnitrosamine (DEN) to induce liver tumour and scored for H&E and reticulin staining. We also scored for immunohistochemistry staining for OV-6 expression and analysed the statistical correlation between them. DEN progressively induced inflammation at week 7 (40%, 2/5); week 27 (75%, 6/8); week 33 (62.5%, 5/8); and week 50 (100%, 12/12). DEN progressively induced malignant transformation at week 7 (0%, 0/5); week 27 (87.5%, 7/8); week 33 (100%, 8/8); and week 50 (100%, 12/12). The obtained data showed that DEN progressively induced high-levels of OV-6 expression at week 7 (20%, 1/5); week 27 (37.5%, 3/8); week 33 (50%, 4/8); and week 50 (100%, 12/12). DEN-induced inflammation, malignant transformation and high-level OV-6 expression in hamster liver, as shown above, as well as applying Spearman’s correlation to the data showed that the expression of OV-6 was significantly correlated to inflammation (p = 0.001) and malignant transformation (p < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between the number of cancer stem cells, inflammation and malignant transformation in a DEN-induced model of hepatic carcinogenesis in the hamster.

Background and Objectives: Optimal opioid analgesia is an excellent analgesia that does not present unexpected adverse effects. Nalbuphine, acting on the opioid receptor as a partial mu antagonist and kappa agonist, is considered a suitable option for patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery. Therefore, we aim to investigate the appropriate dosage of nalbuphine for post-operative pain management in patients with laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Materials and Methods: Patients were randomly categorized into low, medium, and high nalbuphine groups. In each group, a patient control device for post-operative pain control was programed with a low (0.05 mg/kg), medium (0.10 mg/kg), or high (0.20 mg/kg) nalbuphine dose as a loading dose and each bolus dose with a lockout interval of 7 min and without background infusion. Primary and secondary outcomes included the post-operative pain scale and nalbuphine consumption, and episodes of post-operative opioid-related adverse events and satisfactory scores. Results: The low-dosage group presented a higher initial self-reported pain score in comparison to the other two groups for the two hours post-op (p = 0.039) but presented lower nalbuphine consumption than the other two groups for four hours post-op (p = 0.047). There was no significant difference in the analysis of the satisfactory score and adverse events. Conclusions: An appropriate administration of nalbuphine could be 0.1 to 0.2 mg/kg at the initial four hours; this formula could be modified to a lower dosage (0.05 mg/kg) in the post-operative management of laparoscopic cholecystectomy.