Cholangiocarcinoma is the second most common primary liver cancer and responds poorly to existing therapies. Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) likely originates from the biliary tree and develops within the hepatic parenchyma. We have generated a flexible orthotopic allograft mouse model of ICC that incorporates common genetic alterations identified in human ICC and histologically resembles...

Metformin is an oral anti-hyperglycemic agent of the biguanide family, which is used first-line for type II diabetes with few side-effects. A recent epidemiological study that included 1,828 potential intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) patients showed that metformin use was significantly associated with a 60% reduction in ICC risk in diabetic patients, demonstrating the potential value of me...

The murine jejunum and lower esophageal sphincter (LES) were examined to determine the locations of various signaling molecules and their colocalization with caveolin-1 and one another. Caveolin-1 was present in punctate sites of the plasma membranes (PM) of all smooth muscles and diffusely in all classes of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC; identified by c-kit immunoreactivity), ICC-myenteric ...

Liver-intestine cadherin (LI-cadherin) represents a novel type of cadherin within the cadherin superfamily that comprises seven cadherin repeats and a short cytoplasmic domain. In this study, we first examined LI-cadherin expression immunohistochemically in 34 specimens of human intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). LI-cadherin expression was positive (defined as positivity in > or = 10% of ce...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and significance of neuroligins in myenteric cells of Cajal (ICC-MY) in Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR). METHODS Longitudinal muscle with adherent myenteric plexus (LMMP) from surgical excision waste colon of HSCR children were prepared by peeling off the mucous layer, sub-mucosal layer and circular muscle. Neuroligins, c-Kit (c-Ki...

The paper reviews the present-day knowledge on the origin, location, morphology, function, and identification of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC). ICC include several types of mesenchymal cells, spindle-shaped or stellate, found within the musculature of the gastrointestinal tract. Some types of ICC act as pacemakers of the intestinal musculature, while others are implicated in the modulation ...

BACKGROUND Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) provide a statistical means of testing the reliability. However, their interpretation is not well documented in the orthopedic field. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of ICCs in the orthopedic literature and to demonstrate pitfalls regarding their use. METHODS First, orthopedic articles that used ICCs were retrieved fr...

In this study, we studied whether hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) has an effect on the pacemaker activity of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC), in the small intestine of mice. The actions of H(2)S on pacemaker activity were investigated using whole-cell patch-clamp technique, intracellular Ca(2+) analysis at 30 and RT-PCR in cultured mouse intestinal ICC. Exogenously applied sodium hydrogen sulfide (N...

Populations of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) are altered in several gastrointestinal neuromuscular disorders. ICC are identified typically by ultrastructure and expression of Kit (CD117), a protein that is also expressed on mast cells. No other molecular marker currently exists to independently identify ICC. The expression of ANO1 (DOG1, TMEM16A), a Ca(2+)-activated Cl(-) channel, in gastro...

BACKGROUND The COMPASS study is designed to follow a cohort of ~30,000 grade 9 to 12 students attending ~60 secondary schools for four years to understand how changes in school characteristics (policies, programs, built environment) are associated with changes in youth health behaviours. Since the student-level questionnaire for COMPASS (Cq) is designed to facilitate multiple large-scale school...