Diagnosing pulmonary arteriovenous malformations in the presence of atrial septal defect and anomalous pulmonary venous drainage—An imaging challenge

Saline contrast echocardiography is a simple and effective method to diagnose the presence and type of right-to-left shunt in patients with unexplained cyanosis. It is considered a very sensitive test to diagnose pulmonary arteriovenous malformations. Our patient presented with unexplained cyanosis and transthoracic echocardiography showed an atrial septal defect and anomalous pulmonary venous drainage of the right and left upper pulmonary veins to the superior venacava. We describe how we used saline contrast echocardiography to demonstrate the presence of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations even in the presence of atrial septal defect and anomalous pulmonary venous drainage.     

Partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection in a patient with tetralogy of Fallot: Infrequent,but not inconsequential

We hereby describe a rare case of partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection (PAPVC) in a patient with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). It is imperative to identify PAPVC preoperatively in patients with TOF as it can have significant hemodynamic outcomes. This case highlights the importance of computed tomography angiography in demonstrating the same.     

Bromodeoxyuridine incorporation and Ki 67 expression in oral hairy leukoplakia

OBJECTIVES: Oral hairy leukoplakia (HL) is an acan-thotic, hyperparakeratotic lesion characterised by the presence of a replicative Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in the superficial and adjoining layers of the epithelium. EBV or its gene products are capable of modifying epithelial differentiation. The aim of this study was to establish whether the presence of EBV was associated with an alteration in cell turnover by assessing bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation and Ki 67 expression in lesional tissue and control mucosa.
METHODS: Biopsies of HL together with age, site and sex matched controls ( n = 7 and 8 respectively) were incubated in 200 μM BrdU in vitro , fixed in methacarn and processed to paraffin wax. Following acid hydrolysis, incorporated BrdU and Ki 67 were identified in serial 5 fim sections using a three-stage immunoperoxidase technique and cell density expressed as the number of positive cells per mm basement membrane length.
RESULTS: Overall, there was no difference in the number of BrdU positive cells per mm basement membrane length between control and HL tissue. However, within HL alone, the presence'of focal EBV replication was associated with a significant reduction in the number of basal cells incorporating BrdU compared to adjacent EBV free areas (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between Ki 67 positive cells in control and HL tissue and no evidence of a reduction of Ki 67 positive cells in areas associated with EBV replication.
CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that there is no evidence of a generalised alteration of the proliferative capacity of basal cells in HL, although the focal reduction in BrdU incorporation may reflect subtle changes on cell turnover by EBV infection.     

骨髓间充质干细胞移植改善心肌梗死患者心功能

学术背景：目前常用的心肌梗死治疗方法一介入治疗能改善心肌缺血，但坏死心肌不能自主修复。近年来干细胞移植成为治疗缺血性心脏病研究的热点，且间充质干细胞具有取材方便，免疫排斥性低，多向分化性，不涉及伦理道德问题等优点，更是倍受重视。 目的：总结骨髓间充质干细胞移植治疗心肌梗死的研究进展。检索策略：由该论文的研究人员应用计算机检索Pubmed数据库1990-01／2007—12关于骨髓间充质干细胞治疗心肌梗死的文献，检索词“Mesenchymal stem cells，transplantation，myocardial infarction”，并限定文章语言种类为English。同时检索万方数据库2002-03／2007-03相关的文章，检索词为“骨髓间充质干细胞移植，心肌梗死”，并限定文章语言种类为中文。然后对资料进行初审，纳入标准：①与骨髓间充质干细胞治疗心肌梗死密切相关。②同一领域选择近期发表或在权威杂志上发表的文章。排除标准：重复性研究。 文献评价：文献的来源主要是骨髓间充质干细胞移植治疗心肌梗死方面的随机对照试验。所选用的31篇文献中，7篇为综述，其余均为临床或基础实验研究。 资料综合：①骨髓干细胞具有比既往预期更高的可塑性，在心肌梗死后能迁移到心肌损伤部位，在心脏环境中横向分化为心肌细胞和血管内皮细胞，参与坏死心肌组织的再生。②临床研究证实，骨髓干细胞移植可以改善心肌梗死患者的心功能。③关于骨髓间充质干细胞在软骨修复方面的研究虽已取得较大进展，但仍存在许多问题，如测定移植细胞的成活率并找到提高其成活率的方法：心肌梗死面积多大进行细胞移植会更有效：需发明一种能长期标记移植细胞的技术，明确被成功移植的细胞的状态：确定最佳细胞移植的时间、数量，并进一步完善移植方法等。 结论：有关骨髓间充质干细胞改善心肌梗死患者心功能、细胞移植方法等方面的研究取得很大的进展，但仍存在许多需要解决的问题．     

Unintended consequences of policy change to watchful waiting for asymptomatic inguinal hernias

Introduction

In 2009 the Department of Health instructed McKinsey & Company to provide advice on how commissioners might achieve world class National Health Service productivity. Asymptomatic inguinal hernia repair was identified as a potentially cosmetic procedure, with limited clinical benefit. The Birmingham and Solihull primary care trust cluster introduced a policy of watchful waiting for asymptomatic inguinal hernia, which was implemented across the health economy in December 2010. This retrospective cohort study aimed to examine the effect of a change in clinical commissioning policy concerning elective surgical repair of asymptomatic inguinal hernias.

Methods

A total of 1,032 patients undergoing inguinal hernia repair in the 16 months after the policy change were compared with 978 patients in the 16 months before. The main outcome measure was relative proportion of emergency repair in groups before and after the policy change. Multivariate binary logistic regression was used to adjust the main outcome for age, sex and hernia type.

Results

The period after the policy change was associated with 59% higher odds of emergency repair (3.6% vs 5.5%, adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 1.59, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.03–2.47). In turn, emergency repair was associated with higher odds of adverse events (4.7% vs 18.5%, adjusted OR: 3.68, 95% CI: 2.04–6.63) and mortality (0.1% vs 5.4%, p<0.001, Fisher’s exact test).

Conclusions

Introduction of a watchful waiting policy for asymptomatic inguinal hernias was associated with a significant increase in need for emergency repair, which was in turn associated with an increased risk of adverse events. Current policies may be placing patients at risk.