A combined course of primary health care practice and family medicine at the University of Gezira

The community-based course presented is a longitudinal course running through four semesters in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Gezira, Sudan. Students combine their regular work in primary health care centres with attachments to a number of families in Wad Medani town. They continue to visit these families regularly throughout their entire medical course with the aim of studying them and helping them with some of their medical and psychosocial problems.     

Community stressors, mediating conditions and wellbeing in urban neighborhoods.

Individual and community measures of stress are related to the presence of depression/demoralization symptoms (Feeling Bad), to positive Wellbeing (Feeling Good) and to the combination of these two (Wellbeing), in an urban sample of 549 adults. The mediation and moderation of these effects by indicators of social support, evaluation of status, and belief variables intended to measure aspects of individual coping tendencies are examined and tested. The findings suggest the absence of moderating effects of any of the support and coping variables on each stressor or on the effects of stressors on Feeling Bad, Feeling Good, and Wellbeing. A number of the variables do, however, have significant main effects, and thus appear to operate directly on the dependent variables, regardless of the presence or level of stress. Differences between apparent effects on Feeling Good and Feeling Bad and the increase in effects for the combination measure are discussed.     

Advances in computer-assisted single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for epilepsy surgery in children

Epilepsy surgery has emerged as an important option in the treatment of children with epilepsy that is refractory to antiepileptic drug management. The cornerstone of successful surgery is accurate localization of the brain region of seizure onset. Traditional techniques of seizure onset localization, e.g. surface electroencephalography (EEG) recording and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), allow accurate localization in a significant number of patients. When the focus of seizure onset is not apparent from these non-invasive techniques, other methods of localization, e.g. intracranial EEG recording, may be needed before resection of the focus. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is a nuclear medicine blood-flow technique that has been used to identify a region of epileptogenic brain associated with low blood flow in the resting state (interictal SPECT) or increased blood flow at the time of seizure activity (ictal SPECT). This report describes the validation and utility of a computer-assisted method of subtracting the interictal from the ictal SPECT scans and co-registering the difference image on the MRI. This method, called subtraction ictal SPECT co-registered on MRI (SISCOM), is used in guiding the location and the extent of intracranial electrode implantation, or in obviating the need for the implantation in some cases.     

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma presenting with complete opacification of the hemithorax: A case report

BACKGROUND

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma, a subtype of primary lung sarcoma is a very rare disease. It usually presents as a lung nodules and the final diagnosis is made by immunohistochemical studies.

METHODS

A 45-year-old patient presented with progressive dyspnea, dry cough and right shoulder pain. Chest X-ray revealed complete opacification of the right hemithorax. Chest computed tomography confirmed the presence of a heterogeneous lesion occupying the whole right hemithorax causing a mass effect on the trachea. Ultrasound guided biopsy was done and final pathology was suggestive of malignant fibrous histiocytoma.

CONCLUSION

Progressive dyspnea in young otherwise healthy patients should be investigated early on. In our case the presence of right shoulder pain indicates advance disease illustrated by the singular imaging findings.     

TINEA VERSICOLOR: HISTOLOGIC AND ULTRASTRUCTURAL INVESTIGATION OF PIGMENTARY CHANGES

A comparative histopathologic study is made between the hypopigmented and hyperpigmented skin lesions of pityriasis versicolor and normal skin areas utilizing histochemical stains and electron microscopy. There were no differences found between the population of Dopa-positive melanocytes within the hypopigmented and hyperpigmented lesions and the normal skin areas. The total epidermal pigmentation was diminished in hypopigmented lesions. The keratin layer was found to be significantly thicker in hyperpigmented lesions and contained more organisms. In hypopigmented lesions, melanocytes contained fewer and smaller melanosomes and exhibited signs of degenerative cellular changes.     

Homocysteine and markers of inflammation in acute coronary syndrome

BACKGROUND:

An elevated level of homocysteine (Hcy) has been shown to be a cardiovascular risk factor in the majority of research studies. Recently, it was found to be associated with new risk factors such as inflammatory markers.

OBJECTIVES:

To investigate the distribution of plasma total Hcy (tHcy) and the levels of inflammatory markers in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and to evaluate the association between these parameters and the severity of the disease.

METHODS:

A total of 122 patients with ACS and 80 control subjects were recruited from the cardiac intensive care unit of the Military Hospital of Tunis, Tunisia. Lipid profile and the levels of tHcy, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (HsCRP), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-1β and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) were determined for all participants. The distribution of these parameters were compared between groups and according to the number of diseased vessels in patients with ACS.

RESULTS:

ACS patients had significantly elevated levels of tHcy (P<0.01), HsCRP (P<0.001), IL-6 (P<0.001), TNFα (P<0.001), folates (P<0.05) and vitamin B₁₂ (P<0.001), but lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P<0.05) levels. The analysis of the association between these parameters and the number of diseased vessels showed significant differences in tHcy, HsCRP, IL-6 and TNFα, with positive correlations. Significantly negative correlations were found between the number of diseased vessels and folate (r=−0.34; P<0.01), and vitamin B₁₂ (r=−0.22; P<0.01).

CONCLUSION:

Elevated levels of tHcy, IL-6, TNFα and HsCRP appear to be associated with a greater number of diseased arteries and, consequently, the severity of coronary artery disease.     

Surface antigens on malignant Sezary and T-CLL cells correspond to those of mature T cells

Tumor cells from eight adult patients with T-cell chronic malignancies were investigated with a series of monoclonal antibodies recognizing T- cell differentiation antigens. This series allowed definition of discrete subpopulations of mature T cells with functional specialization. All six patients with Sezary syndrome and one patient with T-chronic lymphocytic leukemia had cells with the same phenotype as normal helper/inducer T cells, whereas the other patient with T- chronic lymphocytic leukemia had cell with the same phenotype as normal cytotoxic/suppressor T cells. Some clinical manifestations observed in these patients may reflect retention of functional activities by their malignant cells.