AIDS-related Kaposi''s sarcoma in a heterosexual female

A case is reported of AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma in a 22-year-old heterosexual female of Zambian origin.     

Thyroid incidentalomas: to treat or not to treat

Incidental lesions of the thyroid gland are an increasing problem facing clinicians. While asymptomatic palpable lesions are detected in only 4–7% of the population, currently available imaging modalities are sensitive enough to detect lesions in 20–30% of the population. Guidelines for managing these incidentalomas are limited, largely due to lack of well-powered prospective studies. This review will address the currently available data on thyroid incidentalomas, detected through clinical examination, cross-sectional imaging, ultrasound, and PET scans. We will focus on the modalities of detection and risk of malignancy, further investigation and management options and the deficiencies therein. We propose a pragmatic algorithm when faced with this clinical dilemma under differing circumstances.     

Primary carcinoid tumor of the middle ear: a potentially metastasizing tumor

The concept of a carcinoid tumor in the gastrointestinal tract and lung is well established; less often, patients develop carcinoid tumors in the head and neck region. One particularly uncommon site of origin of carcinoid tumors in the head and neck area is the middle ear. Middle ear carcinoids have previously been approached as benign entities, lacking any capacity for metastasizing. A critical review of the literature, however, disclosed a small number of cases in which middle ear carcinoid tumors have given rise to regional (cervical node) metastases. This in turn suggests that, as is the case with pulmonary carcinoid tumors, middle ear carcinoids should be thought of as low-grade malignancies which, while relatively slow-growing, nevertheless possess a limited capacity for spreading to regional lymph nodes. To date, distant metastases have not been associated with middle ear carcinoid tumors.     

Enhancing and suppressing effects of recombinant murine macrophage inflammatory proteins on colony formation in vitro by bone marrow myeloid progenitor cells

Purified recombinant (r) macrophage inflammatory proteins (MIPs) 1 alpha, 1 beta, and 2 were assessed for effects on murine (mu) and human (hu) marrow colony-forming unit-granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) and burst-forming unit-erythroid (BFU-E) colonies. Recombinant MIP-1 alpha, -1 beta, and -2 enhanced muCFU-GM colonies above that stimulated with 10 to 100 U natural mu macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) or rmuGM-CSF, with enhancement seen on huCFU-GM colony formation stimulated with suboptimal rhuM-CSF or rhuGM-CSF; effects were neutralized by respective MIP-specific antibodies. Macrophage inflammatory proteins had no effects on mu or huBFU-E colonies stimulated with erythropoietin (Epo). However, natural MIP-1 and rMIP-1 alpha, but not rMIP-1 beta or -2, suppressed muCFU-GM stimulated with pokeweed mitogen spleen-conditioned medium (PWMSCM), huCFU-GM stimulated with optimal rhuGM-CSF plus rhu interleukin-3 (IL-3), muBFU- E and multipotential progenitors (CFU-GEMM) stimulated with Epo plus PWMSCM, and huBFU-E and CFU-GEMM stimulated with Epo plus rhuIL-3 or rhuGM-CSF. The suppressive effects of natural MIP-1 and rMIP-1 alpha were also apparent on a population of BFU-E, CFU-GEMM, and CFU-GM present in cell-sorted fractions of human bone marrow (CD34 HLA-DR+) highly enriched for progenitors with cloning efficiencies of 42% to 75%. These results, along with our previous studies, suggest that MIP-1 alpha, -1 beta, and -2 may have direct myelopoietic enhancing activity for mature progenitors, while MIP-1 alpha may have direct suppressing activity for more immature progenitors.     

The biochemical and immunochemical characterisation of the 30 kilodalton surface antigen of Brugia pahangi

The major surface antigen (30 kDa) of Brugia pahangi has been characterised by a number of biochemical and immunochemical means. The 30 kDa polypeptide is a glycoprotein which can be extracted from the worm surface by homogenization in the absence of detergents. The 30 kDa polypeptide can be metabolically labelled with [35S]methionine in adult male and female parasites. In addition small amounts of the 35S-labelled 30 kDa antigen can be detected in the medium of worms cultured in vitro. 125I labelling of the excretory-secretory (ES) products of adult male and female parasites followed by immunoprecipitation and peptide mapping has confirmed the relationship between the surface located 30 kDa polypeptide and that released in vitro.