Meconium peritonitis presenting as abdominal calcification: three cases with different pathology

Intra-abdominal calcification is uncommon in newborns and has several causes of which meconium peritonitis is the most frequent. Three neonates with intra-abdominal calcification as a complication of meconium peritonitis are presented. The types of meconium peritonitis were cystic, meconium pseudocyst and meconium ascites. Two required surgical intervention. Meconium peritonitis should be considered in newborns with intra-abdominal calcification.     

Role of laser therapy in post herpetic neuralgia

The efficacy of combi laser therpay was evaluated in fifty cases of post neuralgia (PHN) of different age groups (31 to 81 years) and with varying duration of illness from 2 months to 4 and a half years in the present study. The affected areas were irradiated from a distance of 5 cms. using the probe of 12x70 watts at a frequency of 1000 Hz. each area being exposed for a time period of 5 minutes and 6 seconds. In each case the combi laser therapy was given for 15 consecutive days and therapeutic effect of the therapy was evaluated after 5th, 10th and 15th laser application during the treatment with the help of visual analouge scale (VAS). Patients started responding to the therapy after an average of 3.28 laser applications and VAS steadily decreased as the therapy progressed. After completion of therapy, 43 (86%) out of 50 cases showed excellent relief (76-100%) and remaining 7 (14%) cases showed partial relief, 4(8%) cases with good relief (51-75%), 2 (4%) cases with fair relief (26-50%) and 1(2%) case with poor relief (1-25%). Partial relief in our 7 cases could be due to multiple factors like prolonged duration of illness, involvement of ophthalmic division of trigeminal nerve and formation of scarring and keloids. No side effects were observed during the treatment as well as duing the follow up period of 8 weeks.     

Keratoglobus: An experience at a tertiary eye care center in India

Context:

This study was carried out as a part of an internal audit and is the largest series of patients having keratoglobus, published in the literature. Poor visual acuity of the patients indicates the blinding nature of the disease.

Aims:

We report our experience with patients having keratoglobus at a tertiary eye care center in India.

Settings and Design:

Retrospective study.

Materials and Methods:

We analyzed adults and pediatric patients (<16 years) with keratoglobus, seen during 2008–2012. The age, gender, consanguinity, presenting ocular signs, ocular and systemic associations, visual acuity, corneal topography, and surgeries were documented.

Results:

Forty-eight patients (mean age 22 ± 15 years, 31 males) having keratoglobus were analyzed. 21 patients (42 eyes) were <16 years. Twelve eyes (16 events) had positive history of trauma. The presenting clinical signs were corneal scars/scars of tear repair (15 eyes), hydrops, healed and acute (14 eyes) and corneal or globe rupture (9 eyes). Best-corrected visual acuity was >20/40 in 6/42 (14.3%) pediatric eyes and 15/53 (28.30%) adults. Visual acuity ranging from counting of fingers to no light perception was noted in 20/53 (37.74%) adults and 21/42 (50%) pediatric patients; 13/20 (65%) with blue sclera and 8/22 eyes (36.37%) without blue sclera. Vernal keratoconjunctivitis was present in one pediatric patient. Choroidal osteoma, retinitis pigmentosa, and retinal detachment were present in adults. Surgeries performed were corneal tear repair (5 eyes), tissue adhesive application (2 eyes), descematopexy (4 eyes) and penetrating keratoplasty (PK - 8 eyes: Three had post-PK glaucoma, graft failure-one eye, 4 patients wore scleral lens - prosthetic replacement of the ocular surface ecosystem).

Conclusions:

About 50% of pediatric eyes (65% having blue sclera) had no functional vision. Trivial trauma was responsible for corneal rupture indicating need for protective glasses. About 50% patients had post-PK glaucoma though grafts were clear.     

Autoaugmentation omentocystoplasty in a sheep model

Objective. To develop a sheep model of autoaugmentation omentocystoplasty and study the histologic appearance, and to compare the urodynamic results with a control group.Methods. Ten male lambs underwent a bladder autoaugmentation reinforced with an omental patch. Three were culled early, to study urothelial survival and inflammatory changes. One was sacrificed at six months to assess late histologic changes; five sheep had a urodynamic study at that stage and two died of unknown causes without further investigation. A group of seven six-month-old male sheep, of similar weights, formed the control urodynamic group.Results. The urothelial lining remained viable under the omentum, but marked inflammation and heterotopic calcification were seen within the subepithelial tissues in most of the animals. The histologic changes were reflected in the bladder dynamic data, which were no better than the control group; the average compliance value was 9.2 ± 6.4 mL/cm H₂O, compared to the control group figure of 11.8 ± 5.2 mL/cm H₂O.Conclusions. It would appear that autoaugmentation alone does not usually produce bladder augmentation in the sheep.     

Mutant influenza A virus nucleoprotein is preferentially localized in the cytoplasm and its immunization in mice shows higher immunogenicity and cross-reactivity

Many influenza vaccines targeted to hemagglutinin (HA) show efficient immunogenicity for protecting subjects against influenza virus infection. Major antigenic changes to HA molecules can help influenza virus to develop resistance against HA-targeted vaccines. DNA vaccines encoding conserved antigens protect animals against diverse subtypes, but their potency requires further improvement. We generated a DNA-based nucleoprotein (NP)-targeted vaccine using an N-terminal mutant of NP (NPm) that efficiently localized in the cytoplasm, and examined the immune responses in mice immunized with NPm or wild-type (WT) NP DNA vaccine. Importantly, the NPm vaccine showed 1.5-2-fold higher immunogenicity than the WT NP vaccine in mice. Furthermore, NPm vaccination efficiently protected the mice against lethal challenge with influenza viruses and showed cross-reactivity toward heterologous viruses. Therefore, DNA-based vaccination with NPm may contribute to the development of protective immunity against diverse influenza virus through its ability to stimulate cellular immunity.     

Landfill leachate: A study of its anaerobic mineralization and toxicity to methanogenesis

Leachate from municipal landfills represents a potential health risk to both surrounding ecosystems and human populations. Landfill leachate collected from a site in New Jersey was evaluated for its anaerobic biodegradability and toxicity to methanogenesis using two anaerobic bioassays. Chemical characterization of the leachate yielded the following results (mg/L): chemical oxygen demand (COD)=6478; dissolved oxygen (DO)=1.8–2.0; oil and grease=4.8; suspended solids=5.6; total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN)=215; total phosphorus=1.53; biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)=73 and pH=7.0–7.4. Anaerobic biodegradation of leachate as the sole source of carbon yielded methane production values greater than background over extended incubation periods with increasing concentration. However, increased concentrations of leachate produced a decrease in recovery of methane per kg COD amended. In a second assay, leachate toxicity was assessed by monitoring the suppression of methanogenesis in acetate and propionate amended cultures. Results of these assays indicate that concentrations of leachate greater than 10% produced a significant irreversible suppression of methanogenesis, while concentrations less than 10% showed enhanced methane production above background and active control. These results suggest that the leachate from this site contains a biodegradable fraction which can be partially mineralized under methanogenic conditions over extended periods of incubation. However, high concentrations in excess of 10% may be inhibitory to anaerobic methanogenic processes.     

Image‐based coronary tracking and beat‐to‐beat motion compensation: Feasibility for improving coronary MR angiography

A method to reduce the effect of motion variability in MRI of the coronary arteries is proposed. It involves acquiring real‐time low‐resolution images in specific orthogonal orientations, extracting coronary motion from these images, and then using this motion information to guide high‐resolution MR image acquisition on a beat‐to‐beat basis. The present study establishes the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed approach using human motion data in an offline implementation, prior to future online implementation on an MRI scanner. To track the coronary arteries in low‐resolution real‐time MR images in an accurate manner, a tracking approach is presented and validated. The tracking algorithm was run on real‐time images acquired at 15–20 frames per second in four‐chamber, short‐axis, and coronal views in five volunteers. The systolic and diastolic periods in the cardiac cycles, computed from the extracted motion information, had significant variability during the short time periods typical of cardiac MRI. It is also demonstrated through simulation analysis using human tracked coronary motion data that accounting for this cardiac variability by adaptively changing the trigger delay for acquisition on a beat‐to‐beat basis improves overall motion compensation and hence MR image quality evaluated in terms of SNR and CNR values. Magn Reson Med 60:604–615, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

进展性脑梗死126例临床分析

目的 探讨进展性脑梗死的临床特点及进展因素.方法 综合分析126例进展性脑梗死患者的一般临床资料、加重因素、辅助检查、治疗转归.结果 进展因素与降血压治疗不当、血糖控制不良、使用能量合剂及胞二磷胆碱等影响能量代谢药物、心功能不全、脑水肿、脑干梗死、出血性梗死、颈动脉粥样硬化斑块形成等因素有关.结论 急性脑梗死治疗过程中,应尽量避免引起脑梗死进展的不利因素,降低发生率.