Epidemiologic aspects of endometrial cancer in Thrace, Greece.

To describe the epidemiologic characteristics of endometrial cancer in relation with certain risk factors affecting the two major ethnic groups (Christian Orthodox and Muslims) in the area of Thrace, Greece. We performed a cross-sectional study of 166 consecutive patients, aged between 29 and 87 years, with documented endometrial cancer who were referred to our clinic for treatment from January 1986 to June 1998. Epidemiologic characteristics of the patients were abstracted from medical charts. To evaluate our results we used the direct standardization method (1995 Eur. Population) and chi2 test. The endometrial cancer incidence for the two study populations (Christian Orthodox and Muslims) was 16.96 and 3.16/100,000, respectively. We observed statistically significant differences in most epidemiologic characteristics between the two major ethnic groups in Thrace (Christian Orthodox and Muslims) regarding endometrial cancer. Our results confirm the increasing trend of endometrial cancer incidence as established in previous investigations.     

CHANGING TRENDS OF LEPROSY IN ARMED FORCES

A total of 651 cases of leprosy were hospitalised from Jan 1987 to Dec 1992. Each patient underwent haemogram, total and differential white cell count, urinalysis, liver function tests, skin slit smear for AFB and skin biopsy. Nerve conduction studies, electomyographic studies and nerve/nerve sheath biopsies were undertaken as and when indicated. These patients were managed with multidrug therapy. Paucibacillary (PB) leprosy accounted for 476 (73.1%) cases which comprised of indeterminate leprosy 90 (13.8%), tuberculoid leprosy 14 (2.2%), borderline tuberculoid leprosy 310 (47.6%) and neuritic leprosy 62 (9.5%). The remaining 175 patients (26.9%) were multibacillary (MB) which included borderline leprosy 9 (1.4%), borderline lepromatous leprosy 129 (19.8%) and lepromatous leprosy 37 (5.7%) patients. There were total 153 patients in 1987. This number declined to 44 in 1992. PB declined from 113 in 1987 to 39 in 1992 and MB cases from 40 to 5.KEY WORDS: Leprosy     

Assessment of testicular metabolic integrity with P-31 MR spectroscopy

To evaluate the reliability of phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy in the assessment of acute testicular ischemia, vascular integrity, and spermatogenesis, the authors studied in vivo canine and primate testicles grouped as follows: group 1 testes (n = 8), in situ canine controls; group 2 (n = 11), canine testes subjected to warm ischemia; group 3, canine (n = 4) and primate (n = 4) testicles from hormone-treated animals. Group 1 control testicles showed high monophosphoester (MP) levels; low levels of inorganic phosphate (Pi), phosphodiester (PD), and phosphocreatine; and high levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Group 2 testes revealed a time-dependent decay of MP/Pi ratios (from 2.1 to 0.70). Regeneration of ATP was noted in the acute reperfusion period. After 6 weeks of pituitary gonadotropin suppression, group 3 testes showed a significant decrease (P less than .05) in MP/PD ratios from a control level of 2.6 +/- 0.3 and a decrease in the MP/beta-ATP ratio from 2.4 +/- 0.1 to 1.8 +/- 0.3. P-31 MR spectroscopy appears to be a potential method for noninvasively assessing testicular ischemic injury and the metabolic integrity of spermatogenesis.     

DIGOXIN IN CLINICAL PRACTICE: SORTING OUT THE FACTS

SUMMARY The aim of this review is to sort out from the huge amount of facts related to digoxin in the literature those pertinent to current clinical practice. Seven aspects of digoxin are discussed: its mechanism of action, therapeutic controversy, clinical efficacy, avoidance of toxicity, manifestations of toxicity, indications, and its use in coronary artery disease     

Response to ECT in major depression: are there differences between unipolar and bipolar depression?

Grunhaus L, Schreiber S, Dolberg OT, Hirshman S, Dannon PN. Response to ECT in major depression: are there differences between unipolar and bipolar depression? Bipolar Disord 2002: 4(Suppl. 1): 91–93. © Blackwell Munksgaard, 2002     

Metastatic appendiceal adenocarcinoma presenting late as epididymo-orchitis: a case report and review of literature

Background  

Whereas testicular metastases are in themselves a rare entity, testicular secondaries from an appendiceal carcinoma have not yet been described. The case also illustrates the diagnostic dilemma of a tumour presenting as epididymo-orchitis.