Nutritional Amblyopia Combined with Night Blindness

We report the case of an 18-year-old male who developed both nutritional amblyopia and night blindness. After nearly a lifetime of consuming a bizarre diet limited to French fries, pretzels, crackers, and carbonated sodas, he had a relatively sudden onset of night blindness and bilateral visual loss. The night blindness resolved after taking daily oral vitamin A supplements. Visual acuity gradually improved from light perception, both eyes, to 20/20 right eye and 20/25 left eye after multivitamin supplementation and vitamin B₁₂ injections. The patient had bilateral optic atrophy and bilateral ring scotomas around a small area of fixation. The patient was unable to modify his diet despite professional advice and counseling.Key words: B complex vitamins, Nutritional amblyopia, Night blindness, Vitamin A     

Characterization of deletions of chromosome 7 short arm occurring as primary karyotypic anomaly in acute myeloid leukaemia

Three patients with an acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) showed a deletion of the short arm of chromosome 7 with loss of the deleted material. The 7p- anomaly originated from either a terminal or an interstitial deletion and it represented the only karyotypic aberration in all the three cases. According to the clinical, morphological and immunological features of this series of patients, a 7p- chromosome appears to be associated with a group of AML with myelodysplastic features in the bone marrow, including secondary disorders in patients treated for a previous malignancy.     

Chemotherapy of embryonal carcinoma of the testis with lymph node invasion and/or pulmonary metastases. Results of a VBP type protocol

Fourteen patients with histologically proven embryonal carcinoma of the testis with pulmonary metastasis (10 pts) or para-aortic nodal involvement (4 pts) were treated by a chemotherapy regimen including vinblastine, bleomycin and cisplatin. Extreme ages were 19 and 51 years with a median age of 32 years. Median duration of treatment was 6 months (6 cycles of chemotherapy) without maintenance treatment. After completion of chemotherapy, 6 patients in complete remission received para-aortic node irradiation (45 Grays in 25 fractions). One patient had a para-aortic node dissection, histologically negative. With a median follow-up of 47 months (maximum 92 months, minimum 12 months), eleven patients are in complete remission (78.6%). Three patients are dead from the disease, in spite of salvage chemotherapy. There were no toxic deaths. Disease-free actuarial survival is 74% at 4 years. Our results confirm the excellent therapeutic results of this chemotherapy regimen in embryonal carcinoma of the testis with pulmonary metastasis and/or para-aortic nodal involvement.     

Determination of RNA antibodies in serum and unconcentrated CSF by counterimmunoelectrophoresis

A quantitative counterimmunoelectrophoresis technique has been applied to evaluation of RNA antibodies in serum and unconcentrated CSF. Serum anti-RNA antibodies have been found at high dilutions in some patients with infectious diseases, subacute panencephalitis and multiple sclerosis. RNA antibodies in CSF are significantly linked to oligoclonal aspect, i.e. to a synthesis of IgG inside the CNS.     

Chronic exercise does not prevent hypoxia-induced increased aortic sensitivity to endothelin in rats

OBJECTIVES: We report in the present study the effect of regular exercise on vascular reactivity alterations to endothelin (ET-1) following prolonged exposure to hypoxic stress. METHODS: Male Dark Agouti rats were randomly assigned to N (sedentary rats), NCE (normoxic exercised rats), CH (chronic hypoxic sedentary rats) and CHCE (chronic hypoxic exercised rats) groups. The effects of ET-1 in the presence or not of the endothelium and/or of the specific inhibitor, bosentan, have been investigated in an isolated model of rat thoracic aorta. RESULTS: Prolonged exposure to hypoxia induced a significant increase in aortic sensitivity to ET-1 (-log ED50 in CH = 8.15 +/- 0.01 vs in N = 7.98 +/- 0.02, p < 0.05). Despite exercise training reduced the sensitivity to ET-1 in normoxic rats, it has no effects in hypoxic rats (-log ED50 in CH = 8.15 +/- 0.01 vs in CHCE = 8.19 +/- 0.01, NS). Moreover, although the removal of endothelium has no effect in N rats, it leads, in NCE rats, to a significant increase in sensitivity to ET-1 (-log ED50 in endothelium intact rings = 7.89 +/- 0.04 vs in denuded rings = 8.04 +/- 0.02, p < 0.05). The implication of ET-1 receptors on both endothelial and smooth muscle cells is confirmed by the significant reduced sensitivity to ET-1 in the four groups when bosentan is present in organ bath. CONCLUSION: Our study clearly suggests that part of the beneficial effect of chronic exercise could be mediated by enhancing endothelial function associated with endothelin reactivity in peripheric vessels. However, chronic exercise training does not seem to be able to limit the increased vasoconstriction to ET-1 stimulation induced by chronic hypoxia exposure.     

Radiological diagnosis of tumoral lipomatosis of the renal sinus. The role of arteriography (author's transl)

In twenty cases of pseudo-tumoral sinusal lipomatosis for which the patients had undergone renal arteriography, the authors investigated the urographical and arteriographical clinical signs by comparing them with the previously published data. After reviewing these various elements and considering the various possible diagnoses, they came to the conclusion that, although the arteriographic signs are quite distinctive, they are not absolutely essential for diagnosis of this disorder--which it should be possible to confirm unreservedly from the urographical data in all cases in which there are considerable anatomical lesions. A well-managed urographical technique and careful assessment of the facts should allow arteriography to be discarded, indications for this only being justified where there is an associated symptomatology, especially haematuria.