Lipoma of the temporal region: a rare case series

Lipomas are common benign tumours that can occur in most parts of the body. Lipomas arising from the deep temporal fat pad, found between the two layers of the deep temporal fascia, are rare, however; there has been only one documented case report to our knowledge. We describe a second case arising from the temporal fat pad in a patient treated at our unit, having previously reported the first one, and discuss the relevant anatomy and management.     

Evaluating and Strengthening the Evidence for Nutritional Bone Research: Ready to Break New Ground?

A healthy diet is essential to attain genetically determined peak bone mass and maintain optimal skeletal health across the adult lifespan. Despite the importance of nutrition for bone health, many of the nutritional requirements of the skeleton across the lifespan remain underexplored, poorly understood, or controversial. With increasingly aging populations, combined with rapidly changing diets and lifestyles globally, one anticipates large increases in the prevalence of osteoporosis and incidence of osteoporotic fractures. Robust, transparent, and reproducible nutrition research is a cornerstone for developing reliable public health recommendations to prevent osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures. However, nutrition research is often criticized or ignored by healthcare professionals due to the overemphasis of weak science, conflicting, confusing or implausible findings, industry interests, common misconceptions, and strong opinions. Conversely, spurious research findings are often overemphasized or misconstrued by the media or prominent figures especially via social media, potentially leading to confusion and a lack of trust by the general public. Recently, reforms of the broader discipline of nutrition science have been suggested and promoted, leading to new tools and recommendations to attempt to address these issues. In this perspective, we provide a brief overview of what has been achieved in the field on nutrition and bone health, focusing on osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures. We discuss what we view as some of the challenges, including inherent difficulties in assessing diet and its change, disentangling complex interactions between dietary components and between diet and other factors, selection of bone-related outcomes for nutrition studies, obtaining evidence with more unbiased designs, and perhaps most importantly, ensuring the trust of the public and healthcare professionals. This perspective also provides specific recommendations and highlights new developments and future opportunities for scientists studying nutrition and bone health. © 2021 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).     

Cytokines modulate contraction of periosteal explants from rabbit calvariae

Periosteal explants obtained from rabbit calvariae are introduced as a model system to study contraction of soft connective tissue. Culturing of these explants resulted in a substantial time-dependent decrease of the surface area which coincided with a similar decrease in volume. A 75% reduction of the initial explant surface area was observed after a culture period of 72h in the presence of 10% serum. Also in the absence of serum contraction of explants was found, indicating that serum components were not essential. Following devitalization of the explants no contraction did occur. A strong inhibition of contraction was found following interference with the formation of microfilaments, microtubules or intracellular cyclic-AMP levels by using cytochalasin B, colchicine or dibutyryl-cAMP, respectively. These data indicated that viable cells and an intact cytoskeleton were a prerequisite for contraction to occur. A number of cytokines (EGF, aFGF, bFGF, IGF-1, PDGF, TGF-beta and IL-1alpha) was tested for their ability to influence contraction. IL-1alpha was shown to inhibit contraction from the 48h culture period on. Anti-IL-1alpha-serum completely abolished this effect. The IL-1alpha-inducible inhibition of contraction was also partially blocked by indomethacin. TGF-beta enhanced contraction dose-dependently during the 24-48h culture period, whereas TGF-1 and IL-1alpha, added to the cultures in combination, proved to antagonize each other. The other growth factors did neither influence contraction not the IL-1alpha-induced inhibition of contraction.     

Side-effects of experimental pyrethroid applications for the control of tsetseflies in a riverine forest habitat (Africa)

During tsetse control operations near Bouaflé, Ivory Coast, Africa, a study was made of environmental side-effects of helicopter sprayings with permethrin and deltamethrin on a riverine forest. Terrestrial and aquatic arthropod populations and fish were observed for acute effects. The abundance of the species was assessed by various trapping devices before, during, and after the spraying cycle. Populations of mayfly-larvae and small shrimps (Caridina africana) were virtually eliminated after the spraying cycle. TheEphemeroptera recovered within the same season. Caddis-fly andSimulium-larvae populations were affected but they recovered within each spraying interval. Large shrimps (Macrobrachium vollenhovenii) were paralyzed by the insecticide. Recovery occurred within 48 hr. Among the terrestrial arthropods, the hymenopteran and dipteran populations were significantly affected. No effect was observed on bottom dwelling spiders. The ability of the ecosystems to recover from the disturbance is discussed.     

Nodal disease in purely glottic carcinoma: Is elective neck treatment worthwhile?

Objective: Although there is a generalized understanding of the relatively low overall incidence of nodal disease from purely glottic carcinoma, the exact role for elective neck treatment in the management of this disease remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to identify the incidence of occult nodal disease (including paratracheal) in patients who have glottic carcinoma without significant extra-glottic extension and to identify which patients are at risk for this. A retrospective chart review of 92 such patients who had either undergone neck dissection or been observed for a minimum of 2 years was performed. Results: For the 92 patients, neck treatment consisted of observation in 68 patients, paratracheal node dissection in four, unilateral neck dissection in four, unilateral neck dissection and excision of paratracheal nodes in 14, and bilateral neck dissection with paratracheal node excision in two. Of the 24 nodal dissections performed, four were positive for occult metastatic disease. No patient in the observation group developed nodal disease. Conclusion: The incidence of occult nodal disease in NO glottic carcinoma is low, 0% in early stage disease (T1–T2) and 19% in late stage disease (T3–T4). Nodes at highest risk included only the paratracheal, level II, and level III. Elective neck treatment should only be undertaken for advanced (T3–T4) disease and even then is of questionable benefit. If undertaken, it should have a low potential morbidity, such as selective neck dissection or radiation. Computed tomography was not useful in staging the neck for this subset of patients.     

早产儿瘦素质量浓度与早期静脉营养及生长发育相关性探讨

目的探讨瘦素质量浓度与早期静脉营养及生长发育的关系。方法新疆医科大学第一 附属医院新生儿科于2005 01—2006 02，将收治的86例早产适于胎龄儿用随机数字表法分为观察组(早期微量喂养同时辅助胃肠外营养组)45 例和对照组(单纯早期微量喂养组)47例，分别测定脐血及第7天血清瘦素质量浓度，同时监测营养状况和生长发育指标，并作对比分析。结果 (1)观察组与对照组脐血瘦素质量浓度分别为(4.6±3.7)ng/mL、(4.8±2.2)ng/mL，生后第7天两组瘦素质量浓度分别为(4.3±2.2)ng/mL、(3.1 ±1.7)ng/mL。对照组第7天血清瘦素质量浓度明显低于脐血(P<0.05)，而观察组其差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。(2)脐血瘦素质量浓度与出生体 重、胎龄成正相关(r=0.56、r=0.67)。(3)观察组第7天热卡及蛋白质摄入量、血清瘦素质量浓度、皮褶厚度变化值与对照组相比，差异有统计 学意义(P<0.05)。结论对早产儿应尽早喂养，同时需要胃肠外营养作为肠内营养的补充。瘦素可作为新生儿营养效果判定的实验室指标之一。     

Vitamin A in Skin and Hair: An Update

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble micronutrient necessary for the growth of healthy skin and hair. However, both too little and too much vitamin A has deleterious effects. Retinoic acid and retinal are the main active metabolites of vitamin A. Retinoic acid dose-dependently regulates hair follicle stem cells, influencing the functioning of the hair cycle, wound healing, and melanocyte stem cells. Retinoic acid also influences melanocyte differentiation and proliferation in a dose-dependent and temporal manner. Levels of retinoids decline when exposed to ultraviolet irradiation in the skin. Retinal is necessary for the phototransduction cascade that initiates melanogenesis but the source of that retinal is currently unknown. This review discusses new research on retinoids and their effects on the skin and hair.     

针刺足三里对对乙酰氨基酚诱发大鼠肝损伤的影响

目的：观察针刺足三里对对乙酰氨基酚（ APAP）多次给药诱发大鼠肝损伤血清转氨酶和肝脏病理学变化的影响,探讨针刺对药源性肝脏损伤的保护作用。方法75只SD大鼠随机分为正常对照组（ NC组）、APAP模型1组（ APAP1组）、针刺＋APAP 模型1组（ ZC＋APAP1组）、 APAP模型2组（ APAP2组）、针刺＋APAP模型2组（ ZC＋APAP2组）。 APAP1组和APAP2组大鼠每天分别按体重灌胃给予APAP 300、600 mg／kg;APAP1组和APAP2组大鼠每天分别按体重灌胃给予 APAP 300、600 mg／kg后即刻针刺其后肢足三里穴20 min;NC组灌胃给予相同体积剂量的生理盐水。各组大鼠连续给药或针刺14 d后,检测血清转氨酶活性和检查肝脏病理学变化情况。结果与NC组相比,ZC＋APAP1组、APAP2组和ZC＋APAP2组大鼠血清AST和ALT活性均显著升高（P＜0．05或P＜0．01）;与APAP1组、APAP2组相比, ZC＋APAP1组、ZC＋APAP2组大鼠血清AST、ALT活性均显著性升高（P＜0．05或P＜0．01）。 APAP1组和ZC＋APAP1组间肝脏病理学改变,差异无统计学意义（P＞0．05）,而APAP2组与ZC＋APAP2组肝脏病理学改变显著（P＜0．05）。结论针刺足三里促进APAP诱导大鼠血清AST和ALT活性的升高;但肝脏病理组织学检查结果显示,针刺足三里对APAP多次给药诱发大鼠肝损伤具有一定的保护作用。