Wartime open globe eye injuries

Background  

Open globe injuries are the most serious eye injuries in war as in peace time. The purpose of this study is to analyze wartime open globe eye injuries in 72 patients treated at the Department of Ophthalmology, Clinical Hospital of Split from July 1991 to April 1993, during the intensive war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to evaluate crucial factors responsible for the functional success of the treatment.     

Short tail with skin lesion phenotype occurs in transgenic mice with keratin-14 promoter-directed expression of mutant CXCR2

CXCR2 plays an important role during cutaneous wound healing. Transgenic mice were generated using the keratin-14 promoter/enhancer to direct expression of wild-type human CXCR2 (K14hCXCR2 WT) or mutant CXCR2, in which the carboxyl-terminal domain (CTD) was truncated at Ser 331 and the dileucine AP-2 binding motif was mutated to alanine (K14hCXCR2 331T/LL/AA/IL/AA). Our results indicate that K14hCXCR2WT transgenic mice exhibited a normal phenotype, while K14hCXCR2 331T/LL/AA/IL/AA transgenic mice were born with tails of normal length, but three to eight days after birth their tails degenerated, leaving only a short tail stub. The tissue degeneration in the tail started between caudal somites with degeneration of bone and connective tissue distal to the constriction, which was replaced with stromal tissue heavily infiltrated with inflammatory cells. The tail lesion site revealed coagulation in enlarged vessels and marked edema that eventually led to loss of the distal tail. Moreover, 66% of the mice exhibited focal skin blemishes and inflammation that exhibited an increase in the number of sebaceous glands and blood vessels, enlargement of the hair follicles due to increased number of keratinocytes, reduction in the connective tissue content, and a thickening of the epidermis. Furthermore, immunohistochemical staining of the epidermis from tail tissue in the transgenic mice indicated a loss of the cell adhesion markers E-cadherin and desmoplakin. These data suggest that keratinocyte expression of a CTD mutant of CXCR2 has effects on homeostasis of the connective tissue in the tail, as well as the maintenance of the epidermis and its appendages.     

Neurophysiological methods in headache diagnosis

Neurophysiological methods used in the diagnosis of headache, especially migraine are: electroencephalography (EEG), evoked cortical potentials (VEP, BAER, ERP), reflex responses, autonomic tests and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Interpretation of EEG can be important for the differential diagnosis of some disorders with headache as a presenting symptom. Noninvasiveness, accessibility and ability to repeat the test due to exposure to harmful ionization are the main advantages of EEG. The role of thorough medical history and clinical assessment in patients with headache should not be underestimated. Interictal EEG (between headache attacks) is not significant in routine evaluation of these patients, but can be useful in patients with unusual symptoms suggesting epilepsy or migraine. It is indicated in patients with an abrupt onset of headache, in patients with migraine followed by neurological signs, in basilar migraine, migraine with extended duration of aura and in cases where epilepsy is suspected. Headache as a symptom is present in various brain and systemic diseases and metabolic disorders. EEG changes seen in headache patients are not specific for a particular disorder, but can suggest additional evaluation and accelerate accurate diagnosis and earlier treatment. Visual evoked cortical potentials (VEP) and cognitive evoked potentials (ERP) in patients with migraine in interictal periods have shown differences in sensory processing between patients with headache and healthy controls. Neurophysiological methods (VEP, ERP) between migraine attacks show cortical hyperactivity and predisposition for further attacks. Brainstem auditory evoked responses (BAER) are a sensitive method for the detection of central nervous system damage. Activation of the brainstem during the migraine attack results in an amplitude increment seen soon after the end of the attack. According to recent studies, R2 component of the blink reflex was six times longer during migraine attack as compared to interictal values. This is thought to be a response to sensitization of the skin nociceptive afferent arch or other neurons in the trigeminal nucleus. In patients with cluster headache, autonomic tests generate cardiovascular and pupillary response suggesting systemic sympathetic hyperactivation connected to concurrent pupillary sympathetic hypofunction and modified opioid modulation. TMS is shown to be very useful for the detection of pathophysiological changes of numerous disorders including migraine, due to its excitatory and inhibitory effects. Recent studies have shown changes in motor and occipital cortex during TMS interictal excitability. Neurophysiological tests are used in differential diagnosis of headache, follow up of possible complications in patients with symptomatic headache as well as in neurorehabilitation. In addition, electrophysiological diagnostic test can contribute to better understand the headache pathophysiology.     

Association of epilepsy and headache from the patient perspective

Headache occurs more frequently in patients with epilepsy as compared to the general population. Current studies in patients with epilepsy and migraine show that this increased frequency is independent of the seizure type, etiology or age at onset. People with epilepsy are 2.4 times more likely to be diagnosed with migraine. In our study, we evaluated patients' attitudes toward comorbidity of epilepsy and all headache types. Study results showed a significant number of patients to have experienced headaches after being diagnosed with epilepsy, and some of them assumed it was a side effect of their antiepileptic drug. Based on these data, we propose a more detailed assessment of the history of epilepsy including questions on headache, and offer the epilepsy patient a newer antiepileptic drug. In this way, we can significantly decrease the comorbidity of these two neurologic disorders and improve the quality of life in epilepsy patients.     

Evaluation of radioprotective effects of propolis and its flavonoid constituents: in vitro study on human white blood cells

This in vitro study aimed to evaluate the possible radioprotective effects of the natural substances WSDP, caffeic acid, chrysin and naringin on γ‐irradiated human white blood cells. The effectiveness of tested compounds was evaluated using the alkaline comet assay, the analysis of structural chromosome aberration and the cytokinesis‐block micronucleus assay. The results obtained by the alkaline comet study indicate favourable toxicity profiles of propolis and its polyphenolic components, and confirmed the radioprotective abilities comparable to the chemical radioprotector AET. WSDP and its polyphenolic components were able to reduce the number of necrotic cells. None of tested compounds induced significant genotoxicity, but all of them offered a quite measurable protection against DNA damage. WSDP was found to be the most effective in diminishing the levels of primary and more complex cytogenetic DNA damage in white blood cells. Considering its complex composition, to undoubtedly explain the underlying mechanisms of cyto/radioprotective effects, further studies are needed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Malignant blue nevus with lymph node metastases in five-year-old girl

We report an unusual case of a malignant blue nevus in a five-year-old girl, which turned out to be malignant only after the development of lymph node metastases three years after the excision of the primary tumor on the patient's cheek. A functional bilateral neck dissection was performed and the patient is alive with no evidence of disease 8 years after the excision of the primary skin lesion.     

Different GABAA receptor subtypes mediate the anxiolytic, abuse-related, and motor effects of benzodiazepine-like drugs in primates

Benzodiazepines exert their effects by binding to multiple subtypes of the GABAA receptor, the predominant subtypes in the brain being those that contain alpha1-, alpha2-, alpha3-, and alpha5-subunits. To understand the potentially different roles of these subtypes in the therapeutic and side effects of benzodiazepines, we evaluated GABAA receptor subtype-preferring compounds in nonhuman primate models predictive of anxiolytic, sedative, motor, subjective, and reinforcing effects of benzodiazepine-type drugs. These compounds included zolpidem, which shows preferential binding to GABAA receptors containing alpha1-subunits (alpha1GABAA receptors); L-838,417, which shows functional selectivity for alpha2GABAA, alpha3GABAA, and alpha5GABAA receptors; and nonselective conventional benzodiazepines. The results provide evidence in nonhuman primates that alpha1GABAA receptors do not play a key role in the anxiolytic and muscle-relaxant properties of benzodiazepine-type drugs; instead, these effects involve alpha2GABAA, alpha3GABAA, and/or alpha5GABAA subtypes. Our results also suggest that the alpha1GABAA receptor subtype might be critically involved in the subjective, sedative, and motor effects of benzodiazepine-type drugs. In contrast, stimulation of alpha1GABAA receptors is sufficient, but not necessary, for mediation of the abuse potential of these drugs.     

Prognostic factors in anaplastic carcinoma of the thyroid—a multivariate survival analysis of 188 patients

Background Multivariate studies concerning the prognosis of patients with anaplastic carcinoma of the thyroid gland are scarce. The aim of our study was to determine the prognostic factors associated with survival of patients with anaplastic carcinoma in Slovenia, an iodine-deficient region.Methods This retrospective study was carried out on a group of 188 patients (130 female, 58 male; median age 68 years) with anaplastic carcinoma of the thyroid who had been treated at a tertiary care centre from 1972 to 2003. For each patient, data on gender, age, disease history, extent of disease, morphological characteristics, mode of therapy, and survival were collected. Statistical correlation between possible prognostic factors and survival was analysed by univariate and Coxs multivariate analysis. Treatment modality was not included in the analysis to avoid selection bias.Results The median survival of all the patients was 3 (±0.36) months. Overall 1-year survival of our patients was 13%, and 2-year survival was 6%. Multivariate analysis showed that the patients age, performance status, tumour growth, tumour extension and distant metastases were independent prognostic factors for the survival.Conclusion Patients younger than 71 years, with a good performance status and slowly growing tumours confined to the thyroid, and without distant metastases, had the best prognosis.This paper is a part of research study J3-6092-0302-04, supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of Slovenia. The work was presented, in part, at the first European Society of Endocrine Surgery (ESES), Pisa, Italy, 13–15 May 2004