Retinal venous occlusion in Behçet disease

PURPOSE: The aim of our study is to report three cases of retinal venous occlusion in patients with Beh?et disease and to discuss the physiopathology of this vascular accident. METHODS: In this retrospective study, out of a series of 32 patients suffering from Beh?et disease, we report three cases of retinal venous occlusion. General and ophthalmologic features are described. Treatment strategy is detailed for each case. RESULTS: There were 2 cases of branch retinal venous occlusion and one case of central retinal venous occlusion. Relapses and retinal neovascularization were the most common complications. CONCLUSION: The retinal venous occlusion in Beh?et's disease is a non-common but severe complication. Early and appropriate treatment is required to improve the functional prognosis.     

HPV infection and p16INK4A and TP53 expression in rare cancers of the uterine cervix

Cervix cancer remains among most commonly diagnosed cancer in developing countries. Except squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, the etiopathology and oncogenic mechanisms of rare cancers remain largely unknown. The study was performed to investigate the value of HPV infection and the expression of p16^INK4A and TP53 in rare primitive cancers of the cervix.We conducted a retrospective study of rare primitive cancers of the cervix. Main clinicopathological features were reported. HPV infection was detected by in situ hybridization. Expression of p16^INK4A and TP53 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry.Overall, seven cases were identified, including basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (BSCC, n?=?2), small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (SCNEC), granulocytic sarcoma without acute myeloid leukemia, leiomyosarcoma, primitive neuroectodermal tumor and botryoid-type embryonic rhabdomyosarcoma. The mean age of patients was 53.7 years. Four cancers were diagnosed at advanced stages. The prognosis was unfavorable and associated with patient death in five cases. HPV types 16/18 were detected in BSCCs and SCNEC. Strong and diffuse p16^INK4A overexpression was described in the nucleus and the cytoplasm of all tumor cells of BSCCs and SCNEC. The remaining cancers exhibited only scattered and focal p16^INK4A staining. Mutated TP53 protein was detected in BSCC (case 1) and GS.Rare cancers of the cervix are aggressive and associated with poor prognosis. In contrast to mesenchymal tumors, BSCCs and SCNEC are etiologically related to high-risk HPV infection and could be identified by block positive p16^INK4A overexpression as common cancers of the cervix. TP53 mutations are not a negligible genetic event in rare cervical cancers.     

Huge benign lung tumor in a female smoker

Pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma is a rare, slow-growing, benign tumor. Its potential for progression and its histiogenesis remains controversial. CASE REPORT: A routine chest X-ray revealed a right abdominal mass in 41-year-old woman. Search for a cause was negative. The patient underwent posterolateral thoracotomy for tumorectomy. Intraoperative pathology analysis revealed the benign nature of the tumor. No complication was observed postoperatively. The final pathological conclusion was sclerosing hemangioma of the lung. Pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma is a parenchymal tumor of the lung. The latest immunohistochemical studies of this lesion suggest a pneumocyte origin. Prognosis is good, but extension to lymph nodes may occur. Surgery is always required for cure, and must be associated with lymph node dissection for large tumors.     

Large magnetocaloric entropy change at room temperature in soft ferromagnetic manganites

In this paper, La_0.75Ca_0.25−xNa_xMnO₃ (x = 0.15 and 0.20) samples were prepared by the flux method. Crystallographic study revealed that the x = 0.15 sample is characterized by the coexistence of a mixture of orthorhombic and rhombohedral structures with Pbnm and R$\bar{3}$c space groups, respectively. While, the x = 0.20 sample crystallized in the rhombohedral structure with a R$\bar{3}$c space group. Magnetic data, under a magnetic field of 0.05 T, indicated that our samples undergo a ferromagnetic (FM)–paramagnetic (PM) phase transition, on increasing the temperature. The magnetic field dependence of the magnetocaloric properties of La_0.75Ca_0.25−xNa_xMnO₃ (x = 0.15 and 0.20) samples, with the second phase transition, was investigated. Near room temperature, the x = 0.20 sample exhibited a large magnetic entropy change with maxima of 6.01 and 3.12 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹, respectively, under applied magnetic fields of 5 and 2 T. Also, the relative cooling power (RCP) was calculated. According to hysteresis cycles, for our studied samples, at 10 K a typical soft FM behavior with a low coercive field was observed. These results make our samples promising candidates for magnetic refrigerators, magnetic recording, and memory devices.

–ΔS_M as a function of temperature at different μ₀H fields, for x = 0.20 compound. The red line curves represent the modeled data and symbols are the experimental data.     

Analysis of association between bleomycin hydrolase and apolipoprotein E polymorphism in Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia. Several studies indicate a possible relationship between different genes and Alzheimer’s disease. To further investigate, we have analyzed the association between the bleomycin hydrolase (BLMH) and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) polymorphisms in 93 AD patients and age- and sex-matched 113 controls from the Tunisian population. The frequency of ApoE epsilon 4 allele was found to differ significantly in AD patients compared to the control [29.5% vs. 8.8 (χ ² = 26, df = 1, p < 0.001)] leading to an increased risk of AD in subjects with this allele (OR = 3.29, 95% CI = 1.7–6.5; p = 0.001]. This risk was found to decrease from OR = 8.4, CI = 3.3–23; p < 0.001 in subjects less than 75 years old to OR = 1.2, CI = 1.031–14; p = 0.0297 in subjects 75 years and older. No association was observed between carrying the BLMH-G genotype and AD in ε4 negative or positive subjects.