Infiltrating granular cell tumor of the esophagus: a description of two cases

Granular cell tumor of the esophagus is an unusual tumor. It presents usually as a small and well limited lesion, localized in the mucosa or the submucosa. We report two cases of granular cell tumor of the esophagus, remarkable for their infiltrative growth. The tumor invaded the esophageal muscularis propria in one case and went through the adventitia in the other. There was no recurrence 1 year and 7 years after surgery, despite an incomplete resection in the second case. Thirteen cases of infiltrative granular cell tumors of the esophagus have been published. They are usually responsible for dysphagia. They can invade the muscularis propria and the adventitia as well as the periesophageal organs. There is no recurrence, even after an incomplete resection. The infiltrative feature of the granular cell tumors of the esophagus, by itself, cannot be considered as a malignant feature. The diagnosis of malignant granular cell tumor of the esophagus lies on the discover of metastases.     

Extracellular metalloproteinase activity in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phytomonas françai</Emphasis>

Extracellular proteolytic activities were detected in Phytomonas françai culture supernatant. A 67-kDa enzyme was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation and gel filtration in a HPLC system. This proteinase was optimally active at 28 °C and pH 5.0; and the use of proteolytic inhibitors indicated that it belongs to the metalloproteinase class. This is the first report on the purification of an extracellular metalloproteinase from a Phytomonas species.     

Fatal mesenteric ischemic accident caused by mesenteric inflammatory veno-occlusive disease

A 72-year-old woman in good general health presented a massive intestinal and colonic ischemia with rapid post-operative death, due to mesenteric inflammatory veno-occlusive disease. Mesenteric inflammatory veno-occlusive disease, first described in 1994, is a vasculitis of unknown etiology limited to the mesenteric area, affecting exclusively veins and venules and sparing arteries. Histologically, there are acute lesions of lymphocytic and/or necrotizing, sometimes granulomatous phlebitis and chronic lesions of myointimal hyperplasia reducing the lumen of the veins. In this case, polymorphonuclear eosinophils were particularly numerous.     

Cyclooxygenase-2 is expressed frequently and early in Barrett's oesophagus and associated adenocarcinoma

AIMS: To establish the prevalence of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in a large series of resected Barrett's adenocarcinoma and associated preneoplastic lesions and to correlate this expression with clinicopathological data and prognosis. METHODS: COX-2 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in resected surgical specimens of 66 Barrett's adenocarcinomas and 32 cases of Barrett's mucosa (with dysplasia in 17 cases). RESULTS: Epithelial expression of COX-2 protein was increased in Barrett's mucosa compared with normal oesophagus. Epithelial expression of COX-2 was found in 91% of Barrett's specialized mucosa negative for dysplasia, 94% of Barrett's mucosa with dysplasia, and 97% of Barrett's adenocarcinoma. COX-2 expression was significantly higher in the well-differentiated adenocarcinomas when compared with the poorly differentiated tumours. There was no significant correlation between COX-2 expression and the other pathological features of the tumours. Survival analysis showed no significant prognostic value for COX-2. CONCLUSION: Our results confirm up-regulation of COX-2 in Barrett's oesophagus-metaplastic and dysplastic-and in Barrett's adenocarcinoma. Increased COX-2 expression did not differ during the progression from Barrett's oesophagus negative for dysplasia to Barrett's adenocarcinoma and is related to adenocarcinoma whose histology is well differentiated. This suggests that enhanced expression of COX-2 may occur early during Barrett's-associated neoplastic transformation.     

Effect of temperature on quantifying glycated (glycosylated) hemoglobin by cation-exchange chromatography

As a consequence of nonideal chromatographic conditions, values for stable glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) determined by cation-exchange chromatography in a commercial minicolumn system (y) or by "high-performance" liquid chromatography (x) differ markedly, yielding the regression line y = 0.82x + 0.6. With use of the protocol specified by the manufacturer, 20% of the HbA1c peak is not collected in the HbA1c fraction. Increasing the ionic strength of the eluting buffer by increasing the operating temperature to 28 degrees C increases the rate of elution from the minicolumn, making results of the two methods more closely comparable (y = 0.98x - 0.22). Because at a given pH the elution volume is determined primarily by the ionic strength, close limits on the composition of the eluting buffer are set by the temperature-dependence of its ionic strength. At a specified temperature and pH the position of a peak can be judged to within a volume of 1 mL if the conductivity of the eluent does not vary by more than +/- 0.05 mS.     

Photobiomodulation therapy on expression of HSP70 protein and tissue repair in experimental acute Achilles tendinitis

Lasers in Medical Science - The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy on the expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) and tissue repair in...     

Undernutrition is associated with mortality,exacerbation, and poorer quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A systematic review with meta-analysis of observational studies

Impaired nutrition status is recognized as a risk factor for worse clinical outcomes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The aims of this study were to investigate how undernutrition is diagnosed, its prevalence, and whether there is an association between this condition and clinical outcomes in patients with COPD. The search for this systematic review of observational studies (PROSPERO: CRD42020191888) was performed in the PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases, with no date or language restrictions. The studies had to report data on the diagnosis of undernutrition and its association with mortality, exacerbation, length of hospital stay, or quality of life in adult patients with COPD. A meta-analysis with a random-effects model was performed to combine data. Forty-nine studies were included (20 of them classified as having a low risk of bias), and the most common diagnostic method of undernutrition was body mass index (BMI) (n = 36). The pooled prevalence of undernutrition was equal to 20% (95% CI, 0.15–0.25; I² = 100%), and it was associated with mortality (risk ratio = 1.97; 95% CI, 1.55–2.50; I² = 98%), exacerbation (risk ratio = 1.73; 95% CI, 1.03–2.91; I² = 96%), and poorer quality of life (mean difference = 8.25; 95% CI, 5.40–11.10; I² = 79%). For all outcomes, the certainty of evidence was very low. In conclusion, undernutrition is prevalent and is associated with poorer outcomes in patients with COPD. However, undernutrition is mainly diagnosed by BMI, which underreports its prevalence, and the certainty of the evidence is very low.     

Influence de l'hyperoxie en repos et en effort,sur la mécanique ventilatoire chez les malades souffrant de fibrose pulmonaire

Résumé On a soumis à une épreuve d'effort de 10 minutes au cycloergomètre, 12 sujets sains et 38 malades avec silicose ou tuberculose pulmonaire, forme stabilisée.En repos, en effort et dans la phase de rétablissement, on a calculé les valeurs des paramètres de la mécanique ventilatoire, suivants: le rapport entre la durée de l'expiration et de l'inspiration que les auteurs considèrent comme l'un des plus importants indices dans l'étude de la mécanique ventilatoire, le travail ventilatoire et la compliance pulmonaire, tant dans l'atmosphère habituelle, que dans celle où la concentration de l'oxygène est portée à 98%. On a observé que dans cette dernière atmosphère (98%), la durée de l'expiration augmente, donc le rapport I/E baisse, la valeur du travail ventilatoire diminue (surtout les résistances non-élastiques) et la valeur de la compliance pulmonaire augmente (diminue la pression élastique). Ce fait serait dû à la réadaptation des voies aériennes supérieures et moyennes aux nouvelles conditions favorables crées par l'élévation de la concentration de l'oxygène dans l'air inspiré.