Carcinosarcoma of esophagus—a case report and review of literature

Carcinosarcoma of esophagus contains both the carcinomatous and sarcomatous elements. These are rare polypoidal malignancies of esophagus. One such case is presented and available literature is reviewed.     

Role of locking plates in treatment of difficult ununited fractures: a clinical study

Objective:To present our experience in treatment of difficult ununited long bone fractures with locking plate.Methods:Retrospective evaluation of locking plate fixation in 10 difficult nonunions of lon...     

Prophylactic Central Neck Dissection in Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: An Assessment of the Evidence

An area of ongoing controversy in the management of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer is the role of prophylactic central neck dissection (pCND). This review describes the natural history of differentiated thyroid cancer and provides the limited data regarding the role of routine pCND. An evidence-based analysis was performed of the rationale for routine pCND was performed, including reduced rates of central neck recurrence, reduced morbidity with secondary central neck lymphadenectomy, improved rates of postoperative athyroglobulinemia, and improved stratification of radioactive iodine (RAI) dosage. A critical appraisal of the available literature demonstrates insufficient evidence to indicate that this extra procedure performed routinely leads to improvement in clinically meaningful end points.     

Reduction in augmentation index after successful renal transplantation

Background

Patients of end stage renal disease (ESRD) have an increased risk of cardiovascular events. Arterial stiffness is an established independent predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in ESRD patients. Carotid femoral pulse wave velocity (c-f PWV) and augmentation index (AI) are the indices which are used for the noninvasive assessment of arterial stiffness. Renal transplantation (RT) as a treatment modality in ESRD patients is associated with improvement in cardiovascular survival. Whether this improvement is due to attenuation of arterial stiffness has been inadequately investigated. The present study was conducted in ESRD patients before and 3 months after RT to assess the reversibility of the abnormalities of vascular compliance that are known to be associated with adverse outcome.

Methods

Arterial stiffness indices (c-f PWV and AI) were measured using the principle of applanation tonometry with a SphygmoCor^® CvMS system (Atcor Medicals, Australia) in 23 ESRD patients (age: 35.9 ± 9.3 years) before and 3 months after successful RT.

Results

After transplantation, augmentation index values reduced significantly as compared to their pre-transplant values (27.7 ± 11.3 % vs. 17.1 ± 9.0 %; P < 0.0001), while the carotid femoral pulse wave velocity values did not differ significantly (8.7 ± 2.0 vs. 8.6 ± 3.2 m/s). The augmentation index was correlated with the biochemical parameters of serum creatinine (Pearson r = 0.3628; P = 0.0128) and calcium phosphate product (Pearson r = 0.3868; P = 0.0079).

Conclusions

Restoration of renal function following successful RT is associated with differential effects on the two indices of arterial stiffness. The salient finding of our study is that 3 months after transplantation, functional changes in vasculature lead to a significant reduction in the augmentation index, while the pulse wave velocity may take longer to show an improvement.     

RNA quality control and protein aggregates in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A review

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common motor neuron disease in adults. The biologic basis of ALS remains unknown. However, ALS research has taken a dramatic turn over the past 4 years. Ground breaking discoveries of mutations of genes that encode RNA processing proteins, and demonstration that abnormal aggregates of these and other proteins precede motor neuron loss in familial and sporadic ALS, have initiated a paradigm shift in understanding the pathogenic mechanisms of ALS. Curiously, some of these RNA binding proteins have prion‐like domains, with a propensity to self‐aggregation. The emerging hypothesis that a focal cascade of toxic protein aggregates, and their consequent non–cell‐autonomous spread to neighborhood groups of neurons, fits the classical temporo‐spatial progression of ALS. This article reviews the current research efforts toward understanding the role of RNA‐processing regulation and protein aggregates in ALS. Muscle Nerve 47:330‐338, 2013