Existence of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and osteosarcoma in a child

The existence of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and osteosarcoma is described. An 8-year-old girl had osteosarcoma diagnosed on radiologic and pathologic examination during ALL maintenance treatment. Cytogenetic analyses in primary cell culture of osteosarcoma tissue from the patient showed complex chromosomal abnormalities including t(1;19), usually seen in B precursor cell ALL, and del 13, found in a great majority of primary osteosarcomas. To show the possibility of the existence of the genetic susceptibility caused by gene rearrangements, we used molecular technique. But we could not determine any association between gene and genetic susceptibility.     

Injuries to the toes and metatarsals

Traumatic injuries to the toes and metatarsals are common injuries affecting nearly every individual. Injuries may be precipitated by industrial accidents or simple bumps in the night. They can produce a wide spectrum of consequences ranging from permanent disability to asymptomatic deformities. With appropriate treatment, most individuals should have the capacity to return to their preinjury functional status.     

MUC1 expression in plasmacytoma

Plasmacytoma (Pm) is a plasma cell (PC) neoplasia consisting of PCs and some of them show progression to multiple myeloma. But there is no clear indicators predicting this progression. In this study, MUC1 expression was evaluated in Pm cases to determine the predictive value and was compared with histopathologic grade which is known to be a prognostic indicator in Pm. Nine of 31 cases with Pm showed MUC1 expression. Only two of the 18 cases with mature morphology showed MUC1 expression while seven of 13 cases with immature morphology showed MUC1 expression and this was statistically significant (P<0.006). Additionally, four of 11 cases with BM involvement showed MUC1 expression while five of 20 cases without BM involvement showed MUC1 expression. There was a trend MUC1 expression with BM involvement but there was not statistically significant association between MUC1 expression and BM involvement. We found that MUC1 expression is associated with immature morphology which is an important prognostic indicator in Pm and by analogy MUC1 expression may be an additional prognostic indicator in patients with Pm.     

Donor cell-derived acute myeloblastic leukemia after allogeneic peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia

Despite its rarity, donor cell leukemia (DCL) is a most intriguing entity. We report here the case of a 5 year-old girl with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia and normal female karyotype who developed acute myeloblastic leukemia with a karyotype of 46, X, t(X; 7) (p21; p11.2), der(7) t(3; 7) (q13.3; q22) 5 months after peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from her HLA-matched sister. We performed the analysis of short tandem repeat sequence markers to DNA obtained from donor peripheral blood, patient's peripheral blood including leukemic blasts and patient's hair root. This analysis showed that the leukemic blood DNA matched the donor blood DNA and not the patient's DNA, thus confirming DCL. To our knowledge, this is the first case of DCL after peripheral blood SCT for juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia.     

Effects of placebo-controlled continuous and pulsed ultrasound treatments on carpal tunnel syndrome: a randomized trial

OBJECTIVE:

The aim of this placebo-controlled study was to evaluate the effects of pulsed and continuous ultrasound treatments combined with splint therapy on patients with mild and moderate idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome.

METHODS:

The study included 46 carpal tunnel syndrome patients who were randomly divided into 3 groups. The first group (n = 15) received a 0 W/cm² ultrasound treatment (placebo); the second group (n = 16) received a 1.0 W/cm² continuous ultrasound treatment and the third group (n = 15) received a 1.0 W/cm² 1:4 pulsed ultrasound treatment 5 days a week for a total of 15 sessions. All patients also wore night splints during treatment period. Pre-treatment and post-treatment Visual Analogue Scale, Symptom Severity Scale and Functional Status Scale scores, median nerve motor conduction velocity and distal latency and sensory conduction velocities of the median nerve in the 2^nd finger and palm were compared. Clinicaltrials.gov: {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT02054247","term_id":"NCT02054247"}}NCT02054247.

RESULTS:

There were significant improvements in all groups in terms of the post-treatment Functional Status Scale score (p<0.05 for all groups), Symptom Severity Scale score (first group: p<0.05, second group: p<0.01, third group: p<0.001) and Visual Analogue Scale score (first and third groups: p<0.01, second group: p<0.001). Sensory conduction velocities improved in the second and third groups (p<0.01). Distal latency in the 2^nd finger showed improvement only in the third group (p<0.01) and action potential latency in the palm improved only in the second group (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION:

The results of this study suggest that splinting therapy combined with placebo and pulsed or continuous ultrasound have similar effects on clinical improvement. Patients treated with continuous and pulsed ultrasound showed electrophysiological improvement; however, the results were not superior to those of the placebo.