Intoxication caused by new psychostimulants: analytical methods to disclose acute and chronic use of benzofurans and ethylphenidate

International Journal of Legal Medicine - The acute and chronic toxicity of several new psychoactive substances (NPS) is unknown, and only little information is available on the pharmacology and...     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty: a review of literature

There has been a resurgence of interest in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) for treatment of medial unicompartmental knee osteoarthritis (OA). Improved prosthetic design, minimally invasive surgical techniques, and strict patient selection criteria have resulted in improved survivorship and functional outcomes. A review of orthopedic literature was conducted regarding the advantages of UKA versus total knee arthroplasty (TKA), UKA indications, survivorship, conversion of UKA to TKA, rehabilitation, and outcomes. The UKA appears to be a viable option for patients with knee medial compartment OA, including younger and active patients. Survivorship rates of 94% to 97% at 10 years have been reported.     

Acute promyelocytic leukaemia: epidemiology and risk factors. A report of the GIMEMA Italian archive of adult acute leukaemia

Abstract: Acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) exhibits peculiar epidemiological, clinical, cytogenetic and molecular features, compared to the other acute myeloid leukaemias (AML). Data on epidemiology and occupational risk factors for APL desumed from the GIMEMA archive are reported and compared with those of the other AML. An exploratory case-case study was designed on AML patients from 56 haematology centres in Italy. Overall, 4296 patients older than 15 yr with a new diagnosis of acute leukaemia were recorded between July 1992 and July 1997. Of these, 335 were classified as APL, and 2894 as other AML. The median age of APL patients was 43 compared to 59 yr for the other AML (p< 0.00001). In order to identify peculiar risk factors for APL development, different parameters were compared in the 2 groups. After adjusting by age no significant differences were observed with regard to education, lifetime prevalence of cancer among siblings and previous diseases in the patient's history. Occupational exposure as a possible risk factor for APL showed no increased risk compared to other AML among farmers, builders and leather workers. A significant association was found in electricians (OR = 4.4, 95% CI = 2.0–9.7) and a weak association was found in wood workers (OR = 3.2, 95% CI = 0.8–10.8). The proportion of APL with respect to other AML was significantly higher in the north east of Italy compared to the rest of the country (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.3–2.2). These data confirm the younger age of APL patients compared to the other AML. A possible role of electromagnetic fields is suggested by the higher risk of APL in electrical workers and in the more industrialized areas of the country.     

The fate of synaptic membranes of degenerating optic nerve terminals, and their role in the mechanism of trans-synaptic changes

Summary The fate of synaptic membranes of degenerating optic nerve terminals has been studied in the lateral geniculate nucleus of Rhesus monkey after eye enucleation. It was shown that pre-synaptic and post-synaptic membranes remain in close apposition to each other during all stages of degeneration and phagocytosis of affected terminals. As a result of this, fragments of presynaptic terminals were engulfed within glial processes, together with synaptic thickenings and parts of post-synaptic dendrites. On occasion small pieces of the degenerating terminals together with the synaptic membranes were engulfed by the post-synaptic dendrite. It is proposed that this pattern of removal of degenerating optic terminals results in injury to the post-synaptic cells, and triggers the transneuronal degeneration.