Subcutaneous emphysema and pneumomediastinum due to foreign body aspiration in children with asthma

Pneumomediastinum (PM) and subcutaneous emphysema (SCE) are well recognized as complications of acute asthma exacerbation in children with asthma. We present herein a report of three cases of asthmatic children who presented with PM and SCE found to be secondary to foreign body aspiration. The cases highlight that clinicians must remain vigilant for co-morbidities in an asthma exacerbation, and less common etiologies of PM and SCE, such as foreign body aspiration, should also be carefully considered in asthmatic children.     

妊娠滋养细胞疾病患者的二氢嘧啶脱氢酶基因多态性分析

 目的探索妊娠滋养细胞疾病患者的二氢嘧啶脱氢酶基因(DPYD)多态性。方法采用多聚酶链反应(PCR)一直接测序方法检测DPYD中A74G,T85C(DPYD^*9),IVS14+1G→A(DPYD^*2),C2303A和A2846T等5个位点的突变频率,并对DPD活性缺乏以及使用氟化嘧啶类药物出现严重不良反应的回访患者的DPYD基因中外显子4、外显子5、外显子6、外显子7、外显子8、外显子10、外显子11、外显子12、外显子13、外显子21和外显子23进行分析。结果130名妊娠滋养细胞疾病患者中,化疗组患者105名,使用含氟化嘧啶类药物治疗发生严重不良反应的回访患者25名。患者中存在DPYD^*2,DPYD^*9,A496G,A1627G和C2303A等位点变异,新发现A720C和A2670C 2种同义突变。化疗组患者DPYD^*9等位基因发生频率为6.93%,C2303A发生频率为0.49%;未发现DPYD^*2、A74G和A2846T位点变异。DPYD^*2, DPYD^*9,A496G,A720C,A1627G,C2303A和A2670C在DPD活性缺乏及曾出现严重不良反应的回访患者中的发生频率分别为1.14%,7.95%,3.41%,37.50%,18.1 8%,1.14%和15.91%。结论在中国妊娠滋养细胞疾病患者中发现DPYD^*2, DPYD^*9,A496G,A1627G等位点变异,首次在中国人群中发现C2303A,A720C和A2670C变异。DPYD^*2和C2303A变异可能与DPD活性缺乏相关。     

Altered brain morphology in boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with and without comorbid conduct disorder/oppositional defiant disorder

About 50% of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients suffer from comorbidity with oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD). Most previous studies on structural morphology did not differentiate between pure (ADHD‐only) and comorbid ADHD (ADHD+ODD/CD). Therefore, we aimed to investigate the structural profile of ADHD‐only versus ADHD+ODD/CD spanning the indices subcortical and cortical volume, cortical thickness, and surface area. We predicted a reduced total gray matter, striatal, and cerebellar volume in both patient groups and a reduced amygdalar and hippocampal volume for ADHD+ODD/CD. We also explored alterations in prefrontal volume, thickness, and surface area. We acquired structural images from an adolescent sample ranging from 11 to 17 years, matched with regard to age, pubertal status, and IQ—including 36 boys with ADHD‐only, 26 boys with ADHD+ODD/CD, and 30 typically developing (TD) boys. We analyzed structural data with FreeSurfer. We found reductions in total gray matter and total surface area for both patient groups. Boys with ADHD+ODD/CD had a thicker cortex than the other groups in a right rostral middle frontal cluster, which was related to stronger ODD/CD symptoms, even when controlling for ADHD symptoms. No group differences in local cortical volume or surface area emerged. We demonstrate the necessity to carefully differentiate between ADHD and ADHD+ODD/CD. The increased rostral middle frontal thickness might hint at a delayed adolescent cortical thinning in ADHD+ODD/CD. Patients with the double burden ADHD and ODD or CD seem to be even more affected than patients with pure ADHD.     

Negative content enhances stimulus‐specific cerebral activity during free viewing of pictures,faces, and words

Negative visual stimuli have been found to elicit stronger brain activation than do neutral stimuli. Such emotion effects have been shown for pictures, faces, and words alike, but the literature suggests stimulus‐specific differences regarding locus and lateralization of the activity. In the current functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we directly compared brain responses to passively viewed negative and neutral pictures of complex scenes, faces, and words (nouns) in 43 healthy participants (21 males) varying in age and demographic background. Both negative pictures and faces activated the extrastriate visual cortices of both hemispheres more strongly than neutral ones, but effects were larger and extended more dorsally for pictures, whereas negative faces additionally activated the superior temporal sulci. Negative words differentially activated typical higher‐level language processing areas such as the left inferior frontal and angular gyrus. There were small emotion effects in the amygdala for faces and words, which were both lateralized to the left hemisphere. Although pictures elicited overall the strongest amygdala activity, amygdala response to negative pictures was not significantly stronger than to neutral ones. Across stimulus types, emotion effects converged in the left anterior insula. No gender effects were apparent, but age had a small, stimulus‐specific impact on emotion processing. Our study specifies similarities and differences in effects of negative emotional content on the processing of different types of stimuli, indicating that brain response to negative stimuli is specifically enhanced in areas involved in processing of the respective stimulus type in general and converges across stimuli in the left anterior insula.     

The questionable role of computed tomography in preoperative staging of esophageal cancer

The findings of computed tomography (CT) in 18 patients with histologically proven esophageal carcinoma were compared with operative and pathological findings. Computed tomography delineated esophageal lesions in 14 of the 18 patients. In 11 patients, CT scanning was found to be inaccurate in assessing tumor involvement of esophageal lymphatic drainage. Nine patients had no abdominal nodal metastasis demonstrated by CT scan. Operative exploration revealed tumor involvement of celiac or left gastric lymph nodes in all of these patients. Two patients' CT scans demonstrated tumor involvement of celiac and left gastric lymph nodes; at operative exploration, these nodes were enlarged, but they were histologically negative for esophageal carcinoma. Operative exploration changed the preoperative TNM classification in 8 of the 11 patients. Review of these data indicates that surgical exploration continues to be the only reliable method of determining the actual extent and often the resectability of esophageal carcinoma.     

Accuracy of 3D Tooth Movements in the Fabrication of Manual Setup Models for Aligner Therapy

Background: The clinical outcome of aligner therapy is closely related to the precision of its setup, which can be manually or digitally fabricated. The aim of the study is to investigate the suitability of manual setups made for aligner therapy in terms of the precision of tooth movements. Methods: Six dental technicians were instructed to adjust each of eleven duplicate plaster casts of a patient models as follows: a 1 mm pure vestibular translation of tooth 11 and a 15° pure mesial rotation of tooth 23. The processed setup models were 3D scanned and matched with the reference model. The one-sample Wilcoxon signed-rank test (p < 0.05) was used for evaluation. Results: The overall precision of the translational movement covers a wide range of values from 0.25 to 2.26 mm (median: 1.09 mm). The target value for the rotation of tooth 23 was achieved with a median rotation of 9.76° in the apical-occlusal direction. Unwanted movements in the other planes also accompanied the rotation. Conclusions: A manual setup can only be fabricated with limited precision. Besides the very high variability between technicians, additional unwanted movements in other spatial planes occurred. Manually fabricated setups should not be favored for aligner therapy due to limited precision.