Liver adenomatosis.

A 27-year-old man presented with 2 months' history of right hypochondrial pain, fever and mild transient pruritus. On examination, he had firm, nontender and nodular hepatomegaly. Imaging modalities showed multiple heterogeneous lesions of varying size in the liver. Liver biopsy was consistent with hepatocellular adenoma.     

Hepatobiliary phaeohyphomycosis with secondary biliary cirrhosis.

We report a case of systemic phaeohyphomycosis in a 13-year old girl. The clinical presentation was with fever, weight loss, cholestatic jaundice with hepatosplenomegaly and generalized lymphadenopathy. The patient was diagnosed initially as tuberculous adenitis and was on antituberculous therapy, but with worsening of symptoms. Lymph node and liver biopsy showed granuloma with fungal hyphae suggestive of phaeohyphomycosis. The patient responded to antifungal therapy. Later she developed secondary biliary cirrhosis with cholangitis due to long stricture of the common bile duct and common hepatic duct requiring biliary stenting. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on phaeohyphomycosis causing biliary cirrhosis in the English lilterature.     

Predictors of Mortality in Acute Renal Failure in a Developing Country: A Prospective Study

Acute renal failure (ARF) occurs in wide range of conditions, making the evaluation of its prognosis a difficult task. Data regarding prognostic factors in ARF in a general population in developing countries are scarce. The objective of the study was to describe predictors of mortality in ARF that are relevant in the developing world. This prospective study was carried out over a one-year period; all hospitalized adults with ARF were included in the study. Predictors of mortality studied included causes of ARF, pre-existing diseases, and severity as well as complications of ARF. Of 33,301 patients admitted during the study period, 294 (0.88%) were either admitted with or developed ARF after hospitalization. Mean age was 43.9 ± 16.9 (18–86 yrs). Sepsis was the most common cause (63.26%). Pre-existing diseases like cardiovascular disease (CVSD), respiratory system disease (RSD), central nervous system disease (CNSD), hypertension, diabetet mellitus (DM), and malignancy were significantly higher in elderly as compared to younger patients. On univariate analysis sepsis, hypoperfusion as a cause of ARF and hospital-acquired ARF were associated with higher mortality. Pre-existing diseases viz. RSD, CVSD, CNSD, and DM had higher mortality. Among the severity and complications of ARF, oliguria, bleeding and infection during the course of ARF and critical illness were predictors of poor outcome. Age >60 yrs was associated with significantly higher mortality. However, on multivariate analysis, only critical illness (odds ratio 37.3), age > 60 years (odds ratio of 5.6), and sepsis as cause of ARF (odds ratio of 2.6) were found to be independent predictors of mortality.     

Microbial production and biomedical applications of lovastatin

Lovastatin is a potent hypercholesterolemic drug used for lowering blood cholesterol. Lovastatin acts by competitively inhibiting the enzyme, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase involved in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. Commercially lovastatin is produced by a variety of filamentous fungi including Penicillium species, Monascus ruber and Aspergillus terreus as a secondary metabolite. Production of lovastatin by fermentation decreases the production cost compared to costs of chemical synthesis. In recent years, lovastatin has also been reported as a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of various types of tumors and also play a tremendous role in the regulation of the inflammatory and immune response, coagulation process, bone turnover, neovascularization, vascular tone, and arterial pressure. This review deals with the structure, biosynthesis, various modes of fermentation and applications of lovastatin.     

A case of Turner syndrome with hyperparathyroidism in an adult

Turner syndrome is a hereditary chromosomal anomaly that affects girls and women. A result of gonadal dysgenesis, its primary characteristics are short stature, osteoporosis, neck webbing, and cardiac defects. Turner syndrome may also involve the auditory system and kidneys. We report the case of a woman with Turner syndrome who presented late in adulthood with severe osteoporosis and hypercalcemia. She was subsequently diagnosed with primary hyperparathyroidism secondary to a parathyroid adenoma. After excision of the adenoma, the woman's serum calcium level normalized. To the best of our knowledge, only 4 other cases of Turner syndrome with hyperparathyroidism have been reported in the literature.