Tuberculoma en plaque: a case report

A 14 year old girl presented with a 6-month history of headaches and visual blurring. CT showed a right tentorial enhancing lesion. Angiogram showed no enhancement. Histopathological examination of the excised material was consistent with tuberculoma. The presentation of such unusual intracranial tuberculoma is reported and the literature reviewed on the subject.     

Enhanced efficacy of gemcitabine in combination with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody against CD20+ non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cell lines <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vitro</Emphasis> and in <Emphasis Type="Italic">scid</Emphasis>mice

Background  

Despite exciting new targeted therapeutics against non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), chemotherapy remains a cornerstone of therapy. While purine nucleoside analogs have significant activity in low grade NHL, the pyrimidine nucleoside analog gemcitabine has been less extensively studied, but has important activity. Use of the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab in combination with chemotherapy for B-NHL is becoming prevalent in clinical practice, but has not been extensively studied in pre-clinical models.     

Cervicofacial nocardiosis in an immunocompetent child

Nocardiosis occurs primarily as an opportunistic infection in an immunocompromised host. The infection may on rare occasion occur in a normal host confounding the diagnosis. It is also notably an uncommon infection in children. We report a 1-y-old girl with cervicofacial nocardial infection who presented with acute suppurative otitis media and lymphadenitis. This child did not have any predisposing risk factors for this infection and responded well to treatment with co-trimoxazole and chloramphenicol. She is doing well on follow-up. CONCLUSION: Nocardiosis in an immunocompetent small child is reported.     

The role of CT scan in laparoscopic retrieval of a perforated intrauterine device (IUD)

The intrauterine device (IUD) is a common modality of contraception in developing countries; it is inexpensive, effective, can be used for a long period of time and, most importantly, is reversible. An IUD may perforate through the uterine wall into the pelvic abdominal cavity or into adjacent organs. The common and accepted treatment for displaced IUDs is laparoscopic or surgical removal because of the possible risk of adhesion formation or damage to the intestine or urinary bladder. We report four cases of intra-abdominal IUDs that underwent successful extraction by laparoscopic surgery. All of our patients underwent a preoperative CT scan as it was more accurate in locating the device site and its relation to the surrounding organ and bowel. The CT scan gives more information, specifically, whether the device is extending into the bowel or urinary bladder.     

Bacteraemia in high-risk patients

In this study, we noticed a high incidence of bacteraemia in high-risk patients especially due to nonfermenter gram negative bacilli (NFGNB) and coagulase negative staphylococci (CoNS). Bacteraemia caused by some rare bacteria such as Moraxella spp., Aeromonas spp., Flavobacterium meningosepticum was also noted during the study. Antibiotic resistance pattern showed that many isolates were Multi Drug Resistant (MDR). This can be attributed to nosocomial-infection, which may occur due to more and more invasive procedures for diagnosis and therapy during long stay of patients in the hospital. Also, the MDR strains and the wide spread oxacillin resistant CoNS (OR-CoNS) and slowly emerging vancomycin resistant CoNS (VR-CoNS) associated with nosocomial infections pose a great threat to the clinicians. We recommend the usage of commonly used antibiotics along with cephalosporins for the patients admitted to these high-risk units, before the antibiotic susceptibility test findings.     

Haemangioma calcificans

Haemangioma calcificans is a relatively rare intracranial tumour, which is characterized by the presence of a calcified nodule in or near the brain. The patient is most often an adult of either sex, who develops seizures. The lesion can be large enough to produce raised intracranial pressure. The location of tumour is subcortical and often in the temporal lobe. It is usually solitary and benign in nature. Microscopically, there are thin-walled blood vessels separated by dense fibrous bands containing deposits of haemosiderin and calcium. On electron microscopy, tubular structures limited by a wall of electrodense material and irregular calcium deposits within them are prominent features. Four cases of haemangioma calcificans are described here with review of literature.     

Evaluation of intraperitoneal vincristine in malignant peritoneal effusion

The efficacy and safety of intraperitoneal administration of vincristine sulphate was determined in mice bearing Ehrlich ascitic carcinoma. The tumor bearing animals were administered with 0.5 mg/kg body weight (b.wt) of freshly prepared vincristine sulphate intraperitoneally on day 6 after tumor transplantation followed by drug administration once daily 5 days a week consecutively. The observations regarding the survival, alteration in the volume of peritoneal fluid, increase in life span and pathological changes in the liver, kidney, gastrointestinal tract and bone tissues were made. The vincristine sulphate treatment reduced the malignant cell population significantly and there were no significant changes in the histological picture of liver, kidney, bone, except the intestine, where atropy of villi demonstrating nests and cords of uniform small round cells were observed. Our experimental data suggests that intraperitoneal administration of vincristine is beneficial in malignant peritoneal effusion.     

Dimensions of working memory dysfunction in schizophrenia

The aim of this study was to investigate the underlying structure of eight working memory tests used to assess prefrontal dysfunction in schizophrenia research [Letter-Number Span (LNS), Digit-Symbol Test (DST), Trail-Making Test B (TMT-B), Delayed Response Task (DRT) for spatial working memory, Subject Ordered Pointing Task (SOPT), Dual Tasking (DUAL), Continuous Performance Test (CPT)-Identical Pairs, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)]. Sixty-six patients with schizophrenia showed significant working memory performance deficits in all tests when compared with 45 healthy controls. Performance was not systematically related to psychopathology. When differences in IQ were controlled, working memory deficits remained stable except in the WCST. Principal components analyses yielded three components for healthy controls: a comparator function of the central executive defined by a comparison of working memory content with information from the environment, an allocation of attentional resources function, and a maximum storage capacity function. The comparator and maximum storage functions could be replicated in the schizophrenia sample. However, the allocation function did not emerge as an independent component and was replaced by a component defined by the WCST. These findings suggest that working memory is not a unitary concept but rather should be conceptually differentiated as functions of transient storage/active rehearsal capacity and central executive manipulation supporting a previous suggestion proposed by Perry et al. [Schizophr. Bull. 27 (2001) 157].     

Unusual presentation of childhood Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Bullous systemic lupus erythematosus is a rare blistering condition with a distinctive combination of clinical, histological and immunopathologic features that together constitute a unique bullous disease phenotype. It is often associated with autoimmunity to type VII collagen. Here we report a child who presented with bullous systemic lupus erythematosus. Rapid resolution of the blisters occurred following treatment with dapsone.