Correction of the penile curvature in ambulatory surgery

ObjectiveOTo evaluate the results obtained in the correction of the curved penis by means of Nesbit’s technique during the four first years of integration of our Service in the Major Ambulatory Surgery Unit (CMA) of our HospitalPatients and methodFrom January of 2000 to April of 2004 we intervened in ambulatory regime 21 patient suffering from curved penis (12 congenital and 9 with Peyronie´s disease) by means of Nesbit’s technique. The surgical-anesthetic performed procedure is described and also the criteria of inclusion and discharge are evaluated, as well as the results obtained and the degree of satisfaction by means of the elaboration of a questionnaireResultsNone of the patients needed entrance for intrasurgery nor postsurgery complications. Thus, we obtained a null incidence of complications with the exception of the inevitable shortening of the penis, clearly independent from the regime of out-patient’s process. The degree of satisfaction with the received treatment has been superior to 95%ConclusionsThe practical totality of the susceptible patients for surgical correction of penile curvature are candidates to be included in a CMA program, improving obviously the relation cost-efficacy, not diminishing for that reason the welfare quality nor the degree of patients’s satisfaction     

Jaw claudication in primary amyloidosis: unusual presentation of a rare disease

We describe two patients with temporal artery biopsy-proven amyloidosis presenting with symptoms of jaw claudication, visual disturbance, and proximal muscle stiffness suggestive of giant cell arteritis (GCA) and polymyalgia rheumatica. At the onset of disease, neither patient had other characteristic symptoms to suggest primary amyloid. We point out similarities between GCA and primary amyloid that can lead to confusion in diagnosis.     

Innate Immune Responses of Calves during Transient Infection with a Noncytopathic Strain of Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus

In this study, six immunocompetent calves were experimentally infected with a noncytopathic strain of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), and the effects of the viral infection on parameters of the innate immune response of the host were analyzed. Clinical and virological data were compared with the temporal activation of the alpha/beta interferon-regulated Mx gene in white blood cells (WBC) and skin as well as the upregulation of the acute-phase serum proteins haptoglobin (Hp) and serum amyloid A (SAA). The viral strain used did provoke transient health impairment, namely, fever and leukopenia that were associated with viremia, viral shedding with nasal secretions, and antiviral seroconversion. Complete recovery was observed within 3 weeks. Elevated levels of SAA and Hp were apparent from days 4 to 13 and 8 to 11, respectively. In WBC, the levels of Mx mRNA and Mx protein were elevated from days 2 to 15. In the context of this study with BVDV, the level of Mx protein expression in WBC provided the most telling diagnostic window to monitor the host's ongoing innate immune response.     

Neuropathogenesis of Naturally Occurring Encephalitis Caused by Listeria monocytogenes in Ruminants

Listeriosis is a serious food‐borne disease with increasing frequency in humans and ruminants. Despite the facts that in both hosts, listeriosis can occur as rhombencephalitis and ruminants are a reservoir of Listeria monocytogenes (LM) strains pathogenic for humans, little work has been done on the pathogenesis in ruminants. This study investigates the neuropathogenesis of listeric encephalitis in over 200 natural cases in cattle, sheep and goats by analyzing anatomical distribution, severity, bacterial load and temporal evolution of the lesions. Our results suggest that LM gains access to the brainstem of all three species via axonal migration not only along the trigeminal nerve, but also along other nerves. The ensuing encephalitis does not remain restricted to the brainstem. Rather, LM spreads further from the brainstem into rostral brain regions likely by intracerebral axonal migration. Significant differences in severity of the lesions and bacterial load were found between cattle and small ruminants, which may be caused by species‐specific properties of antibacterial immune responses. As histopathological lesions of human rhombencephalitis caused by LM strongly resemble those of ruminants, the disease likely has a similar pathogenesis in both hosts.