Knowledge and Attitudes of Saudi Dental Undergraduates on Oral Cancer

Oral cancer awareness among future dental practitioners may have an impact on the early detection and prevention of oral cancer. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken to assess the current knowledge of future Saudi dentists on oral cancer and their opinions on oral cancer prevention. A pretested questionnaire was sent to 550 undergraduate dental students in the fourth, fifth, and sixth year of the Al-Farabi College for Dentistry and Nursing, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Questions relating to knowledge of oral cancer, risk factors, and opinions on oral cancer prevention and practices were posed. Four hundred seventy-nine students returned the questionnaire (87.1 %). Eighty-one percent of respondents correctly answered questions relating to oral cancer awareness. Eighty-seven percent of respondents felt confident in performing a systematic oral examination to detect changes consistent with oral malignancy. Interestingly, 57 % of respondents had seen the use of oral cancer diagnostics aids. Thirty-seven percent of respondents felt inadequately trained to provide tobacco and alcohol cessation advice. There is a need to reinforce the undergraduate dental curriculum with regards to oral cancer education; particularly in its prevention and early detection. Incorporating the use of oral cancer diagnostic aids should be made mandatory.     

Migrating foreign body into the common carotid artery and internal jugular vein – A rare case

Ingested foreign bodies are a fairly common otorhinolaryngological emergencies encountered in Malaysia. The vast majority of these foreign bodies are fish bones which most commonly are impacted at the level of the cricopharynx. Rarely, however, a foreign body may migrate extraluminally and may even extrude subcutaneously. We report a rare occurrence where a fish bone not only migrated extraluminally, it was found to have migrated into the common carotid artery and the internal jugular vein and required surgical removal.     

Refining the Baveno VI elastography criteria for the definition of compensated advanced chronic liver disease

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Lack of crucial role of mast cells in pathogenesis of experimental colitis in mice

Mast cell alterations have been implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic ulcerative colitis (UC). We studied the effect of mast cell deficiency on the severity of inflammation in a murine model of colitis. Colitis was induced in mice using dextran sodium sulfate (DSS). Mast-cell-deficient mice (WBB6F₁/J-W/W^v;N=17) and normal littermates (WBB6F₁/J-+/+;N=17) were administered DSS 4% w/v for seven days, then water alone for one week, followed by 5% DSS for six days. Animals were sacrificed at the end of the protocol. Segments of proximal, mid-, and distal colon of each animal were processed for histopathological examination. Mortality and morbidity (diarrhea and weight loss) for each group were assessed. There was no significant difference between the two groups in either their clinical parameters (mortality and morbidity) or the severity of colitis as graded histopathologically. Our findings suggest that mast cells are not crucial for the development of DSS-induced colitis.     

Outcome prediction by immunophenotypic minimal residual disease detection in adult T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Flow-cytometric detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) identifies patients with high relapse risk in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). We studied the efficacy of this method in adult T-ALL treated with the Italian co-operative GIMEMA (Gruppo Italiano Malattie Ematologiche dell'Adulto) LAL0496 protocol. Bone marrow samples from 53 patients were taken at fixed treatment time points and MRD was analysed using a leukaemia-specific immunophenotype (cytoplasmic-CD3/nuclear-terminal desoxynucleotidyl transferase). The median follow-up was 17 months (range 3-61) and a median of 4.5 analyses/patient was performed (range 3-12). Six out of 53 (11.3%) patients were refractory to treatment, 30/53 (56.6%) relapsed and 17/53 (32.1%) remain in continuous complete remission. The probability of relapse at 2 years for MRD-positive patients at preconsolidation was 81.5%vs 38.9% for MRD-negative patients (P = 0.00078). This risk was still 54.5% for MRD-positive vs 15.8% for MRD-negative patients pre-third reinduction (P = 0.0098) and 50.0% for MRD-positive vs 16.4% for MRD-negative patients pre-sixth reinduction (P = 0.032). The relapse-predicting value of MRD did not depend on features at diagnosis such as age, sex and leucocyte count. Our data suggest that immunophenotypic MRD monitoring in the first year of treatment is a useful outcome predictor for adult T-ALL patients.     

Laparoscopic robotic pyeloplasty using the Zeus Telesurgical System

We present the initial clinical experience using a robot to perform a laparoscopic dismembered pyeloplasty at a Canadian centre. Five patients were confirmed to have ureteropelvic junction obstructions through nuclear renography, cross sectional imaging and intravenous pyelography. After performing a retrograde ureteropyelography and double J stent placement, laparoscopic dismembered pyeloplasty was performed by a single surgeon at a remote workstation using the ZeusTM Telepresence Surgery System (Intuitive Surgicala). The mean total operative time was 225+/-48 minutes, anastomotic time was 71+/-16 minutes, and the mean time required to set-up the robot was 30+/-17 minutes. The estimated blood loss was less than 100 ml in each case. A mean total of 22+/-10 mg of morphine sulfate equivalents were used for analgesia, and the patients were discharged home after a mean of 58+/-10 hrs. There were no robotic failures, and all evaluable patients are free of pain and demonstrable obstruction. One patient developed a delayed urine leak, which resolved with percutaneous drainage. The robot provides the ability to perform complicated operations with precision through elimination of tremor, scaling of motion, and through the use of 'wristed' instruments that enhance the freedom of movement normally limited by straight-shafted laparoscopic needle drivers. The development of robotic telesurgery is still in its infancy, and the significance of its role in urologic surgery continues to be evaluated.