Giant neurofibroma arising from the intercostal nerve: a rare case report

Neurofibroma is a benign nerve sheath tumor of the peripheral nervous system. A young male presented with complaints of gradually increasing breathlessness and heaviness on the right side of the chest, and percussion notes over the chest were impaired all over the right lung fields except the basal zone. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan of the thorax revealed a large heterogeneous mass occupying most of the right hemithorax. Intraoperatively, the huge mass measuring about 18 cm?×?13 cm?×?12 cm was seemed to arise from the right fourth intercostal space. Histopathology revealed a neurofibroma. Giant intrathoracic neurofibroma is very uncommon and its malignant potential should be evaluated.     

The possible antianginal effect of allopurinol in vasopressin-induced ischemic model in rats

The anti-anginal effects of allopurinol were assessed in experimental model rats of angina and their effects were evaluated with amlodipine. In the vasopressin-induced angina model, oral administration of allopurinol in dose of 10 mg/kg revealed remarkably analogous effects in comparison with amlodipine such as dose-dependent suppression of vasopressin-triggered time, duration and severity of ST depression. In addition, allopurinol produced dose dependent suppression of plasma Malondialdehyde (MDA) level, systolic blood pressure, cardiac contractility and cardiac oxygen consumption; while in contrast, amlodipine minimally suppressed the elevation of plasma MDA level. Endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) expression, serum nitrate were strikingly increased, however lipid profile was significantly reduced. Seemingly, allopurinol was found to be more potent than amlodipine – a calcium channel antagonist. To conclude, it was explicitly observed and verified that on the ischemic electrocardiography (ECG) changes in angina pectoris model in rats, allopurinol exerts a significant protective effects, reminiscent of enhancement of vascular oxidative stress, function of endothelial cells, improved coronary blood flow in addition to the potential enhancement in myocardial stress. Moreover, our findings were in conformity with several human studies.     

Epidemiology of lacrosse injuries treated at the United States emergency departments between 1997 and 2015

ABSTRACT

Lacrosse has gained substantial popularity across age groups in the past few decades, but epidemiologic sex differences of lacrosse injuries in emergency settings have not been well described. We characterized and described lacrosse-related injuries presenting to United States Emergency Departments (US EDs) using data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). From 1997 to 2015, 7,587 lacrosse-related injuries were treated at US EDs (national estimate of 256,358 injuries). Males accounted for 75.5% of injuries. Average age was 16.0 ± 5.0 (range 5–71) years. Sprains/strains (25.4%), contusions/abrasions (23.9%), and fractures (18.7%) were the most common diagnoses. Females sustained a higher proportion of sprains/strains (36.0%) than males (21.9%) (p< 0.01), while males sustained a higher proportion of fractures (injury proportion ratios [IPR]; 21.3% vs. 10.8%, p< 0.01). Similar proportions of concussions were observed (IPR; 6.1% in males, 6.2% among females). Differences in injury patterns may be secondary to differences in rules and equipment between the two sports.     

Pyruvate attenuates cardiac dysfunction and oxidative stress in isoproterenol-induced cardiotoxicity

Pyruvate, a potent endogenous antioxidant and an important metabolic fuel is essential for the cardiac function and tissue defense mechanism. The present study was evaluated to investigate whether pyruvate attenuates the development of cardiotoxicity in isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial infarction by assessing hemodynamic, biochemical and histopathological parameters. Subcutaneous injection of ISO (85 mg/kg) administered for 2 days at an interval of 24 h was used for induction of cardiotoxicity. ISO administration significantly decreased arterial pressure indices, heart rate, contractility {(+)LVdP/dt} and relaxation {(?)LVdP/dt} and increased left ventricular end-diastolic pressure. In addition, a significant reduction in activities of myocardial creatine phosphokinase-MB, lactate dehydrogenase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and reduced glutathione levels along with increase in thiobarbituric acid reactive substances were also observed following ISO administration. However, pretreatment with pyruvate (0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 g/kg, p.o.) favorably modulated all most every studied parameters in ISO-induced myocardial injury. Furthermore, protective effect of pyruvate was confirmed by histopathological studies. Rats pretreated only with pyruvate did not produce significant change in hemodynamic, biochemical and histopathological parameters. Pyruvate at 0.50 and 1.0 g/kg doses was found to exert optimal cardioprotective effect against ISO-induced myocardial infarction. The results of our study suggest that pyruvate possessing antioxidant activity has a significant cardioprotective effect against ISO-induced myocardial injury.     

Using quadratic inference functions to determine the factors associated with obesity: findings from the STEPS Survey in Iran

PurposeThe last study that had a representative sample of the Iranian population and examined the association between sociodemographic and lifestyle factors with obesity used data from the 1999 to 2000 National Health Survey in Iran. Concern about the increased prevalence of obesity has heightened interest in the association between varieties of these factors with obesity among Iranian households.MethodsData (20,917 adults) were taken from the 2009 STEPwise approach to Surveillance survey in Iran that was conducted under the supervision of World Health Organization. Using quadratic inference function, we evaluated the relation of age, sex, physical activity, serving of fruit and vegetable, employment status, smoking, and place of residence with obesity.ResultsUsing 20–30 years as the reference group, the obesity odds ratios (ORs) were 2.48, 3.79, 3.52, and 3.15 for ages 30–40, 40–50, 50–60, and 60+ years, respectively. Obesity OR for female was 2.63, compared with male. Obesity ORs for smokers and ex-smokers were 0.64 and 1.18, respectively, compared with nonsmokers. Among Iranian adult, obesity ORs for the moderate and vigorous physical activity were 0.99 and 0.90, respectively, compared with low level. The estimated odds of obesity were 46% higher for rural adults. Obesity ORs for public and private employed were 0.79 and 0.76, respectively, compared with unemployed.ConclusionsOur results may provide better insights of the factors associated with obesity and can be used as a basis to reinforce health programs to prevent obesity in Iran.     

Quantitative classification of conversational language using artificial neural networks

Abstract

In this paper I shall describe the use of artificial neural networks for the classification of subjects based on their conversational speech using a set of linguistic measures, with particular reference to the application of this approach in classifying dysphasic patients. These linguistic measures can be applied to the transcribed texts of conversational speech of both normal and dysphasic subjects, and will quantify the availability of linguistic features which are dependent on word frequency. The paper presents the results of a crossvalidation study using neural networks and compares them against those obtained using a linear discriminant analysis on the same data.