Extrinsic compression of the renal artery by diaphragmatic crus

Extrinsic compression of the renal artery due to a fibromuscular band originating from the diaphragm was encountered in a 26-year-old patient who had systemic hypertension associated with stenosis and kinking of one of her renal arteries. After surgical decompression, the renal artery assumed a normal expansion with disappearance of hypertension. Six other cases of extrinsic compression of the renal artery have been found in the literature. Surgical treatment is mandatory in all cases because the mechanism that causes the lesion makes percutaneous transluminal angioplasty illusory.     

Intracanalicular arachnoid cyst mimicking acoustic neuroma: CT and MRI.

A patient with a surgically proven intracanalicular arachnoid cyst was studied using computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and air CT cisternography. The lesion had a similar radiographic appearance to acoustic neuroma and therefore, although rare, must be considered in the differential diagnosis of intracanalicular mass lesions. We report a case in which examination was performed, in evaluating the lesion, utilizing high-resolution air CT cisternography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).     

Extramedullary nasal plasmacytoma

The literature on this rare tumour has been reviewed and three cases of nasal plasmacytoma are described. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated cytoplasmic IgA and Kappa determinants in all cases. Two patients are disease-free at the present time, the third developed an IgG-k multiple myeloma, previously not described in the literature.     

Glutathione ester protects against hydroxynonenal-induced loss of auditory hair cells.

OBJECTIVE: Test the ability of glutathione monoethyl ester (GSH(e)) to protect auditory hair cells against the ototoxic effects of 4-hydroxy-2,3-nonenal (HNE). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Organ of Corti explants were either untreated or treated with one of a series of four concentrations of GSH(e) for one day, then exposed to HNE. Counts of FITC-phalloidin-labeled hair cells determined both HNE ototoxicity and GSH(e) otoprotection. RESULTS: HNE was toxic to hair cells at physiologically relevant levels, eg, 400 muM, and GSH(e) provided a significant level of protection against HNE ototoxicity (P < 0.05) at all levels tested, ie, 1.16 to 9.3 mM. CONCLUSION: GSH(e) protects auditory hair cells from damage and loss initiated by a naturally occurring ototoxic molecule, ie, HNE (a by-product of oxidative stress). SIGNIFICANCE: Treatment with GSH(e) may be an effective therapy to protect the cochlea against the adverse effects of traumas (eg, electrode insertion) that generate oxidative stress.     

Hemorrhagic and nonhemorrhagic brain lesions: evaluation with 0.35-T fast MR imaging

Two fast magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques, advanced Fourier and partial-flip imaging, were used at 0.35 T to examine 21 patients with suspected intracranial lesions; the results were quantitatively compared with a conventional spin-echo study. Both of the fast MR techniques yielded a fourfold reduction in imaging time per section. The advanced Fourier sequence showed contrast that was identical to the conventional spin-echo study with signal-to-noise ratios of 58% and 57% for the first and second echoes, respectively. The partial-flip sequence showed a contrast of 109% and 57% for lesions versus substantia alba, and 107% and 78% for substantia grisea versus substantia alba relative to the first and second echoes of the conventional spin-echo study. The partial-flip sequence was particularly sensitive to magnetic susceptibility; this produced artifacts that may undermine the usefulness of partial flip for routine screening in certain parts of the brain. However, this susceptibility significantly improved the detection of intracranial hemorrhage when compared with the spin-echo sequence, particularly when combined with phase mapping of the partial-flip study.     

高效液相色谱法测定右旋儿茶素血浆浓度及药代动力学参数

本文建立了体液中右旋儿茶素的RP-HPLC测定方法。采用C_(18)键合相硅胶为填料的固相提取柱进行样品预处理,右旋儿茶素的提取回收率为79.8%.应用二极管阵列检测器对色谱峰纯度进行鉴定。该法精密度好,方法回收率近100%,日内、日间的变异系数为2.4～5.6%,血浓69.6～1160 ng/ml范围内呈线性关系,r=0.9993。家兔静注右旋儿茶素18mg/kg,其药代动力学过程符合二室模型,分布相半衰期为0.129 h,消除相半衰期为1.19h。     

Neonatally administered capsaicin induces functional disturbances in the carotid afferent pathway to the nucleus tractus solitarius.

The effect of neonatal capsaicin treatment on chemo- and/or barosensory input to the medulla was studied in 35-40-day-old rats. By means of responses evoked in the nucleus tractus solitarius by stimulating the ipsilateral sinusal nerve, the excitability of slow-conducting carotid afferent fibers and the effect of substance P microinjection into the fourth ventricle were evaluated. Neonatal capsaicin resulted in reduced amplitude of the late component of the evoked responses, increased chronaxie values in the strength-duration paradigm, and increased sensitivity of evoked responses to the inhibitory effect of intracerebroventricular administered substance P. The results indicate that capsaicin given early in life leads to functional disturbances of chemo- and/or barosensory input to the nucleus tractus solitarius, involving both the slow-conducting primary afferents and the receptors for substance P of the second-order cells of the sensory pathway.     

HPV types in women with normal cervical cytology.

PCR-based hybridization methods have been used to show that some women with normal cytology are carriers of HPV DNA of the types strongly related to cervical cancer. How these women should be managed remains unclear. This chapter selectively reviews reports which have estimated type-specific HPV prevalence in relation to the presence or absence of morphological signs of HPV infection. Overall, these reports indicate that among women who were identified as carriers of HPV DNA (by PCR-based methods) and who also had a normal cytological smear, the HPV type detected in the majority of instances was a high-risk viral type for cervical cancer (HPV types 16/18 = 44.7%; HPV types 31/33/35 = 8.1%; other and unknown types = 37.9%). This suggests that screening programmes which include PCR-based HPV detection could reduce the false negative rates currently reported by screening programmes based on cytology alone.