Huge adrenal haemangioma

Adrenal tumours are either functioning or non-functioning. Non-functioning adrenal tumours are generally asymptomatic and usually of enormous proportions at the time of presentation. A case is presented here of a patient with a huge right adrenal haemangioma which was successfully treated surgically. This unusual tumour was 25 cm in diameter, was well encapsulated and weighed 4 kg. The literature pertaining to this interesting case is reviewed.     

Influence of anticoagulants used for blood collection on plasma prothrombin fragment F1 + 2 measurements.

The levels of prothrombin fragment F₁₊₂ were measured by a double antibody radioimmunoassay in blood samples collected into different anticoagulant solutions. We evaluated healthy males between the ages of 42 and 77, asymptomatic patients with hereditary deficiencies of protein C or protein S, and persons receiving tumor necrosis factor infusions. The results in specimens collected in an anticoagulant containing ACD, EDTA, adenosine, and 25 U/ml of heparin (a) were highly correlated with those collected in an anticoagulant containing a synthetic thrombin inhibitor, EDTA, and aprotinin (b). However, in asymptomatic patients with congenital antithrombin III deficiency, we found that the plasma levels of F₁₊₂ in blood collected in anticoagulant (a) were usually substantially higher than those collected in anticoagulant (b). We determined that this phenomenon was not attributable to the venipuncture procedure itself, but rather appears to be due to the action of low concentrations of heparin in the presence of reduced blood levels of antithrombin III. Our data show that the previously documented elevations in plasma F₁₊₂ levels in patients with congenital antithrombin III deficiency appear to be caused by the above in vitro anticoagulant effect, and that this population does not exhibit evidence of a prethrombotic state as defined by the F₁₊₂ assay.     

Autocrine human growth hormone expression leads to resistance of MCF-7 cells to tamoxifen

Tamoxifen is the most common antiestrogen used in the treatment of estrogen-positive breast cancer but its adverse effects and also resistance to this drug are serious challenges in the treatment of breast cancer. Characterization of mechanisms responsible for these adverse effects can lead to design of more efficient therapeutic strategies for the treatment of breast cancer. Here, we used a cellular model to evaluate the effects of autocrine expression of human growth hormone on responses of cells to tamoxifen. Our results imply for the first time that autocrine expression of growth hormone in human breast adenocarcinoma cell line, MCF-7, results in increase in cell proliferative capacity of cells even in the presence of tamoxifen. This effect may be due to up-regulation of G-coupled estrogen receptor, GPR30, which is activated by tamoxifen.     

Interpretable generalized neural additive models for mortality prediction of COVID-19 hospitalized patients in Hamadan,Iran

Psychometrically sound resilience outcome measures are essential to establish how health and care services or interventions can enhance the resilience of people living with dementia (PLWD) and their carers. This paper systematically reviews the literature to identify studies that administered a resilience measurement scale with PLWD and/or their carers and examines the psychometric properties of these measures. Electronic abstract databases and the internet were searched, and an international network contacted to identify peer-reviewed journal articles. Two authors independently extracted data. They critically reviewed the measurement properties from the available psychometric data in the studies, using a standardised checklist adapted for purpose. Fifty-one studies were included in the final review, which applied nine different resilience measures, eight developed in other populations and one developed for dementia carers in Thailand. None of the measures were developed for use with people living with dementia. The majority of studies (N?=?47) focussed on dementia carers, three studies focussed on people living with dementia and one study measured both carers and the person with dementia. All the studies had missing information regarding the psychometric properties of the measures as applied in these two populations. Nineteen studies presented internal consistency data, suggesting seven of the nine measures demonstrate acceptable reliability in these new populations. There was some evidence of construct validity, and twenty-eight studies hypothesised effects a priori (associations with other outcome measure/demographic data/differences in scores between relevant groups) which were partially supported. The other studies were either exploratory or did not specify hypotheses. This limited evidence does not necessarily mean the resilience measure is not suitable, and we encourage future users of resilience measures in these populations to report information to advance knowledge and inform further reviews. All the measures require further psychometric evaluation in both these populations. The conceptual adequacy of the measures as applied in these new populations was questionable. Further research to understand the experience of resilience for people living with dementia and carers could establish the extent current measures -which tend to measure personal strengths -are relevant and comprehensive, or whether further work is required to establish a new resilience outcome measure.

     

Analgesic Use and Chronic Renal Disease in Patients With Headache

SYNOPSIS
The pattern of analgesic use, abuse and incidence of analgesic-associated nephropathy in 79 patients with chronic headache was studied. Sixty-eight of these patients had migraine. Most patients had consumed a combination of analgesics (81%) while 19% had taken single analgesics for their headache. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were the most commonly used analgesics (96.2%) followed by paracetamol (70.9%) and aspirin, phenacetin and caffeine compounds (5.1%). Mefenamic acid was the commonest nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug consumed (97.4%). Analgesic abuse which was defined as a minimum total of I kg of analgesics such as paracetamol or aspirin, phenacetin and caffeine compounds or 400 capsules/tablets of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs was noted in 65 patients. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were the most commonly abused analgesics (89.2%) followed by paracetamol (38.5%). Forty-five of the 65 analgesic abusers had an intravenous urogram or ultrasound performed and renal papillary necrosis was documented in one patient. Three (4.6%) of the analgesic abusers had mildly raised serum creatinine levels. Mild proteinuria of less than 1 gm/ litre was present in 27.7% of abusers. In conclusion, although analgesic use and abuse is common in patients with chronic headache, the short term incidence of analgesic-associated nephropathy (2.2%) and renal impairment (4.6%) was low. Prolonged observations will be necessary to ascertain the safety of these drugs for long term use.