Ovarian and uterine findings in pelvic sonography: comparison between prepubertal girls, girls with isolated thelarche, and girls with central precocious puberty.

OBJECTIVE: To describe pelvic sonographic findings in girls as old as 7 years, to compare prepubertal girls with girls who had isolated thelarche or central precocious puberty, and to verify the accuracy of sonographic variables for distinguishing prepubertal girls from girls with central precocious puberty. METHODS: Ninety-six prepubertal girls and 2 reference groups (8 girls with isolated thelarche and 8 with idiopathic central precocious puberty) were included. Ovaries were classified morphologically as homogeneous, paucicystic, macrocystic, multicystic, and having isolated cysts. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to choose the best cutoff points. RESULTS: Chronologic and bone age were correlated with uterine length, area, and volume and ovarian volume in prepubertal girls (P < .0001). Ovarian morphologic characteristics in prepubertal girls differed significantly from those of the reference groups (P < .0001). The best cutoff points were uterine length of 4.0 cm, uterine area of 4.5 cm2, uterine volume of 3.0 cm3, and ovarian volume of 1.0 cm3. CONCLUSIONS: Uterine and ovarian growth are proportional to age in prepubertal girls. Mean ovarian volume greater than 1 cm3 showed 100% sensitivity and specificity for discriminating between prepubertal girls and girls with central precocious puberty. Microcysts are common in prepubertal girls, but the presence of 6 or more follicles up to 10 mm in diameter may suggest central precocious puberty in girls younger than 8 years.     

Waardenburg syndrome: clinical differentiation between types I and II

Here we present the results of a study performed on 59 patients affected by Waardenburg syndrome (WS), 30 with the I variant, 21 having the type II, and 8 of them being isolated cases without telecanthus. These patients belong to 37 families; the main contributions and conclusions are based on the detailed study of 25 of these families, examined using standard procedures. All patients were examined as to the presence of eight cardinal signs important for the diagnosis of the condition; from each patient, from many of his/her normal relatives, and from a control sample of 300 normal individuals stratified by age and sex, 23 different craniofacial measurements were obtained. We also estimated, using our own data as well those collected from the literature, the frequencies of the cardinal signs, based on a total sample of 461 affected individuals with WSI and 121 with WSII. In order to originate discriminant functions to separate individuals affected by one of the two variants, both metric (from craniofacial measurements) as well as categoric data (based on the frequencies of the cardinal signs or symptoms) were used. Discriminant analysis based on the frequency of the eight cardinal signs can improve the separation of WSI patients without telecanthus from those presenting the variant II. We present also a Table with the conditional probabilities favoring the diagnosis of WSI for suspect subjects without telecanthus and any combination of the other seven signs/symptoms. The discriminant function based on the four ocular measurements (inner and outer intercanthal, interpupillary, and inferior lacrymal distances), on the other side, perfectly classifies patients affected by one of the variants of WS, the same taking place when the average values of the W index of all affected individuals per family are used. The discriminant function based solely in the individual W index values of patients correctly classifies 93% of WSII subjects, but only 60% of the patients with the I variant of WS.     

Laser therapy for recurrent aphthous stomatitis: an overview

Clinical Oral Investigations - To evaluate therapeutic effects of laser therapy on patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis assessing evidences from previously published systematic reviews. An...     

Muscle endothelial-dependent microvascular dysfunction in adulthood due to early postnatal overnutrition

The aims of our study were to investigate effects of postnatal overnutrition, obtained by restricting the number of pups per litter, on microcirculatory reactivity, fat depots, its total percentage and lipid profile. Microvascular reactivity was evaluated in the cremaster muscle of 24 hamsters divided into four groups, with 6 animals in each one: normal (NL) and restricted (RL) litter groups, both at 6th and 21st weeks of age. The NL group had 8-9 pups and the RL 3 pups per litter and to avoid the litter effect, only one animal was used per litter. The results have shown that the RL group had higher velocity of weight, body mass and fat gain compared to the NL one at weeks 6 and 21. Significant differences were also observed on urogenital fat depot, total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein between groups. At the lowest concentration of Ach, the RL group showed smaller arteriolar dilatation at the 21st than at the 6th week [5(3-13) vs 19(8-40)%, p<0.01] while the NL one did not show any difference within the group. The highest concentration of Ach at the 21th week pointed to endothelial-dependent microvascular dysfunction in RL compared to NL [3(8-26) vs. 13(8-26)%, p<0.05]. Endothelial-independent microvascular reactivity was similar between groups. Our data suggest that postnatal overnutrition is associated to muscle endothelial-dependent microvascular dysfunction, greater body mass and total percentage of fat and impaired the lipid profile. In conclusion, the imprinting promoted by this experimental model of obesity was able to influence microvascular reactivity later in life.     

Increased vascular function and superoxide dismutase activity in physically active vs inactive adults living with HIV

This study compared macro‐ and microvascular endothelial function and redox status in active vs inactive HIV‐infected patients (HIVP) under antiretroviral therapy. Using a cross‐sectional design, macro‐ and microvascular reactivity, systemic microvascular density, and oxidative stress were compared between 19 HIVP (53.1 ± 6.1 year) enrolled in a multimodal training program (aerobic, strength and flexibility exercises) for at least 12 months (60‐minutes sessions performed 3 times/wk with moderate intensity) vs 25 sedentary HIVP (51.2 ± 6.3 year). Forearm blood flow during reactive hyperemia (521.7 ± 241.9 vs 361.4% ± 125.0%; P = 0.04) and systemic microvascular density (120.8 ± 21.1 vs 105.6 ± 25.0 capillaries/mm²; P = 0.03) was greater in active than inactive patients. No significant difference between groups was detected for endothelium‐dependent and independent skin microvascular vasodilation (P > 0.05). As for redox status, carbonyl groups (P = 0.22), lipid peroxidation (P = 0.86), catalase activity (P = 0.99), and nitric oxide levels (P = 0.72) were similar across groups. However, superoxide dismutase activity was greater in active vs inactive HIVP (0.118 ± 0.013 vs 0.111 ± 0.007 U/mL; P = 0.05). Immune function reflected by total T CD4 and T CD8 counts (cell/mm³) did not differ between active and inactive groups (P > 0.82). In conclusion, physically active HIVP exhibited similar immune function, but greater macrovascular reactivity, systemic microvascular density, and superoxide dismutase activity than inactive patients of similar age.     

Body adiposity and its influence on clinical and metabolic parameters of patients with type 1 diabetes

We evaluated the influence of body adiposity (BA), which was measured by bioelectrical impedance, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC), in clinical and laboratorial parameters of 64 patients with type 1 diabetes (DM1), 33 females, matched for diabetes duration. Women had greater BA than men. Fourteen patients were overweight. In the whole group, we found correlations between BA and BMI (r= 0.50; p= 0.001), BA and WC (r= 0.30; p= 0.001) and BA and fasting glucose (r= 0.24; p= 0.048). There were 11 patients with abnormal BA; among them, there were 6 with overweight and abnormal WC. In those patients with abnormal BA, we found higher HbA1c, respectively [(9.8 +/- 2.4) vs. (8.1 +/- 1.5%); p= 0.03], WC [(82.9 +/- 11.4) vs. (72.9 +/- 8.3 cm); p = 0.01] and BMI [(26.1 +/- 2.7) vs. (22.1 +/- 2.5 Kg/m2); p= 0.0001]. We conclude that some DM1 patients can have some characteristics of the metabolic syndrome and the influence of these findings on clinical and laboratory control and on the cardiovascular risk must be analysed in prospectives studies.     

Assessment and risk classification protocol for patients in emergency units

Objective

to develop, validate the contents and verify the reliability of a risk classification protocol for an Emergency Unit.

Method

the content validation was developed in a University Hospital in a country town located in the state of Sao Paulo and was carried out in two stages: the first with the individual assessment of specialists and the second with the meeting between the researchers and the specialists. The use of the protocol followed a specific guide. Concerning reliability, the concordance or equivalent method among observers was used.

Results

the protocol developed showed to have content validity and, after the suggested changes were made, there were excellent results concerning reliability.

Conclusion

the assistance flow chart was shown to be easy to use, and facilitate the search for the complaint in each assistance priority.     

Benefits of blood group genotyping in multi‐transfused patients from the south of Brazil

We evaluated the usefulness of blood group genotyping as a supplement to hemagglutination to determine the red blood cell (RBC) antigen profile of polytransfused patients with hematological diseases and renal failure. Seventy‐nine patients were selected. They all received more than three units of blood and eight (10%) had already clinical significant alloantibodies occurring alone or in combination against Rh, K, Fya, and Di antigens. DNA was prepared from blood samples and RHCE*E/e, KEL*01/KEL*02, FY*01/FY*02 and JK*01/JK*02 alleles were determined by using PCR‐RFLP. RHD*/RHD*Ψ and RHCE*C/c were tested using multiplex PCR. Discrepancies for Rh, Kell, Duffy, and Kidd systems were found between the phenotype and genotype‐derived phenotype in 16 of the 38 chronically transfused patients. The genotypes of these patients were confirmed by DNA array analysis (HEA Beadchip^?; Bioarray Solutions, Warren, NJ). Genotyping was very important for the determination of the true blood groups of the polytransfused patients, helped in the identification of suspected alloantibodies and in the selection of antigen‐negative RBCs for transfusion. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 24:311–316, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.