Neuropsychological changes following electrical injury.

The clinical presentation of electrical injury commonly involves physical, cognitive, and emotional complaints. Neuropsychological studies, including case reports, have indicated that electrical injury (EI) survivors may experience a broad range of impaired neuropsychological functions, although this has not been clarified through controlled investigation. In this study, we describe the neuropsychological test findings in a series of 29 EI patients carefully screened and matched to a group of 29 demographically similar healthy electricians. Participants were matched by their estimated premorbid intellectual ability. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to assess group differences in the following neuropsychological domains: attention and mental speed, working memory, verbal memory, visual memory, and motor skills. EI patients performed significantly worse on composite measures of attention/mental speed and motor skills, which could not be explained by demographic differences, injury parameters, litigation status, or mood disturbance. Results suggest that cognitive changes do occur in patients suffering from electrical injury.     

Detection of the circulation of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus in the piedmont steppes of the North Caucasus

The laboratory verified cases of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) in the piedmont steppes of the North Caucasus (Malgobeksky District, Republic of Ingushetia) are first described. The source of the first infection was Ixodidae ticks; three subsequent sources were contacts with the bloody discharges from patients. CCHF virus genome was detected in the blood of the cattle from an epidemic focus and in the pools of the Ixodes ticks Haemaphysalis parva Neum., 1897 and Boophilus annulatus Say, 1821, taken from cattle. The problem of including the piedmont steppes of the North Caucasus into the CCHF nosological area is discussed.     

The goniomaxillar length/goniomandibular length ratio in normal newborn infants: A clinical tool for defining chin position abnormalities

Retrognathia (recessed chin) and prognathism (prominent chin) often present as signs of an underlying condition. Accurate clinical definitions are important. Yet their definitions were according to “clinical impression”, or to seldom used X‐ray criteria. We propose a statistical and anthropometric definition of retrognathia and prognathism based upon the ratio between the goniomaxillar length (distance between the gonion at the mandible angle and the subnasale and the goniomandibular length (distance between the mandible angle and the most anterior point of the bony chin). We assumed that an increase in the ratio indicates retrognathia and a decrease reflects prognathism. We conducted a prospective, observational, anthropometric study in 204 consecutive healthy term infants. Measurements took place on the second day of life, using sliding calipers. Mean ± SD of goniomandibular length (5.1 ± 0.3 cm), goniomaxillar length (5.4 ± 0.3 cm), were calculated. All measurements correlated significantly with gestational age, and with infant birthweight. The mean ± SD goniomaxillar length/goniomandibular length ratio was 1.06 ± 0.05. We defined a normal ratio as being within 2 SD of the mean, that is, between 0.96 and and 1.16. This ratio correlated with neither gestational age nor with birthweight. We conclude that the goniomaxillar length/goniomandibular length ratio can be calculated whenever retro ‐ or prognathism is suspected. A ratio outside of the 95% confidence interval should help in making this diagnosis. An increase in this ratio beyond 2 SD above the mean (1.16) could be interpreted as retrognathia and a decrease beyond 2 SD below the mean (0.96) as prognathism.     

Effect of ultrasound on the myocardium and cardiac conduction (A morphological study)

Focused ultrasound is used to create local foci of lesions in the myocardium. It is shown that this method can be used for the treatment of monofocal tachycardias. The effect of focused ultrasound on the myocardium, coronary artery, and atrioventricular node is studied in experiments on dogs, and the ultrasound-destroyed zones of the myocardium are investigated morphologically. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 118, N ^o 7, pp. 104–107, July, 1994 Presented by F. G. Uglov, Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences     

FN-C1q and C1 INH C1r-C1s complexes as indicators of complement activation in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

We have previously found low levels of C1 and C4 INH in the sera of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) patients. Hypocomplementaemia was supposed to be the consequence of a permanent activation of the classical pathway. We have compared the levels of C1 INH-C1rC1s and C1q-FN complexes in the sera of 95 CLL patients and 100 healthy controls, because these complexes are known to be formed in the early stage of classical pathway activation. A significant increase in the level of both types of complexes was found in sera of CLL patients as compared to the controls. These findings support the assumption that the classical complement pathway is activated in the patients with CLL.     

Biology of desmoplastic melanoma: a case-control comparison with other melanomas.

PURPOSE: Previous studies have established that patients with desmoplastic melanoma (DM) have thicker primary tumors. Consequently, comparisons with other forms of melanoma have been strongly biased by differences in Breslow stage. This is the first case-matched control study comparing DM with other forms of melanoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From a database of 3,202 melanoma patients treated at one institution, 89 patients with DM and 178 case-matched control patients (2:1) were identified by matching for tumor thickness, age, sex, and year of diagnosis. Clinical, pathologic, and outcome information was obtained from chart review. RESULTS: Controls were matched successfully to patients for tumor thickness, age, sex, and year of diagnosis. Presentation with American Joint Committee on Cancer stage III or IV disease is less common in patients with DM compared to case-matched control patients (5% v 21%; P < .001). Re-excisions to obtain clear surgical margins are required more often in patients with DM compared to case-matched control patients (21% v 6%; P < .001). Risk of positive sentinel nodes is lower in patients with DM compared to case-matched control patients (8% v 34%; P = .013). Despite these differences, survival rates of patients with DM are the same as case-matched control patients. CONCLUSION: Use of case-matched control patients matched for tumor thickness avoids biases introduced by the advanced Breslow stage of DMs. DMs are more locally aggressive than thickness-matched controls, and positive sentinel nodes are limited to patients with thick primary tumors. Importantly, patients with DM have survival rates similar to patients with other melanomas of similar thickness.     

SENP5 mediates breast cancer invasion via a TGFβRI SUMOylation cascade

Identifying novel mechanisms, which are at the core of breast cancer biology, is of critical importance. Such mechanisms may explain response to treatment, reveal novel targets or drive detection assays.To uncover such novel mechanisms, we used survival analysis on gene expression datasets encompassing 1363 patients. By iterating over the compendia of genes, we screened for their significance as prognosis biomarkers and identified SUMO-specific protease 5 (SENP5) to significantly stratify patients into two survival groups across five unrelated tested datasets. According to these findings, low expression of SENP5 is associated with good prognosis among breast cancer patients.Following these findings, we analyzed SENP5 silencing and show it is followed by inhibition of anchorage-independence growth, proliferation, migration and invasion in breast cancer cell lines. We further show that these changes are conducted via regulation of TGFβRI levels. These data relate to recent reports about the SUMOylation of TGFβRI. Following TGFβRI changes in expression, we show that one of its target genes, MMP9, which plays a key role in degrading the extracellular matrix and contributes to TGFβ-induced invasion, is dramatically down regulated upon SENP5 silencing.This is the first report represents SENP5-TGFβ-MMP9 cascade and its mechanistic involvement in breast cancer.     

Occupation as a potential contributing factor for temporomandibular disorders,bruxism, and cervical muscle pain: a controlled comparative study

The aim of the study was to compare the prevalence of cervical muscle pain (CMP) and myogenic temporomandibular disorders (MFP) among female dentists, high‐tech workers, and a group of subjects employed in other occupations; to investigate the associations among CMP, MFP, and bruxism in those groups; and to evaluate the influence of work‐related stress on MFP and CMP. Evaluation was based on clinical examinations of MFP and CMP and self‐reported questionnaires concerning pain and stress. The diagnosis of sleep bruxism was adapted using the validated diagnostic criteria of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD‐2), 2005, Westchester, IL), whilst the diagnosis of awake bruxism was made on the basis of a questionnaire. The odds of a subject with MFP experiencing concurrent CMP or bruxism (sleep and/or awake) ranged from 2.603 to 3.077. These results suggest that high‐tech workers and dentists are at greater risk for developing temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) and CMP when compared with general occupation workers, as defined in this study. Furthermore, the associations shown here between TMDs and CMP highlight the importance of palpating neck musculature as part of any routine examination of TMD.     

Impact of exercise test on signal-averaged ECG in patients with myocardial infarction]

To examine the impact of exercise test (bicycle ergometry) and exercise-induced transient ischemic changes in ST segment on signal-averaged ECG parameters, the authors studied a homogeneous group including 65 patients (62 males and 3 females) with a 2-3-week history of primary myocardial infarction. The findings showed that induced myocardial ischemia caused no significant changes in signal-averaged ECG and late potentials, exercise might induce late potentials without clear-cut ECG signs of myocardial ischemia. It was also indicated that exercise-labile late potentials were significantly more frequently associated with the development of ventricular arrhythmias than steady late potentials.