Intrastromal bevacizumab in the management of corneal neovascularization: a retrospective review

Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology - To evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of intrastromal bevacizumab for treatment of deep corneal neovascularization in...     

Primary extraosseous osteogenic sarcoma of the mediastinum: clinical, pathologic, and radiologic correlation

We have presented a rare case of primary involvement of the anterior mediastinum by osteogenic sarcoma in which CT was useful in demonstrating calcium within the mass, and in distinguishing the mass from surrounding bony structures. Although rare, extraosseous osteogenic sarcoma should be included in the differential diagnosis of a calcified anterior mediastinal mass.     

The concept of culture: A core issue in health disparities

Contemporary discourse contains numerous examples of use of the concept of culture by social and behavioral scientists. Simple reification, where the speaker makes culture into a thing capable of action exemplifies one usage in public discourse. Some quantitative social scientists attempt to characterize people’s cultural identities by means of a single categorical variable, which often “lumps” people into categories such as “Hispanic” or “Black” that in fact have numerous culturally bounded subcategories. Approaches that emphasize cultural process are preferable to those who attempt to categorize; more complex measures of acculturation help investigators to make convincing analyses of circumstances in which health disparities occur. Examples in which investigators make appropriate use of cultural characterizations demonstrate their utility in investigating health disparities in Haitian American women, injecting and noninjecting drug users, Hispanic youth, and adult Hispanics at risk of HIV infection. Focus on culture in the study of health disparities can identify entanglements between structural factors such as poverty and lack of education and cultural factors such as beliefs about health. Qualitative methods coupled with quantitative methods have great potential to improve investigators’ grasp of cultural nuance while capturing the distribution of qualitatively derived behaviors.     

Syringomatous adenoma of the nipple occurring within a supernumerary breast: a case report

Originally described by Rosen in 1983, syringomatous nipple adenoma (SAN) is a tumor of disputed histogenesis, which can be problematic both diagnostically and therapeutically. ¹ It is a benign primary tumor of breast epithelium with histology similar to that of the syringoma. In the current case, we describe a 40-year-old female with this lesion occurring within a supernumerary breast. This case represents, to our knowledge, the first such reported case, and represents a significant finding as its presence could lend some confusion as to whether or not this represents a benign primary process of breast or a potentially infiltrative tumor of the skin.     

The effect of chronic inflammation on gingival connective tissue proteoglycans and hyaluronic acid

Proteoglycans have been isolated and analysed from extracts of normal and chronically inflamed human gingiva in order to determine the effects of chronic inflammation on these important soft connective tissue extracellular macromolecules. The uronic acid content of glycosaminoglycans isolated by papain digestion of normal and inflamed gingiva did not differ significantly. Likewise, electrophoretic analysis revealed that the content of hyaluronic acid, heparan sulfate, dermatan sulfate and chondroitin sulfute was similar. The sulfated glycosaminoglycans from both sources eluted from a Sepharose C1-6B column with a Kav of 0.45 (approximate M_r 25,000). However, hyaluronic acid from normal gingiva was predominantly of a large size eluting in the void volume of a Sepharose. CL-6B column, while that isolated from inflamed tissue was mostly a small molecular weight species which elutccl in the included volume of a Sepharose CL-6B column. Using dissociative conditions, intact proteoglycans could be more readily extracted from inflamed tissues (90% of the total tissue uronic acid) than from normal tissues where only 80% of the total tissue uronic acid was extractable. Even though DEAE-Sephacel ion-exchange chromatography revealed no differences in charge between normal and inflamed gingival proteoglycans, Sepharose CL-4B chromatography revealed more molecular size polydispersity in samples from inflamed tissue than from normal tissue. Taken together, these results indicate that while hyaluronic acid is depolymerized in inflamed tissue, no evidence of sulfated glycosaminoglycan degradation was found. Therefore, the most likely cause for disruption to the molecular integrity of the proteoglycans is via proteolytic alteration to the proteoglycan core protein.     

多种血管新生指标在肝细胞肝癌中的表达及敏感性比较

目的　探讨血管新生指标CD34、CD31、vWF、Ⅳ型胶原纤维及层粘连蛋白在肝细胞肝癌(HCC)中的表达及意义 ,同时比较上述几种血管新生因子与增殖细胞核抗原 (PCNA)、病理指标及预后的相关性 ,以便筛选出有效的临床预后指标。方法　采用免疫组化方法 ,对 5 3例肝细胞肝癌的标本进行CD31、CD34、vWF、Ⅳ型胶原纤维及层粘连蛋白的染色、计数 ,并用检测数据与患者的临床资料进行统计分析。结果　统计染色的血管面积后发现 ,CD34与多种临床病理指标无相关性 ;CD31与肝内门静脉浸润相关 ;vWF与肿瘤的TNM分期及肝内门静脉浸润呈正相关 ;CollⅣ与肝内门静脉浸润呈正相关、与术后生存期呈负相关 ;Lam与肝硬化及术中出血量呈负相关、与术后生存期呈正相关。PCNA与肿瘤TNM分期有关。结论　在HCC中 ,CollⅣ、vWF、及CD31为肝细胞肝癌的有效血管新生及预后指标 ;Lam则与肝硬化及术中出血相关 ;PCNA指数肿瘤分期有关 ;CD34不能用作血管新生或预后指标     

Prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms among former prisoners of war

Studies of former prisoners of war (POWs) provide valuable insights into posttraumatic adaptation because they gather information from a large population who survived the traumatic experiences of military captivity. Previous studies of POWs have shown elevated rates of psychiatric symptoms and disorders. This report presents evidence from a longitudinal study of three large, representative, national samples of former POWs. The study finds that depressive symptomatology, as measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, is elevated in World War II POWs from the Pacific and European theaters and in Korean conflict POWs. Decades later, depressive symptomatology is found to be strongly associated with prior treatment in captivity. Differences in depressive symptomatology among the three POW groups can be attributed to captivity-related factors and to buffering factors, such as age at capture and education.