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.     

包含颈外静脉的颈阔肌肌皮瓣修复口腔癌切除后缺损

目的探讨将颈外静脉包含在颈阔肌肌皮瓣内修复口腔癌切除后缺损的手术方法。方法先形成蒂在颌缘下包含颈外静脉的颈阔肌肌皮瓣，待口腔肿瘤切除后，将肌皮瓣经口底隧道引入口腔修复缺损。结果临床应用17例，肌皮瓣均无血运障碍，100％存活，其中有2例发生口面痿，经换药后痿口完全闭合。结论将颈外静脉包含在颈阔肌肌皮瓣内有助于肌皮瓣血循环的改善和存活率的提高。     

Xanthogranulomatous orchitis: Review of the published work and report of one case

Xanthogranulomatous orchitis is an extremely rare inflammatory non-neoplastic destructive lesion of the testis. We report a 44-year-old man who presented with right scrotal swelling and two discharging sinuses. Testicular tumor markers were normal. Scrotal ultrasound showed heterogeneous testicular areas and irregular margin of the tunica. Surgical exploration revealed infected, unhealthy testicular tissue with necrosis and tumor-like lesion. Orchidectomy was done and histopathology showed xanthogranulomatous orchitis.     

Impaired in-vitro proliferation of hemopoietic precursors in HIV-1-infected subjects

Patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and persistent lymphadenopathy syndrome (LAS) display significant hematological abnormalities of one or more cell lineages. In order to understand the pathophysiologic mechanisms leading to these abnormalities we studied the proliferation capacity of pluripotent and committed hemopoietic precursors using in-vitro colony assays. Anemia, leukopenia and thrombopenia were relatively frequent findings in HIV-infected subjects irrespectively of the patients' clinical status. The colony growth capacity of AIDS patients' GM-CFU and BFU-E was significantly decreased whereas no GEMM-CFU colonies could be obtained. There was no correlation between the number of BFU-E and GM-CFU colony number and the hemoglobin or the absolute number of polynuclear cells, respectively. The plating efficiency of both committed and pluripotent hematopoietic precursors from HIV infected patients could not be enhanced when additional exogenous recombinant GM-CSF, human interleukin 3 or erythropoietin were added in contrast to normal patients' cells. In addition, the impaired colony growth of these precursors could not be restored after adherent or T-cell depletion or the addition of normal allogenic irradiated adherent or/and T cells. Since this colony growth abnormality was also detected in HIV seropositive asymptomatic subjects our findings strongly suggest that the in-vitro growth of hematopoietic precursors is affected early after HIV-1 infection.     

Brain abscess in Saudi Arabia

There are significant variations among countries in the incidence of brain abscess. We report here 26 cases of brain abscess treated at the Neurosurgery Department of King Faisal University and Dammam Central Hospital Saudi Arabia over a six year period (1982–1988). This is 2.3% of total admissions to the two neurosurgery departments serving a population of approximately 1.2 million in the same period.Young males were most often affected (M/F ratio 3.3:1; 31% were less than 15 years old, 46% aged between 15–39 years, and 23% older than 40 years). Streptococcus was found to be the most common microorganism (38.4%). Mixed infection was seen in 15.3%, and sterile abscesses were found in 11.5% of the patients after aerobic and anaerobic cultures of the pus. Chronic otitis media and paranasal sinusitis predisposed the patients to abscess formation in 57.6% of the cases. The temporo-parietal area was the commonest site. Epilepsy was a complication in 30.7% of our patients, and the mortality rate was 15.3%.     

Correlation of carotid artery stump pressure with a palpable carotid artery pulse.

The carotid artery stump pressure has been used as a criterion for selective placement of a shunt during carotid endarterectomy. The purpose of our study was to correlate the carotid stump pressure with the presence or absence of a palpable pulse in the carotid stump. One hundred twenty-two consecutive patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy under general anesthesia were checked for a palpable pulse in the internal carotid stump with subsequent measurements of the stump pressure. Of these patients, 88 had a palpable pulse and a pressure greater than or equal to 44 mmHg. The remaining 34 had a absent pulse and a stump pressure of 40 mmHg or less. Shunts were not used in those patients with a palpable pulse and no history of previous stroke or contralateral carotid occlusion. There were no serious neurological complications. We conclude that the presence of a palpable pulse in the carotid stump is a sufficient criterion for performing carotid endarterectomy without a shunt in those patients with no previous history of stroke or contralateral carotid occlusion.     

Carotid Stent-Supported Angioplasty via Radiobrachial Route

Endovascular stent-supported angioplasty is a treatment option for atherosclerotic disease of the cervical internal carotid artery in high-risk patients. The traditional transfemoral approach is not suitable for patients who suffer from common femoral artery or abdominal aorta atheropathy. We report a case of carotid stent deployment using the radial route in a 68-year-old man with type B aortic dissection, having severe right internal carotid artery origin stenosis, presenting with ipsilateral retinal ischemic events. Technical aspects of carotid stenting via the radial approach are described and the related literature is discussed.     

恶性淋巴瘤自体造血干细胞移植后复发的研究进展

自体造血干细胞移植 (ASCT)是治疗复发性、难治性和侵袭性恶性淋巴瘤的有效方法 ,但因存在体内肿瘤细胞负荷过多和移植物被肿瘤细胞污染 ,使移植后的复发率增高。为了提高ASCT的疗效 ,可采取 :①移植前美罗华体内净化 ,除去外周血B细胞 ,清除移植物的肿瘤细胞污染 ;②移植后用美罗华和非交叉耐药药物交替联合化疗 ,以杀伤体内肿瘤细胞 ;③移植前或后累及野放射治疗 (IFRT)辅助 ,降低原发灶的复发率     

莱菔硫烷对ox-LDL诱导血小板活化的抑制作用

目的：探讨莱菔硫烷（sulforaphane,SFN）对氧化低密度脂蛋白（oxidized low-density lipoprotein,ox-LDL）诱导血小板活化的影响及其可能的分子机制。方法：在体外实验中,将健康人纯化血小板与不同浓度的SFN(1.0、2.5、5.0μmol/L)共同孵育40 min,然后用ox-LDL激活血小板20 min,并检测血小板活化的指标,包括CD62P的表达、胞内血小板因子4(platelet factor4,PF4)和趋化因子配体5(chemokine ligand 5,CCL5)的释放水平。机制上,用Western blot蛋白免疫印迹法检测血小板肉瘤酪氨酸激酶（sarcoma tyrosine kinase,Src）及其下游的脾酪氨酸激酶（spleen tyrosine kinase,Syk）磷酸化水平;用活性氧（reactive oxygen species,ROS）检测试剂盒测定胞内总ROS水平。结果：ox-LDL诱导的血小板CD62P的表达以及PF4和CCL5的释放水平均可被SFN显著抑制（P <0.05）;SFN显著下调ox-LD...