Use of health services in Hill villages in central Nepal

This paper reports the use and non-use of health care facilities in the Hill villages in central Nepal. The health behaviour model (HBM) is applied to test the significance of socioeconomic variables on the use of the modern health care system. The study finds that all three characteristics of the HBM model, predisposing, enabling and need, are significantly related to use and non-use of the modern health care system. The analysis shows that number of living children, respondent's education, nearness to the road and service centre, value of land, knowledge about health workers and experience of child loss are some of the variables that are positively and significantly related to the use of modern health care. Age of the respondents and household size were found to be negatively associated with health-care use. Contrary to expectation, caste is unimportant. Making use of the qualitative data, this paper argues that the health care system is unnecessarily bureaucratic and patriarchal, which favours the socio-economically well-off.     

Aetioepidemiological profile of spinal injury patients in Eastern Nepal

This is a retrospective case series of 233 spinal injury patients admitted to the orthopaedic ward of BPKIHS from May 1997 to April 2001. The inpatient records were analysed. In all, 40.3% of spinal injuries resulted from falls from trees while cutting leaves for fodder, and 27.9% resulted from falls from first/second floors. More than 75% of total spinal injuries are largely preventable. Overall, 46.8% of our spinal injury patients had complete cord transection at the level of injury. All adolescents and adults, irrespective of age or sex, should be the target groups for community education and intervention programmes for prevention of spinal injury.     

Metformin in cancer: translational challenges

The anti-diabetic drug metformin is rapidly emerging as a potential anti-cancer agent. Metformin, effective in treating type 2 diabetes and the insulin resistance syndromes, improves insulin resistance by reducing hepatic gluconeogenesis and by enhancing glucose uptake by skeletal muscle. Epidemiological studies have consistently associated metformin use with decreased cancer incidence and cancer-related mortality. Furthermore, numerous preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated anti-cancer effects of metformin, leading to an explosion of interest in evaluating this agent in human cancer. The effects of metformin on circulating insulin levels indicate a potential efficacy towards cancers associated with hyperinsulinaemia; however, metformin may also directly inhibit tumour growth. In this review, we describe the mechanism of action of metformin and summarise the epidemiological, clinical and preclinical evidence supporting a role for metformin in the treatment of cancer. In addition, the challenges associated with translating preclinical results into therapeutic benefit in the clinical setting will be discussed.     

Acute epiploic appendagitis mimicking symptoms of urinary tract infection: A diagnostic enigma in the emergency department

The epiploic appendages (also known as appendices epiploicae) are usually located on the anti‐mesenteric surface of the colon, extending from the caecum to the rectosigmoid, and epiploic appendagitis (EA) is the inflammation of these appendages. We report a clinical image of epiploic appendagitis creating a diagnostic challenge.     

30例睾丸原发非霍奇金淋巴瘤回顾性临床分析

目的：睾丸淋巴瘤是睾丸肿瘤中较少见的类型，而原发睾丸的淋巴瘤在淋巴瘤中也较罕见。本文旨在对我院睾丸原发恶性淋巴瘤的临床病理特征和治疗情况进行分析，同时对最近的相关报道进行文献复习。方法：分析1990年到2005年就诊并有完整随访的睾丸原发淋巴瘤患者共30例。结果：30例患者中位年龄57．5（3～79）岁，原发单侧者25例，原发双侧者5例，ⅠE期及ⅡE期的患者占86．7％，弥漫大B细胞淋巴瘤23例（76．7％），外周T细胞性淋巴瘤4例（13.3％）。所有患者均接受睾丸切除术，23例患者术后接受了CHOP或类似方案化疗。8例患者在化疗后接受了放射治疗，其中5例患者行阴囊和对侧睾丸放疗，21例患者在首次治疗后取得CR／CRu．3例患者PR。中位随访27．9个月，全组患者的5年OS和PFS分别是42.3％和30.3％。单因素分析显示病理类型和IPI评分对预后有影响：结论：睾丸原发非霍奇金氏淋巴瘤应采取综合治疗，术后给予蒽环类药物为主的全身化疗．中枢预防和对侧睾丸的放射治疗有助于减少复发。     

EPI vaccination in Nepal

A number of surveys, small or large, have been undertaken by various agencies for coverage evaluation of immunization programs. The most commonly used design is the WHO-30 cluster sampling method. Other new methods are the Institute for Refresh Medical Statistics (IRMS) New Delhi method and the lot quality assurance sampling method. This paper describes the National Immunization Day (NID) method to evaluate the immunization coverage of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) vaccines in the Sunsari district of Nepal. A total number of 3,332 respondents (69.4% females and 30.6% males) were interviewed regarding the immunization status of their children during NID. The children with complete immunization (BCG, measles and three doses of DPT and OPV) were 65.7%. The individual coverage by EPI vaccines (except OPV III and measles) was more than 80%. The result shows that there is positive relationship between immunization coverage and educational level of the respondents.     

Navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation improves the treatment outcome in patients with brain tumors in motor eloquent locations

Background

Neurological and oncological outcomes of motor eloquent brain-tumor patients depend upon the ability to localize functional areas and the respective proposed therapy. We set out to determine whether the use of navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) had an impact on treatment and outcome in patients with brain tumors in motor eloquent locations.

Methods

We enrolled 250 consecutive patients and compared their functional and oncological outcomes to a matched pre-nTMS control group (n = 115).

Results

nTMS mapping results disproved suspected involvement of primary motor cortex in 25.1% of cases, expanded surgical indication in 14.8%, and led to planning of more extensive resection in 35.2% of cases and more restrictive resection in 3.5%. In comparison with the control group, the rate of gross total resections increased significantly from 42% to 59% (P < .05). Progression-free-survival for low grade glioma was significantly better in the nTMS group at 22.4 months than in control group at 15.4 months (P < .05). Integration of nTMS led to a nonsignificant change of postoperative deficits from 8.5% in the control group to 6.1% in the nTMS group.

Conclusions

nTMS provides crucial data for preoperative planning and surgical resection of tumors involving essential motor areas. Expanding surgical indications and extent of resection based on nTMS enables more patients to undergo surgery and might lead to better neurological outcomes and higher survival rates in brain tumor patients. The impact of this study should go far beyond the neurosurgical community because it could fundamentally improve treatment and outcome, and its results will likely change clinical practice.