Effects of initiation day of clomiphene citrate on the endometrium of women with regular menstrual cycles

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of initiation time of clomiphene citrate (CC) on the endometrium of women with regular menstrual cycles. DESIGN: Randomized, double-blind, cross-over study. SETTING: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. PATIENT(S): Thirty-three healthy female volunteers with regular menstrual cycles. INTERVENTION(S): The volunteers were randomized to receive either 100 mg of CC on days 1-5 and placebo on days 5-9 (study group) or placebo on days 1-5 and CC on days 5-9 (control group). After a wash-out period of 1 month of CC treatment, the medication was switched in each group. Ultrasonography was performed daily after day 10 of the cycle to detect ovulation. Ultrasonography for endometrial appearance and thickness, endometrial sampling, and blood samples obtained for determination of E(2) and P levels were performed 7 days after ovulation in both groups. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Morphometric analysis, histologic dating, and ultrasonographic appearance and thickness of the endometrium. RESULT(S): Morphometric parameters, histologic dating, and ultrasonographic appearance and thickness of the endometrium were similar in both groups. CONCLUSION(S): Starting CC on either day 1 or day 5 of the menstrual cycle did not have any differential effects on the endometrium of women with regular menstrual cycles, particularly regarding the morphometric analysis, histologic dating, or ultrasonographic appearance.     

Fixation method for treatment of unstable distal clavicle fracture: systematic review and network meta-analysis

Surgical management is recommended for unstable distal clavicle fractures. A variety of methods have been previously reported, but there is no current consensus regarding which method is most suitable. Therefore, we have conducted a systematic review and network meta-analysis to compare postoperative shoulder function and complications between different fixation methods to identify which class of fixation is best for unstable distal clavicle fractures. We searched the literature systematically using eligibility criteria of all comparative studies that compared postoperative outcomes of coracoclavicular fixation (tight rope, screw or endobutton), hook plating, plate and screws, tension band wiring and transacromial pinning fixation for unstable distal clavicle fractures from PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus databases up to February 10, 2018. Two reviewers independently extracted data. A network meta-analysis was applied to combine direct and indirect evidence and to estimate the relative effects of the treatment options. The probability of being the best treatment was estimated using surface under the cumulative ranking curves (SUCRA). Ten comparative studies (n?=?505 patients) with one RCT study (n?=?42) met the inclusion criteria. Intervention included coracoclavicular fixation (n?=?111 patients), hook plating (n?=?300 patients), plate and screws (n?=?41 patients), tension band wiring (n?=?81 patients) and transacromial pinning (n?=?14 patients). A network meta-analysis showed that CM scores of coracoclavicular fixation were significantly higher when compared to hook plate and tension band wiring, with pooled mean of 2.98 (95% CI 0.05–5.91) and 7.11 (95% CI 3.04–11.18). For UCLA, CC fixation and plate and screw fixation had significantly higher scores compared to hook plating fixation with a mean score 2.22 (95% CI 0.44–3.99) and 3.20 (95% CI 0.28–6.12), respectively. In terms of complications, plate and screw fixation had lower risk with RRs of 0.63 (95% CI 0.20–1.98), 0.37 (95% CI 0.19–0.72), 0.11 (95% CI 0.04–0.30) and 0.02 (95% CI 0.002–0.16) when compared to coracoclavicular fixation, hook plating, tension band wiring and transacromial pinning. The SUCRA probabilities of CC fixation were in the first rank with 96.8% for CMS, while plate and screw fixation were in the first rank with 67.7 and 93.8% for UCLA score and complications. We recommend using plate and screw and CC fixation as the first- and second-line treatment of unstable distal clavicle fractures. As the quality of studies for this meta-analysis was not high, larger and higher-quality randomized controlled trials are required to confirm these conclusions for informed clinical decision making.     

Circulating micromegakaryocytes signaling blast transformation of chronic myeloid leukaemia.

A patient with chronic myeloid leukaemia had numerous micromegakaryocytes in the peripheral blood and bone marrow appearing coincidentally with the onset of blast crisis. These cells were initially confused with lymphocytes because of their size, configuration and scanty cytoplasm. The true identification of these cells can be suspected by careful scrutiny of well prepared Wrights stained preparations and proven electronmicroscopically. Such marked dysplasia of the megakaryocyte series appears to be a poor prognostic sign in chronic myeloid leukaemia.     

Circulating Micromegakaryocytes Signaling Blast Transformation of Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia

A patient with chronic myeloid leukaemia had numerous micromegakaryocytes in the peripheral blood and bone marrow appearing coincidentally with the onset of blast crisis. These cells were initially confused with lymphocytes because of their size, configuration and scanty cytoplasm. The true identification of these cells can be suspected by careful scrutiny of well prepared Wrights stained preparations and proven electronmicroscopically. Such marked dysplasia of the megakaryocyte series appears to be a poor prognostic sign in chronic myeloid leukaemia.     

Polymerase chain reaction for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in papanicolaou-stained fine needle aspirated smears for diagnosis of cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol for detecting IS6110 repetitive insertion sequence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) was tested on archival Papanicolaou (Pap)-stained fine needle aspirated (FNA) smears from 24 patients with cervical tuberculous lymphadenopathy and 30 negative controls. The protocol involved protease digestion or phenolchloroform extraction, and simple or nested PCR, with PCR amplification of human beta-globin gene for internal control of DNA quality. Sensitivity of 50% and specificity of 100% were obtained. Sensitivity in smears showing necrosis without granuloma was 70% (7/10), whereas it was 36% (5/14) in smears with presence of granuloma. On the other hand, sensitivity of 18% (4/22) was obtained using FNA acid-fast stain, 25% (1/4) for acid-fast stain in histological section, 50% (2/4) for culture, and 100% (8/8) for PCR of fresh specimens. PCR for MTB detection in Papanicolaou-stained slides is a practical and valuable method when no fresh specimen but only Pap-stained smear is available.