Clinical, immunological and molecular characteristics of 37 Iranian patients with X-linked agammaglobulinemia.

Background: X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is a hereditary immunodeficiency characterized by an early onset of recurrent bacterial infections, a profound deficiency of all immunoglobulin isotypes and a markedly reduced number of peripheral B lymphocytes. Eighty-five percent of the patients with this phenotype have mutations in Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) gene.

Methods: To provide an informative outlook of clinical and immunological manifestations of XLA in Iran, 37 Iranian male patients with an age range of 1-34 years, followed over a period of 25 years, were studied.

Immature neuronal phenotype derived from mouse skin precursor cells differentiated in vitro.

Recent findings indicate that skin-derived precursor cells (SKPs) of mouse dermis can differentiate in cells with neuronal-like morphology. However, direct evidence supporting the establishment of functional phenotype is missing. In the present study, SKP cells were obtained using published in vitro techniques and studied at 14- to 21-day differentiation, when neuronal-like morphology was observed.

Curative resection plus adjuvant chemotherapy for early stage primary gastric non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a retrospective study with emphasis on prognostic factors and treatment outcome.

Background: There is controversy regarding the optimal therapy for primary non-Hodgkin gastric lymphoma with some authors defending surgical extirpation either alone or in association with radiotherapy and or chemotherapy, especially in relation to the earlier stages of the disease.

Aim: To analyze the clinical-pathological features and the results of management approaches for patients with primary early-stage non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the stomach operated in Surgical Gastroenterology Department, "Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual", São Paulo, SP, Brazil. The literature is reviewed to highlight the aspects of diagnosis, prognostic factors and role of the various treatment regimens.

Benign obstruction of the common hepatic duct (Mirizzi syndrome): diagnosis and operative management.

Background: Mirizzi syndrome is a rare complication of prolonged cholelithiasis, characterized by narrowing of the common hepatic duct due to mechanical compression and/or inflammation due to biliary calculus impacted in the infundibula of the gallbladder or in the cystic duct.

Objectives: To describe a series of eight consecutive patients with Mirizzi syndrome, at a single institution, submitted to surgical treatment and to comment on their aspects with emphasis on the diagnosis and treatment.

Methods: Four women and four men, with a mean age of 61.