A new alcohol solution (N-duopropenide) for hygienic (or routine) hand disinfection is more useful than classic handwashing: in vitro and in vivo studies in burn and other intensive care units.

Introduction: Standard handwashing is a key measure for the prevention of crossed nosocomial infection, but this measure is not always observed. We study whether fast disinfection with an alcohol solution is better than handwashing and whether it can enhance observance.

Materials And Methods: The effects of several alcohol solutions on native and acquired microbiota are compared with classic handwashing in 'in vitro' and 'in vivo' (health volunteers) quantitative tests.

Malignant spiradenoma: report of two cases and literature review.

Spiradenoma is a benign skin adnexal neoplasm that usually appears as a solitary nodule in any area of the body. There have been only 33 reports on malignant transformation of a benign eccrine spiradenoma since the first description by Dabska in 1972. Most cases have originated on a long-standing cutaneous lesion.

Prognostic significance of microvascular counts in rectal carcinoma.

Numerous studies of many tumor types have demonstrated that microvessel quantitation as a measure of angiogenesis is a powerful prognostic tool. Vascular enumeration has been claimed to be an independent prognosticator for several human tumors, including breast carcinoma, melanoma or bladder carcinoma; however, the studies of colorectal cancer have rendered variable results. To test the prognostic influence of this factor in our patients, we selected 39 patients with rectal carcinoma Dukes' stages A to C treated only with curative surgery, with no further adjuvant therapy.

p53 expression in two cases of spiradenocarcinomas.

p53 protein is a nuclear 53-kDa phosphoprotein that acts as a suppressor protein. There are several studies on the expression of p53 in skin tumors, but few deal with adnexal malignant tumors because of their rarity. We performed immunohistochemistry for the detection of p53 and Ki-67 in two cases of malignant spiradenomas and six cases of spiradenomas retrieved from our files.

Vascular enumeration as a prognosticator for colorectal carcinoma.

Vascular enumeration is thought to be an independent prognosticator for several human tumours, including breast, bladder and colorectal carcinomas. There have been 12 reports on the prognostic influence of vascular enumeration in colorectal carcinoma with different results. To test the prognostic influence of this factor in our patients, we have selected 126 patients with colorectal carcinoma Dukes' stages A to C treated only with curative surgery with no further adjuvant therapy.

Prognostic influence of tumor-associated eosinophilic infiltrate in colorectal carcinoma.

Background: In 1983, Pretlow et al. reported one classical study of the prognostic influence of eosinophil infiltration in human colon carcinoma. Since then, very few reports have analyzed this supposed prognostic influence in this type of tumor, although there have been several reports of other types of tumors with different results.

[The cost effectiveness of echography biopsy].

Ecopsy is a postmortem technique which, by means of echography-guided puncture and/or aspiration obtains material for histological analysis. This study compared cost and time employed in 100 ecopsies and 100 classic necropsies and confirmed that cost of materials in ecopsy is 65% lower than that in necropsy. Physicians, necropsy technicians, laboratory technicians and secretary team personnel spent 33%, 54%, 19% and 32% less time than in necropsy.

[Fibroepithelial polyps of the upper urinary tract: their diagnostic evaluation and treatment in pediatrics].

Objective: To establish the diagnostic criteria, analyze the histological patterns of benign and malignant ureteral and renal pelvic polyps in pediatric patients and discuss the best treatment option based on the final diagnosis.

Methods/results: The literature is reviewed with special reference to the diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of fibroepithelial polyps of the upper urinary tract in pediatric patients. An additional case with benign cytological and radiological findings is described.

Laryngeal liposarcoma: report of a case.

Laryngeal and hypopharyngeal liposarcomas are fairly rare tumors, with only 30 convincing cases reported to date. These tumors usually arise in the supraglottic area, and only two cases have been reported to affect the true vocal cord. They behave in an indolent fashion with multiple local recurrences and only rarely cause the patient's death.

Primary malignant lymphoma of the kidney: case report and literature review.

We report on a 65-year-old white woman who was hospitalized because of symptoms of an acute adrenocortical insufficiency. A CT scan revealed the presence of a large mass in the left kidney that infiltrated the adrenal gland. Fine needle aspiration cytology of the mass under imaging control failed to achieve a correct diagnosis, and nephrectomy was undertaken with a preoperative diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma.

Evaluation of ultrasonography and clinical diagnostic scoring in suspected appendicitis.

Background: Several diagnostic aids have been developed to improve diagnosis in suspected appendicitis including ultrasonography and clinical diagnostic scoring. The aim of this study was to elaborate a new scoring system and to measure its accuracy in the preoperative diagnosis of appendicitis, comparing it with the available scoring systems.

Methods: The clinical, radiological and ultrasonographic data of 192 patients with suspected appendicitis were collected prospectively.

Sarcomas of the kidney.

Sarcomas of the kidney are exceedingly uncommon. They represent between 1 and 3% of all malignant renal tumors. Several histological types have been reported.

Immunohistochemical expression of p53 and c-erbB-2 in breast carcinoma: relation with epidemiologic factors, histologic features and prognosis.

We have performed immunohistochemical staining for p53 and c-erbB-2 on formaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary invasive ductal carcinomas from 112 patients, with a minimal follow-up time of 60 months. All of them had received postoperative chemoradiation therapy. We have analyzed the association of these factors with epidemiologic risk factors, histopathologic features and hormonal receptor status and the influence on prognosis.

Atypical metastasis from prostatic carcinoma. Report of a case of renal metastasis and literature review.

Occult prostatic carcinoma (carcinoma diagnosed because of the presence of metastasis) is commoner and commoner; the sites for metastatic disease are progressively more diverse. This is partially due to the longer life of the general population and to the better expectative of life for oncologic patients with modern treatments. We report the first case to our knowledge, of occult prostatic carcinoma diagnosed in a patient with a parenchymatous acute renal failure secondary to diffuse metastatic infiltration.

[Lymphoproliferative pathology of the genitourinary tract. Report of 6 cases and review of the literature].

Objectives: Six cases of genitourinary lymphoma are described and the literature reviewed.

Methods/results: The cases had the following histopathological diagnosis: 1 small and large cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) of the renal pelvis, 2 high grade centroblastic testicular NHL; 1 centroblastic-centroid bladder NHL, 1 lymphoplasmocytoid bladder NHL and 1 low grade NHL of the prostate. All but the prostatic lymphoma were primary.

Pulmonary toxicity of cadmium in rats: a histologic and ultrasound study.

Several studies have shown a carcinogenic effect of inhaled or injected cadmium in rats. This carcinogenity has not yet been confirmed in humans. We have performed a study with 48 Wistar male rats, to which we have administered either cadmium sulphide (0.

Traumatic rupture of the pericardium. Case report and literature review.

Rupture of the pericardium due to blunt thoracic trauma is a rare pathology with a range of mortality between 30 and 64% according to different authors. We review 40 cases which have been reported in the literature in the last decade and report a case of our own. We have found that 82% of the patients with traumatic rupture of the pericardium were men with a mean age of 45 years.

Tonsillar metastases: report on two cases and review of literature.

Metastases to the tonsils are extremely infrequent. Less than 70 cases have been reported in literature since 1858. The commonest sources of tonsillar metastases are malignant melanomas and carcinomas of the breast and the lungs.

Primary malignant lymphoma of the bladder. Report of three cases.

Primary malignant lymphoma of the bladder is a rare tumour. In a recent literature search only 70 cases have been found since 1885. Most of these tumours were low grade B-cell non Hodgkin's lymphomas and only 20% were high grade neoplasms.

Fibroepithelial polyps of the renal pelvis: report of two cases and review of the literature.

Benign tumors of the urinary tract are rarer than transitional cell carcinomas. Among the benign tumors we have those of epithelial origin (papillomas or low grade transitional cell carcinomas) and those of mesodermal origin (fibrous and angiomatous polyps, hemangiomas and lymphangiomas and neurofibromas), together with a group of miscellaneous lesions including endometriosis, amyloidosis and granulomas. The fibroepithelial polyps of the urinary tract represent between 2-6% of all the benign tumors.

Nodular fibrosis of the lung in diabetes mellitus.

The target organs in diabetes mellitus include the kidneys, the eyes and the small vessels. In these organs some specific histopathological changes have been described but there are few reports of histopathoogical changes in the lung in diabetic patients. Several reports describe abnormal pulmonary function in diabetic patients and consider these abnormalities to be due to histopahtological changes found in the pulmonary vessels.