J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med
March 2012
Objective: To compare the effect of early epidural analgesia (EEA) vs. conventional epidural analgesia (CEA) on cytokine production in mother and neonate.
Methods: Healthy parturients with uncomplicated term pregnancies were randomized into two groups: EEA - parturients who would receive epidural analgesia before onset of pain and the control group, CEA - parturients who would receive epidural analgesia after onset of pain.
Features of metabolic syndrome are not uncommon in patients after liver transplantation. To examine the prevalence and risk factors of posttransplantation metabolic syndrome (PTMS), the files of 252 transplant recipients (mean age, 54.5 ± 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Human homeostasis is time related. Environmental physical factors also play a role. Recent studies published by the National Academy of Sciences (USA) describe human longevity links with the month of birth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFerbB receptors contribute to tumor formation and progression. Variable expression of erbB1, erbB2, and erbB3 has been reported in nevi and melanomas; erbB4 has hardly been investigated. We examined the expression of all 4 erbB receptors in common and dysplastic nevi and melanomas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Following the publication of the results of Women's Health Initiative in 2002 there have been gross changes in the attitude of women and physicians towards the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). We evaluated the attitude of women gynecologist towards their own health, including adherence to recommended screening tests and self usage and prescription of hormone replacement therapy.
Material/methods: Questionnaires regarding performance of screening tests, self usage and recommendation of HRT were posted by mail to all Israel's women gynecologists.
Background: The rapid increase in the incidence of well-differentiated thyroid cancer in recent years is the result of smaller thyroid tumors (1 cm or less) being diagnosed more frequently. Few studies are available regarding the appropriate approach to this previously known postmortem incidental finding, and their results remain controversial.
Methods: In 2005, our center started a registry of all patients with nonmedullary thyroid carcinoma who were followed at our institute.
The hepatic histology in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease can vary from isolated hepatic steatosis to steatohepatitis can progress to cirrhosis and liver-related death. The aim was to evaluate the use of blood serum N-glycan fingerprinting as a tool for differential diagnosis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis from steatosis. A group of 47 patients with NAFLD was diagnosed by clinical laboratory analysis and ultrasonography, and was studied histologically using the Brunt's scoring system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeveral lines of evidence indicate that thalassemia intermedia is associated with disturbances in vascular endothelial cell proliferation. In addition, autopsy studies of thalassemia intermedia reported obstructive lesions in the pulmonary artery in 44% of cases, especially splenectomized patients, and a recent in-vivo study reported increased level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in thalassemia intermedia. The aim of the present study was to determine whether VEGF levels are correlated with the severity of the disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAppl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol
October 2008
Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is involved in the development and progression of many tumors, and its inhibition has been shown to block tumor growth. This study examined COX-2 expression in primary and metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues from 26 primary MCCs and 7 lymph node metastases were stained immunohistochemically with a monoclonal antibody directed against COX-2, and the percentage and intensity of staining were analyzed semiquantitatively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Environmental physical activity is known to be associated with many factors of human homeostasis, such as fetal development, birth number, and some genetic abnormalities. This study sought to investigate possible temporal links between the occurrence of congenital heart disease and solar, geomagnetic, and cosmic ray activities.
Patients And Methods: The study sample include 79,085 infants born live at a tertiary medical center in central Israel from 1995 to 2005, of whom 1739 were diagnosed with congenital heart disease, including 309 with patent ductus arteriosus (PDA).
Purpose: This study describes and reports the results of a new, minimally-invasive surgical technique for pilonidal disease.
Methods: From March 1993 to January 2003, 1,358 patients (out of a total of 1,435 patients) with symptomatic pilonidal disease underwent treatment in a military surgical clinic dedicated for pilonidal disease. Patients were operated on under local anesthesia, utilizing trephines to excise pilonidal pits and to débride underlying cavities and tracts.
Objective: Malignant external otitis (MEO) continues to pose a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. The lack of a diagnostic study since 1987 combined with recent findings of quinolone-resistant MEO prompted the present analysis of MEO outcome in a major tertiary medical center.
Methods: Seventy-five consecutive patients hospitalized for suspected MEO between 1990 and 2003 were divided into 2 diagnostic groups: MEO Type 1, presence of all obligatory clinical and radiologic criteria and most of the occasional criteria of Cohen and Friedman or absence of 1 obligatory criterion with failure of intensive treatment, and MEO Type 2, absence of one of the obligatory criteria with treatment response within 1 week.
Background: Dermatofibroma (DF) and dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) occasionally resemble each other histologically but differ in histogenesis and biological behavior. This study sought to determine if these lesions can be differentiated by the quantity or quality of expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), an enzyme associated with both reactive and neoplastic processes.
Patients And Methods: Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded samples from 20 DFs and 20 DFSPs were stained immunohistochemically with antibodies directed against COX-2.
Unlabelled: The aim of this study is a next step of our previous, initial, publications--to explore the links between monthly death number (total, and for the major death causes and each gender) with levels of monthly cosmophysical activity in a long-term, big cohort observation.
Methods: Death number during 180 consecutive months from the National Registry of Lithuania for years 1990-2004 were studied. A total of 630,205 deaths were analyzed (333,035 males).
J Basic Clin Physiol Pharmacol
November 2007
Objective: To examine whether stapes surgery improves long-term bone conduction in patients with otosclerosis.
Setting: Tertiary university hospital.
Methods: Thirty patients (52 ears) who underwent stapedectomy between 1988 and 1994.
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg
October 2007
Objective: To compare the characteristics and prognosis of patients with malignant (necrotizing) external otitis (MEO) with and without facial nerve palsy in today's era of third-generation antibiotics.
Design: Comparative retrospective case series.
Setting: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Rabin Medical Center, a tertiary care medical center.
J Basic Clin Physiol Pharmacol
September 2007
Unlabelled: Recent studies have reported links between external physical factors and human homeostasis.
Objective: to determine whether the monthly values of specific physical environmental factors are associated with the monthly number of preterm births in a major medical center in Israel.
Methods: The sample included 1006 infants weighing less than 1500g born live to 774 mothers during 96 consecutive months (1995-2002) at a tertiary medical center in Israel.
Background: The timing of acute coronary events may be related to endogenous and exogenous--environmental--factors.
Aim: To check if daily levels of geomagnetic activity (GMA) and/or cosmic ray activity (CRA) measured by neutron activity (imp/min) on the Earth's surface are related by timing with specific culprit artery of AMI.
Patients And Methods: Data of PCI for AMI (n=904, 696 men) from 01/2000 to 02/2006 (2251 days) were used for analysis.
The progression of HCV-related disease is particularly aggressive in the post-transplantation setting. Recipients with recurrent HCV infection undergo repeated liver biopsies in order to estimate disease progression. A strong association was found between serum immunoglobulins levels and hepatic fibrosis in non-transplanted patients with chronic HCV infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe study sought to determine the duration of standing needed to detect most cases of orthostatic hypotension (OH) in the emergency room (ER) and to correlate OH with symptoms, hospitalization and survival. Patients attending a tertiary-center ER within a 2-month period underwent orthostatic tests after 1, 3 and 5 min of standing. OH was defined as a drop of > or = 20 mmHg in systolic pressure or > or = 10 mmHg in diastolic pressure on assuming an upright posture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: C-reactive protein (CRP), an acute phase reactant, plays an important part in the investigation of the role of inflammation in pathology. Many cardiovascular events show significant associations with various cosmophysical parameters. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the level of CRP and the levels of solar, geomagnetic (GMA), and cosmic ray activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess the long-term (3-5 years) success of adenoidectomy and reasons for unsatisfactory results.
Study Design And Setting: The parents of all children who underwent adenoidectomy alone at a major tertiary center from 1998 to 2000 were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing their child's well-being and symptomatology 3-5 years after surgery; some were invited for follow-up. Symptom improvement, persistent symptoms, and adenoid regrowth were evaluated.