Applications and complications of subclavian vein catheterization for hemodialysis.

Objective: To study the indications, complications and duration of 605 subclavian catheters inserted over a period of 4 years as venous access for the management of renal failure in local setup.

Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study.

Place And Duration Of Study: Hemodialysis section, Department of Urology and Kidney Transplantation, Lahore General Hospital, Lahore.

Epidemic of hepatitis E in a military unit in Abbotrabad, Pakistan.

An outbreak of hepatitis caused by hepatitis E virus (HEV) in Abbottabad, Pakistan was traced to fecal contamination of a water system. Of 109 men hospitalized with hepatitis, 104 (95%) had serologic evidence of acute hepatitis E (IgM antibody to HEV [anti-HEV]), three (3%) probably had acute hepatitis E (high titers of IgG anti-HEV without IgM), and two had acute hepatitis A. Among a subset of 44 men with acute hepatitis E from whom three serum specimens were obtained over a four-month period, the anti-HEV IgG geometric mean titers (GMTs) decreased from 1,519 during the outbreak to 657 at four months.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 and the pediatric neurosurgeon: a 20-year institutional review.

Children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) undergo costly surveillance scanning for a variety of asymptomatic central nervous system lesions whose natural history is poorly understood. We performed a 20-year retrospective chart review of 25 patients with clinically proven NF1 who required surgery (group A) and contrasted this cohort with 150 NF1 patients who did not require surgery (group B). In group A, 52% of patients underwent multiple procedures for more than one lesion (p = 0.

Decreased Length of stay, cost savings and descriptive findings of enhanced patient care resulting from and integrated traumatic brain injury programme.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has enormous economic consequences. The primary objective was to evaluate the effect of implementation of an integrated TBI programme on patient-care. The research design was a retrospective institutional review for which 1875 patient records were reviewed, healthcare professionals were interviewed, patient care was observed, and a literature review of the prognostic variables for mild, moderate and severe TBI was conducted.

Connecting the DOTs: covalent histone modifications and the formation of silent chromatin.

Histone methylation has emerged as a significant regulator of chromatin structure and function. Two different classes of histone methyltransferase (HMT) have been described, which target either lysine or arginine residues in the histone N-terminal tails. A flurry of recent papers now describe a third class of HMT that affects chromatin silencing indirectly, not by methylation of histone tails, but instead by targeting a conserved lysine residue in the core domain of the nucleosome.

Posterior fossa ependymoma with intense but transient disseminated enhancement but not metastasis.

We report a pediatric patient with a posterior fossa ependymoma in whom the second of two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans obtained preoperatively within a 10-day span showed intense but transient disseminated enhancement. However, following posterior fossa craniotomy for near total tumor resection, neither three MRI exams nor two craniospinal fluid samplings revealed evidence of disseminated disease. Concerned that the one MRI with disseminated enhancement indicated an elevated risk of leptomeningeal metastasis, we initiated craniospinal irradiation.

Chemoprotection profiles of sodium thiosulfate on methyl methanesulfonate-induced mutagenesis of bacteriophage T4.

Background: The alkylation of nucleic acids is primarily responsible for chemical carcinogenesis. Even during disease treatment, several alkylating drugs interact with nucleic acids and cause severe toxic effects. Thus good chemoprotectants are necessary.