Using retrospective and prospective analyses of antenatal records, it was found that by 2003, discussions about the options for delivery after one lower segment caesarean section (LSCS) were almost always documented in antenatal notes, compared with only rare entries in 1993; specific mention of the risks of scar rupture were made in just under 50% in 2003. There was a considerable reduction in the proportion of women whose preference was to labour in 2003 compared with 1993 and also in the number who ultimately delivered vaginally. There was, however, no evidence that those women with whom possible scar rupture had been discussed were discouraged from attempting vaginal delivery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol
September 2005
Objective: Nitrates are used widely in clinical practice. However, the mechanism underlying the bioactivation of nitrates to release NO remains unclear. Recent animal data suggest that mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) plays a central role in nitrate bioactivation, but its role in humans is not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Public Health (Oxf)
September 2005
Background: A perceived high prevalence of permanent childhood hearing impairment in Oldham, particularly in the Asian community, caused concern during the local implementation of the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study of cases with dates of birth between 1 January 1986 and 31 May 2003 was undertaken to describe local epidemiology and establish the observed prevalence rate. Expected prevalence was determined by application of published national rates to the susceptible Oldham population.
Here we present the first neuropathological study of a case of autosomal dominant brain calcinosis in a family followed through five generations. The 71-year-old female who came to autopsy had unusually severe and extensive bilateral brain calcifications. The process appeared to start with deposition of minute calcium-positive spheroids of less than 1 mum in diameter in capillaries that otherwise appeared normal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Stoma-related complication rates vary between 10% and 70%, possibly because of varying lengths of follow-up. It is thought that most of the complications improve with time. Furthermore, little is known about the commonly neglected but potentially quite distressing complications such as leakage, soiling and night-time emptying.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA portable, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probe is described which utilises the intrinsic inhomogeneity of the field produced by a single-sided magnet to provide spatial encoding of the NMR signal. The probe uses a longitudinally magnetized hollow cylinder, and a figure-8 radiofrequency (RF) surface coil. The system has been used to measure NMR relaxation times and one-dimensional NMR profiles of rubber phantoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTumour invasion is a dynamic process occurring in three dimensions and involving interactions between both tumour and stromal cells. Experimental analysis of squamous carcinoma cell invasion has often used the organotypic gel culture system, which is generated by plating tumour cells on to a synthetic stroma composed of a collagen gel embedded with fibroblasts. Unfortunately, quantitation of invasion in these organotypic gels has relied largely on subjective pathological opinion, which may be influenced by different patterns of tumour cell infiltration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To compare a topical quinolone antibiotic (ciprofloxacin) with a cheaper topical antiseptic (boric acid) for treating chronic suppurative otitis media in children.
Design: Randomized controlled trial.
Setting And Participants: A total of 427 children with chronic suppurative otitis media enrolled from 141 schools following screening of 39 841 schoolchildren in Kenya.
Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol
December 2004
Objectives: To study the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of the 300 microg dose of a new chromatographically produced rhesus immunoglobulin (Rhophylac 300) for ante- and postnatal rhesus prophylaxis.
Design: In an open-label multi-centre study, rhesus D (RhD)-negative women were randomly allocated to receive Rhophylac 300 either intravenously or intramuscularly at the 28th week of gestation and within 72 h after delivery of an RhD-positive child. Serum samples were obtained prior to the antenatal dose and 6-11.
J Obstet Gynaecol
September 1999
A questionnaire was used to assess patients' perception of and satisfaction with gynaecology outpatient appointment date and waiting times at gynaecology outpatient clinics. While 95% were satisfied with the overall service, 19% expressed dissatisfaction with waiting times for first appointment and 26% with the waiting time at the clinic. These findings are discussed in the light of the recommendations of the Patient's Charter and with respect to reorganising outpatient gynaecology services to improve efficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Recently described neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease (NIFID) shows considerable clinical heterogeneity.
Objective: To assess the spectrum of the clinical and neuropathological features in 10 NIFID cases.
Methods: Retrospective chart and comprehensive neuropathological review of these NIFID cases was conducted.
Objective: An analysis of consecutive hysterectomies during 1997-99 exploring the relationship between histological findings, operation performed and clinical indication was conducted to observe any trends.
Methods: A retrospective review of histology reports for hysterectomies performed in a large district teaching hospital.
Results: The rate of hysterectomy for women aged over 25 years was 23 per 10,000 women.
J Investig Dermatol Symp Proc
September 2004
The early concepts concerning hematopoietic and epithelial stem cells that were derived from kinetic studies have been greatly enhanced by new information about a range of other properties of somatic and embryonic stem cells. Firstly, the stem and amplifying pattern characteristically established by epithelial lineages has been found to represent an intrinsic pattern that is generated by somatic epithelial stem cells without the need for additional environmental information. Secondly, it is now apparent that somatic epithelial stem cells are plastic and can be directed into a range of new pathways of differentiation by heterotypic interactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Neuropathol
September 2004
A small number of patients have recently been described with a sporadic neurodegenerative disease, associated with the neuropathological finding of neurofilament-immunoreactive neuronal inclusions. The clinical and pathological spectrum of this new disease entity has yet to be fully defined. We describe an additional case of "neurofilament inclusion body disease" (NIBD) with several unusual features.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Epithelial proliferation is a histological characteristic of drug-induced gingival overgrowth. Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) and scatter factor (SF) are fibroblast-derived growth factors with potent mitogenic and motogenic effects on epithelial cells, and, therefore, could be involved in the pathogenesis of gingival overgrowth. The aims of this study were to investigate: (i) the effects of cyclosporin on KGF and SF expression by gingival fibroblasts; and (ii) the expression levels of KGF and SF mRNA in normal and overgrown gingival tissue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDement Geriatr Cogn Disord
September 2004
Ubiquitin-immunoreactive (ub-ir) neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions are characteristically found in the extramotor cortex in patients with motor neuron disease (MND) and dementia (MND-dementia) and in a subset of patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) without motor symptoms (FTD-MND type). Recently, ub-ir neuronal intranuclear inclusions have been described in a small number of patients with familial FTD-MND type. To better define the sensitivity and specificity of this pathological change, we examined postmortem tissue from 14 patients with FTD-MND type (8 familial, 6 sporadic), 10 cases of MND-dementia (5 familial, 5 sporadic) and 19 cases of MND with no history of cognitive dysfunction (2 familial, 17 sporadic).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAbnormal neuronal aggregates of alpha-internexin and the three neurofilament (NF) subunits, NF-L, NF-M, and NF-H have recently been identified as the pathological hallmarks of neuronal intermediate filament (IF) inclusion disease (NIFID), a novel neurological disease of early onset with a variable clinical phenotype including frontotemporal dementia, pyramidal and extrapyramidal signs. alpha-Internexin, a class IV IF protein, a major component of inclusions in NIFID, has not previously been identified as a component of the pathological protein aggregates of any other neurodegenerative disease. Therefore, to determine the specificity of this protein, alpha-internexin immunohistochemistry was undertaken on cases of NIFID, non-tau frontotemporal dementias, motor neuron disease, alpha-synucleinopathies, tauopathies, and normal aged control brains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeuronal intermediate filament (IF) inclusion disease (NIFID) is a novel neurological disease of early onset with a variable clinical phenotype including frontotemporal dementia, pyramidal, and extrapyramidal signs. Pathologically, in affected areas, there is neuronal loss, astrocytosis, and neuronal intracytoplasmic aggregates of abnormal neuronal IFs that contain neither tau nor alpha-synuclein. Thus, to characterize the neuronal IF protein profile of inclusions in NIFID, immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed on 10 cases of NIFID, four normal aged controls (NL), and two cases of Alzheimer's disease (AD) using a panel of anti-neuronal IF proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess the two-week rapid access referral system for UK general practitioners introduced in April 2000 for women suspected of having a gynaecological cancer.
Study Design: An audit of details of women referred between 1st April 2000 and 31st March 2003 via the two-week rapid access system to one gynaecological consultant who performs gynaecological oncology surgery at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.
Main Outcome Measures: Information on waiting times, clinical indication (postmenopausal bleeding, suspicious pelvic mass, vulval lesions, or "other" symptoms including postcoital vaginal bleeding, suspicious lesions of the cervix or vagina), and subsequent diagnosis were recorded.
Background: Endothelial vasomotor dysfunction and markers of systemic inflammation are independent determinants of cardiovascular risk. However, the link between clinical inflammation and endothelial dysfunction is unclear. The aim of this study was to use anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated systemic vasculitis (AASV) as a model of systemic inflammation in which to test the hypothesis that inflammation is associated with endothelial dysfunction and can be reversed with anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol
May 2004
Objective: C-reactive protein (CRP) levels predict outcome in healthy individuals and patients with atherosclerosis. Arterial stiffness also independently predicts all-cause and cardiovascular mortality and may be involved in the process of atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between stiffness and inflammation in a cohort of healthy individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMotor neuron disease (MND) may be complicated by frontotemporal dementia and/or an extrapyramidal movement disorder. Several studies have identified the pathological substrate for dementia in MND as being ubiquitin-immunoreactive inclusions and dystrophic neurites in the extramotor neocortex and hippocampus. Although degenerative changes have previously been noted in the basal ganglia and substantia nigra in MND, detailed pathological studies with clinical correlation are lacking.
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