Substernal goitre presenting with upper and lower extremity oedema.

Substernal goitre is characterised by compressive symptoms of the airway and oesophagus. Chronic, progressive symptoms usually result in surgical removal. We report a rare presentation of substernal goitre in a male in his early 70s who suffered from severe bilateral lower extremity (LE) lymphoedema, resulting in immobility and nursing home placement, and left upper extremity lymphoedema.

Differentiation of High-Grade Glioma and Intracranial Metastasis Using Volumetric Diffusion Tensor Imaging Tractography.

Objective: A reliable, noninvasive method to differentiate high-grade glioma (HGG) and intracranial metastasis (IM) has remained elusive. The aim of this study was to differentiate between HGG and IM using tumoral and peritumoral diffusion tensor imaging characteristics.

Methods: A semiautomated script generated volumetric regions of interest (ROIs) for the tumor and a peritumoral shell at a predetermined voxel thickness.

Expression dynamics of CXCL12 and CXCR4 during the progression of mycosis fungoides.

Background: Mycosis fungoides (MF) classically presents from patch stage to plaque stage over a number of years and finally progresses to tumour stage with nodal or visceral involvement. The mechanism of progression remains incompletely elucidated. Chemokines and their receptors are known to be involved in disease mechanisms, with CXCL12 and CXCR4 playing a critical role in carcinogenesis, invasion and cancer cell migration in various carcinomas.

The endogenous Th17 response in NO2-promoted allergic airway disease is dispensable for airway hyperresponsiveness and distinct from Th17 adoptive transfer.

Severe, glucocorticoid-resistant asthma comprises 5-7% of patients with asthma. IL-17 is a biomarker of severe asthma, and the adoptive transfer of Th17 cells in mice is sufficient to induce glucocorticoid-resistant allergic airway disease. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is an environmental toxin that correlates with asthma severity, exacerbation, and risk of adverse outcomes.

Serendipity and the development of heparin and carbon surfaces.

In the early 1960s, bileaflet valves fabricated with polymer housings routinely thrombosed within a few hours after implantation in the canine heart. In a serendipitous series of events, the authors found a way to bond heparin to these bileaflet valves using a coating of graphite-carbon and benzalkonium chloride. Over the ensuing 30 years, improved heparin coatings have been developed by other investigators for bonding to various biomedical devices; currently, about 25% of oxygenators used in this country utilize heparin coatings to minimize surface activation of clotting factors.