Revisited microanatomy of the corneal endothelial periphery: new evidence for continuous centripetal migration of endothelial cells in humans.

The control of corneal transparency depends on the integrity of its endothelial monolayer, which is considered nonregenerative in adult humans. In pathological situations, endothelial cell (EC) loss, not offset by mitosis, can lead to irreversible corneal edema and blindness. However, the hypothesis of a slow, clinically insufficient regeneration starting from the corneal periphery remains debatable.

A fatal intoxication case involving ropinirole.

Ropinirole, a specific non-ergoline dopamine D2-receptor agonist, belongs to the drugs applied in treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) and restless legs syndrome (RLS) and acts as a D2, D3, and D4 dopamine receptor agonist with highest affinity for D3. Therapeutic ropinirole plasma levels in adults are defined between 0.4 and 6 ng/mL.

[The medical autopsy: its indications, contraindications, the modalities of its implementation, its cost and its limits. Autopsy of the medical autopsy].

The decline of the medical autopsy, in spite of the uncontested recognition of its utility, is not to be any more proved. By summarizing the legal frame of this exceptional act, we tried to identify the indications, the contraindications, the precautions for use, the limits, the technical, legal and ethical constraints and the costs of this diagnostic and therapeutic tool. The discussion underlines that the main brake in the realization of the autopsies could be its too strict French legal frame.

Sudden death due to myocardial metastasis of lingual squamous cell carcinoma.

Cardiac metastases are rare events encountered in pathological practice but with often dramatic fatal outcome. Among malignancies associated with cardiac involvement, we would like to draw the attention of clinicians about lingual squamous cell carcinoma by reporting a sudden cardiac death in a 57-year-old woman without prior symptom and considered in remission 1 month before her death. The forensic autopsy led to the diagnosis emphasizing its role in epidemiology and public health.

Primary central nervous system lymphoma: immunohistochemical profile and prognostic significance.

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is a rare subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) with extranodal location affecting only the CNS, meninges and eye, without visceral or lymph node involvement. Its incidence has increased sharply over the past three decades, especially in immunocompetent subjects. Most PCNSL cases are diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs).

Lamina propria of the human vocal fold: histomorphometric study of collagen fibers.

Background: Since the seminal work of M. Hirano, which defined the three-layered lamina propria of the human vocal fold, there has been confusion in the labeling of each layer. Recent studies described the composition of fibers and interstitial molecules within the lamina propria leading to various biomechanical properties.

Ear bleeding: A sign not to be underestimated in cases of strangulation.

Otorrhagia is commonly associated with cranial trauma and diving accidents. In some forensic manuals, bleeding in the ears is anecdotally associated with strangulation. We report 2 cases of criminal strangulation with hemotympanum and otorrhagia, emphasizing the importance of this sign with strangulation.

[Medical autopsies: retrospective analysis of indications and relevance of the results for the medical community].

Aim: A retrospective study of adult autopsies and its value in a French university hospital.

Introduction: Despite its decline, the medical autopsy remains a major diagnostic tool to understand death mechanisms and to improve the quality of cares.

Objectives: Our purpose is to assess the current motivations of hospital autopsy demands, to analyze the concerned patients' medical characteristics, to determine the contribution of these with regard to the clinicians' questioning and to put the light on its limits.

[Social vulnerability is more frequent in victims of interpersonal violence: value of the EPICES score].

Objectives: To evaluate social vulnerability of victims of interpersonal violence having consulted a service of forensic medicine with an individual index of social vulnerability.

Population And Methods: The population of victims of interpersonal violence was composed of 275 subjects having consulted the service of forensic medicine of the CHU of Saint Etienne. The social data were collected by questionnaire.

First case report of a fetal synovial sarcoma confirmed by molecular detection of SYT-SSX fusion gene transcripts.

Synovial sarcomas are aggressive malignant soft tissue tumors typically observed in adolescents and young adults. They are often characterized by the chromosomal translocation t(X;18)(p11.2;q11.

Active Coxsackieviral B infection is associated with disruption of dystrophin in endomyocardial tissue of patients who died suddenly of acute myocardial infarction.

Objectives: In this study, we evaluated the potential direct role of enterovirus (EV) cardiac infections in the pathogenesis of myocardial infarction (MI).

Background: Enteroviruses (Picornaviridae) have been suspected to play a role in the development of acute MI.

Methods: The presence of EV ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequences and capsid viral protein 1 (VP1) and the virus-mediated focal disruption of dystrophin were retrospectively investigated by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry assays in endomyocardial tissues of patients who died suddenly of acute MI by comparison with similar samples of control patients matched for gender, residence area, and year of death.

[Rash and nephrotic syndrome: consider syphilis].

Introduction: Kidney disease is among the clinical manifestations of secondary syphilis, as this case report shows.

Observation: During serologically confirmed secondary syphilis, a 63-year-old man developed a nephrotic syndrome diagnosed after biopsy as membranous nephropathy.

Discussion: Membranous nephropathy is an immunological complication of secondary syphilis.