Internal fixation for osteomyelitis of cervical spine: the issue of persistence of culture positive infection around the implants.

Background: We describe the management of osteomyelitis of the cervical spine, utilizing internal fixation with subsequent removal and culture of the implants. Four out of five patients had evidence of bacterial colonisation in close proximity to the internal fixation device.

Methods: Five consecutive patients (all female, ranging in age from 50 to 74 yrs) presenting with unstable cervical osteomyelitis were treated by surgical decompression, primary internal fixation followed by three months of intravenous antibiotics.

Calix[4]arene, calix[4]resorcarene, and cyclodextrin derivatives and their lanthanide complexes as chiral NMR shift reagents.

Calix[4]arenes, calix[4]resorcarenes, and anionic cyclodextrin derivatives were examined as chiral NMR solvating agents. The calix[4]arenes were prepared by attachment of amino acids through the hydroxyl groups of the phenol rings. Chloroform-, methanol-, and water-soluble derivatives were prepared and tested with a range of substrates.

Human ocular dirofilariasis in Kerala Southern India.

A twenty-six year old female presented to the Ophthalmology OPD with swelling of the upper eyelid. On excision, two long, thin, dead worms were removed. Microscopic and HPE showed the worms to belong to the Dirofilaria species.

Craniocervical fusion for rheumatoid arthritis: comparison of sublaminar wires and the lateral mass screw craniocervical fusion.

The majority of rheumatoid arthritis patients with C1/2 instability causing neck pain and neurological compromise can be treated with unisegmental fusion. However, a minority will require decompression and more extensive craniocervical fusion. Two cohorts of patients with rheumatoid arthritis requiring decompression and craniocervical fusion were included in a retrospective study comparing sublaminar wiring (Ransford Loop, n = 10, follow-up = 36 +/- 9.

TorsinA and heat shock proteins act as molecular chaperones: suppression of alpha-synuclein aggregation.

TorsinA, a protein with homology to yeast heat shock protein104, has previously been demonstrated to colocalize with alpha-synuclein in Lewy bodies, the pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease. Heat shock proteins are a family of chaperones that are both constitutively expressed and induced by stressors, and that serve essential functions for protein refolding and/or degradation. Here, we demonstrate that, like torsinA, specific molecular chaperone heat shock proteins colocalize with alpha-synuclein in Lewy bodies.

Postpartum depression: a survey of the incidence and associated risk factors among malay women in beris kubor besar, bachok, kelantan.

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and associated risk factors of postpartum depression among Malay women in Beris Kubor Besar, Bachok, Kelantan The study was conducted between February to August 1998. A two-stage population survey approach was employed. Firstly, all the women who delivered between the months of February and May 1998 in the catchment area were identified.

Olfactory neuroblastoma metastatic to the breast.

Olfactory neuroblastoma (Esthesioneuroblastoma) is a rare malignant tumour arising from olfactory epithelium. It has a predilection for cervical lymph node metastasis and also has potential for distant metastasis to unusual sites like scalp, face, aorta, spleen, liver, adrenal gland and ovary. We report here a rare case of olfactory neuroblastoma in an adolescent girl with metastatic deposits in the breast.

Mature teratoma of the nasal vestibule: a case report.

Teratomas are rare congenital neoplasms that arise from pluripotent cells. They consist of tissue from all three embryonic germ layers. According to most studies, teratomas of the head and neck account for only 2 to 9% of all cases.

Cytodiagnosis of primary neuritic leprosy.

The diagnosis of primary neuritic leprosy (PNL) and its differentiation from other causes of peripheral neuropathy is difficult since acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smears and skin biopsy are negative from anesthetic areas. A biopsy of the involved nerve is the only conclusive method of diagnosis. Such a biopsy may not necessarily be free of complications when a large nerve is involved.

Hepatitis C infection and B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in British Columbia: a cross-sectional analysis.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in British Columbia.

Design: A cross-sectional analysis.

Setting: The British Columbia Cancer Agency (BCCA), a Canadian provincial tertiary oncology referral center.

Diagnostic value of qualitative and quantitative variables in thyroid lesions.

Two hundred and thirty-three thyroid lesions were studied by fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology using standard cytologic criteria available in the literature. These included 114 cases of nodular colloid goitre (NCG), 47 cases of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), 12 follicular adenomas (FAd), five cases of subacute thyroiditis and three cases of thyrotoxicosis among the benign lesions. The malignant lesions seen were 30 cases of papillary carcinoma (PCa), 16 follicular carcinomas (FCa), three cases with double lesions, e.

Intraspinal tumours in children--clinical presentation.

Intraspinal tumours in children are rare, the estimated average ratio of spinal to intracranial tumour in the paediatric population is 1:10. We reviewed our experience of paediatric spinal tumours over the period 1992-96. Nineteen patients presented during this time, 12 males and 7 females with the mean age of 7.

Cytodiagnosis of Kimura's disease.

Kimura's Disease, a rare chronic inflammatory disorder with a benign course affecting the lymphoid tissue is reported hare in an 18 year old South Indian male who presented with bilateral solitary swelling over the mastoid region. Its fine needle aspiration cytology characterised by the Warthin-Finkeldey type giant cells against a background of a bimodal population of lymphocytes and eosinophils prompted the diagnosis of Kimura's disease at cytology itself. This was confirmed at histology.

Aspiration cytology of echinococcus oligarthrus. A case report.

Background: Fine needle aspiration cytology is a useful technique in the diagnosis of several parasitic infections. The present case highlights the aspiration cytology findings in a case of Echinococcus oligarthrus infection, a rare variant of the Echinococcus species affecting humans. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report on the cytology of E oligarthrus in English.

AgNORs and their relationship to cell size, histological grade, lymph node involvement, metastases, and survival pattern in carcinoma of the breast: a study from south India.

An AgNOR count using the Smith and Crocker [Histopathology 12:113-125, 1988] method of staining was performed on 200 cases of carcinoma of the breast. A count of coarse AgNORs per nucleus was made on 50 random cells and the mean of their number per nucleus calculated. The relationship of a single variable "AgNOR count" to other variables such as cell size, histological grade, number of positive ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes, and presence of metastasis in regions other than the ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes was found using a univariate method of analysis.

Laryngeal carcinoma ex-papilloma in a non-irradiated, non-smoking patient: a clinical record and review of the literature.

Malignant transformation of respiratory papillomata is not uncommon in the presence of precipitating factors such as tobacco smoking and therapeutic irradiation. Respiratory papilloma changing to carcinoma in the absence of smoking and irradiation is seldom seen, with only about 20 documented cases presented in the literature. Here we report one such case in a 30-year-old male patient.

Evidence for a lactate-anion exchanger in the rat jejunal basolateral membrane.

Background/aims: The mechanism by which lactate, absorbed from the intestinal lumen or generated within the epithelium, crosses the basolateral membrane of the enterocyte and enters the bloodstream has not previously been characterized in detail.

Methods: L-lactate uptake into and efflux from isolated jejunal basolateral membrane vesicles was investigated at room temperature using rapid filtration techniques.

Results: Furosemide sensitive uptake of L-lactate was unaffected by cis sodium or proton gradients but could be stimulated by a trans gradient of bicarbonate and chloride.

Primary carcinoma of the ureter--a 24-year-study from south India.

This study from India has envisaged a characterization of primary carcinomas of the ureter using a review of all available Indian literature over a period of 32 years. The character of the tumor in the Indian patients was clinically; pain, abdominal lump and haematuria with most neoplasms being single, situated in the ureteric pelvis and such neoplasms being squamous cell in type. The others were transitional cell carcinomas.

Ultrasonically guided fine needle aspiration of the parathyroid. A report of two cases.

Two cases of parathyroid adenoma were diagnosed with ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration. Both patients were clinically suspected of having features of primary hyperparathyroidism. On aspiration, one had an associated cystic change with golden brown fluid and the other a markedly cellular aspirate.

A study from south India on the association between the papilloma virus and carcinoma of the penis.

Specimens from 39 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the penis were treated for the papilloma virus using the bovine papilloma virus antibody and the peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique. All 39 cases showed a viral antigen situated intranuclearly, intracytoplasmically or both intranuclearly and intracytoplasmically. No correlation could be seen between the presence of viral antigen and age of patient, duration of lesion, cell morphology and histological grade.

An experience with ultrasonically guided liver aspirates from south India.

Fine needle aspiration (FNA) was performed on 102 hepatic lesions under ultrasound control. Eighty-eight lesions were solid and 14 were cystic. Ninety aspirates provided adequate material for cytodiagnosis.