Effect of early versus conventional epidural analgesia during labor on cytokine production.

Objective: To compare the effect of early epidural analgesia (EEA) vs. conventional epidural analgesia (CEA) on cytokine production in mother and neonate.

Methods: Healthy parturients with uncomplicated term pregnancies were randomized into two groups: EEA - parturients who would receive epidural analgesia before onset of pain and the control group, CEA - parturients who would receive epidural analgesia after onset of pain.

Metabolic syndrome in liver transplant recipients: prevalence, risk factors, and association with cardiovascular events.

Features of metabolic syndrome are not uncommon in patients after liver transplantation. To examine the prevalence and risk factors of posttransplantation metabolic syndrome (PTMS), the files of 252 transplant recipients (mean age, 54.5 ± 2.

Birth month and longevity - monthly birth distribution in acute coronary events provoked by atherothrombosis in patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Background: Human homeostasis is time related. Environmental physical factors also play a role. Recent studies published by the National Academy of Sciences (USA) describe human longevity links with the month of birth.

Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography for the accurate diagnosis of biliary complications after liver transplantation: comparison with endoscopic retrograde cholangiography and percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography - long-term follow-up.

Biliary complications after liver transplantation remain a serious cause of morbidity and mortality. Direct invasive cholangiographic techniques, endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERCP) or percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC), have procedure-related complications. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is non-invasive, safe, and accurate.

Colorectal cancer in young patients in Israel: a distinct clinicopathological entity?

Purpose: This study was designed to characterize the entity of colorectal cancer (CRC) in young patients and to evaluate whether it has any unique epidemiological or clinicopathological features.

Methods: The study population consisted of all consecutive young (≤50 years old at diagnosis) patients with CRC who were diagnosed during the years 1997-2007 and were treated at our institution, and a matching group of patients (>50 years at diagnosis). The medical files of these patients were reviewed, and the epidemiological, clinical, and pathological features of both groups were compared.

Different patterns of expression of the erbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases in common nevi, dysplastic nevi, and primary malignant melanomas: an immunohistochemical study.

erbB receptors contribute to tumor formation and progression. Variable expression of erbB1, erbB2, and erbB3 has been reported in nevi and melanomas; erbB4 has hardly been investigated. We examined the expression of all 4 erbB receptors in common and dysplastic nevi and melanomas.

Women gynecologists' attitude toward their own health.

Background: Following the publication of the results of Women's Health Initiative in 2002 there have been gross changes in the attitude of women and physicians towards the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). We evaluated the attitude of women gynecologist towards their own health, including adherence to recommended screening tests and self usage and prescription of hormone replacement therapy.

Material/methods: Questionnaires regarding performance of screening tests, self usage and recommendation of HRT were posted by mail to all Israel's women gynecologists.

Myocardial perfusion profile in a young population with and without known coronary artery disease: comparison by gender.

Background: More and more young people are being referred for evaluation or screening for coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the value of myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) in this population is unclear, especially in the absence of symptoms.

Methods: The study sample included 1765 consecutive patients less than 51 years old who were referred to a major medical center for stress/rest MPI study.

Traffic accidents and environmental physical activity.

Environmental physical activity (EPA) is considered as one of main regulators of human homeostasis. Evidence is growing that components of this activity through the "human factor" (i.e.

Well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma: comparison of microscopic and macroscopic disease.

Background: The rapid increase in the incidence of well-differentiated thyroid cancer in recent years is the result of smaller thyroid tumors (1 cm or less) being diagnosed more frequently. Few studies are available regarding the appropriate approach to this previously known postmortem incidental finding, and their results remain controversial.

Methods: In 2005, our center started a registry of all patients with nonmedullary thyroid carcinoma who were followed at our institute.

Serum protein N-glycans profiling for the discovery of potential biomarkers for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

The hepatic histology in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease can vary from isolated hepatic steatosis to steatohepatitis can progress to cirrhosis and liver-related death. The aim was to evaluate the use of blood serum N-glycan fingerprinting as a tool for differential diagnosis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis from steatosis. A group of 47 patients with NAFLD was diagnosed by clinical laboratory analysis and ultrasonography, and was studied histologically using the Brunt's scoring system.

Correlation of vascular endothelial growth factor with the severity of thalassemia intermedia.

Several lines of evidence indicate that thalassemia intermedia is associated with disturbances in vascular endothelial cell proliferation. In addition, autopsy studies of thalassemia intermedia reported obstructive lesions in the pulmonary artery in 44% of cases, especially splenectomized patients, and a recent in-vivo study reported increased level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in thalassemia intermedia. The aim of the present study was to determine whether VEGF levels are correlated with the severity of the disease.

Cyclooxygenase-2 expression in primary and metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma.

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is involved in the development and progression of many tumors, and its inhibition has been shown to block tumor growth. This study examined COX-2 expression in primary and metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues from 26 primary MCCs and 7 lymph node metastases were stained immunohistochemically with a monoclonal antibody directed against COX-2, and the percentage and intensity of staining were analyzed semiquantitatively.

Congenital heart disease: correlation with fluctuations in cosmophysical activity, 1995-2005.

Background: Environmental physical activity is known to be associated with many factors of human homeostasis, such as fetal development, birth number, and some genetic abnormalities. This study sought to investigate possible temporal links between the occurrence of congenital heart disease and solar, geomagnetic, and cosmic ray activities.

Patients And Methods: The study sample include 79,085 infants born live at a tertiary medical center in central Israel from 1995 to 2005, of whom 1739 were diagnosed with congenital heart disease, including 309 with patent ductus arteriosus (PDA).

Minimal surgery for pilonidal disease using trephines: description of a new technique and long-term outcomes in 1,358 patients.

Purpose: This study describes and reports the results of a new, minimally-invasive surgical technique for pilonidal disease.

Methods: From March 1993 to January 2003, 1,358 patients (out of a total of 1,435 patients) with symptomatic pilonidal disease underwent treatment in a military surgical clinic dedicated for pilonidal disease. Patients were operated on under local anesthesia, utilizing trephines to excise pilonidal pits and to débride underlying cavities and tracts.

A survey of attitudes of expectant first-time fathers and mothers toward epidural analgesia for labor.

Objective: To evaluate the attitude of expectant fathers to the use of epidural analgesia during labor and to compare it to the attitude of their partner.

Methods: The study group consisted of consecutive expectant, first-time parents who presented at the delivery room of a major medical center over a 3-month period. Only those with a single, term fetus in cephalic presentation were included.

Predicting outcome of malignant external otitis.

Objective: Malignant external otitis (MEO) continues to pose a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. The lack of a diagnostic study since 1987 combined with recent findings of quinolone-resistant MEO prompted the present analysis of MEO outcome in a major tertiary medical center.

Methods: Seventy-five consecutive patients hospitalized for suspected MEO between 1990 and 2003 were divided into 2 diagnostic groups: MEO Type 1, presence of all obligatory clinical and radiologic criteria and most of the occasional criteria of Cohen and Friedman or absence of 1 obligatory criterion with failure of intensive treatment, and MEO Type 2, absence of one of the obligatory criteria with treatment response within 1 week.

Papaverine hydrochloride for the treatment of renal colic: an old drug revisited. A prospective, randomized study.

Purpose: We assessed the efficacy of papaverine hydrochloride, a commonly used smooth muscle relaxant, for the treatment of renal colic as a single agent and in combination with sodium diclofenac.

Materials And Methods: A prospective, single-blind clinical study was performed at 2 centers. A total of 86 patients with acute renal colic were randomized to 3 treatment groups of 120 mg intravenous papaverine hydrochloride (29), 75 mg intramuscular sodium diclofenac (30), and papaverine hydrochloride plus sodium diclofenac (27).

The 13C-caffeine breath test detects significant fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Background: The C-caffeine breath test (CBT) is a noninvasive tool for the evaluation of the cytochrome P450 system, implicated in the development of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Goal: To apply the CBT to assess the extent of hepatic fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Methods: Twenty-six consecutive patients (mean age 56.

Cyclooxygenase-2 expression in dermatofibroma and dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans.

Background: Dermatofibroma (DF) and dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) occasionally resemble each other histologically but differ in histogenesis and biological behavior. This study sought to determine if these lesions can be differentiated by the quantity or quality of expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), an enzyme associated with both reactive and neoplastic processes.

Patients And Methods: Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded samples from 20 DFs and 20 DFSPs were stained immunohistochemically with antibodies directed against COX-2.

Clinical cosmobiology: distribution of deaths during 180 months and cosmophysical activity. The Lithuanian study, 1990-2004. The role of cosmic rays.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study is a next step of our previous, initial, publications--to explore the links between monthly death number (total, and for the major death causes and each gender) with levels of monthly cosmophysical activity in a long-term, big cohort observation.

Methods: Death number during 180 consecutive months from the National Registry of Lithuania for years 1990-2004 were studied. A total of 630,205 deaths were analyzed (333,035 males).

Bone conduction in otosclerosis--operated versus non-operated ears.

Objective: To examine whether stapes surgery improves long-term bone conduction in patients with otosclerosis.

Setting: Tertiary university hospital.

Methods: Thirty patients (52 ears) who underwent stapedectomy between 1988 and 1994.