Thymic Carcinoid Responds to Neoadjuvant Therapy with Sunitinib and Octreotide: A Case Report

Carcinoids are malignant neuroendocrine tumors consisting of a spectrum of neoplasms from low-grade typical carcinoid to high-grade small cell carcinoma. We report a case of atypical thymic carcinoid that responded to neoadjuvant therapy with octreotide and sunitinib, an oral multikinase inhibitor. After 3 weeks of treatment, tumor size significantly decreased to allow for a safe surgical resection with clear margins. We believe that further study of sunitinib and octreotide with the neoadjuvant intent of preparing tumors for resection is warranted as a strategy to improve curative management of neuroendocrine tumors

EVOLUTION OF RELIGIOUS TOPICS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA IN 80 YEARS PERIOD

Background: Environment and culture are shown to be an important factor influencing characteristics of psychotic symptoms. Content of hallucinations and delusions is a projection of internal processes on external world. Religion plays a central role to lives of many people, but in schizophrenia religious experience and spirituality is confounded by psychotic symptoms. The aim of this study was to find how content of hallucinations and delusions interact with cultural conditions, that were changing over the decades. Subjects and methods: 100 of case histories from 2012 were randomly selected. From the medical record, content of hallucinations and delusion was extracted and categorized. Data from 2012 was compared with previous study by the authors, obtaining perspective of 80 years of history in the one hospital. Results: Religious content of delusions and hallucinations appeared in 26% of patients. Diversity of the religious and spiritual themes in schizophrenia has been gradually decreasing. Many minor religious entities and figures such as “saints” and “angels” disappeared in 2012. Although, occurrence of contact with God and other religious figures was similar as in previous years, number of “visions” abruptly decreased. All of the religious content was culture-specific. Conclusions: Religious topics express general plasticity over a time, following cultural changes in society

Exploring Complex Networks with Graph Investigator Research Application

This paper describes Graph Investigator, the application intended for analysis of complex networks. A rich set of application functions is briefly described including graph feature generation, comparison, visualization and edition. The program enables to analyze global and local structural properties of networks with the use of various descriptors derived from graph theory. Furthermore, it allows to quantify inter-graph similarity by embedding graph patterns into low-dimensional space or distance measurement based on feature vectors. The set of available graph descriptors includes over eighty statistical and algebraic measures. We present two examples of real-world networks analysis performed with Graph Investigator: comparison of brain vasculature with structurally similar artificial networks and analysis of vertices importance in a macaque cortical connectivity network. The third example describes tracking parameters of artificial vascular network evolving in the process of angiogenesis, modelled with the use of cellular automata

ANALYSIS OF FACIAL EXPRESSIONS IN PATIENTS WITH SCHZIOPHRENIA, IN COMPARISON WITH A HEALTHY CONTROL - CASE STUDY

Introduction: Deficits in area of communication, crucial for maintaining proper social bonds, may have a prominent adverse impact on quality of life in patients with schizophrenia. Social exclusion, lack of employment and deterioration of family life, may be consequences of aggravated social competencies, caused by inability to properly exhibit and interpret facial expressions. Although this phenomenon is known since first clinical descriptions of schizophrenia, lack of proper methodology limited our knowledge in this area. Aim of our study was to compare facial expressivity of the patient with schizophrenia, and the healthy individual. Methods: 47-years old patient suffering from schizophrenia, and 36-years old healthy individual were invited to participate in our study. They underwent the examination in Human Facial Modelling Lab in Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology in Bytom (Silesia, Katowice). Both participants were presented with two video materials, first one contained different facial expressions, which they had to imitate. Second one a part of comedy show, during which spontaneous reactions were recorded. Acquisition of facial expressions was conducted with marker-based technology of modelling. Obtained data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Results and conclusions: An overall facial expression intensity, expressed as an average value of distances traveled by markers during shifts from neutral position was higher in case of a healthy participant during both part of the study. The difference was especially visible in case of an upper half of the face. Utilization of marker-based methods in analysis of human facial expressions seem to be reliable and remarkably accurate

ANALYSIS OF FACIAL EXPRESSIONS IN PATIENTS WITH SCHZIOPHRENIA, IN COMPARISON WITH A HEALTHY CONTROL - CASE STUDY

Introduction: Deficits in area of communication, crucial for maintaining proper social bonds, may have a prominent adverse impact on quality of life in patients with schizophrenia. Social exclusion, lack of employment and deterioration of family life, may be consequences of aggravated social competencies, caused by inability to properly exhibit and interpret facial expressions. Although this phenomenon is known since first clinical descriptions of schizophrenia, lack of proper methodology limited our knowledge in this area. Aim of our study was to compare facial expressivity of the patient with schizophrenia, and the healthy individual. Methods: 47-years old patient suffering from schizophrenia, and 36-years old healthy individual were invited to participate in our study. They underwent the examination in Human Facial Modelling Lab in Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology in Bytom (Silesia, Katowice). Both participants were presented with two video materials, first one contained different facial expressions, which they had to imitate. Second one a part of comedy show, during which spontaneous reactions were recorded. Acquisition of facial expressions was conducted with marker-based technology of modelling. Obtained data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Results and conclusions: An overall facial expression intensity, expressed as an average value of distances traveled by markers during shifts from neutral position was higher in case of a healthy participant during both part of the study. The difference was especially visible in case of an upper half of the face. Utilization of marker-based methods in analysis of human facial expressions seem to be reliable and remarkably accurate

Large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix

Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) of the uterine cervix is a rare and aggressive malignancy with poor prognosis even in its early stage, despite multimodality treatment strategy. Here, we report a case of a woman with clinical polypoid stage IB LCNEC of the cervix, which was detected in her 6-week postpartum checkup. A literature review was also conducted to evaluate current therapeutic approaches and potential new strategies