Simultaneous bilateral biceps tendon rupture: A case report with practical sonographic diagnosis

Simultaneous bilateral complete tear of the biceps tendons is a rare clinical entity with challenging treatment approaches. Current diagnostic imaging of rupture of the biceps tendon has reverted to magnetic resonance imaging; however, in the recent years, sonography has been widely used in musculoskeletal practice. The authors present a case of simultaneous bilateral biceps tendon rupture diagnosed on the basis of fundamental sonographic findings of the torn biceps tendons

A case of concurrent several forms of thyroid cancer

Simultaneous occurrence of papillary and follicular thyroid cancer, known as differentiated thyroid cancer, has been reported with various presentations, but presence of an anaplastic cancer, as an undifferentiated cancer, in addition to differentiated thyroid cancer is rarely reported. We here report a 40-year-old man with papillary thyroid cancer on his right thyroid lobe and metastasized to the right posterior triangle of the neck. Survey on the mass in the right posterior triangle revealed presence of simultaneous papillary, follicular, and anaplastic thyroid cancer. The patient underwent right thyroid lobectomy and he received adjuvant radiotherapy in combination with chemotherapy. Keywords: Anaplastic, follicular, papillary, thyroid cance

Simultaneous two-dimensional phononic and photonic band gaps in opto-mechanical crystal slabs

© 2010 Optical Society of AmericaThe definitive version of this paper is available at:http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.18.009164DOI: 10.1364/OE.18.009164We demonstrate planar structures that can provide simultaneous two-dimensional phononic and photonic band gaps in opto-mechanical (or phoxonic) crystal slabs. Different phoxonic crystal (PxC) structures, composed of square, hexagonal (honeycomb), or triangular arrays of void cylindrical holes embedded in silicon (Si) slabs with a finite thickness, are investigated. Photonic band gap (PtBG) maps and the complete phononic band gap (PnBG) maps of PxC slabs with different radii of the holes and thicknesses of the slabs are calculated using a three-dimensional plane wave expansion code. Simultaneous phononic and photonic band gaps with band gap to midgap ratios of more than 10% are shown to be readily obtainable with practical geometries in both square and hexagonal lattices, but not for the triangular lattice

Exon 3 β-catenin mutations are specifically associated with colorectal carcinomas in hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer syndrome

Background and aim: Activating β-catenin mutations in exon 3 have been implicated in colorectal tumorigenesis. Although reports to the contrary exist, it has been suggested that β-catenin mutations occur more often in microsatellite unstable (MSI+) colorectal carcinomas, including hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), as a consequence of defective DNA mismatch repair. We have analysed 337 colorectal carcinomas and adenomas, from both sporadic cases and HNPCC families, to provide an accurate assessment of β-catenin mutation frequency in each tumour type. Methods: Direct sequencing of exon 3 of β-catenin. Results: Mutations were rare in sporadic (1/83, 1.2%) and HNPCC adenomas (1/37, 2.7%). Most of the sporadic adenomas analysed (80%) were small (<1 cm), and our data therefore differ from a previous report of a much higher mutation frequency in small adenomas. No oncogenic β-catenin mutations were identified in 34 MSI+ and 78 microsatellite stable (MSI−) sporadic colorectal cancers but a raised mutation frequency (8/44, 18.2%) was found in HNPCC cancers; this frequency was significantly higher than that in HNPCC adenomas (p = 0.035) and in both MSI− (p<0.0001) and MSI+ (p = 0.008) sporadic cancers. Mutations were more common in higher stage (Dukes’ stages C and D) cancers (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Exon 3 β-catenin mutations are associated specifically with malignant colorectal tumours in HNPCC; mutations appear not to result directly from deficient mismatch repair. Our data provide evidence that the genetic pathways of sporadic MSI+ and HNPCC cancers may be divergent, and indicate that mutations in the HNPCC pathway of colorectal tumorigenesis may be determined by selection, not simply by hypermutation