Correlation of humeral length and its segments in a sample of Indian population: an osteological study

Background: Anthropometry measurements are very useful and have definite medico legal significance. In case of missing persons in the absence of pelvis and cranium, the remains of long bones of an individual play an important role in anthropological practice for morphometric analysis. The stature of an individual can be estimated from the humerus alone. Estimating the mean values of different segments of humerus helps in forensic and anthropometric practice. Previous studies have confirmed that humerus is one of the strongest long bones of the human skeleton and its fragments can be recorded in a forensic case. The present study was done to assess the mean values of different segments of humerus and their correlation with its length.Methods: Seventy dry adult humerus bones (32 rights and 38 left) were collected randomly from the anatomy department. Broken bones and the bones in a poor condition were excluded from the study. The segments of the humerus were studied for morphometric analysis.Results: All of the measurements were obtained in millimetres (mm). The measurement of the maximum length of humerus (MHH) was done by using an otseometric board and the different segments of humerus were measured by a vernier calliper (precision=0.cm). Mean and SD were calculated.Conclusions: This study has helped us to observe the maximum length of humerus and the mean values of the different segments of humerus in a sample of Indian population. The study also suggests that there are some differences between various segments of humerus within different populations

Noninvasive Assessment of Intra-Abdominal Pressure by Measurement of Abdominal Wall Tension

Background. Sustained increased intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) has negative effects. Noninvasive IAP measurement could be beneficial to improve monitoring of patients at risk and in whom IAP measurements might be unreliable. We assessed the relation between IAP and abdominal wall tension (AWT) in vitro and in vivo. Materials and Methods. The abdomens of 14 corpses were insufflated with air. IAP was measured at intervals up to 20 mm Hg. At each interval, AWT was measured five times at six points. In 42 volunteers, AWT was measured at five points in supine, sitting, and standing positions during various respiratory manoeuvres. Series were repeated in 14 volunteers to measure reproducibility by calculating coefficients of variation (CV). ANOVA was used for analyses. Results. In corpses, all points showed significant correlations between IAP and AWT (P < 0.001 for points 1-4 in the upper abdomen, P = 0.017 for point 5 and P = 0.008 for point 6 in the lower abdomen). Mean slopes were greatest at points across the epigastric region (points 1-3). In vivo measurements showed that AWT was on average 31% higher in men compared to women(P < 0.001), and increased from expiration to inspiration to Valsalva's manoeuvre (all P < 0.001). AWT was highest at points 1 and 2 and in standing position, followed by supine and sitting positions. BMI did not influence AWT. Mean CV of repeated measurements was 14%. Conclusions. AWT reflects IAP. The epigastric region appears most suitable for AWT measurements. Further longitudinal clinical studies are needed to assess usefulness of AWT measurements for monitoring of IAP. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Effect of cyclophosphamide on the microanatomy of liver of albino rats

Background: Cyclophosphamide is widely used in the treatment of various neoplastic diseases and diseases associated with altered immunity. Higher doses used for longer duration effects many organs like urinary bladder, lungs, liver, heart and male reproductive organs.Methods: To study the effect of cyclophosphamide on the micro anatomy of liver, sixty eight Albino rats were taken and divided into three groups, group A (control group) of 20 animals, were fed with routine diet, group B (low dose group) of 24 animals, were given cyclophosphamide at the dose of 0.5 mg/100 gms in addition to the routine diet and group C (high dose group) of 24 animals, were given high dose of cyclophosphamide at the dose of 0.7 mg/100 gms of weight of animal in addition to the routine diet. The animals were sacrificed at intervals of 3, 6, 9 and 12 weeks, 5 microns sections of the tissue were prepared and stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin stain.Results: Microscopic changes in liver were apparent in the drug treated animals. In group B the changes appeared after 6 weeks while in group C they started appearing after 3 weeks of drug treatment. The changes were in the form of fatty changes, hemorrhages and central vein congestion.Conclusion: Cyclophosphamide induces histological changes like fatty infiltration and central vein congestion in the liver. These changes are with low doses given for longer durations and manifest earlier when larger doses are used. Thus it is advised that patients receiving cyclophosphamide should be periodically evaluated for liver dysfunction.

SEPALLATA3: the 'glue' for MADS box transcription factor complex formation

A yeast 3-hybrid screen in Arabidopsis reveals MADS box protein complexes: SEP3 is shown to mediate complex formation and floral timing

Elective Open Suprarenal Aneurysm Repair in England from 2000 to 2010 an Observational Study of Hospital Episode Statistics

Background: Open surgery is widely used as a benchmark for the results of fenestrated endovascular repair of complex abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). However, the existing evidence stems from single-centre experiences, and may not be reproducible in wider practice. National outcomes provide valuable information regarding the safety of suprarenal aneurysm repair. Methods: Demographic and clinical data were extracted from English Hospital Episodes Statistics for patients undergoing elective suprarenal aneurysm repair from 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2010. Thirty-day mortality and five-year survival were analysed by logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards modeling. Results: 793 patients underwent surgery with 14% overall 30-day mortality, which did not improve over the study period. Independent predictors of 30-day mortality included age, renal disease and previous myocardial infarction. 5-year survival was independently reduced by age, renal disease, liver disease, chronic pulmonary disease, and known metastatic solid tumour. There was significant regional variation in both 30-day mortality and 5-year survival after risk-adjustment. Regional differences in outcome were eliminated in a sensitivity analysis for perioperative outcome, conducted by restricting analysis to survivors of the first 30 days after surgery. Conclusions: Elective suprarenal aneurysm repair was associated with considerable mortality and significant regional variation across England. These data provide a benchmark to assess the efficacy of complex endovascular repair of supra-renal aneurysms, though cautious interpretation is required due to the lack of information regarding aneurysm morphology. More detailed study is required, ideally through the mandatory submission of data to a national registry of suprarenal aneurysm repair

NKG2D ligand tumor expression and association with clinical outcome in early breast cancer patients: an observational study.

BACKGROUND: Cell surface NKG2D ligands (NKG2DL) bind to the activating NKG2D receptor present on NK cells and subsets of T cells, thus playing a role in initiating an immune response. We examined tumor expression and prognostic effect of NKG2DL in breast cancer patients. METHODS: Our study population (n = 677) consisted of all breast cancer patients primarily treated with surgery in our center between 1985 and 1994. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor tissue was immunohistochemically stained with antibodies directed against MIC-A/MIC-B (MIC-AB), ULBP-1, ULBP-2, ULBP-3, ULBP-4, and ULBP-5. RESULTS: NKG2DL were frequently expressed by tumors (MIC-AB, 50% of the cases; ULBP-1, 90%; ULBP-2, 99%; ULBP-3, 100%; ULBP-4, 26%; ULBP-5, 90%) and often showed co-expression: MIC-AB and ULBP-4 (p = 0.043), ULBP-1 and ULBP-5 (p = 0.006), ULBP-4 and ULBP-5 (p < 0.001). MIC-AB (p = 0.001) and ULBP-2 (p = 0.006) expression resulted in a statistically significant longer relapse free period (RFP). Combined expression of these ligands showed to be an independent prognostic parameter for RFP (p < 0.001, HR 0.41). Combined expression of all ligands showed no associations with clinical outcome. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated for the first time that NKG2DL are frequently expressed and often co-expressed in breast cancer. Expression of MIC-AB and ULBP-2 resulted in a statistically significant beneficial outcome concerning RFP with high discriminative power. Combination of all NKG2DL showed no additive or interactive effect of ligands on each other, suggesting that similar and co-operative functioning of all NKG2DL can not be assumed. Our observations suggest that among driving forces in breast cancer outcome are immune activation on one site and tumor immune escape on the other site.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are