Role of CT enterography in evaluation of small bowel disorders

Background: Small bowel pathologies are an enigma for clinicians and difficult to assess and evaluate for clinicians. In order to establish the efficacy of MDCT Enterography in diagnostic characterisation of small bowel lesions, the current study was undertaken.Methods: A prospective observational cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital. 30 patients with clinically suspected small bowel disease underwent CT enterography using iso-osmotic mannitol as neutral enteral contrast. CT enterography diagnoses were compared with clinical, surgical and histopathological results.Results: CT enterography showed a sensitivity (95.83%), specificity (100%), positive predictive value (100%), negative predictive value (85.71%), accuracy (96.66%) in diagnosis of small bowel diseases.Conclusions: CTE is a non-invasive well tolerated and reliable imaging modality for the depiction of small-bowel diseases. It provides excellent visualization of luminal, mural and extraintestinal findings

Clinicoradiologicial aspects of secretory carcinoma breast: A rare pediatric breast malignancy

Secretory carcinoma (juvenile carcinoma) is one of the very rare breast malignancy reported to be prevalent in pediatric age group. We report imaging and clinicopathological features of secretory carcinoma breast with distant and axillary metastasis, in an 11-year-old girl, who presented with a painful lump in right breast. Ultrasound revealed a well-defined, partially microlobulated hypoechoic mass with skin and pectoralis muscle involvement and a suspicious morphology right axillary lymph node. Color Doppler revealed increased vascularity in both the breast mass and suspicious axillary node. Magnetic resonance imaging helped in better evaluation of pectoralis muscle involvement. Computed tomography (CT) neck, chest, and abdomen revealed multiple fibronodular opacities in bilateral lung fields. 18 Flouro-Deoxy-Glucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG PET-CT) showed a hypermetabolic retroareolar breast mass with multiple hypermetabolic bilateral lung nodules suggesting lung metastasis. The histopathology confirmed the diagnosis of secretory carcinoma. The patient was offered chemotherapy for 2 years and put on follow-up since then

Clinicoradiological aspects of pontine tegmental cap dysplasia: Case report of a rare hindbrain malformation

Malformations involving the brainstem are very rare and present with a varied spectrum of clinical symptoms due to multiple cranial nerve palsies and pyramidal tract involvement. Of these, pontine tegmental cap dysplasia is a very unusual malformation, characterized by ventral pons hypoplasia and an ectopic dorsal band of tissue, projecting into the fourth ventricle, from dorsal pontine tegmentum. A 4-year-old male child, presenting with left facial nerve palsy, revealed hypoplastic ventral pons and an ectopic structure on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The ectopic structure was isointense to pons, arose from the left side of dorsal pontine tegmentum, at pontomedullary junction and protruded into the fourth ventricle, impinging upon the left seventh and eighth cranial nerves. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) depicted abnormal white matter tracts in ectopic tissue with absent transverse pontine fibres and abnormal middle and superior cerebellar peduncles. The typical MRI appearance, coupled with DTI, helped us reach an accurate diagnosis of pontine tegmental cap dysplasia, in a setting of neurological dysfunction

Electrochemical and optical studies of conjugated polymers for three primary colours

921-925The Cyclic Voltammetry investigation and optical properties of some of the commonly used conjugated polymers for the fabrication of organic LEDs, like poly [2-methoxy 5- (2'-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV), poly [2,3-bis (2-ethylhexyloxy)1,4-phenylenevinylene] (BEH-PPV) and poly[(9,9'-di(2'-ethylhexyl) fluoren-2,7-yleneethynylene] (PFE) for three principal emission colours red, green and blue, respectively have been reported. Both oxidation and reduction potentials of polymers were determined under the same experimental conditions to estimate the ionization potential (Ip: energy of Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital) and electron affinity (Ea: energy of Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital). The optical band gaps of the polymers were obtained from their optical absorption spectra. A comparative study of the electrochemical and optical bandgap of the polymers has been made. The photoluminescence (PL) of the polymers has also been studied

Epidemiology and outcomes of hospital-acquired bloodstream infections in intensive care unit patients: the EUROBACT-2 international cohort study

Purpose In the critically ill, hospital-acquired bloodstream infections (HA-BSI) are associated with significant mortality. Granular data are required for optimizing management, and developing guidelines and clinical trials. Methods We carried out a prospective international cohort study of adult patients (≥ 18 years of age) with HA-BSI treated in intensive care units (ICUs) between June 2019 and February 2021. Results 2600 patients from 333 ICUs in 52 countries were included. 78% HA-BSI were ICU-acquired. Median Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score was 8 [IQR 5; 11] at HA-BSI diagnosis. Most frequent sources of infection included pneumonia (26.7%) and intravascular catheters (26.4%). Most frequent pathogens were Gram-negative bacteria (59.0%), predominantly Klebsiella spp. (27.9%), Acinetobacter spp. (20.3%), Escherichia coli (15.8%), and Pseudomonas spp. (14.3%). Carbapenem resistance was present in 37.8%, 84.6%, 7.4%, and 33.2%, respectively. Difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR) was present in 23.5% and pan-drug resistance in 1.5%. Antimicrobial therapy was deemed adequate within 24 h for 51.5%. Antimicrobial resistance was associated with longer delays to adequate antimicrobial therapy. Source control was needed in 52.5% but not achieved in 18.2%. Mortality was 37.1%, and only 16.1% had been discharged alive from hospital by day-28. Conclusions HA-BSI was frequently caused by Gram-negative, carbapenem-resistant and DTR pathogens. Antimicrobial resistance led to delays in adequate antimicrobial therapy. Mortality was high, and at day-28 only a minority of the patients were discharged alive from the hospital. Prevention of antimicrobial resistance and focusing on adequate antimicrobial therapy and source control are important to optimize patient management and outcomes