Prenatal Diagnosis of Congenital Mesenchymal Hamartoma of Liver: A Case Report

Hepatic mesenchymal hamartoma is a rare benign tumor. We present an unusual case of a fetal abdominal cyst, later diagnosed histopathologically to be mesenchymal hamartoma of liver. The organ of origin was indeterminate on both prenatal and postnatal ultrasounds. As there are no specific sonological findings, whenever a large multicystic fetal abdominal cyst is seen, mesenchymal hamartoma should be considered as a possibility

Post Irradiation Spindle Cell Carcinoma of Tonsillar Pillar

Spindle cell carcinoma of the tonsillar pillar is a rare malignancy. A case of spindle cell carcinoma of the anterior tonsillar pillar in a 59-year-old man is presented. A growth on the anterior tonsillar pillar, measuring 9 × 7 × 6 mm, was resected. The neoplasm occurred as a complication of radiotherapy (excessive cumulative radiation dose of 60 Gray) for carcinoma larynx with a latency period of three years. Postradiation spindle cell carcinoma is an uncommon disease manifesting as sarcoma in a previously irradiated field, usually with a latent period of 5 years or more. Literature is limited to small series. Histologically, this tonsillar growth was composed of a squamous cell carcinoma (epithelial component) and a spindle cell sarcomatous component. The two components of the tumour were confirmed using the immunohistochemical staining (cytokeratin and vimentin). Further p53 positivity of the sarcomatous elements aided in ruling out radiation-induced nonmalignant changes of mesenchymal tissue. This paper discusses this rare tumour in a common setting

Severe Hypercalcemia and Acute Renal Failure: An Unusual Presentation of Sarcoidosis

Although hypercalcemia is a known metabolic complication of sarcoidosis, it is rarely a presenting manifestation. Long-standing hypercalcemia and hypercalciuria can cause nephrocalcinosis and chronic renal failure. Acute renal failure, although described, is also a rare presentation of patients with sarcoidosis. We describe two patients with sarcoidosis, who presented with severe hypercalcemia and worsening renal function. Parathyroid hormone levels were appropriately suppressed. This led to an extensive search for the cause of hypercalcemia. Finally, after a lymph node biopsy in both cases, a diagnosis of sarcoidosis was established, hypercalcemia resolved, and renal function improved in both cases after administration of prednisone

Premature Birth with Complicated Perinatal Course Delaying Diagnosis of Prader-Willi Syndrome

Prader-Willi syndrome in the newborn is essentially characterized by marked hypotonia, feeding difficulties, hypogonadism, and possible characteristic facial features. However, diagnosis at this age may be particularly difficult, and dysmorphic features may be subtle or absent. Prematurity can furthermore delay clinical features recognition and typical complications due to preterm birth may contribute to divert the diagnosis. We describe a preterm baby with a complicated perinatal course later diagnosed as PWS

Restricting digital sites of dissent: commercial social media and free expression

The widespread use of commercial social media platforms by protesters and activists has enhanced protest mobilisation and reporting but it has placed social media providers in the intermediary role as facilitators of dissent and has thereby created new challenges. Companies like Google and Facebook are increasingly restricting content that is published on or distributed through their platforms; they have been subject to obstruction by governments; and their services have been at the core of large-scale data collection and surveillance. This article analyses and categorises forms of infrastructure-based restrictions on free expression and dissent. It shows how private intermediaries have been incorporated into state-led content policies; how they set their own standards for legitimate online communication and intervene accordingly; and how state-based actions and commercial self-regulation intersect in the specific area of online surveillance. Based on a broad review of cases, it situates the role of social media in the wider trend of the privatisation of communications policy and the complex interplay between state-based regulation and commercial rule-making

Student politics, teaching politics, black politics: an interview with Ansel Wong

Ansel Wong is the quiet man of British black politics, rarely in the limelight and never seeking political office. And yet his ‘career’ here – from Black Power firebrand to managing a multimillion budget as head of the Greater London Council’s Ethnic Minority Unit in the 1980s – spells out some of the most important developments in black educational and cultural projects. In this interview, he discusses his identification with Pan-Africanism, his involvement in student politics, his role in the establishment of youth projects and supplementary schools in the late 1960s and 1970s, and his involvement in black radical politics in London in the same period, all of which took place against the background of revolutionary ferment in the Third World and the world of ideas, and were not without their own internal class and ethnic conflicts