Minimally invasive double lung transplantation technique (Anteroaxillary approach)

Lung transplantation has been performed through several approaches in the past. Sternothoracotomy is the most widely used approach for double lung transplantation. Although bilateral anterolateral thoracotomy for double lung transplantation has been described in the past, this approach has not widely adopted worldwide. The 'anteroaxillary approach' utilizes a limited incision compared to others, preserves sternal anatomy as well as thoracic arteries, and provides an excellent exposure to hilum. We would like to present our standard approach at University of Pittsburgh through anteroaxillary incision

Rare malformation of glans penis: Arteriovenous malformation

Pediatric glans penis malformations, especially arteriovenous malformations (AVM), are very rare. Herein, we report two rare cases. A 14‑year‑old boy attended our outpatient clinic with chief complaints of purple swelling and rapidly growing lesion on the glans penis. The lesion was excised surgically after physical and radiological evaluations. Pathology reported AVM and the patient is being followed up. The second case is a 2‑year‑old boy who was admitted with a big lesion involving glans penis and genital area that has been present since birth. In physical and radiological evaluations, lesion on the glans penis was pulsatile. Parents of the patient did not want any surgery and patient has been in follow‑up. Diagnosis of the vascular lesions on glans penis is very easy by physical and radiological examinations today. Long‑term follow‑up is very important for AVM. Clinicians must make a careful effort to document new glans lesions in the pediatric population and decrease anxiety in the parents of affected children.Key words: Arteriovenous malformations, glans penis, penis anomalie

The day-of-the-week effect on stock-market volatility and return: Evidence from emerging markets

This study investigates day-of-the-week (DOW) anomalies in the stock markets of twenty emerging economies. The authors use a modified exponential generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity in-mean (EGARCH-M) modeling strategy that allows for the simultaneous examination of DOW effects on market return and variability. The effects on both are limited in the authors' sample. To summarize, DOW effects are present in market returns for only three countries, in market volatility for only five countries, and they are present in both for only one country, when the estimates are evaluated at the 1 percent significance level. Despite this, at lower levels of significance the common qualitative patterns in the estimates are extracted such that the higher returns are concentrated around Fridays, whereas volatility is highest on Mondays and lowest on Tuesdays and Fridays

Automated discrimination of psychotropic drugs in mice via computer vision-based analysis

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We developed an inexpensive computer vision-based method utilizing an algorithm which differentiates drug-induced behavioral alterations. The mice were observed in an open-field arena and their activity was recorded for 100 min. For each animal the first 50 min of observation were regarded as the drug-free period. Each animal was exposed to only one drug and they were injected (i.p.) with either amphetamine or cocaine as the stimulant drugs or morphine or diazepam as the inhibitory agents. The software divided the arena into virtual grids and calculated the number of visits (sojourn counts) to the grids and instantaneous speeds within these grids by analyzing video data. These spatial distributions of sojourn counts and instantaneous speeds were used to construct feature vectors which were fed to the classifier algorithms for the final step of matching the animals and the drugs. The software decided which of the animals were drug-treated at a rate of 96%. The algorithm achieved 92% accuracy in sorting the data according to the increased or decreased activity and then determined which drug was delivered. The method differentiated the type of psychostimulant or inhibitory drugs with a success ratio of 70% and 80%, respectively. This method provides a new way to automatically evaluate and classify drug-induced behaviors in mice. Crown Copyright © 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Primary testicular lymphoma: a single centre experience

Aim: Primary testicular lymphoma (PTL) is an uncommon and aggressive form of extranodal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). We aimed to analyse the clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes of our PTL cases. Materials and Methods: A review was made of the medical records of 339 NHL patients who were treated in the Medical Oncology Department between January 2005 and December 2013. Results: 8 PTL patients were identified from the 339 NHL patients. The average age of the patients was 67.7 ± 7.9 years (range 53–79 years). The mean follow-up time was 24.8 months (range 7–98 months). Inguinal orchiectomy was performed as a diagnostic and initial therapy and all the patients underwent 4–6 cycles of chemoimmunotherapy consisting of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone plus rituximab. 4 of 8 patients received intrathecal prophylactic chemotherapy and 6 of 8 patients continued contralateral testis irradiation. Relapse occured in only 1 patient in central nervous system after 6 months who had not received intrathecal prophylaxis. No contralateral testis relapse was observed. Conclusions: Primary testicular NHL is an uncommon entity and we evaluated 8 patients; with one relapse in central nervous system and no relapse in the contralateral testis. Key Words: primary testicular lymphoma, contralateral scrotal irradiation, intratechal chemotherapy

Single dose regorafenib-induced hypertensive crisis

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are uncommon tumors of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Regorafenib is a new multikinase inhibitor and is approved for the treatment of GISTs in patients who develop resistance to imatinib and sunitinib. The most common drug-related adverse events with regorafenib are hypertension, hand-foot skin reactions, and diarrhea. Grade IV hypertensive side effect has never been reported after a single dose. In this report, we present a case of Grade IV hypertensive side effect (hypertensive crisis and seizure) after a single dose of regorafenib. A 54-year-old male normotensive GIST patient was admitted to the emergency department with seizure and encephalopathy after the first dosage of regorafenib. His blood pressure was 240/140 mmHg upon admission. After intensive treatment with nitrate and nitroprusside, his blood pressure returned to normal levels in five days. Regorafenib was discontinued, and he did not experience hypertension again. This paper reports the first case of Grade IV hypertension after the first dosage of regorafenib. We can suggest that hypertension is an idiosyncratic side effect unrelated to the dosage. Key Words: hypertension, regorafenib, gastrointestinal stromal tumor

High body-mass index is not associated with worse clinicopathological characteristics in predominantly obese breast cancer patients

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women. A high body-mass index (BMI) is related to increased incidence of BC with poorer prognosis. Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the association in patients with BC between BMI at the time of diagnosis and biological characteristics, according to the menopausal status. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study comprised a total of 318 women with BC. Clinicopathological differences between normal, overweight and obese patients according to menopausal status were evaluated. Results: Premenopausal women had a significantly lower BMI than postmenopausal patients (28.7 vs. 31.5, respectively; p = 0.00001). No statistically significant association was determined between BMI and clinicopathological characteristics in either the premenopausal or the postmenopausal group (all p values are > 0.05). Conclusions: There are many conflicting results in literature on this relationship. The results of this study showed that a high BMI is not associated with worse clinicopathological cha­racteristics in a predominantly obese population. In current medical oncology practice, BC should be evaluated on an individual patient basis and the impact of obesity on BC prognosis seems to be difficult to estimate especially in an obese population. Key Words: breast cancer, body-mass index, prognosis

Proanthocyanidin to prevent formation of the reexpansion pulmonary edema

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We aimed to investigate the preventive effect of Proanthocyanidine (PC) in the prevention of RPE formation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Subjects were divided into four groups each containing 10 rats. In the Control Group (CG): RPE wasn't performed. Then subjects were followed up for three days and they were sacrificed after the follow up period. Samplings were made from tissues for measurement of biochemical and histopathologic parameters. In the Second Group (PCG): The same protocol as CG was applied, except the administration of PC to the subjects. In the third RPE Group (RPEG): Again the same protocol as CG was applied, but as a difference, RPE was performed. In the Treatment Group (TG): The same protocol as RPEG was applied except the administration of PC to the subjects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In RPEG group, the most important histopathological finding was severe pulmonary edema with alveolar damage and acute inflammatory cells. These findings were less in the TG group. RPE caused increased MDA levels, and decreased GPx, SOD and CAT activity significantly in lung tissue.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>PC decreased MDA levels. Oxidative stress plays an important role in pathophysiology of RPE and PC treatment was shown to be useful to prevent formation of RPE.</p