Mixed germ cell tumour complicated by pulmonary thromboembolism: a case report

Malignant ovarian germ cell tumours (MOGCTs) are a heterogeneous group of tumours that have several histological different types derived from primordial germ cells of the embryonic gonad. They account for less than 5% of all ovarian malignancies, and are seen in the second and third decade of life. The majority of germ cell tumours are diagnosed in the early stages. Histology, FIGO stage and residual tumour after surgery are the most important prognostic factors. Recent multimodality therapy with staging laparotomy and conservative surgery, followed by platinum based chemotherapy, is associated with survival rates of 60 - 80%, even in patients with advanced disease. Mixed germ cell tumours are extremely rare and the prognosis depends on the size of each component of the tumour. The exact incidence of thrombo embolic events in patients with malignancy is difficult to determine. However ovarian malignancy is strongly associated with venous thrombo embolism. We report a case of a fourteen year old girl with a mixed GCT, with elements of yolk sac tumour and embryonal carcinoma, who succumbed to pulmonary thromboembolism

Severity of psoriasis among adult males is associated with smoking, not with alcohol use

Context: Lifestyle factors such as tobacco smoking and alcohol use can affect the presentation and course of psoriasis. There is a paucity of data on this subject from India. Aims: To find out whether increased severity of psoriasis in adult Indian males is associated with tobacco smoking and alcohol use. Settings and Design: Cross-sectional study in the Department of Dermatology of a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital. Subjects and Methods: Male patients above 18 years of age attending a psoriasis clinic between March 2007 and May 2009 were studied. Severity of psoriasis (measured using Psoriasis Area and Severity Index - PASI) among smokers and non-smokers was compared. We also studied the correlation between severity of psoriasis and nicotine dependence (measured using Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence) and alcohol use disorders (measured using Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test- AUDIT). Statistical Analysis: Z-test, Odd′s ratio, Chi-square test, Spearman′s correlation coefficient. Results: Of a total of 338 patients, 148 were smokers and 173 used to consume alcohol. Mean PASI score of smokers was more than that of non-smokers (Z-test, z = −2.617, P = 0.009). Those with severe psoriasis were more likely to be smokers (χ2 = 5.47, P = 0.02, OR = 1.8, Confidence Interval 1.09-2.962). There was a significant correlation between PASI scores and Fagerström score (Spearman′s correlation coefficient = 0.164, P 0.05). Conclusions: Increased severity of psoriasis among adult males is associated with tobacco smoking, but not with alcohol use

Mixed germ cell tumour complicated by pulmonary thromboembolism: a case report

Malignant ovarian germ cell tumours (MOGCTs) are a heterogeneous group of tumours that have several histological different types derived from primordial germ cells of the embryonic gonad. They account for less than 5% of all ovarian malignancies, and are seen in the second and third decade of life. The majority of germ cell tumours are diagnosed in the early stages. Histology, FIGO stage and residual tumour after surgery are the most important prognostic factors. Recent multimodality therapy with staging laparotomy and conservative surgery, followed by platinum based chemotherapy, is associated with survival rates of 60 - 80%, even in patients with advanced disease. Mixed germ cell tumours are extremely rare and the prognosis depends on the size of each component of the tumour. The exact incidence of thrombo embolic events in patients with malignancy is difficult to determine. However ovarian malignancy is strongly associated with venous thrombo embolism. We report a case of a fourteen year old girl with a mixed GCT, with elements of yolk sac tumour and embryonal carcinoma, who succumbed to pulmonary thromboembolism

A Case Control Study to Determine the Association of Psoriasis with Metabolic Syndrome in a Tertiary Care

Abstract- Several studies have linked psoriasis with metabolic syndrome (MS), but only a few of them have used population specific criteria for diagnosis of MS. None of the previous studies have explored whether MS is more frequent in psoriasis when compared to another chronic inflammatory disease of skin. Aims: To find out if there is any association between psoriasis and MS; to study the contribution of individual components of MS towards such association and to explore the relationship of MS with clinical type, duration and severity of psoriasis. Methods and Material: A hospital based case-control study was conducted involving 150 patients with psoriasis as cases and 150 patients with eczema as controls. The differences between the two groups regarding various components of MS were studied by univariate analysis. Result: Psoriasis was associated with MS (Odd’s ratio (OR) 1.9 (1.3 – 3.3), p = 0.02). Increased duration (p = 0.04) and severity of psoriasis (p 0.01) was associated with MS. Waist circumference (p = 0.001) was identified as the key factor which contributed for development of MS. Conclusion: There was an overall association of psoriasis with MS. Among the individual components of MS, increased waist circumference was significantly associated.Patients with greater duration or severity of psoriasis were more likely to have an association with MS. Index Terms- dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome, obesity, psoriasi

Ensuring Reliable Communication in Disaster Recovery Operations with Reliable Routing Technique

The purpose of this research paper is to ensure reliable and continuous communication between the rescue officers and other people during disaster recovery and reconstruction operations. Most of the communication infrastructure gets damaged during the disaster and proper communication cannot be established in the area which leads to longer delays in emergency operations and increased damage to life and property. Various methods proposed to enable communication between the people using wireless ad hoc networks do not guarantee reliable delivery of data with fast moving devices. This paper presents a Reliable Routing Technique (RRT) that ensures reliable data delivery at the destination device even when the people with the mobile devices are moving in the network. We make use of the broadcasting property of the wireless network and create a priority list of probable forwarding candidates at each device. With this technique, RRT ensures that if a forwarder device is unable to forward the data packet due to movement of mobile devices, the next priority candidate forwards the data packet to the destination device, thus ensuring reliability of data delivery in the network. Simulation results show that RRT achieves significant performance improvement with better data delivery in ad hoc networks