PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Date

Publications and source records attributed to A Date.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Tonsillar actinomycosis: a clinicopathological study.

Actinomycosis has been known to involve virtually every anatomic site in the body. Although actinomycosis has been identified in resected tonsils, its possible role in adeno-tonsillar disease has received little attention. A clinicopathological study of 302 patients who had adeno-tonsillar surgery is presented. Tonsillar actinomycosis was present in 86 (28.5%) patients. The statistical analysis revealed a significant association (P<0.0001) of actinomycosis and tonsillar hypertrophy (56.8%) compared to only 10.3% in the recurrent tonsillitis group. A statistically significant association (P<0.0001) of tonsillar actinomycosis and sickle cell anaemia, beta thalassaemia, bronchial asthma and beta haemolytic streptococcal infections was also seen. This data supports a predisposition of the above conditions to tonsillar actinomycosis and adeno-tonsillar hypertrophy and a possible etiopathologic role of this organism in adeno-tonsillar hypertrophy and disease. Although the clinical association of actinomycosis and tonsillar hypertrophy and beta haemolytic streptococcal infection has been described before the association of actinomycosis with sickle cell anaemia, beta thalassaemia and bronchial asthma is being observed for the first time in literature.

Actinomyces↗

Palatal presentation of scleroma.

A case with palatal presentation of scleroma is presented due to its rarity and unusual manifestations. The patient presented with only palatal symptoms. Nasal endoscopy revealed signs of all three stages of scleroma: catarrhal, granulomatous and sclerotic stages. Histopathology was vital in the diagnosis. The patient was treated by medical therapy, and palatal symptoms were relieved by uvulopalatopharyngoplasty.

Adolescent↗

Tyger tyger.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Animals↗

Eosinophilic cystitis--not that uncommon!

The clinical presentation, radiological manifestations and response to therapy of seven cases of biopsy-proven eosinophilic cystitis seen over an 8-year period were evaluated retrospectively. All of the five men and two women had symptoms of dysuria and frequency, with haematuria in two cases. One developed acute painful retention. The urine was sterile in all. Radiological findings included bladder mass lesions and upper tract dilatation. Cystoscopy showed papillary, erythematous and ulcerative mucosal lesions, and in one instance a large mass lesion. The various procedures carried out were cold cup biopsies, transurethral resections, or fulgration of lesions and partial cystectomy. Medical therapy included non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and prophylactic antibiotics to cover the procedures carried out. There was excellent symptomatic improvement in all patients. This is the largest single-centre experience reported, and is unusual as the majority of the patients in this series were men.

Adult↗

Familial Lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase deficiency with renal failure in two siblings. First case report from India.

We encountered 2 siblings with corneal opacities, anemia, decreased concentration of plasma esterified cholesterol, chronic renal failure and markedly reduced levels of plasma lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase. Renal biopsy in 1 patient showed clear lacunae containing characteristic dense bodies in the glomerular and tubular basement membranes and the interstitium. One of the 2 siblings received a kidney transplant and is doing well after 9 years. This is the first report of this rare metabolic disease from India.

Adult↗

Evolutionary history and mechanism of the Drosophila cecropin gene family.

Upon bacterial infection, insects secrete a set of synthesized antibacterial proteins into the hemolymph and initiate synergistic destruction of invaders. Cecropin is one such antibacterial protein which is also found in vertebrates. To study the evolutionary history and mechanism of the Cecropin gene family, we determined DNA sequences of one isogenic In(3R)C and six isofemale lines of Drosophila melanogaster as well as one line of D. simulans and of D. yakuba. The phylogenetic analysis of these sequences together with those published for D. virilis and Sarcophaga peregrina reveals frequent gene re-organization. It was also found that silent nucleotide differences within D. melanogaster are quite heterogeneous across the gene region of approximately 3 kilobases and the extent of polymorphism is unusually usually high. These data suggest that the Cecropin gene region of D. melanogaster underwent intragenic recombination as well as introgression from a closely related sibling species, D. simulans.

Animals↗

Inter- and intra-observer variation in the histopathological reporting of cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions using a modified Bethesda grading system.

OBJECTIVE: 1. To assess inter- and intra-observer variation in the histopathological reporting of cervical colposcopic biopsies using a histologic modification of the cytological Bethesda grading system; 2. to determine the histologic profile of those cases which resulted in diagnostic disagreement. METHODS: Consecutive cervical colposcopic biopsies (n = 125) were assessed independently by six experienced histopathologists. Cases were classified as normal, low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion or high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion. Six months later the process was repeated. The degree of inter and intra-observer variation was assessed by kappa statistics. All cases in which there was less than perfect inter and intra-observer agreement were reviewed by the coordinator of the study. RESULTS: In the first round of the study inter-observer agreement was generally poor, with unweighted and weighted kappa values ranging from 0.15 to 0.58 (average 0.30) and from 0.21 to 0.61 (average 0.36) respectively. In the second round inter-observer agreement was better, with unweighted and weighted kappa values ranging from 0.08 to 0.55 (average 0.33) and from 0.22 to 0.59 (average 0.42). Ten of the 15 pairs of observers achieved fair inter-observer agreement using weighted kappa analysis. The degree of intra-observer agreement was better, unweighted and weighted kappa values ranging from 0.26 to 0.61 (average 0.47) and from 0.34 to 0.62 (average 0.51) respectively. Two of the six participants achieved fair intra-observer agreement and two achieved good intra-observer agreement using weighted kappa analysis. There were marked difficulties in the separation of normal squamous epithelium from low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion and in the separation of low grade from high grade squamous intraepithelial lesions. Histopathological review revealed that many of the difficulties in the separation of normal and low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion were in the distinction between superficial vacuolated cells and true koilocytes. Difficulties also resulted in the separation of basal cell hyperplasia, inflammatory associated changes and immature squamous metaplasia from low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion. Conditions which resulted in difficulty in the separation of low grade and high grade squamous intraepithelial lesions included florid koilocytotic change and immature metaplastic squamous epithelium with atypia. In some cases, there was a full spectrum of diagnoses from normal to high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion. These were largely cases of immature metaplastic squamous epithelium with atypia and of thin or atrophic squamous epithelium with atypia. CONCLUSIONS: Most pairs of observers can achieve fair inter-observer agreement in the reporting of cervical colposcopic biopsies using a modified Bethesda system. Intra-observer agreement is also generally fair to good using this system. It may be that a two tier grading system is more appropriate for the histopathological reporting of these biopsies than the traditional three-tier intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) system.

Biopsy↗

The effect on patient management of temporary non-availability of immunofluorescence for renal biopsy reporting.

Delay in reporting the immunofluorescence findings on renal biopsies, owing to an interruption in supply of reagents, made possible a retrospective analysis of the effect of the lack of this information on patient management. Hospital case records of the 39 patients so affected were reviewed to determine what changes in their management took place after the immunofluorescence findings became available. The clinical, laboratory, and light microscopic findings in all except a case of pauci-immune crescentic glomerulonephritis allowed management decisions to be made that were not influenced by immunofluorescence findings. This was owing to correct prediction of the immunofluorescence findings, as in cases of IgA nephropathy presenting with recurrent haematuria; the adequacy of light microscopy in the interpretation of graft biopsies, in classifying lupus nephritis and in most cases of nephrotic syndrome; and the absence of entities identifiable only by immunofluorescence among these patients.

Adolescent↗

Leprosy and renal transplantation.

Nine cases of leprosy in patients treated at a large renal transplant centre in South Asia are described. Three had leprosy diagnosed before transplantation and had either completed or were continuing chemotherapy at the time of transplantation. One showed exacerbation of undisclosed leprosy after transplantation. Five patients developed the disease for the first time 22 months to 12 years after transplantation. Immunosuppression did not adversely affect the treatment of leprosy in any of the patients though concurrent liver disease required cessation of rifampicin in one patient.

Adult↗

Histological studies in primary neuritic leprosy: changes in the nasal mucosa.

The nasal mucosae of 39 cases of primary neuritic leprosy (PNL) registered at Karigiri were studied histologically to determine nasal mucosal involvement in PNL and its relevance to the pathogenesis of the disease. Specific changes of leprosy were seen in 20 (51%) biopsies, ranging from macrophage granulomas with acid fast bacilli, to epithelioid granulomas and nerve inflammation. The remaining biopsies revealed chronic inflammatory changes of the mucosa or mild non-specific nerve changes. These findings show that there are widespread effects of the disease even in PNL patients in whom the disease is believed to be confined to the peripheral nerves. The findings also show that early leprosy involvement can be found in the nasal mucosa even before lesions become apparent in the skin or other parts of the body. The nasal mucosa could be one of the sites for the primary lesion in leprosy. Clinical and histological examination of the nasal mucosa may be useful and important in the early diagnosis of leprosy and especially in contacts.

Biopsy, Needle↗

Light and electron microscopic findings in rhinosporidiosis after dapsone therapy.

Morphological findings in serial nasal mucosal biopsies from three cases of rhinosporidiosis on dapsone therapy were compared with biopsies from 33 patients taken before dapsone or surgical treatment was initiated. All biopsies were examined by light microscopy and five by electron microscopy. Counts of histologically intact and degenerated organisms showed a decreasing proportion of intact forms with treatment.

Dapsone↗