Inflammatory fibrosarcoma: another imitator of Hodgkin's disease?

We report a case of inflammatory fibrosarcoma occurring in a 49 year-old man, that manifested with distinct multinodular masses in the mesentery. Histologically, the lesion was characterized by spindle fibroblast-like cells, histiocytes, pool of lymphocytes and eosinophils, abundant fibrous to hyaline stroma, and numerous "ganglion" cells. Of special interest was the presence of large multinucleated tumor cells which displayed optically clear nuclei and prominent nucleoli, bearing a deceitful resemblance to the diagnostic Reed Sternberg cells of Hodgkin's disease. The differential diagnosis between the two conditions rests on the evaluation of the appropriate clinical background, as well as on an in-depth assessment of the basic pathologic features. Immunohistochemical reactivity of spindle and ganglion cells for actin along to complementary negativity for CD15, and CD30 further assists in separating the two conditions.     

Different patterns of truncated prion protein fragments correlate with distinct phenotypes in P102L Gerstmann-Str?ussler-Scheinker disease

The clinicopathological phenotype of the Gerstmann-Str?ussler-Scheinker disease (GSS) variant linked to the codon 102 mutation in the prion protein (PrP) gene (GSS P102L) shows a high heterogeneity. This variability also is observed in subjects with the same prion protein gene PRNP haplotype and is independent from the duration of the disease. Immunoblot analysis of brain homogenates from GSS P102L patients showed two major protease-resistant PrP fragments (PrP-res) with molecular masses of approximately 21 and 8 kDa, respectively. The 21-kDa fragment, similar to the PrP-res type 1 described in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, was found in five of the seven subjects and correlated with the presence of spongiform degeneration and "synaptic" pattern of PrP deposition whereas the 8-kDa fragment, similar to those described in other variants of GSS, was found in all subjects in brain regions showing PrP-positive multicentric amyloid deposits. These data further indicate that the neuropathology of prion diseases largely depends on the type of PrP-res fragment that forms in vivo. Because the formation of PrP-res fragments of 7-8 kDa with ragged N and C termini is not a feature of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or fatal familial insomnia but appears to be shared by most GSS subtypes, it may represent a molecular marker for this disorder.     

Is there a therapeutic effect of cures undergone by patients with chronic liver disease? (authors transl)

"Cures" embrace by definition a broad spectrum starting from taking waters in health resorts to hospital treatment in modern rehabilitation centers. The effectiveness of traditional cure procedures is discussed. Effectiveness of drinking cures, baths and mud packs in liver disease has not yet been proven. Controlled trials are necessary. Clinical treatment is indicated in alcoholic liver damage, viral hepatitis with a protracted course, chronic aggressive hepatitis and compensated cirrhosis of the liver; such treatment, however, is questionable in fatty liver and in chronic persistent hepatitis. Data concerning the effectiveness of treatment of chronic liver diseases are given. The following conclusions are drawn: patients with liver disease ought to be hospitalized when undergoing cures, indications have to be precised, collaboration of patients has to be stimulated, hospital discipline has to be tight, therapy of alcoholism has to include several psychosocial aspects, treatment after leaving hospital has to be improved.     

Effects of Heat Treatment on Magnetostrictive Properties and Microstructure of Tb-Dy-Fe Alloy with 〈110〉 Crystal Orientation

The effects of heat treatment on the magnetostrictive properties and microstructure of Tb-Dy-Fe alloy with (110) crystal orientation was studied. The composition of alloy was Tb0.3Dy0.7(Fe1-xMx)1.95(M =Mn, Al, Ti, B, x = 0.03). It is found that the magnetostrictive strains λ and dλ/dH are improved markedly; the crystal morphologies are changed from parallei planes to polygons; furthermore, rare earth rich phases disperse along the grain boundaries and sample surface, a part of it in the grains;     

Increasing the Properties of Copper Alloys by Refining–Modifying Treatment with Melt Carbonates of Alkaline Earth Metals

Russian Journal of Non-Ferrous Metals - The main tasks of treating a melt of brass are analyzed. A comparison of traditional treatment methods with the proposed method of improving the quality of...     

Is satisfaction with self a measure of adjustment?

Two hypotheses tested in this experiment are "(a) degree of self-satisfaction is curvilinearly related to the social dimension of adjustment and (b) degree of self-satisfaction is ordinarily related to the conceptual dimension of ego-control." Both hypotheses are supported when tested on a sample of 56 college students by comparing their MMPI scores with their ratings of self relevance on a list of 80 adjectives. Implications are drawn with regard to an index of effectiveness of psychotherapy proposed by Rogers. The concept of metastability of adjustment is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of Melt Treatment with Water Vapor on Thermal Expansion of Alloy Al – 20–40% Si

Metallurgist - The effect of melt treatment with water vapor on the microstructure and linear thermal expansion coefficient (LTEC) of Al–(20–40)% Si alloys is studied. LTEC values are...     

Dyspnea in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: does dyspnea worsen longitudinally in the presence of declining lung function?

PURPOSE: The neurodegenerative progression of glaucoma is considered to be related not only to primary risk factors such as the elevation of intraocular pressure, but also to mediators of secondary neuronal degeneration. In the present study, the neuroprotective activity of the alpha2-adrenoreceptor agonists brimonidine, AGN 191103, and clonidine were examined in an animal model that simulates secondary neuronal degeneration of the optic nerve in a way thought to be independent of elevation of intraocular pressure. The beta-blocker timolol, currently used clinically to decrease intraocular pressure, was also examined for neuroprotective activity at dosages corresponding to the effective antihypertensive dosage. METHODS: A single dose of each of the tested compounds was administered intraperitoneally immediately after partial crush injury of the rat optic nerve. Secondary degeneration was measured by determining injury-induced deficits with and without the drug. This was achieved electrophysiologically by measurement of compound action potential amplitude, and morphometrically by counting the retrogradely labeled retinal ganglion cells, representing viable optic nerve axons, in wholemounted retinas. RESULTS: All three alpha2-adrenoreceptor agonists, but not timolol, exhibited neuroprotective effects. Treatment immediately after injury with each of these agonists resulted in a dose-dependent attenuation of the injury-induced decrease in compound action potential amplitude. Moreover, after treatment with 100 microg/kg brimonidine administered intraperitoneally, the loss of retinal ganglion cells 2 weeks after injury was three times lower than in saline-treated animals. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to their known effect of lowering intraocular pressure, alpha2-adrenoreceptor agonists, unlike timolol, exert a neuroprotective effect. Use of the rat optic nerve model of partial crush injury can serve as a method of screening compounds that are potentially capable of alleviating the progression of secondary neuronal degeneration.     

"Codependency". A disease or the root of nursing excellence?

A hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted to explore how eight professionally competent nurses experienced and evaluated the relation between their childhood adaptation to dysfunctional families and their nursing careers. From the participants' discussion of this topic, the following themes emerged: escaping difficulties by becoming a nurse, coping roles guide nursing career, sensitivity to the untold, transforming dysfunctional responses, and wounded healers. The study did not support the view that children of alcoholics seek careers in nursing to meet their codependent needs for self-esteem, control, or belonging. Instead, its findings indicate that some children of alcoholics become competent nurses by finding positive application for the coping skills they learn in their families. This indicates that, when working with individuals from dysfunctional families, nurses could support them to create new avenues for their coping skills instead of trying to "exterminate" them because of their "codependent" nature.     

Evaluation of a supervisory training program with How Supervise?

"A group of supervisors were tested before and after a training program with alternate forms of How Supervise? The group was subdivided by educational level. Although all groups improved significantly, the greatest gains were made by supervisors who had gone to college. Lower ranking subjects who had had previous training showed more improvement than the lower ranking subjects who had not had previous training, although the mean scores of the two groups were the same. It was suggested that the instrument is useful for assessing the effectiveness of a supervisory training program but that more work must be done on the readability of the test and on the meaning of score changes following a training program." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does the meaning of neurocognitive change change with age?

Significant declines in longitudinal comparisons of neurocognitive performance are seldom evident until adults are in their 60s or older, but relatively little is known about the existence, or nature, of age-related changes at earlier periods in adulthood. The current research was designed to address this issue by examining characteristics of change in measures from 12 neuropsychological and cognitive tests at different periods in adulthood. Although change was largely positive for adults under about 55 years of age and frequently negative for adults at older ages, the reliabilities of the changes in the neuropsychological and cognitive variables were similar at all ages. Furthermore, there were few systematic relations of age on the reliability-adjusted correlations between the changes in composite scores representing different abilities. These results imply that although neurocognitive declines may not be apparent at young ages because of positive retest effects or other factors, at least in some respects longitudinal changes may have nearly the same meaning across all of adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are coalminers, with low "risk factors" for ischaemic heart disease at greater risk of developing progressive massive fibrosis?

Coalminers with "A" shadows (the first stage of progressive massive fibrosis (PMF)) have a similar standardised mortality ratio (SMR) to those without PMF, and those with A shadows have a much higher specific mortality from pneumoconiosis. It is therefore argued that either A shadows confer immunity against some other disease(s) or that those developing A shadows are selected on the basis of increased life expectancy. These two hypotheses were investigated and as the selection hypothesis appeared promising further studies were made to discover which specific cause of death might be associated with this selection. This, surprisingly, appeared to be ischaemic heart disease.     

The influence of facial masking and sex on older adults’ impressions of individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) involves facial masking, which may impair social interaction. Older adult observers who viewed segments of videotaped interviews of individuals with PD expressed less interest in relationships with women with higher masking and judged them as less supportive. Masking did not affect ratings of men in these domains, possibly because higher masking violates gender norms for expressivity in women but not in men. Observers formed less accurate ratings of the social supportiveness and social strain of women than men, and higher masking decreased accuracy for ratings of strain. Results suggest that some of the problems with social relationships in PD may be due to inaccurate impressions and reduced desire to interact with individuals with higher masking, especially women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal examination of the parent–child distress relationship in children with juvenile rheumatic disease.

Objective: To examine the longitudinal relationships between parent and child distress in a sample of children with juvenile rheumatic diseases (JRDs). Design: Cross-lagged panel correlation analysis tested the temporal precedence of parent distress versus child distress over a 1-year period. Participants: Thirty-seven children (ages 9–17 years; 22 girls) diagnosed with JRD and their parents completed self-report measures on 2 occasions (assessment interval M = 12 months). Primary Outcome Measures: Child Depression Inventory and Brief Symptom Inventory. Results: Significant cross-sectional parent–child distress associations were observed at both time points. Moreover, Time 1 parent distress predicted child distress at Time 2 after child-reported functional ability was controlled; Time 1 child distress was unrelated to Time 2 parent distress. Cross-lagged panel correlations demonstrated the temporal precedence of parent distress relative to child distress in the parent–child distress relationship. Conclusions: These preliminary findings underscore the importance of parent distress in parent–child transactional adjustment, and suggest a predominant role for parent distress in children's adjustment to JRDs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit/explicit memory dissociation in Alzheimer's disease: The consequence of inappropriate processing?

Dual-process theories of recognition posit that perceptual fluency contributes to both familiarity-based explicit recognition and perceptual priming. However, the priming-without-recognition dissociation, as observed through the intact mere exposure effect and impaired recognition in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), might indicate that familiarity and perceptual priming are functionally distinct. This study investigated whether the AD patients' processing strategies at testing may explain this priming-without-recognition dissociation. First, we replicated the priming-without-recognition effect in 16 patients who exhibited intact exposure effects despite null recognition. Second, we showed that, under identical conditions, inducing a holistic processing strategy during recognition testing increased AD patients' recognition--performance was similar for AD patients and healthy control participants. Furthermore, prompting analytic processing during both priming and recognition tasks decreased AD patients' performance in both tasks. These findings suggest that the extent to which AD patients use perceptual fluency in priming and recognition tasks is contingent on their processing approach. The choice of processing strategy may depend on how difficult patients perceive the task to be. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of in Situ Heat Treatment Effects during Laser-Based Powder Bed Fusion of 1.3343 High-Speed Steel with Preheating Temperatures up to 700 °C

For laser-based powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) of high carbon steels, preheated build platforms can reduce thermal stresses and crack formation inside the generated material. Furthermore, the heat distribution during PBF-LB is affected by laser energy input and heat transfer into the surrounding area. Depending on the preheating temperature and the thermal conditions during PBF-LB, thermal gradients and different thermal exposure times of the manufactured layers can lead to in situ heat treatment effects. As a result, gradients in microstructures and properties are observed in the manufactured material. The effects are investigated on AISI M2 high-speed steel (1.3343). Specimens are manufactured at platform preheating temperatures between 200 and 700 °C. Base plate and surface temperatures in the building layer are monitored by thermocouples and pyrometry. Local variations in the material microstructure and properties are determined and the effects of temperature distribution on microstructure and hardness are discussed.     

Is ambulatory electrocardiography useful in the evaluation of patients with recent stroke?

This study was designed to determine whether ambulatory electrocardiography in patients with recent stroke would lead to a change in clinical management or outcome and to express these findings in terms of cost benefit. A prospective, consecutive sample of patients (n = 100) with recent stroke referred from the neurology or medical services for ambulatory electrocardiography was identified. Ambulatory electrocardiograms were reviewed to identify patients with potentially important bradyarrhythmias, tachyarrhythmias, or atrial fibrillation. Patients were then followed up without interference with ongoing care to determine whether these findings led to changes in clinical management that might influence patient outcome. Of the 100 patients, 16 had an index "important" arrhythmia. No significant bradyarrhythmias were noted. Nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (> or = 6 complexes) in two patients and supraventricular tachycardia (> or = 10 complexes) in seven patients did not lead to management changes. Four patients had a history of atrial fibrillation who were in sinus rhythm; anticoagulation had been addressed in three; the fourth patient died before the issue could be addressed. Of three patients in atrial fibrillation, there was a history of atrial fibrillation and a decision regarding anticoagulation in each before monitoring. The cost of these 100 ambulatory electrocardiograms was about $55,000. In conclusion, these findings do not support the routine use of ambulatory electrocardiography in the evaluation of patients with stroke.     

What is wrong with the measles vaccine in Mexico? Study of an epidemic outbrake of measles

Chemical and electronic synapses are present in the ocellar synaptic region of the moth, Trichoplusia ni. The chemical synapses all appear to be of "conventional" type. Four different chemical synaptic contacts were observed: Receptor cell axons presynaptic to receptor cell axons, receptor cell axons presynaptic to 1st order interneurons, 1st order interneurons presynaptic to receptor cell axons, and 1st order interneurons presynaptic to 1st order interneurons. Two different types of contact made by electronic synapes were observed: Contacts between receptor cell axons and 1st order interneurons, and contacts between 1st order interneurons. The significance of this synaptic arrangement for the generation of "on" and "off" responses in the 1st order interneurons is discussed.     

Fate of Anionic Surfactants in a 38?ML/Day UASB-Based Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant: Case Study

The outcome of a 15-month monitoring study (August 2004–October 2005) on the anionic surfactants (AS), at the 38?ML/day up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB)-based sewage treatment plant (STP) is described. The average removal of AS was only around 57%. Appreciable concentration of AS was being discharged to the watercourse (average 2.41?mg/L; range 0.63–5.16?mg/L). On an average dried sludge contained 1,560?mg?AS?kg?1 dry weight. Mass balance indicated that, AS load of the orders of 23 and 33% is removed by adsorption in UASB reactors and polishing ponds (PP), respectively. Biodegradation of AS under anaerobic conditions in UASB reactors and PP does not seem to take place. In the sludge stream, appreciable biodegradation ( ≈ 70%) of adsorbed AS under aerobic conditions on the sludge drying beds takes place. If influent AS mass flux is normalized to 100?units, than 43 and 7?units are discharged with treated effluent and dried sludge, respectively, whereas 33 and 16?units are adsorbed/settled in PP and aerobically biodegrade on sludge drying beds, respectively.     

Is resection of pulmonary and hepatic metastases warranted in patients with colorectal cancer?

BACKGROUND: Conventional management of stage IV colorectal carcinoma is palliative. The value of resecting both liver and lung colorectal metastases that occur in isolation of other sites of metastasis is undetermined. OBJECTIVES: Our objectives were to (1) assess the efficacy of resecting both hepatic and pulmonary metastases, (2) investigate the influence of the sequence and timing of metastases, and (3) identify the profile of patients likely to benefit from both hepatic and pulmonary metastasectomy. Patients and methods: Of 48 patients identified with resection of colorectal cancer and, at some point in time, both liver and lung metastases, 25 patients underwent metastasectomy (resection group). The remaining 23 patients comprised the nonresection group. Risk factors for death were identified by multivariable analyses. RESULTS: Median survival was longer after the last metastatic appearance in the resection group (16 months) than in the nonresection group (6 months; P <.001). The pattern of risk also differed; it peaked at 2 years and then declined in the resection group but was constant in the nonresection group. In the resection group, patients with metachronous resections survived longer after colorectal resection (median, 70 months) than patients with synchronous (median, 22 months) or mixed resections (median, 31 months; P <.001). Risk factors for death included older age, multiple liver metastases, and a short disease-free interval. CONCLUSIONS: Younger patients with solitary metachronous metastases to the liver, then the lung, and long disease-free intervals are more likely to benefit from resection of both liver and lung metastases. Patients with risk factors also had better survival with resection than without resection.