Leiomyoma of the stomach as a cause of hemorrhage from the upper segment of the gastrointestinal tract

Two cases of female patients operated fo the tumors of the stomach are presented. Result of histologic examination was rather surprising in both cases--leiomyoma.     

Helicobacter pylori gastric infections in children

OBJECTIVES: Numerous reports have established the association of Helicobacter pylori and recurrent abdominal pain in children. We investigated the clinical, bacteriological and therapeutic features of our patients seen over a 1 year period. METHODS: We investigated 121 children during 1992 in Hospital Saint Vincent-de-Paul, Paris. At endoscopy, biopsies were taken and sent for histology and bacteriology and urease testing. A decision regarding treatment by amoxicillin and metronidazol was made after positive results of bacteriology and/or histology. RESULTS: Heliobacter pylori was found in 47 antral biopsies after pathology examination with Giemsa staining alone 16 times, bacterial culture 9 times and both methods 22 times. Abdominal pain was the prominent symptom, occurring in 35.5% of Helicobacter pylori+patients. In 25 of the positive negative patients, a nodular gastritis was observed (53.1%) and in 27.6% of them a weight loss or a delay in weight gain. Few patients became after combined treatment with amoxicillin and metronidazol whereas eradication rates after triple therapy with amoxicillin-metronidazol and H2 antagonist or proton pump blocker were higher. CONCLUSION: Helicobacter pylori related gastritis is a common cause of abdominal complaints in children. The most common symptom is recurrent abdominal pain. Antral nodularity is a peculiar endoscopic finding in children. Two-drug therapy associating amoxicillin-metronidazol is often ineffective to eradicate the bacteria whereas eradication rates after triple therapy amoxicillin-metronidazol and H2 antagonist or proton pump blocker are higher.     

Effect of electric skin stimulation on the level of succinate dehydrogenase activation and changes in the parameters of glutamatergic synaptic transmission in response ro sensory stimulation

Livedo racemosa with cerebrovascular lesions has been described as Ehrmann-Sneddon syndrome. The etiopathogenetic factors provoking the vascular lesions, however, are of high diversity reaching from mechanical to autoimmune causes. We present a male patient with typical livedo racemosa, muscle pain and feeling of coldness of the forearms. By dermatohistopathology and magnetic resonance tomography of the brain, Ehrmann-Sneddon syndrome could be confirmed. At this time a chronic streptococcal infection could be diagnosed. Antibiotics, anticoagulants and vascularity-supplying therapy improved the clinical and subjective symptoms. Six months later, the patient developed dizziness, vision disorder, hypesthesia of the right forehead, malaise and weight loss. A further diagnostic workup including echocardiography revealed a myxoma of the left atrium. This report illustrates the association of Ehrmann-Sneddon syndrome with cardiac myxoma and points out that cardiac diagnostic examination should be included when dealing with small-vessel involvement of the brain.     

Serologic evidence of previous Campylobacter jejuni infection in patients with the Guillain-Barré syndrome

OBJECTIVE: To determine if patients with the Guillain-Barré syndrome are likely to have had Campylobacter jejuni infection before onset of neurologic symptoms. DESIGN: A case-control study. SETTING: Several university medical centers. PATIENTS: Case patients met clinical criteria for the Guillain-Barré syndrome between 1983 and 1990 and had a serum sample collected and frozen within 3 weeks after onset of neurologic symptoms (n = 118). Disease controls were patients with other neurologic illnesses (n = 56); healthy controls were hospital employees or healthy family members of patients (n = 47). MEASUREMENTS: Serum IgA, IgG, and IgM antibodies to C. jejuni were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Assays were done in a blinded manner. RESULTS: Optical density ratios > or = 2 in two or more immunoglobulin classes were seen in 43 (36%) of patients with the Guillain-Barré syndrome and in 10 (10%) of controls (odds ratio, 5.3; 95% CI, 2.4 to 12.5; P < 0.001). Increasing the optical density ratio or the number of immunoglobulin classes necessary to yield a positive result increased the strength of the association. The number of patients with the Guillain-Barré syndrome who had positive serologic responses was greatest from September to November (P = 0.02). Male patients were three times more likely to have serologic evidence of C. jejuni infection (P = 0.009); the proportion of patients with the syndrome who had a positive serologic response increased with age. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with the Guillain-Barré syndrome are more likely than controls to have serologic evidence of C. jejuni infection in the weeks before onset of neurologic symptoms. Campylobacter jejuni may play a role in the initiation of the Guillain-Barré syndrome in many patients.     

Medical and biological aspects of artificial gravity: animal studies

In the review there analyzed the results of ground-based studies of rotation effects (at a gravity value near 1 g) on the animals, the experimental findings to determine a minimum effective value of artificial gravity as well as the data of biosatellite experiments. The major trends of animal studies in the artificial gravity area is presented.