Sturge Weber Syndrome: A Case Report.

Sturge-Weber syndrome is a neurocutaneous syndrome characterized by port wine stain, congenital glaucoma, and underlying anomalous leptomeningeal venous plexus and the lack of normal cortical venous drainage. It is a congenital but not an inherited disease and it occurs sporadically and is very rare, incidence being approximately 1 on 50000. It occurs with rare exception but occasionally the other members of the family may have hemangiomata of a lesser degree.

Fine needle aspiration (FNA) of soft tissue tumours (STT).

OBJECTIVES: The cytological findings of 50 ST Ts were evaluated aiming to determine the role of FNA in diagnosis of STTs METHODS: Fifty patients with soft tissue tumours underwent FNA in the preoperative investigation during a one year period. The smears were stained with Papanicolaou and May-Graunvald Giemsa stains. RESULTS: Forty-four cases were reported as benign, whereas 2 were malignant. Four cases revealed insufficient material. The malignant STTs were small round cell tumour and malignant spindle cell tumour. Cytological and histological correlation could be achieved in 40 cases. The overall sensitivity and specificity were 25% and 100% respectively with overall accuracy of 80%. CONCLUSION: A reliable diagnosis of STTs can be made with FNA when supported by other clinical and other diagnostic data.

Environmental noise induced hearing loss in Nepal.

INTRODUCTION: Noise pollution in urban cities is a serious problem and steadily increasing over the years. This has direct and indirect affect to the people that can lead to the health hazard. OBJECTIVES: To find out environmental noise induced health effect on people residing in an urban community and to predict the risk of the environmental noise induced hearing loss. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred fifty questionnaires were filled up for the environmental noise pollution survey. For the case control study, 36 exposed and 25 non-exposed residents of Kupondole were included. Based on the place of residence (main road and 20 min. walking distance from the main road), subjects were divided into exposed and non-exposed group concerning environmental noise. Demographic data and information about health problems was obtained by a structured interview. Audiometric test was performed using manual audiometer. Odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for noise induced hearing loss were estimated using logistic regression. Adjustment for occupational noise was done. RESULTS: The major health effect induced by the environmental noise was observed as lack of concentration followed by irritation, fatigue and headache. The crude OR and 95% CI for the exposed subjects was 4.2 (1.4, 12). After adjustment for occupational noise, the OR (95% CI) was 4.0 (1.2, 13). CONCLUSION: This study shows that exposure to noise causes wide range of health effects. For the exposed subjects there was an increased risk of noise induced hearing loss. The risk was significantly increased also after adjusting for occupational noise.