Abnormalities in incidentally removed adrenal glands.

This study provides a base for evaluating incidentalomas. The incidence and type of pathological findings in a large group of surgically removed adrenal glands were analyzed: 282 resected adrenals from the years 1995 to 2004 were examined; 242 adrenals were removed for therapy of renal cell carcinomas (in one case both adrenals were removed). Other indications for adrenalectomies were malignant tumors (urothelial carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, sarcoma, lymphoma, etc.) and benign findings (oncocytoma, angiomyolipoma, pyelonephritis, etc.). A total of 18 adrenals exhibited a metastasis or diffuse infiltration of the adrenal or para-adrenal tissue by a malignant tumor (17 renal cell carcinomas, 1 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma). Seven adrenals exhibited an adenoma. Eighty-nine adrenal hyperplasias were diagnosed. Eighty-six adrenals included myelolipomatous or lipomatous foci. One hundred and thirteen adrenals (40.1%) did not exhibit any pathological findings. The adrenals exhibited infiltration or metastasis by malignant tumors (6.4%), adrenal adenomas (2.5%), adrenal hyperplasias (31.6%), and other alterations (38.7%).

Facilitating networks of information.

In this paper we describe an approach to respond to a request for information with the identification and location of the appropriate person as a source of information for answering the question. The expertise of a person is characterized using a weighted profile that has been derived from a series of documents describing the expert's activities. Having these profiles, requests for information can be matched with these profiles. The best matches correspond with the people that are experts for providing information on the request.