Relation between the concentration of zinc in maternal whole blood and the risk of an infant being born with an orofacial cleft.

We investigated the relation between concentrations of maternal zinc and copper and the risk of an infant being born with an orofacial cleft. We did a case-control study using 116 mothers of children with isolated cleft lip with or without cleft palate (cleft group), and 64 mothers of unaffected children (control group). Mothers with a whole blood zinc concentration of 47.1 micromol/L or less had a risk 2.5 times higher of having a child with an orofacial cleft than those with a higher concentration (or level) (95% CI 1.03-6.23; p<0.05). A low zinc concentration combined with a high copper concentration was seen only in the cleft group. This evidence suggests an association between concentrations of maternal zinc and the risk of orofacial clefts in offspring.

[Scintigraphy of the lacrimal ducts]. / Scintigrafie slzných cest.

Scintigraphy of the lacrimal pathways is an examination method which informs us on the function of the efferent lacrimal system. The authors made bilateral scintigraphic examinations in 32 patients with obstruction or stenosis of the lacrimal pathways, 22 times they made concurrent contrast examinations of the lacrimal pathways. In seven suprasaccal and 5 saccal obstructions and stenoses they did not find penetration of activity from the conjunctival sac into the lacrimal pathways. In 16 subsaccal obstructions, 12 times penetration of activity into the lacrimal sac was found. In five patients with a partly preserved patency of the lacrimal pathways three times activity was detected in the lacrimal sac and in one instance slow penetration of activity into the nasal cavity. In complete obstructions and severe stenoses scintigraphy does not provide, as compared with conclusions of other examinations (fluorescein tests, irrigation, probing, contrast dacryocystography) new information on the type of obstruction. The method is useful in particular in conditions with a preserved patency of the lacrimal pathways, in examinations of very mild stenoses, intermittent lacrimation and doubtful cases. Scintigraphy of the lacrimal pathways is a supplementary method which must be evaluated in the context with other methods, in particular methods which provide information on the anatomy of the lacrimal system (dacryography).

[Imaging of focal nodular hyperplasia in static scintigraphy of the liver using 99mTc colloid]. / Obraz fokální nodulární hyperplázie pri statické scintigrafii jater 99mTc koloidem.

A case of focal nodular hyperplasia of the liver is reported and its scintigraphic picture is presented. In the authors' experience and in accordance with available literary sources, Tc-99m-sulfur colloid scintigraphy is to be considered the crucial noninvasive examination approach revealing the pathologico-anatomical substrate of this asymptomatic hepatic lesion which may mimic severe focal disease of the liver.