Femur morphology in healthy infants and young children.

The objective of this study was to characterize femur morphology in healthy infants and young children. Anterior-posterior (AP) radiographs of the femur from children age 0-3 years with no history of bone disease were obtained from two children's hospitals and one medical examiner's office. Femur morphological measures (bone length, minimum diaphysis diameter, growth plate width, and femur radius of curvature) and sectional structural measures were determined. Measures were described and compared based on subject age and mass. Relationships between measures and age and mass were evaluated. The 169 AP femur radiographs were obtained from 99 children (59.6% males, median age = 12.0 months, IQR = 0-27.5 months, median body weight = 10.0 kg, IQR = 4.4-15.6 kg). Femur length (rs  = 0.97, p < 0.001; rs  = 0.89, p < 0.001), trochanter width (rs  = 0.86, p < 0.001; rs  = 0.85, p < 0.001), minimum diaphysis diameter (rs  = 0.91, p < 0.001; rs  = 0.87, p < 0.001), and growth plate width (rs  = 0.91, p < 0.001; rs  = 0.84, p < 0.001) increased with age and weight, respectively. Cross-sectional area (rs  = 0.87; rs  = 0.86; p < 0.01), polar moment of inertia (rs  = 0.91; rs  = 0.87; p < 0.001), moment of inertia (rs  = 0.91; rs  = 0.87; p < 0.001), polar modulus (rs  = 0.91; rs  = 0.87; p < 0.001) and medullary canal diameter (rs  = 0.83, p < 0.001; rs  = 0.73, p < 0.001) at the minimum diaphysis also increased with age and weight, respectively. Changes during rapid bone growth are important to understanding fracture risk in infants and young children as they transition to independent walking. Femur length, trochanter width, minimum diaphysis diameter and growth plate width increased with age and weight. Structural properties associated with fracture resistance also increased with age and weight.

Wall Falls: Blunt Trauma Sustained from Border Wall Crossings.

ABSTRACT: The border wall between the United States and Mexico consists of stretches of metal fencing of varying heights alternating and overlapping with areas of electronic surveillance. Despite national conversations centered around the social, environmental, economic, and political implications of this wall, there is a paucity of studies on deaths occurring in this region. Herein are described 2 cases of fatal injuries sustained from scaling the fence and accidentally falling onto the United States' side in New Mexico. These injuries are compared with those typically incurred in falls from lower and higher heights, and implications of both lateral and vertical expansion of the wall are discussed.

New Mexico's COVID-19 Experience.

ABSTRACT: The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread worldwide, infiltrating, infecting, and devastating communities in all locations of varying demographics. An overwhelming majority of published literature on the pathologic findings associated with COVID-19 is either from living clinical cohorts or from autopsy findings of those who died in a medical care setting, which can confound pure disease pathology. A relatively low initial infection rate paired with a high biosafety level enabled the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator to conduct full autopsy examinations on suspected COVID-19-related deaths. Full autopsy examination on the first 20 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2-positive decedents revealed that some extent of diffuse alveolar damage in every death due to COVID-19 played some role. The average decedent was middle-aged, male, American Indian, and overweight with comorbidities that included diabetes, ethanolism, and atherosclerotic and/or hypertensive cardiovascular disease. Macroscopic thrombotic events were seen in 35% of cases consisting of pulmonary thromboemboli and coronary artery thrombi. In 2 cases, severe bacterial coinfections were seen in the lungs. Those determined to die with but not of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection had unremarkable lung findings.

Successful triage of suspected hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome by peripheral blood smear review: a decade of experience in an endemic region.

OBJECTIVES: In 2001, the University of New Mexico Hospitals implemented a rapid screening tool for the triage of suspected hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome based on peripheral blood smear morphology. Five criteria guided clinical decisions: thrombocytopenia, hemoconcentration, granulocytic left shift, absence of toxic changes, and more than 10% immunoblasts. Smears meeting four of five criteria were previously shown to have high predictive value for infection. Our retrospective study aimed to determine clinical performance of this test over the past decade. METHODS: Computerized records of 188 smear results were compared with serology. RESULTS: Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis confirmed that the four of five cutoff was the most clinically useful, with sensitivity and specificity of 89% and 93%, respectively. All patients meeting five of five criteria had confirmed infections. Fifteen discordant results were uncovered, explained by positive subsequent tests in the same patient or severe disease without further testing. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings confirm that peripheral smear analysis is clinically useful in this endemic region.

Fatal Granulomatous Amebic Encephalitis Due to Balamuthia mandrillaris in New Mexico: A Case Report.

Balamuthia mandrillaris is a free-living amoeba that can cause granulomatous amebic encephalitis (GAE). We report a case in an individual with a history of alcohol abuse, cocaine use, and ditch water exposure. This is the first reported case of GAE due to B mandrillaris in New Mexico.

Parasagittal cranial fasciitis following infratemporal fossa rhabdomyosarcoma.

Cranial fasciitis is a rare lesion of young children characterized by proliferation of fibroblastic spindle cells. Most are scalp masses and are only rarely intracranial, where an association with radiation therapy is exceptional. We report a 32-month-old toddler with a facial rhabdomyosarcoma, diagnosed at 3 months of age, and treated with surgery, chemotherapy and brachytherapy. Brain MRI at 28 months revealed a large, left parasagittal, dural-based, T2 hyperintense and T1 hypointense enhancing mass with superior sagittal sinus compression and bony hyperostosis. The mass was completely resected during an open craniotomy. Histologically, the lesion was comprised of loosely and haphazardly arranged bland spindle cells embedded in a myxoid background. Thick hyalinized collagen bundles were especially prominent. The spindle cells reacted for vimentin but not SMA, myogenin, MyoD1 or EMA. A diagnosis of cranial fasciitis was rendered. The role of radiation therapy in the pathogenesis of intracranial cranial fasciitis is discussed.

Anatomy of the human corneal innervation.

The anatomy of the human corneal innervation has been the subject of much investigation; however, a comprehensive description remains elusive. The purpose of the present study was to provide a detailed description of the human corneal innervation using a novel approach involving immunohistochemically stained anterior-cornea whole mounts. Sixteen donor corneas aged 19-78 years were cut with a 6.0 mm trephine into a central plug and two peripheral rims. Each specimen was sectioned serially on a cryostat to produce several 100 microm-thick stromal sections and a 100-140 microm-thick anterior-cornea whole mount that contained the entire corneal epithelium and much of the anterior stroma. The corneal innervation was stained with a primary antibody against beta neurotubulin and subjected to rigorous quantitative and qualitative analyses. The results showed that a mean of 71.3 +/- 14.3, uniformly spaced, main stromal nerve bundles entered the cornea at the corneoscleral limbus. The bundles averaged 20.3 +/- 7.0 microm in diameter, were separated by a mean spacing of 0.49 +/- 0.40 mm, and entered the cornea at a mean distance of 293 +/- 106 microm from the ocular surface. Each stromal bundle gave rise through repetitive branching to a moderately dense midstromal plexus and a dense subepithelial plexus (SEP). The SEP was comprised of modest numbers of straight and curvilinear nerves, most of which penetrated Bowman's membrane to supply the corneal epithelium, and a more abundant and anatomically complex population of tortuous, highly anastomotic nerves that remained largely confined in their distribution to the SEP. SEP density and anatomical complexity varied considerably among corneas and was less dense and patchier in the central cornea. A mean of 204 +/- 58.5 stromal nerves penetrated Bowman's membrane to supply the central 10 mm of corneal epithelium (2.60 nerves/mm(2)). The density of Bowman's membrane penetrations was greater peripherally than centrally. After entering the epithelium, stromal nerves branched into groups of up to twenty subbasal nerve fibers known as epithelial leashes. Leashes in the central and intermediate cornea anastomosed extensively to form a dense, continuous subbasal nerve plexus, while leashes in the peripheral cornea demonstrated fewer anastomoses and were less complex anatomically. Viewed in its entirety, the subbasal nerve plexus formed a gentle, whorl-like assemblage of long curvilinear subbasal fibers, 1.0-8.0 mm in length, that converged on an imaginary seam or gentle spiral (vortex) approximately 2.51 +/- 0.23 mm inferonasal to the corneal apex. Mean subbasal nerve fiber density near the corneal apex was 45.94 +/- 5.20 mm/mm(2) and mean subbasal and interconnecting nerve fiber diameters in the same region were 1.51 +/- 0.74 microm and 0.69 +/- 0.26 microm, respectively. Intraepithelial terminals originated exclusively as branches of subbasal nerves and terminated in all epithelial layers. Nerve terminals in the wing and squamous cell layers were morphologically diverse and ranged in total length from 9 to 780 microm. The suprabasal layers of the central corneal epithelium contained approximately 605.8 terminals/mm(2). The results of this study provide a detailed, comprehensive description of human corneal nerve architecture and density that extends and refines existing accounts. An accurate, detailed model of the normal human corneal innervation may predict or help to understand the consequences of corneal nerve damage during refractive, cataract and other ocular surgeries.

Age-related changes in rat corneal epithelial nerve density.

PURPOSE: To determine the effect of aging on corneal epithelial nerve density in an animal model. METHODS: Corneal whole mounts from rats aged 6, 12, 18, and 24 months were stained immunohistochemically with antisera against the pan-neuronal marker neurotubulin. Epithelial nerve terminals and subbasal nerves in standardized 1-mm(2) central and peripheral zones from each cornea were drawn using a drawing tube attached to a light microscope. Images were scanned, and nerve densities were calculated as the percentage of each 1-mm(2) area occupied by nerves. The diameters of subbasal nerves in 6- and 24-month old animals were measured. Subbasal nerve vortices were analyzed qualitatively with reference to location, morphologic appearance, and directionality. RESULTS: Epithelial nerve terminal density decreased by approximately 50% between 6 and 24 months. The rate of decline was roughly linear and similar in both central and peripheral cornea. In contrast, subbasal nerve density increased by more than 50% between 6 and 24 months in both central and peripheral cornea. The mean diameter of corneal subbasal nerves decreased approximately 30% (0.384 microm vs. 0.271 microm) between 6 and 24 months. The morphologic appearance and directionality of the subbasal nerve vortex demonstrated considerable interanimal variability and did not correlate with age. CONCLUSIONS: Rat corneal nerve terminal density decreases, but corneal subbasal nerve density increases, as a function of age. The age-related loss of nerve terminal density seen in the rat cornea is in keeping with the decreased corneal sensitivity reported in elderly humans and may contribute to the pathogenesis of dry eye disease in aged persons.