Acute hepatitis due to dengue virus in a chronic hepatitis patient

We present a case of acute hepatitis caused by dengue virus, with a significant increase in aspartate transferase and alanine transferase levels in a chronic hepatitis patient attended at the Cane Sugar Planters Hospital of Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ.

Acute hepatitis due to dengue virus in a chronic hepatitis patient.

We present a case of acute hepatitis caused by dengue virus, with a significant increase in aspartate transferase and alanine transferase levels in a chronic hepatitis patient attended at the Cane Sugar Planters Hospital of Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ.

Wearable microwave radiometers for remote fire detection: System-on-Chip (SoC) design and proof of the concept.

The paper reports the present status of the project aimed at the realization of a wearable low-cost low-power System-on-Chip (SoC) 13-GHz passive microwave radiometer in CMOS 90 nm technology. This sensor has been thought to be inserted into the firemen jacket in order to help them in the detection of a hidden fire behind a door or a wall, especially where the IR technology fail. With respect of the prior art, the SoC is further developed and a proof of the concept is provided by means of a discrete-component prototype.

Wearable system-on-a-chip radiometer for remote temperature sensing and its application to the safeguard of emergency operators.

The remote sensing and the detection of events that may represent a danger for human beings have become more and more important thanks to the latest advances of the technology. A microwave radiometer is a sensor capable to detect a fire or an abnormal increase of the internal temperature of the human body (hyperthermia), or an onset of a cancer, or even meteorological phenomena (forest fires, pollution release, ice formation on road pavement). In this paper, the overview of a wearable low-cost low-power system-on-a-chip (SoaC) 13 GHz passive microwave radiometer in CMOS 90 nm technology is presented. In particular, we focused on its application to the fire detection for civil safeguard. In detail, this sensor has been thought to be inserted into the fireman jacket in order to help the fireman in the detection of a hidden fire behind a door or a wall. The simulation results obtained by Ptolemy system simulation have confirmed the feasibility of such a SoaC microwave radiometer in a low-cost standard silicon technology for temperature remote sensing and, in particular, for its application to the safeguard of emergency operators.

Tratamiento del problema esquelético transversal en el paciente ortodóncico adulto: una puesta al día / No disponible

Cada vez son más los adultos que acuden a nuestras consultas solicitando tratamiento ortodóncico. en muchos de estos casos la existencia de un problema esquelético transversal, independientemente de la mal oclusión que presenten, es muy frecuente. En un principio se trataban prioritariamente los problemas de los planos sagital y vertical, aunque posteriormente se observó que el problema transversal era tan importante como los anteriores para dar una correcta estabilidad a nuestro tratamiento. Actualmente y con las técnicas quirúrgicas de las que disponemos, podemos tratar un problema transversal dependiendo de estudios, distintos criterios clínicos y por la opinión del propio paciente (que puede ser reticente a una cirugía ortognática) con una expansión convencional, con una cirugía de Le Fort (en la que se segmenta el maxilar) o con una SARPE (expansión rápida palatina asistida quirúrgicamente). Con este artículo pretendemos hacer una revisión bibliográfica acerca de este tema y mostrar distintos casos clínicos en los que se han empleado cada una de las técnicas mencionadas anteriormente (AU)

Every time are more the adults who come to our office asking for orthodontic treatment. In most of these cases is frequently the existence of a transverse skeletal problem. In the past we basically treated the sagital and vertical problems even the transverse dimension was very important for the stability of treatment. Actually, with the advance in the surgical techniques, we could treat a transverse skeletal problem by an orthopaedic expansion. a Le Fort surgery or a SARME (surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion) depending on the studies, different clinical criteria of the orthodontist or by the patient opinion. The aim of this article is a bibliographic review about this subject and show some adult cases treated with every kind of treatment previously mentioned (AU)

[Continence problems after radical prostatectomy: medical treatment]. / Problemi di continenza dopo prostatectomia radicale: la terapia medica.

OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that a benefit can be obtained from both urine storage and urethral resistance after retropubic radical prostatectomy through the induction of artificial erections. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From January 1993 to December 2000 we have submitted 127 patients to radical retropubic prostatectomy. According to preoperative bladder behaviour, 59 patients (46.5%) presented voiding disorders, 10 (7.9%) filling disorders, 4 (3.1%) mixed disorders, whereas 54 (42.5%) were asymptomatic. The urethral catheter was removed between the 10th and the 12th postoperative day. Fourteen patients entered a programme of early sexual rehabilitation with intracavernous injection of prostaglandin E1 (ICI) within 7 days from catheter removal. RESULTS: After catheter removal the recovery of urinary continence occurred within 2.2 +/- 2.3 days. At dismissal from the hospital, 8 patients (6.2%) were almost totally incontinent; 2 (1.5%) were still incontinent after a 6-month period; 73 (57.4%) were dismissed with clinical signs of detrusor instability hence treated with anticholinergic drugs such oxybutynin or tolterodine; 3 (2.3%) resulted obstructed after surgery because of stenosis of the anastomosis. Almost all the patients submitted to early sexual rehabilitation referred an improvement of their incontinence after the first injection. The patients who did not begin an early sexual rehabilitation generally recovered from incontinence in a longer time. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary observations showed that artificial erection PGE1-induced is effective in improving or accelerating post radical prostatectomy incontinence recovery. The results apply also to patients with pre-operatory detrusor instability.

[Endoscopic surgery in day hospital using bladder and urethral anesthesia with EMDA]. / Chirurgia endoscopica in Day Hospital mediante anestesia vescicale ed uretrale con EMDA.

PURPOSE: To assess the suitability of EMDA local anaesthesia for invasive procedures on lower urinary tract in one day surgery treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The deep penetration of lignocaine into the bladder wall was attained by catheters, electrodes and electric current generators using revised electrochemical principles. Since 1994 203 patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder underwent TURBT and 70 patients with bladder neck or prostatic obstruction underwent TURP, TUIP, TULAP; 20 patients underwent miscellaneous procedures: in 34 patients the procedures were combined. The patients' age was within 20 and 90 years (mean age 67.3). The procedures were performed in a single small endoscopic theatre annexed to the Urology Ward. A standard rigid resectoscope was used as well as a standard electrocautery (360 kHz) or a mega frequency low temperature Vesalius generator (4 MHz). Most patients received a premedication and some of them a light sedation when necessary, but all of them were fully conscious and able to complete an assessment using a simple pain scale. RESULTS: 8 out of 273 patients (3%) considered pain intolerable and other 11 (4%) reported painful but tolerable sensation, and the remaining 254 patients referred absent or minimal discomfort. Most of the patients were able to walk back to their room and go home in the evening. Those who had no chance of going back home were admitted for the night as well as those who had no assistance at all at home or those who had high probability of haemorrhage. Side effects were minimal and not related to local anesthesia: the serum lignocaine levels measured in 4 patients were innocuous. All patients experienced some tingling and reddening at the skin site of the dispersive electrode fading in a few hours. CONCLUSIONS: Local anaesthesia by using EMDA proved to be effective for most invasive endoscopic procedures in the lower urinary tract and suitable for patients undergoing day hospital surgery.

Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene as a marker of exposure to pyrene: an epidemiological survey on a general population group.

Urinary levels of 1-hydroxypyrene in a general adult population group are studied. Experimental data are not normally distributed; statistical analysis required a base 10 logarithmic transformation of data. The concentrations of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene measured were expressed as microgram g-1 urinary creatinine and are comparable with those reported by other authors, both for smoker and non-smoker subgroups. Multiple regression analysis shows that, for smokers, the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the body mass index (BMI) significantly influence the levels of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene expressed as microgram g-1 urinary creatinine, whereas no personal or behavioural variable (age, sex, alcohol consumption, dietary intake of pyrene, BMI) modified the 1-hydroxypyrene levels for non-smokers.

Parallels between properties of high-threshold mechanoreceptors of the goat oral mucosa and human pain report.

In the following experiments, we examined parallels between properties of A-delta high-threshold mechanoreceptors (HTMs; mechanonociceptors, MN, and intense pressure receptors, IPR) innervating the goat mucosa and human mucosal pain report. As suggested in previous studies, activation thresholds of afferents which are generally considered to be mechanical nociceptors are far below mechanical pain thresholds. It was determined that classification of nociceptors by frequency thresholds, i.e., the pressure at which HTMs maintained a minimum frequency (97 g/mm2 and 117 g/mm2 for IPRs and MNs respectively) brings afferent reactivity into alignment with perceptual events. The range of reactivity of the nociceptor pool paralleled pain report from "faint-weak" (142 g/mm2) to "strong-intense" (277 g/mm2). It is suggested that coding of intense mechanical pain from compressive forces is likely to arise from both individual afferents, whose reactivity spanned the range, and from recruitment of afferent populations with progressively higher thresholds.

Malignant mesothelioma of the testicular tunica vaginalis.

The histological, histochemical and immunohistochemical features of a malignant mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis in a 69-year-old patient are described. The mesothelial derivation of the tumor was confirmed using a panel of selected antibodies. Malignant mesothelioma of the testicular tunica vaginalis is a rare tumor that must be considered so that appropriate treatment can be instituted.

Early diagnosis of genito-urinary tumours by urinary cytology.

Urinary Cytology, if performed with accuracy, plays an important (sometimes decisive) role in early diagnosis of genito-urinary tumours. It offers many advantages: easiness in carrying out, possibility to repeat the examination at will, painless execution, no invasiveness and restricted cost. The Authors report on their experience in performing cytologic examination on fresh urine specimens, formalin-fixed in Swinnex milliphore-filter and stained according to a slightly modified Papanicolau method (Alcohol 80 degrees + Haematoxylin-). Thanks to a carefully executed technique of concentration and cellular preservation, the Authors were able to obtain complete specimens, interpreted easily, and to identify the main morphologic changes of neoplastic cells, namely the characteristic nucleo-cytoplasmatic alterations. Between 1986 and 1987 the Authors examined 600 patients, admitted to Urologic Dept. of Saronno General Hospital, employing, amongst others diagnostic procedure (cystoscopy, needle biopsy, CAT, ecc.), urinary cytology: they observed 94% of true results (positive or negative for genito-urinary tumours) in comparison with 4% of false positive and 2% of false negative only; these results compared to others, appeared until now, in Medical literature, lead to regard this technique, further improved by more experience in cytology, as a greatly valuable and highly reliable diagnostic method, mainly in early discovery of genito-urinary neoplasms.

Polyvinilpyrrolidone-iodine (P.V.P.-I) bladder irrigation for prevention of catheter-associated urinary infections in patients treated by T.U.R.

The incidence of urinary infection in catheterized patients is very important in those undergoing T.U.R. for bladder neck and prostatic obstructions because the risk of jatrogenic defilement, and any method of preventing, reducing or delaying the occurrence of infection in catheterized patients, should be tooking considerations. Between March 1984 and September 1985 300 male patients, requiring catheterization after T.U.R. for out-flow obstruction (80% benign, 40% malignant prostatic disease, 16% bladder-neck obstruction), were introduced to the trial. All patients were managed by closed drainage system and treated, immediately after T.U.R., by continuous bladder irrigation with saline solution of iodine and polyvinylpyrrolidone (1:150-1:50 in 3000 ml) until elective removal of the post-operative catheter; use of antibiotics was restricted to preoperatory stage. At the elective removal of the post-T.U.R. catheter (between 3d and 7th day) the urino-culture in 79% showed no bacteriuria, in 15% showed mild infection (less than 500.000 organisms/ml) and in 6% revealed a severe infection (greater than 500.000 organisms/ml). At the same time 300 other patients-the control group-underwent to T.U.R. for the same diseases (out-flow obstruction) and received pre- and post-operative antibiotics only without P.V.P.-I irrigation. This treatment revealed sterile urine only in 40% of cases and persistent bacteriuria in 60% of cases. This original method in preventing and treating catheter infection of patients operated of T.U.R. has revealed itself as effective, simple, not too much expensive and without severe side effects.