Evaluation of malnutrition detected with the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002) and the quality of life in hospitalized patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

BACKGROUND: Patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have impaired quality of life, but the relationship between their nutritional status and quality of life has not been established. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between quality of life and nutritional status in hospitalized COPD patients. METHODS: Demographic data, quality of life and nutritional status of 90 inpatients with a mean age of 68.76 ± 10.85 years were enrolled in the study. The Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002) tool was used to evaluate their nutritional status. The quality of life was assessed using the Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire. The correlation analysis was used for the relationship between SF-36 subscales and nutritional status variables. RESULTS: Of the 90 COPD patients included in the study, 54.4 % were men, and 45.6 % were women. Moderate, severe, and very severe COPD were detected in 37.8 %, 38.9 %, and 23.3 % of the patients, respectively. At risk of malnutrition were 55.6 % of the 90 COPD patients, whereas 44.4 % were not. The scores for physical function, physical role functioning, pain, general health, emotional role functioning, vitality, social function, and mental function subscales were lower in the patients at risk of malnutrition (p <0.001). There was a statistically significant negative correlation between malnutrition score and the subscores of SF-36 related to physical function, physical role functioning, pain, general health, emotional role functioning, vitality, social function, and mental function (p <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: COPD patients were found to have a high risk of malnutrition that adversely affects their quality of life. Therefore, the evaluation of the nutritional status of COPD patients should be an integral part of their clinical treatment plans aiming towards improving their quality of life. Hippokratia 2016, 20(2):147-152.

Detection of c-erbB-2 mRNAs using dig-labelled oligonucleotide probe with in situ hybridisation in human breast carcinoma: comparison with immunohistochemical results.

Amplification and overexpression of the c-erbB-2 oncogene are of prognostic significance in human breast cancer. Overexpression of c-erbB-2 is the result of gene amplification. However, increased transcript levels of c-erbB-2 are also detected in the absence of gene amplification. In this study for the detection of the overexpression mRNA in situ hybridisation (ISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used. Our aim was to develop the suitable mRNA ISH protocol for formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded material and to compare the localisation of transcripts and protein products in 20 primary breast carcinomas. Sections were immunostained with monoclonal c-erbB-2 antibody. In ISH method digoxigenin-labelled oligoprobe was used for the detection of c-erbB-2 mRNAs. We determined optimal condition for the ISH procedure (e.g., probe concentration, digestion, post washing). c-erbB-2 protein overproduction was detected in 11/20 cases with IHC. The mRNA signals were observed in malignant cell cytoplasm in 6/20 cases by ISH. ISH positive signals were found in only one case without detected overexpression of the protein. There were cell to cell variations in the hybridisation signals even within individual tumours. The ISH and IHC positive signals for c-erbB-2 was observed mostly in infiltrating ductal carcinomas that belong to aggressive lesions.

Subconjunctival cyst extending into the orbit.

A fourteen year old girl who had developed a large subconjunctival mass extending into the orbit is presented. The mass had appeared after a strabismus operation, and it caused a consecutive exotropia and decreased adduction in the affected eye. She had had this cyst for six years. A cranial CT scan confirmed the presence of a massive orbital cyst. This cyst was removed surgically. Postoperatively, exotropia and adduction limitation improved. The pathological report stated that it was an epithelial cyst. This cyst and its differential diagnosis is the subject of this paper.

The prevalence of Sjögren's syndrome in Behçet's syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: The role of autoimmune mechanisms in Behçet's syndrome (BS) is debated. Sjögren's syndrome (SS) accompanies most autoimmune diseases. Thus we investigated the prevalence of SS in BS in a formal protocol. METHODS: The study was conducted in 2 phases. During the first phase subjective symptoms of dryness were blindly assessed by questionnaires and Schirmer I and Saxon tests were done in 67 patients with BS and 100 healthy and diseased controls. During the 2nd phase 30 patients with BS and 19 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) had salivary gland biopsies along with rose bengal dye, Schirmer I and tear breakup time tests. RESULTS: During the first phase only patients with primary SS had significantly abnormal findings. However during the 2nd phase pathologic changes in salivary gland biopsies and positive RB tests were highly significantly more prevalent among patients with RA. CONCLUSION: SS is not a feature of BS.

[Malignant melanoma of the choroid in vivo. Comparative biometry using RX scanner and MRI]. / Contribution à l'étude du mélanome malin de la choroïde in vivo. Biométrie comparée par scanner RX et IRM.

Uveal melanomas are unique among the malignant tumors of the eye investigated by MRI in that both T1 and T2 are relatively shortened due to the paramagnetic effect of melanin. Bearing in mind this property, we conducted a comparative study between MRI and CT in 11 patients with histologically proven choroidal malignant melanoma. The results of this study confirm that MRI is far superior to CT in both differential diagnosis and in determining the extent of the tumor which is crucial if conservative treatment is to be undertaken.

An alternative treatment modality in closing bladder exstrophy: use of rectus abdominus muscle flap--preliminary results in a rat model.

The aim of this study was to find a new alternate method for bladder exstrophies with small capacity and inelasticity, and to resolve complications of other bladder augmentation techniques. In 50 Wistar albino rats, a large bladder defect was created excising at least one half of their original bladder, keeping the peritrigonal zone intact. In each rat, a 2.5 x 1-cm inferiorly based rectus abdominus muscle flap was prepared from the lower abdominal quadrant. This flap was then rotated to cover the bladder defect. The inner layer formed by the peritoneum was sutured to the edges of the bladder defect by 6-0 separate sutures. The post-operative radiologic and scintigraphic examination of the urinary system done at different intervals showed no difference from that of normal rats. The only observed disadvantage of this technique was the formation of calculi in the bladder in 8/50 rats in the late post-operative period. Post-mortem histopathologic investigations performed at different intervals showed the inner layer of the flap to be completely covered by the transitional urinary epithelium of the bladder. We think this technique is easy to perform, non-time-consuming, and has a low complication rate. It may be useful in infants with small, noncompliant, inelastic bladder exstrophies.