[Acute-placental dysfunction by villous-maturation defect and late-fetal mortality]. / Dysfonction placentaire aiguë par retard de maturation villositaire et décès foetal tardif.

INTRODUCTION: The placental histological examination is essential in the assessment of stillbirths, especially those of third trimester, which are often of placental origin by chronic placental dysfunction and sometimes by acute dysfunction. The physiopathogenesis of the latter remains obscure. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Three stillbirths, one per partum and two after 38 and 39 weeks gestation, caused by acute-placental dysfunction by villous maturation defect were studied. The maternal aetiological investigations and the fetal autopsies were normal. Placentas were pale. Villi were numerous, normal size but fibrous, showing a severely reduced vascularization and a lack of syncytium-capillary membranes. RESULTS: Only one author studied the villous maturation defect. He defines this entity by the same characteristics as that noted in our observations. Its incidence would be of 5.7% and would be associated with fetal death only after the eighth month in 2.3 % of cases, with a risk of recurrence estimated at 10%. CONCLUSION: This entity, probably underestimated, must be indexed systematically in any late fetal death and any unexplained per partum asphyxia, in order to help the couple overcome a fetal death and to give doctors a medicolegal support.

[Purely cutaneous Rosai-Dorfman disease present for 19 years]. / Maladie de Rosai-Dorfman cutanée pure évoluant depuis 19 ans.

BACKGROUND: Rosai-Dorfman disease is a non-Langerhans histiocytosis chiefly affecting lymph nodes sites. In rare cases, it presents in the form of isolated skin lesions, without adenopathy, in which case it is a benign disease that regresses spontaneously within our number of months and years. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An 83 year-old man presented with multiple red-brown nodular lesions on the upper part of the body that had been progressing over a period of 19 years. Histological examination showed infiltrate characteristic of Rosai-Dorfman disease, with numerous dermal foci of histiocytes expressing protein S100 but not expressing CD1a on immunohistochemical analysis, as well as emperipolesis. The lymph nodes sites were unaffected, and the remainder of the clinical and laboratory examinations were normal, indicating a purely cutaneous form of the disease. Treatment with isotretinoin was ineffective and the lesions continued to spread gradually, being treated from time to time with CO2 laser or cryotherapy. DISCUSSION: Our case is atypical in terms of clinical presentation since it involved diffuse nodular lesions. The disease course was also unusual in that no spontaneous regression was observed even after 19 years.

In vitro breast cancer cell lethality of Brazilian plant extracts.

In this study we screened the cytotoxicity of 1220 plant extracts obtained from 351 plants belonging to 74 families occurring in the Amazon and Atlantic rain forests against MCF-7 human breast adenocarcinoma cell lines. All extracts were tested at a dose of 100 microg/mL. Only 11 aqueous or organic extracts belonging to the Annonaceae, Apocynaceae, Araceae, Clusiaceae, Flacourtiaceae, Leguminosae, Olacaceae and Violaceae showed marked lethal activity. Vismia guianensis and Annona hypoglauca extracts showed the greatest lethal activity.

In vitro prostate cancer cell growth inhibition by Brazilian plant extracts.

In the present study, 1220 plant extracts obtained from 352 plants belonging to 73 families that grow in the Amazon and Atlantic rain forests were screened for cytotoxicity against PC-3 prostate cancer cell lines. Extracts were tested in the single dose of 100 microg/mL. Activity was observed in 17 aqueous or organic extracts belonging to Annonaceae, Apocynaceae, Araceae, Capparaceae, Commelinaceae, Flacourtiaceae, Lecythidaceae, Leguminosae, Passifloraceae, Rutaceae, and Violaceae.

[Bone mastocytosis. Diagnostic approach]. / Mastocitosis ósea. Aproximación al diagnóstico.

The mastocytosis form a group of complaints characterized by the accumulation of mast cell. Systemic mastocytosis is diagnoses when there are one or more organ or tissues affected, independent of their localization in the skin. Bone mastocytosis affects between 70-90% of the patients suffering from systemic mastocytosis and lacks common diagnostic criteria. The most characteristic finds of bone mastocytosis, collected from 213 cases published in the universal literature over the last 20 years will be discussed. The results which, were found in relation to clinical, analytical, radiological and anatomophatological variables, aimed at the diagnosis of systemic mastocytosis and indispensable for the diagnosis of bone mastocytosis will be commented upon. Compiling this data the publications about mastocytosis between 1977 and 1997 have been revised, choosing those in which complaints of radiologic bone could be found.

Mastocitosis ósea. Aproximación al diagnóstico / Bone mastocytosis: diagnostic approach

Las mastocitosis constituyen un grupo de afecciones caracterizadas por la acumulación de mastocitos. La mastocitosis sistémica se diagnostica cuando aparece afectación de una o más vísceras o tejidos, con independencia de la localización cutánea. La mastocitosis ósea afecta a un 70-90 por ciento de pacientes con mastocitosis sistémica y carece de criterios diagnósticos consensuados. Se exponen los hallazgos más característicos de la mastocitosis ósea recogidos en 213 casos publicados en los últimos 20 años en la literatura universal. Se comentan los resultados encontrados en relación con variables clínicas, analíticas, radiológicas y anatomopatológicas, orientadas al diagnóstico de la mastocitosis sistémica e imprescindibles para el de mastocitosis ósea. Para conseguir estos datos se han revisado las publicaciones sobre mastocitosis entre 1977-97, seleccionando aquellas en las que aparecía afectación ósea radiológica (AU)

[Familial outbreaks of fascioliasis: usefulness of serologic investigation by enzyme immunoassay]. / Brotes familiares de fascioliasis: utilidad del estudio serológico por enzimoinmunoanálisis.

BACKGROUND: To assess the usefulness of an enzyme immuno-assay test for the diagnosis of two familial outbreaks of Fasciola hepatica parasitosis in the Zamora area, where watercress are a normal part of the diet. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The microbiological diagnosis of two familial outbreaks of fascioliasis was analyzed, which included the search for eggs in feces by the Kato technique and two serologic tests, one screening test by indirect hemagglutination, and a confirmatory test by enzyme-immunoassay in 12 patients. RESULTS: Five out of the six seropositive patients had eggs detected in their feces. To note that two of the patients with eosinophilia that excreted eggs--one asymptomatic and the other with abdominal pain--had a positive result in the EIA test only and with high titers. CONCLUSIONS: The EIA test is useful for the diagnosis and study of fascioliasis outbreaks to interpret the significance of low titers in the screening test in patients with eosinophilia.

[Epidemiology of Paget's disease. Peculiarities in the province of Zamora]. / Epidemiología de la enfermedad de Paget. Peculiaridades en la provincia de Zamora.

BACKGROUND: Some paramyxovirus (measles, respiratory syncytial virus, and dog's distemper virus) are currently considered to be responsible for Paget's disease of the bone. A relevant role is also given to inheritance as predisposing factor. Some authors have found an association between HLA antigens with this disease, but without unanimous agreement. Although this hypothesis of an interaction between a genetic factor and a viral infectious agent is the most accepted universally, there is not yet a definitive cause for the disease. The participation of some other environmental factors has not been ruled out. METHODS: One hundred and forty patients in the Zamora province were studied. The geographic distribution in the different areas of the province was analyzed and also whether there was family aggregation all cases. HLA-I was determined in 59 patients and HLA-II in cases with aggregation. The mineral composition (calcium, fluorine, magnesium, nitrates, and chlorine) analysis of public running water was carried out in all population centers in the province. RESULTS: Aggregation was found in four families (four, two, four, and three siblings, respectively). Although HLA-I antigens were determined in 59 patients, no association was found. HLA-II antigens were also determined in the involved patients with family links and no association was found between these antigens and the disease. A much higher aggregation was found in some particular areas in our province and these foci coincided with some characteristics of mineral composition of public running waters. CONCLUSIONS: There is a genetic factor predisposing to the disease, as family aggregation occurs with a higher frequency than would otherwise be expected. Nevertheless, no association with HLA antigens was found. This disease is more common in some particular geographic areas, thus supporting the hypothesis of an environmental factor as trigger. An association was found between mineral composition of public running waters and patient geographic distribution.