Hamman's syndrome (spontaneous pneumomediastinum presenting as subcutaneous emphysema): A rare case of the emergency department and review of the literature.

Pneumomediastinum is a rare clinical entity that concerns the clinicians in the emergency department. We present a case of a patient with spontaneous pneumomediastinum (Hamman's syndrome) that presented to our hospital's emergency department with cervical subcutaneous emphysema. A conservative treatment with observation was performed. The patient after 24 hours of observation was discharged with a suggested follow-up.

Oxidative stress in ageing and disease development studied by FT-IR spectroscopy.

FT-IR spectroscopy was used to investigate the effect of oxidative stress and to approach the mechanism on cancer bone demineralization, aortic valve mineralization and heterotopic ossification on disease development. The FT-IR spectra obtained from paediatric, adult bone and ex vivo irradiated adult healthy bone with a dose of 20Gy were compared with those of healthy bone. The increase of band intensity changes of vasCH2,vsCH2 in the region 3000-2850cm-1 depended on aging, the disease progression and the dose of irradiation. The bands at 3080cm-1 and 1744cm-1, which originate from olefinic terminal bond (v=CH) and ester carbonyl group (vROCO), respectively, indicate the influence of oxidative stress on lipid degradation and peroxidation, respectively. The new bands at about 1690cm-1 and 1516cm-1 denote the presence of ß-sheet conformation of the proteins due to the diseases, confirming the increasing amount of lipophilic environment and fibril formation. Comparison of the FT-IR spectra of calcified aortic valve and hip heterotopic ossification with that of normal bones showed that in the bone-like formation the peroxide anion free radicals play an important role in the disease.

A rare case of unruptured aneurysm of left coronary sinus of Valsalva accompanied with patent foramen ovale and atrial fibrillation detected after cardiac etiology stroke.

We present a rare case of a 74 year old female with unruptured aneurysm of the left coronary sinus of Valsalva accompanied with patent foramen ovale and atrial fibrillation. This rare combination was detected during diagnostics for a cardiac etiology stroke. The left coronary sinus of Valsalva was reconstructed using an autologous pericardial patch, the left atrial appendage closed, left atrial ablation performed with cooled radiofrequency and the patent foramen ovale sutured directly. The patient was dismissed on the 12th postoperative day after having an uncomplicated postoperative course.

An infrared spectroscopic study of aortic valve. A possible mechanism of calcification and the role of magnesium salts.

In the present study fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy was used to study the mechanism of pathogenesis of aortic valve calcification. The high intensity bands of vCH3 and vCH2 groups of lipids and phospholipids of membranes, in the spectral region 3000-2800 cm(-1), show the high concentration of lipids and fatty components in aortic valve, resulting from degradation of the main aliphatic chain of the membranes, with a change of their permeability and fluidity. The presence of bands at 3075 and 1744 cm(-1), assigned to olefinic (v=CH) and aldehyde carbonyl groups, respectively, implies that reactive oxygen species are involved in the initiation of peroxidation of the lipids and phospholipids. These latter bands are related to the oxidative stress of the patients. From the shifts of bands to lower frequencies of the characteristic absorption bands of amide I and amide II, it is suggested that the proteins change their secondary structure from α-helix to ß-sheets and random coil due to modifications of collagen, associated with the permeability of aortic valve atherosclerosis. From the spectral region 1150-900 cm(-1), where the characteristic stretching vibration bands of the phosphate groups (vPO4(-3)) absorb, the calcified aortic valve was found to contain biological hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2), as well as amorphous hydroxyapatite (Ca5(PO4)xOH) and CaHPO4. These findings are in agreement with scanning electron microscopy energy-dispersive X-ray analysis and X-ray diffraction analyses. SEM micrographs show that the valves are rich in fibrils and that the protein-protein cross-linked chemical bonds seem to be the points of initiation of calcification.