The Efficacy of Stellate Ganglion Blockade in Herpetic Neuralgia: A Case Report.

The varicella-zoster virus can reactivate in patients with impaired cell-mediated immunity, resulting in herpes zoster (HZ) and sometimes in herpetic neuralgia (HN). Stellate ganglion blockade (SGB) has been studied for the treatment of HN and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), but its effectiveness in preventing PHN in patients with acute HZ is not well-established. Here, we present a case of a 75-year-old woman who underwent SGB for HN of the right upper limb. The patient had been treated with antivirals and various analgesics, but adverse effects due to analgesics led to discontinuation of them. After the first application of SGB, the patient experienced significant pain reduction, and after a second application, complete remission of pain was achieved. Nine months later, the patient remained symptom-free and without PHN. The therapeutic potential of SGB in the treatment of HN and its role in preventing PHN requires further investigation.

Probing the plasma near high power wave launchers in fusion devices for static and dynamic electric fields (invited).

An exploratory study was carried out in the long-pulse tokamak Tore Supra, to determine if electric fields in the plasma around high-power, RF wave launchers could be measured with non-intrusive, passive, optical emission spectroscopy. The focus was in particular on the use of the external electric field Stark effect. The feasibility was found to be strongly dependent on the spatial extent of the electric fields and overlap between regions of strong (>∼1 kV/cm) electric fields and regions of plasma particle recycling and plasma-induced, spectral line emission. Most amenable to the measurement was the RF electric field in edge plasma, in front of a lower hybrid heating and current drive launcher. Electric field strengths and direction, derived from fitting the acquired spectra to a model including time-dependent Stark effect and the tokamak-range magnetic field Zeeman-effect, were found to be in good agreement with full-wave modeling of the observed launcher.

Dynamic Stark spectroscopic measurements of microwave electric fields inside the plasma near a high-power antenna.

Fully dynamic Stark effect visible spectroscopy was used for the first time to directly measure the local rf electric field in the boundary plasma near a high-power antenna in high-performance, magnetically confined, fusion energy experiment. The measurement was performed in the superconducting tokamak Tore Supra, in the near field of a 1­3 MW, lower-hybrid, 3.7 GHz wave-launch antenna, and combined with modeling of neutral atom transport to estimate the local rf electric field amplitude (as low as 1­2 kV/cm) and direction in this region. The measurement was then shown to be consistent with the predicted values from a 2D full-wave propagation model. Notably the measurement confirmed that the electric field direction deviates substantially from the direction in which it is launched by the waveguides as it penetrates only a few cm radially inward into the plasma from the waveguides, consistent with the model.

Partitioning of olive oil antioxidants between oil and water phases.

The partition coefficient (K(p)) of the natural phenolic antioxidant compounds in the olive fruit between aqueous and olive oil phases was determined. The antioxidants of olive oil are either present in the olive fruit or formed during the olive oil extraction process. The antioxidants impart stability to and determine properties of the oil and are valuable from the nutritional point of view. The olive oil antioxidants are amphiphilic in nature and are more soluble in the water than in the oil phase. Consequently, a large amount of the antioxidants is lost with the wastewater during processing. The determination of antioxidants was performed using HPLC, and the K(p) was estimated to be from as low as 0.0006 for oleuropein to a maximum of 1.5 for 3,4-DHPEA-EA (di-hydroxy-phenyl-ethanol-elenolic acid, oleuropein aglycon). Henry's law fitted very well to the experimental data. The partition coefficients were also estimated by applying the activity coefficients of the antioxidants in the two phases using a predictive group contribution method, the UNIFAC equation. The K(p) values estimated with UNIFAC method were of the same order of magnitude but varied from the experimental values. Nevertheless, this method may be a rough predictive tool for process optimization or design. Because the K(p) values were very low, some changes in the process are recommended in order to achieve a higher concentration of antioxidants in the oil. A temperature increase may lead to increasing the partition coefficient. Also, limiting the quantity of water during oil extraction could be a basis for designing alternative processes for increasing the antioxidant concentration in the olive oil.

Cecum malakoplakia: a tumor-like lesion with coexistent adenocarcinoma.

We report the case of a 75-year-old Caucasian male who presented with acute abdomen and fecal leakage from his old appendectomy scar and required exploratory laparotomy. A large cecal mass was found and a right colectomy was performed. At pathology, the neoplastic mass was identified as malakoplakia with a small area corresponding to a moderately differentiated colonic adenocarcinoma. Occurrence of malakoplakia in the cecum, associated with adenocarcinoma, is extremely rare if we take into account the limited number of the reported cases of its coexistence with colonic cancer; our case is the second report of such an entity in the cecum. The unusual presence of fistula to the appendectomy scar may be related to the infiltrative nature of the histiocytes constituting this process. Immunochemical studies can assist in the histopathologic differentiation of malakoplakia from other entities that might represent with this tumor-like configuration.