Medical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre
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Most blood vessels are surrounded by a variable amount of adventitial adipose tissue, perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT), which was originally thought to provide mechanical support for the vessel. It is now known that PVAT secretes a number of bioactive substances including vascular endothelial growth factor, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), leptin, adiponectin, insulin-like growth factor, interleukin-6, plasminogen activator substance, resistin and angiotensinogen. Several studies have shown that PVAT significantly modulated vascular smooth muscle contractions induced by a variety of agonists and electrical stimulation by releasing adipocyte-derived relaxing (ADRF) and contracting factors. ⋯ Other procontractile factors released by the PVAT include angiotensin II and superoxide. It is therefore possible that the loss could be due to an increased amount of these proinflammatory and procontractile factors. More studies are definitely required to confirm this.
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Review
Recurrent spontaneous miscarriage is still a challenging diagnostic and therapeutic quagmire.
Recurrent spontaneous miscarriage (RSM), affecting 1-2% of women of reproductive age seeking pregnancy, has been a clinical quagmire and a formidable challenge for the treating physician. There are many areas of controversy in the definition, aetiology, investigations and treatment of RSM. This review will address the many factors involved in the aetiology of RSM which is multifactorial in many patients, with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) being the most recognized aetiological factor. ⋯ The challenges faced by the treating physician are even more overwhelming regarding the decision of what should be the most appropriate therapy offered to patients with RSM. Our review will cover the diverse modalities of therapy available including the role of preimplantation genetic testing using recent microarray technology, such as single nucleotide polymorphism and comparative genomic hybridization, as well as preimplantation genetic diagnosis; the greatest emphasis will be on the treatment of APS, and there will be important comments on the management of patients presenting with idiopathic RSM. The controversial areas of the role of natural killer cells in RSM, the varied modalities in the management of idiopathic RSM and the need for better-planned studies will be covered as well.
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This study was designed to provide typical descriptive statistics, score distributions and percentile ranks of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Medical Student version (JSE-S) of male and female medical school matriculants to serve as proxy norm data and tentative cutoff scores. ⋯ Our findings provide norm data and cutoff scores for admission decisions under certain conditions and for identifying students in need of enhancing their empathy.
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To determine the long-term follow-up of the various operations for lumbar disc herniation in a large patient population. ⋯ The analysis of 39,048 patients with various operations for lumbar disc herniation revealed the same pattern of long-term results. Patients who had microdiscectomy, endoscopic microdiscectomy or the classical operation (laminectomy/laminotomy with discectomy) all had approximately 79% good/excellent results. None of the operative procedures gave a different outcome. l.
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Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of the clinical consequences of untreated dental caries in primary dentition among 6- to 8-year-old children using the prs [pulpal involvement (p), roots (r) and sepsis (s)] index and record the distribution of prs among boys and girls. Subjects and Methods: The study included a sample of 371 children aged 6-8 years with at least one carious primary molar tooth, who had been randomly selected from schools in the districts of Raipur and Durg, Chhattisgarh State, India. We recorded the presence of decayed, extracted and filled (i.e. def) teeth. ⋯ Conclusion: The prs index is a valuable tool for measuring the clinical consequences of untreated dental caries. It could be useful for epidemiological studies and provide relevant information regarding treatment needs. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.