Recent Articles

IDDs are among the major public health problems of the world. Nearly two billion individuals worldwide and about 350 million Africans are at risk of iodine deficiency and face many risks from its deficiency and complications. Poor knowledge related to iodine diet and iodized salt utilization were some of the factors. Poor Educational status, Occupation and Sources of Information were frequently cited factors related to Knowledge on iodized salt consumption. Iodized salt is an effective and cheap method to prevent and control iodine deficiency in the community.

Monthly data spanning from January 2008 to December 2017 were obtained from the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS) 2, Ghana Health Service. The four competing forecasting techniques that were applied to the Malaria cases data were the Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Exponential smoothing (ETS) and a Combination technique.

Gigantomastia is a rare condition which remains poorly understood. There is no universally accepted definition, however breast weight exceeding 3% of total body weight has been proposed. Juvenile gigantomastia, a subtype, involves sudden onset, excessive growth of breast tissue in relation to puberty and can occur before or after the onset of menstruation. This paper reports on the first known case of juvenile gigantomastia seen in the United Kingdom. A 16-year old female presented with a 12-month history of rapid breast growth. She had no other medical problems and no relevant family history. Examination revealed bilaterally enlarged breasts extending to the level of the anterior superior iliac spine, with enlarged superficial veins, ill-defined areola and areas of skin ulceration. A range of hormone and autoimmune tests were performed with all results found to be normal. After MDT discussion, the treatment of choice was reduction mammoplasty with an inferior pedicle technique and free nipple grafting if necessary. The total volume of tissue removed weighed 10.9 kg; 6.6 kg from the right breast, 4.3 kg from the left breast. Initial post-operative results demonstrate a highly satisfactory reduction with minimal scarring and no further growth of breast tissue. Histology showed a benign pattern secondary to extensive proliferation of glandular and stromal tissue. The tissue tested positive for both oestrogen and progesterone receptors and so the decision was made to treat the patient with tamoxifen until the age of 21 years in order to prevent recurrence. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of juvenile gigantomastia in the UK.

Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation involves a lengthy recovery process. Rehabilitation providers have an opportunity to positively influence outcomes. To explore and describe the experiences of rehabilitation providers’ experiences during the rehabilitation process following autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) and to determine what strategies they employ to improve outcomes, encourage rehabilitation adherence, and establish positive therapist-patient relationships.

Bronchiolitis is the most common infection of the lower airways of the 1st year. Infants with severe respiratory distress (2-3%) require hospital care. The aim of the study is to evaluate the frequency of Respiratory Virus (VRS) infection, the usefulness of the diagnostic score, the ventilatory support and the protective effect of vaccinations.

The term biomaterial is used for materials used in medical implants, extracorporeal and disposable devices, and must have compatible biological, physical, chemical and mechanical characteristics for use in humans. Objective: to identify and characterize the biomaterials used for the preparation of orthopedic orthoses.

Cemento-ossifying fibroma (COF) is a benign bone neoplasm; it’s considered that its origin is the periodontal ligament. Presents a slow-growing lesion and could cause deformation of affected area. A case of incidental finding in a 20-year-old patient is presented; it was found in a control examination of post-orthodontic treatment, located in the canine area of the jaw. Early diagnosis requires the integration between the clinic, the radiology and the anatomo-pathological study of the lesion; this allows early applying an adequate therapy. It is important to follow up the treated patients; in this case, it’s allowed to identify incidental findings. The interdisciplinary work was fundamental for the diagnosis and treatment of this pathology. The objective of this work is to present an incidental finding of a cemento-ossifying fibroma.

We present the case of 18-month-old boy with Urticaria Pigmentosa. Clinical feature was presented as generalized eruption of multiple brown maculopapular lesions on trunk and limbs of one year and 5 months duration. No subjective symptoms were present. First skin lesion occurred in the First month of life. Darier’s sign was positive. Dermoscopy showed a pigment network and a light-brownish blot. Diagnosis of mastocytosis was confirmed by histopathology.

We aimed to determine whether the excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) expression predicts response to cisplatin-based chemotherapy in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC). This was a retrospective study, in which hospital files of 31 patients (29 males, 2 females; mean age, 62.26±7.71 years) were reviewed. All patients were treated with etoposide+cisplatin. The lung biopsy and mediastinal lymph node samples were applied anti-human monoclonal antibodies against ERCC1: immunohistochemical staining was considered positive if 25-100% of the cells showed nuclear staining, and negative if less than 25% of the cells showed negative or slight staining. Response to treatment was evaluated as regression (complete or partial response), progressive disease, or stable disease. Of the patients, 18 (58.1%) had limited-stage, and 13 (41.9%) had extensive-stage SCLC. Median follow-up duration was 15 months (range: 1-60 months). ERCC1 staining was positive in 9 of 31 patients (29.0%). In 12 patients (38.7%), tumor regression (complete or partial response) was obtained after chemotherapy. Tumor regression rate was higher in ERCC1 positive patients than those with negative ERCC1 expression (66.7% vs. 27.3%, p=0.036). In conclusion, high expression of ERCC1 was associated with higher response rate to cisplatin-based regimens in patients with SCLC.

Para-testicular rhabdomyosarcoma (RPT) is a rare tumor of children and adolescents. The diagnosis is made by the anatomopathological study. The treatment must be multimodal and involves surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. We report the case of a 19-year-old adolescent in our department for an embryonic-type para-testicular rhabdomyosarcoma. Our aim is to expose a rare and unknown case that may be life-threatening. We would like to emphasize on the fact that paratesticular rhabdomyosarcoma need to be brought up in front of a tissular process expanding in the scrotum with normal testicules.

Thyroglossal duct cyst is the most common anomaly in thyroid development. Majority is benign, but 1% may be malignant. Papillary carcinoma is the most frequent thyroid cancer. The synchronous occurrence of thyroglossal duct cyst and thyroid carcinoma is rare and the association with another congenital malformation is extremely rarer. A 41-year-old woman was referred to our department with complaints of a midline cervical abnormality. Clinico-radiological evaluation suggested a thyroglossal duct cyst with non-palpable nodules of thyroid gland and a midline cleft with fibrous cord. Sistrunk’s procedure along with a total thyroidectomy associated to an excision and Z-plasty closure of this congenital cervical cleft were performed, followed by post-operative radioiodine ablation.

Ectopic pregnancy is therefore implanted out of the normal implantation site of the uterine cavity. It is a surgical emergency that can compromise the vital prognosis and fertility of patients when the diagnosis is made at the stage of rupturing. Its incidence has doubled or even tripled in the world in the last two decades. Although it still remains the leading cause of maternal mortality in the first trimester by tubal rupturing accounting for 13% of maternal deaths this increase is closely linked to several factors such as sexually transmitted infections, history of salpingitis, tubal surgery, abortions, inert or progesterone associated IUD use and smoking. Tubal location is by far the most common (96 to 99% of cases). The clinical signs are therefore relatively late and the rupture of the tube is preceded by a fissure syndrome. We report a rare case of unruptured ampullary pregnancy that has evolved to 18 weeks.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the external auditory canal may masquerade as an infective process causing late diagnosis. A delay in treatment as a result of missed diagnosis would carry a poor prognosis as the disease progresses to an advanced stage. We present a case of a man with history of chronic otorrhea, who developed left sided otalgia associated with hearing loss. otoscopic examination shows a mass in her left ear and pus discharge which was initially treated as an infection. The biopsy of the mass was proven to be squamous cell carcinoma. High index of suspicion is necessary when encountering patients presenting with a mass in the ear canal with prior history of chronic otorrhea or cholesteatoma. Proper tissue biopsy is crucial. Early diagnosis is required for better prognosis for the patient.

Calcific deposits are commonly seen on imaging done for other reasons. However, it can also present with periarthritis and adhesive capsulitis leading to severe disabling pain. Many theories have been proposed to explain the etiology and it is considered idiopathic by some. The management is also debatable, Barbotage being the most popular. In the majority of the cases it disappears spontaneously, requiring intervention like Barbotage and surgery only in a few cases. We present a case of a 45 year old female patient who had these calcific deposits in an unusual location of her right shoulder. These disappeared partially on conservative treatment. Subsequently, she developed severe pain in her right shoulder with restriction of all her movements. The pain was severe enough to interfere with her sleep. As a result she underwent barbotage. During the procedure an attempt was made to aspirate the calcific deposit in its entirety. This was not possible due to clogging of needle several times. There was complete resolution of pain following the procedure. However, post- procedure Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a significant residual calcification which completely resolved 02 months after therapy with no recurrence.

Granular cell tumor, also known as Abrikossoff tumor, is a rare lesion that arises from the nervous system. Most of these tumors are benign and only 1-2% are malignant. Although they can be found in any part of the human body, 45-65% appears in the head and neck region, mainly in the oral cavity. Here, we report 2 cases of granular cell tumor of the tongue, diagnosed by excisional biopsy. Until the present moment, both patients remain with no recurrence.

Hydatid disease is an important emerging neglected disease worldwide, with significant geographic variation in seroprevalance. The disease is commonly diagnosed on basis of clinical suspicion, imaging and serology. This study was conducted to evaluate our experience with serology in diagnosing hydatid disease in terms of identifying the numbers of patients testing positive for antibodies against Echinococcus, and to study their clinical profile.

Glucose and oxygen are obligatory energy substrates for the brain and their continuous supply to the neurons, as well as the elimination of the end product – carbon dioxide, is of paramount importance for brain physiology and survival. Transport of these substrates from the brain capillaries to the neurons presents a challenging issue.

Hundreds and thousands of acute toxicity studies are conducted in experimental pharmacology with assumption hypothesis every year. It is usually concluded with inadequately validated data during the period of investigation within 24 hours.

We found and recommended a method for rapid and effective sterilization by using concentrated sulfuric acid in cell culture.

World population up to 80 percent relies on traditional medicine. Currently use of medicinal plant/herbal medicine for treating various disorders and diseases is quickly evolving. Due to their less side effects. Azadirachta indica (Neem) is one such important medicinal plant widely used in ethno traditional medicine for centuries, which is cosmopolitan in distribution and belongs to the family Meliaceae. In India, it is extensively used in several native medical practices.