Cerebral infarction in diabetes: Clinical pattern,stroke subtypes,and predictors of in-hospital mortality

Background  

To compare the characteristics and prognostic features of ischemic stroke in patients with diabetes and without diabetes, and to determine the independent predictors of in-hospital mortality in people with diabetes and ischemic stroke.     

Genetic predictors of sick sinus syndrome

Molecular Biology Reports - Sick sinus syndrome (SSS) encompasses a group of conduction disorders characterized by the inability of sinoatrial node to perform its pacemaker function. Our aim was to...     

Ectopic ACTH syndrome due to Grawitz tumor

An extremely unusual case of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH)-producing Grawitz tumor is reported in a 56-year-old female. The clinical feature of the patient was compatible with Cushing's syndrome. The plasma levels of ACTH and cortisol were markedly elevated. At autopsy, a left renal tumor was demonstrated and its histopathological diagnosis was renal cell carcinoma (Grawitz tumor). The adrenal gland was bilaterally enlarged with diffuse hyperplasia of the fasciculate zone. The adenohypophyseal cells were atrophic and showed Crooke's degeneration. The tumor contained extremely high levels of ACTH, beta-lipotropin and beta-endorphin. The presence of large molecular weight forms of ACTH has also been demonstrated by a Sephadex G-50 gel filtration of the tumor extract. We authors believe that this is the first documented case of ACTH-producing Grawitz tumor in the literature.     

Cooperation due to cultural norms, not individual reputation

Increased cooperation in groups that are allowed to communicate (engage in "cheap talk") has been attributed to reputation-building and to cultural norms or culturally normal behavior. We tested these two theories by exposing groups of undergraduates to a public-goods social dilemma. Five groups were permitted to communicate via anonymous written messages that were read aloud. The groups with messaging contributed substantially more to the common good than the groups without messaging. Because the messages were anonymous, their efficacy cannot be explained by effects on reputation. Instead, the results point to the participants' histories of giving and receiving exhortations to cooperate - i.e., to culturally normal behavior (cultural norms).     

Pollen aperture heteromorphism is not due to unreduced gametophytes

Variations in ploidy level of the sporophyte are usually acknowledged as the main cause of polymorphism in pollen aperture number and pollen size. In heteromorphic species (two or more pollen morphs in all flowers of all plants) the different pollen types could thus be due to the presence of reduced and unreduced gametes. But data from the fossil record indicate that pollen aperture number has increased, suggesting that this trait may have evolved through selection. Our studies of Viola diversifolia have shown that the different aperture morphs have different selective values, also indicating that this character could have evolved and is not always due to ploidy level variations. To test this hypothesis, we measured DNA content of the reproductive nucleus as a test of gametophytic reduction in four heteromorphic species of Viola and in diploid and tetraploid individuals of a Petunia hybrida clone (which also served as a control to test for accuracy of the measurements). Our results show that aperture polymorphism is not due to gametophytic ploidy variations within plants and that variations in the proportions of the different pollen morphs are not correlated with variations of the amount of DNA in the sporophyte.     

Emanuel syndrome due to unusual segregation of paternal origin

Emanuel syndrome is an inherited chromosomal abnormality resulting from 3:1 meiotic segregation from parental balanced translocation carrier t(11;22)(q23;q11), mostly of maternal origin. It is characterized by mental retardation, microcephaly, preauricular tag or sinus, ear anomalies, cleft or high arched palate, micrognathia, congenital heart diseases, kidney abnormalities, structural brain anomalies and genital anomalies in male. Here in, we describe a female patient with supernumerary der(22) syndrome (Emanuel syndrome) due to balanced translocation carrier father t(11;22) (q23;q11). She was mentally and physically disabled and had most of the craniofacial dysmorphism of this syndrome. Our patient had cleft palate, maldeveloped corpus callosum and hind brain with normal internal organs. Additionally, arachnodactyly, hyperextensibility of hand joints, abnormal deep palmar and finger creases, extra finger creases and bilateral talipus were evident and not previously described with this syndrome. Cytogenetic analysis and FISH documented that the patient had both translocation chromosomes plus an additional copy of der(22) with karyotyping: 47,XX,t(11; 22)(q23;q11),+der(22)t(11;22)(q23;q11). We postulated that this rare chromosomal complement can arise from; 2:2 segregation in the first meiotic division of the balanced translocation father followed by non-disjunction at meiosis II in the balanced spermatocyte.     

高龄老年男性高血压患者腔隙性脑梗死与血清尿酸水平的相关性研究

目的：探讨男性高龄高血压患者腔隙性脑梗死（LI）与血清尿酸水平的相关性。方法：以98例男性高龄高血压患者为对象,均行颅脑磁共振成像（MRI）检查和血清尿酸水平测定,同时收集患者的临床和其他实验室数据。根据患者尿酸水平分为1、2、3三组（n=32、32、34）。结果：以尿酸水平分组的患者一般资料比较,单因素方差分析提示,随着尿酸水平的增高,三组的LI个数、血肌酐、尿素水平增高,而高密度脂蛋白（HDL）水平降低,差异有统计学意义（P〈0.05）。三组患者的24 h收缩压、舒张压、年龄、总胆固醇（TC）、甘油三酯（TG）、低密度脂蛋白（LDL）和空腹血糖比较,差异无统计学意义（P〉0.05）;LI个数与影响因素的Spearman相关分析提示尿酸及尿素水平与腔梗个数相关（P〈0.05）;LI个数与影响因素的多元线性回归分析提示血清尿酸水平是影响LI个数的独立危险因素（P〈0.01）。结论：在高龄高血压患者中,尿酸水平的增高可能是LI的危险因素之一。