Ovarian masses in pediatric patients: a multicenter study of 98 surgical cases in Tunisia.

Ovarian masses requiring surgical intervention are uncommon in the pediatric population. Our aim is to report results of a multicentric Tunisian study concerning the clinical practice and the management of pediatric ovarian masses and to identify the factors that are associated with ovarian preservation. Between January 2000 and December 2015, 98 pediatric patients (<14 years) were surgically treated for ovarian masses at the five pediatric surgery departments in Tunisia. Ninety-eight patients were included in this study. The mean age of the patients at time of surgery was 8.46 ± 4.87 years. Sixty-three ovarian masses (64.3%) were non-neoplastic lesions, 24 (24.5%) were benign tumors, and 11 (11.2%) were malignant neoplasms. Conservative surgery (ovarian-preserving surgery) was successfully performed in 72.4% of the benign lesions, whereas only three patients (27.3%) with malignant tumors underwent ovary-sparing tumor resection (p < .001). The mean diameter of the tumors in the patients who underwent oophorectomy was significantly larger than that in the patients who underwent conservative surgery (7.8 ± 3.9 cm vs. 5.7 ± 2.9 cm, respectively, p = .001). In our study, the risk factors for oophorectomy were a malignant pathology and large tumor size. In accordance with the Gynecologic Cancer Intergroup consensus, we recommend that surgical management of ovarian masses in children should be based on ovarian-preserving surgery.

Pathology of varicocele in the ram.

A total of 40 mature or aged rams with spontaneous varicocele detected by scrotal palpation were subjected to detailed necropsy examination. Varicocele was bilateral in 22 rams or was located on the left or right sides only, in 8 and 10 rams, respectively. This distribution contrasted with varicocele in man in which the left side is involved in 70 to 100% of cases. Mean sizes of varicoceles in mm (length x diameter) were 117 x 46 and 104 x 45 for the left and right sides, respectively, and they were located high in the pampiniform plexus, approximately 100 mm from the dorsal pole of the corresponding testis. All varicoceles were thrombosed. Changes associated with large varicoceles included testicular mineralisation and occluding thrombosis of testicular vessels. Total testis weight-bodyweight ratio in rams with varicocele (5.8 to 6.4 x 10(-3] was significantly less (P less than 0.05) than in normal (control) rams from the same flocks (7.9 x 10(-3] suggesting that some degree of testicular atrophy resulted from presence of a varicocele.

Motivation for organ donation among college students in the United States.

BACKGROUND: The majority of the patients presently waiting for an organ are waiting for a kidney. Living kidney donation by about 0.1% of the adult population of a nation may completely eliminate kidney shortage. We investigated the concerns of college students toward charitable and compensated organ donation. METHODS: A 40-question survey was conducted. The respondents were students of the Biology Department of Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah, United States. The data were tabulated and analyzed. Tests of association among potentially linked attributes and the difference between two independent proportions were performed at the 0.05 level of significance and P-values were also calculated using XLSTAT software. RESULTS: The participants (n = 321) were 47% male, 53% female, 89% Caucasian, and 93% healthy, and 7% of the respondents had some health conditions. Of the respondents, 55% were ages 18 to 25 and 40% were ages 26 to 50 years; 43% were unmarried or single, 57% were married, and 85% had health insurance. About 65% of the respondents lived in small cities and the rest lived in large cities (23%) or the countryside (9%). There was no significant association between gender, level of education, location of living, and household income in relation to belief in organ donation with or without compensation, except that males favored compensated organ donation over females (P = .004). Rumors on organ theft and extraction of organ from questionable brain-dead patients had not negatively affected the decision of participants on being listed as organ donors in their driver's license (P = .0001). Those who considered organ donation ethically acceptable also believed that a person has the right to sale a kidney (P = .015) and the donor party should be somehow compensated (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: A large percentage of college students supports compensated organ donation and considers that compensation will increase organ donation.

A survey on spontaneous atherosclerosis of camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Iran.

In a survey carried out on 200 camels (Camelus dromedarius) from different parts of Iran, three cases were diagnosed positive for atherosclerosis on gross and microscopic examination. A sex and age predilection is suspected. The complications of atherosclerosis were not present. To the best of the authors' knowledge this is the first report of atherosclerosis in camels.

Cryptosporidium spp. in new born lambs in Iran.

In a study conducted to investigate the causes of the death of new born lambs due to diarrhoea 237 cases were studied. In 16 of these lambs necropsied at four to 10 days old organisms considered to be Cryptosporidia at various stages of its life-cycle were associated with the luminal surface of the epithelium of the intestinal tract. The histopathology and the mechanism of the diarrhoea caused by the parasite and the resulting deaths are discussed.

Development of a new live attenuated mumps virus vaccine in human diploid cells.

A new live attenuated mumps vaccine was developed in human diploid cells. The S-12 virus was isolated from a 10-year-old girl showing typical symptoms of mumps infection, the diagnosis was confirmed by a pediatrician. The virus was isolated in green monkey kidney cells, without passage in chick embryo cavity or chick embryo fibroblasts. Attenuation of the wild virus was performed by serial passages in human diploid cells (MRC-5). The attenuated virus was characterized by identity tests, as well as by a reduction in plaque size, as marker tests. The virus was free from adventitious agents and safe for laboratory animals as well as for monkeys. The reactogenicity and immunogenicity of the S-12 virus for man was investigated by administration of a monovalent vaccine to 20 seronegative adult male volunteers and 30 children aged 1 to 5 years without history of mumps infection or vaccination. Seroconversion was obtained in 95% of the vaccinees. The new vaccine has the advantage of not requiring specific pathogen-free eggs, and being free from avian proteins and therefore can be used in sensitized patients.