Mesenteric panniculitis presenting as fever of unknown origin.

A 40-yr-old man was admitted for fever of unknown origin. Mesenteric panniculitis was suspected as a result of ultrasonography, computed tomography, and nuclear magnetic resonance findings, and that diagnosis was confirmed by laparoscopy with retroperitoneal mass biopsy. Mesenteric panniculitis is a rare disease characterized by an inflammatory process of the mesenteric adipose tissue. Abdominal pain, weight loss, and abdominal mass are the most frequent symptoms. High fever and leukocytosis are uncommon. To the best of our knowledge, only two reports of mesenteric panniculitis presenting as fever of unknown origin have been described previously, with no cases published in the English literature. In the case reported, steroid therapy was started with initial improvement. Despite the temporary addition of azathioprine and the maintenance of the prednisone treatment, no further improvement has been achieved. Two years and 5 months after admission, the patient presents intermittent episodes of fever and muscle pain.

Desferrioxamine induced aluminium removal in haemodialysis.

This study evaluates if the use of high flux membranes and the type of dialysate influences aluminium removal in haemodialysis. Aluminium kinetics and dialysance were determined in baseline conditions and after infusion of desferrioxamine. The free diffusible fraction of plasma aluminium correlated significantly with the plasma aluminium post desferrioxamine, independently of the type of membrane or dialysate used. Aluminium removal therefore depends on the plasma concentration reached and the dialysate concentration. High flux membranes do not improve aluminium removal in vivo.

Epithelial differentiation in gliomas, meningiomas and choroid plexus papillomas.

The immunohistological findings using antibodies to different intermediate filaments (glial fibrillary acidic protein, vimentin and two types of cytokeratin) and epithelial membrane antigen are described in 89 gliomas, 19 meningiomas and 8 choroid plexus papillomas (CPPs) from adult patients. All the patients had total or subtotal surgical excision of their tumours with clinical follow up for between 3 and 7 years. The immunohistological results were correlated with the histological features and patient survival. Tumours other than low grade astrocytomas, oligodendrogliomas and anaplastic ependymomas expressed one or more epithelial markers. This immunohistological evidence of epithelial differentiation in the absence of histological epithelial features in gliomas confirms that the two are not necessarily correlated. It is concluded that the expression of epithelial markers in some intradural tumours may reflect aberrant differentiation related to the degree of anaplasia in poorly differentiated astrocytomas and glioblastomas. All the patients with anaplastic epithelial marker-positive gliomas died within 1 year, whereas only 68% of patients with marker-negative tumours died within the follow-up period. In ependymomas and meningiomas, the expression of epithelial markers may reflect their histogenesis, while in malignant CPPs such expression could denote either their aberrant differentiation or histogenetic derivation.