Encoding material female bodies through cosmetic surgeries: a study of cultural economy and the biometric dynamics of Indian Hindi film stars.

The emergence of new body technologies has led to the deconstruction of a cosmetically enhanced celebrity body into a bioinformational data-self, which becomes a surveilled subject quantified through biometric proximity. Evidently, the bodies of Indian Hindi film actresses evolve into material sites for the discursive encoding, bioinformational performativity and transference of disciplining hegemonic beauty ideals. In this age of information, the celebrity capital and postdigital positionality of celebrity bodies grant their bioinformational spectacular performance with a potential biologising affect for the further corporealisation of popular body aesthetics. Drawing on the maxims of new materialisms and neoliberal subjectivities, the article seeks to decipher the entanglement between the cultural economy of Indian Hindi film stars, their enhanced biometric dynamics and biologising spectacular performativity. Indian Hindi film industry, media, tabloids, magazines, celebrity culture and aesthetic clinics situate Indian Hindi film actresses under vigilant surveillance and simulcast their cosmetic consumption and technologically enhanced bodies across the visual-online attention economy. The present study, therefore exposes the enhanced bodies and biometric dynamics of Indian Hindi film actresses as the human and non-human agentic forms of industrialised cosmetic culture and neoliberal bioconsumerism.

Major adverse cardiac events and mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease following percutaneous coronary intervention: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to systematically compare Major Adverse Cardiac Events (MACEs) and mortality following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) in patients with and without Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) through a meta-analysis. METHODS: Electronic databases (Cochrane library, EMBASE and Medline/PubMed) were searched for English publications comparing in-hospital and long-term MACEs and mortality following PCI in patients with a past medical history of COPD. Statistical analysis was carried out by Revman 5.3 whereby Odds Ratio (OR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) were considered the relevant parameters. RESULTS: A total number of 72,969 patients were included (7518 patients with COPD and 65,451 patients without COPD). Results of this analysis showed that in-hospital MACEs were significantly higher in the COPD group with OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.19-1.65; P = 0.0001, I2 = 0%. Long-term MACEs were still significantly higher in the COPD group with OR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.38-1.81; P = 0.00001, I2 = 29%. Similarly, in-hospital and long-term mortality were significantly higher in patients with COPD, with OR: 2.25, 95% CI: 1.78-2.85; P = 0.00001, I2 = 0% and OR: 2.22, 95% CI: 1.33-3.71; P = 0.002, I2 = 97% respectively. However, the result for the long-term death was highly heterogeneous. CONCLUSION: Since in-hospital and long-term MACEs and mortality were significantly higher following PCI in patients with versus without COPD, COPD should be considered a risk factor for the development of adverse clinical outcomes following PCI. However, the result for the long-term mortality was highly heterogeneous warranting further analysis.

A case of paraneoplastic cerebellar ataxia secondary to renal cell carcinoma.

A 64-year-old female patient presented with acute cerebellar ataxia. After ruling out vascular, infectious, metastatic, demyelinating, and medication etiologies, a paraneoplastic origin for her illness was determined. A renal mass was discovered and found to be renal cell carcinoma. Her symptoms resolved after a radical nephrectomy. Physicians should consider the diagnosis of paraneoplastic neurologic syndromes whenever a thorough evaluation fails to explain neurologic abnormalities.

Metastatic retroperitoneal epithelioid angiomyolipoma.

Angiomyolipoma (AML) is a rare benign neoplasm that usually arises in the kidneys, but may rarely originate in sites such as the retroperitoneum, liver and bone. It is characterised by an intimate admixture of blood vessels, smooth muscle and fat. This multiphasic composition allows for its recognition on ultrasound and CT scan examination. Metastases are exceedingly uncommon, and only one other case of metastatic extrarenal AML exists in the literature. Histological variants of AML such as epithelioid angiomyolipoma (EAML) are considered to be locally aggressive. A unique case of an EAML of the retroperitoneum that metastasised to the liver and bone in an 80-year-old woman is described.

Should fraction flow reserve be considered an important decision-making tool to stratify patients with stable coronary artery disease for percutaneous coronary intervention?: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Nowadays, fraction flow reserve (FFR) is being discussed in every percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) capable hospitals. Owing to recent development in the medical field, FFR-guided PCI should be able to find a place in Interventional Cardiology. At present, the importance of FFR to stratify patients who require PCI has seldom systematically been investigated. In this analysis, we aimed to compare the major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) mainly in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) to whom PCI was recommended and deferred respectively based on the FFR value. METHODS: Electronic databases were searched for studies comparing FFR-recommended versus FFR-deferred coronary stenting. Long-term MACEs, mortality, and myocardial infarction (MI) were considered as the clinical endpoints in this analysis. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and the analyses were carried out by the latest version of the RevMan software. RESULTS: A total number of 1753 patients (670 patients were revascularized, whereas 1083 patients were deferred from revascularization based on the FFR value) were analyzed. Current results showed MACEs and MI were significantly higher in the FFR-recommended PCI group with OR 1.34 (95% CI: 1.05-1.72; P = .02) and OR 1.73 (95% CI: 1.19-2.51; P = .004, I = 0%), respectively. However, mortality was similarly manifested with OR 1.23 (95% CI: 0.92-1.63; P = .16, I = 0%). CONCLUSION: Significantly higher MACEs were observed in patients to whom PCI was recommended compared to those patients who were deferred from undergoing PCI based on the FFR values. Therefore, FFR might indeed be an important decision-making procedural tool, which should be used to stratify stable CAD patients with an advanced disease and who are qualified candidates for PCI. Further research should confirm this hypothesis.

Spinal Burkitt's lymphoma in adults.

Adult Burkitt's lymphoma is an uncommon disease. Few cases of spinal involvement in adults with sporadic Burkitt's lymphoma are reported in the literature. We present a case of a middle-aged man who was found to have an epidural mass in the thoracic spine when investigated for back pain and lower extremity weakness. He underwent a laminectomy with resection of the epidural mass. Histologic examination revealed a primary Burkitt's lymphoma of the spinal cord. He was treated with aggressive chemotherapy and is now experiencing remission of his disease. We also present a review of the literature for the etiology and clinical features of other spinal lymphomas and Burkitt's lymphoma involving the spine in adults.

Pure primary squamous cell carcinoma of the breast: a rare presentation and clinicopathologic comparison with usual ductal carcinoma of the breast.

Pure and primary squamous cell carcinomas of the breast are exceedingly uncommon lesions. To the best of our knowledge, based up on review of the literature, only four studies of patients with these tumors, which presented clinically as breast abscess, have been reported previously. We present a woman who sought medical attention for breast pain and was initially diagnosed with a breast abscess. When she did not respond to antibiotic therapy, an incision as well as drainage was performed. Histologic examination of the material revealed a pure squamous cell carcinoma. An extensive work up ruled out other primary sites. She was treated with mastectomy and radiation therapy and has seen disease-free 3 years postdiagnosis. We also review the literature for presenting features, value of imaging studies, role of cytology in diagnosis, and therapy of such tumors in comparison to the usual ductal carcinomas of the breast.

Breast metastasis of ilial carcinoid tumor: case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: Metastatic breast carcinoids are rare neoplasms. They can be mistaken for primary breast carcinoma both clinically and radiologically, even with known history of carcinoid tumor elsewhere in the body. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of unilateral breast metastasis from carcinoid tumor of the small intestine in a 52-year-old woman who was successfully treated by lumpectomy and radiation therapy. An extensive review of the literature reveals only a few cases of metastatic carcinoid to the breast from small intestinal primaries. CONCLUSION: Clinical suspicion for metastasis should be high in a patient with breast mass and history of known carcinoid elsewhere in the body. Lumpectomy alone may be effective in these patients. Mastectomy and especially axillary dissection could be avoided. Their histological appearance may mimic ductal adenocarcinoma of the breast. However, the distinction is important due to differences in management and prognosis.

Thigh abscess due to Nocardia farcinica.

Nocardia farcinica is an uncommon cause of nocardiosis and usually infects immunocompromised individuals. We describe a patient with Hodgkin's disease and a thigh abscess due to N. farcinica. To the best of our knowledge, this has never been reported before in the English literature. It is important to recognize this complication, because a delay in diagnosis may result in widespread dissemination. Unless initially suspected, culture and identification will be delayed, as selective media for isolating Nocardia are not routinely used in most clinical laboratories. It is also important to differentiate N. farcinica from other Nocardia species due to its resistance to many antibiotics that are routinely used to treat abscesses, including cephalosporins. A case report along with literature review is presented in an effort to stress the importance of including this pathogen in the differential diagnosis of immunocompromised patients with abscesses.

Thyroid metastasis from colorectal cancer: role of [18F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography.

We present a patient with colon carcinoma metastatic to the thyroid. Review of the literature reveals only a few reports of metastatic colorectal carcinoma to the thyroid. Metastatic tumors of the thyroid are no longer considered rare. Unfortunately, they often remain undetected because only a small minority of patients present with a mass lesion or enlargement of the gland. This is further evidenced by the fact that most reports come from autopsy series. Establishing this diagnosis is important because metastatic deposits in the thyroid can sometimes cause respiratory compromise as well as thyrotoxicosis.

Pulmonary tumor thrombotic microangiopathy from metastatic gallbladder carcinoma: an unusual cause of severe pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary hypertension and cor pulmonale due to tumor emboli causing pulmonary tumor thrombotic microangiopathy (PTTM) is rare and extremely difficult diagnosis to make prior to death. Pulmonary hypertension due to metastatic tumor emboli should be included in the differential diagnosis of various causes of dyspnea in patients with a history of cancer or more common causes, including infection, thromboembolism, metastasis, adverse effects of drugs, and recurrent effusions. We describe a patient with gallbladder carcinoma who presented with progressive dyspnea and severe pulmonary hypertension. The etiology was tumor emboli and PTTM from gallbladder carcinoma, which remained elusive prior to her death despite appropriate clinical investigations and was established on autopsy. To the best of our knowledge, this is likely the second reported case of PTTM from metastatic gallbladder carcinoma.

Concomitant presentation of acute myeloid leukemia with T-cell large granular lymphocytic leukemia.

T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia (T-LGL) also known as T-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia is rare and comprises a small minority of all small lymphocytic leukemias. The concomitant presentation of T-LGL with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has not been previously reported. We present an elderly gentleman with concomitant T-LGL and AML (non-M3) diagnosed by a combination of morphologic evaluation, immunophenotyping by flow cytometry, and T-cell gene rearrangement studies. The patient was managed with combination AML chemotherapy. He remains alive and well seven months after initial diagnosis. A brief review of literature is also presented.

High-grade pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia in a patient with familial adenomatous polyposis.

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is caused by mutation of the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene and is characterized by multiple colorectal adenomas and tumors of other organs and sites. A 58-year-old woman with FAP syndrome and previous total colectomy presented for routine follow-up examination. Abdominal ultrasound and subsequent endoscopic evaluation revealed ampullary and duodenal polyps, as well as inhomogeneity of the pancreatic head. A pancreaticoduodenectomy confirmed multiple duodenal adenomas. In addition, high-grade pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN-3) was found in the smaller pancreatic ducts. Pancreatic precancerous lesions have only rarely been described in FAP, including 2 pancreatic duct adenomas and 2 intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms. A review of the world English literature revealed no reports of PanIN-3 in association with FAP. Further studies are required to determine if patients with FAP are at increased risk for pancreatic premalignant lesions.

Comparison of two culture media and three sampling techniques for sensitive and rapid screening of vaginal colonization by group B streptococcus in pregnant women.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend universal screening of all pregnant women between 35 and 37 weeks of gestation for group B streptococci (GBS) by use of a selective broth medium. Recent reports suggest that Granada medium can be used for rapid and direct visual identification of GBS colonies. However, studies comparing the Granada medium method to the selective broth method are few, and while some report comparable sensitivities, others have found significant differences in detection rates between the two methods. This prospective study compared a method using Granada agar to a Todd-Hewitt broth method with subculture to blood agar in order to determine which GBS detection method is more sensitive and less labor-intensive and has a more rapid turnaround time. Detection rates for three sampling techniques (rectovaginal, vaginal only, and cervical only) were also compared. Consecutive specimens for GBS screening received over a 6-month period from 1,635 pregnant women were included. Overall, GBS was detected in 390 (23.8%) women. The Granada medium gave positive results for 348 of these women, and the selective broth gave positive results for 385, indicating sensitivities of 89.2% for the Granada medium and 98.7% for the selective broth. These findings show that the Granada medium method is less sensitive than the selective broth method and should not replace it as the only method for screening pregnant women for GBS. However, the Granada medium method reduced detection time to 1 day and also reduced the use of ancillary tests in approximately 90% of positive cases. Additionally, no significant differences were noted in the detection rates with rectovaginal, vaginal, and cervical specimens.