Is low total cholesterol levels associated with suicide attempt in depressive patients?

BACKGROUND: Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) have a high risk of suicide. Many pathophysiological factors involved in MDD and suicide such us a low cholesterol levels have been associated with MDD and increased vulnerability to suicide. In this study, we investigate the relation between lipid parameters and suicide risk in patients with MDD. METHODS: Plasma levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) were determined in 160 patients meeting the DSM-IV-TR criteria for MDD (110 patients without suicidal behavior and 52 suicidal attempters) and 151 healthy controls. RESULTS: A significant decrease in plasma cholesterol levels was observed in the group of suicidal depressive patients compared to those without suicidal behavior (p < 0.001). For the other lipid levels (triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol), there were no significant differences between suicidal and non-suicidal patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed a significant decrease in plasma cholesterol levels in suicidal patients. This result support the hypothesis of the association of low plasma cholesterol level and suicidal behavior in patients with major depressive disorder.

[Death due to myocardial infarction in young patients: A study of 312 cases of sudden death]. / La mort par infarctus du myocarde chez le sujet jeune : étude de 312 cas de mort subite.

Sudden cardiac death in young is seen as a dramatic phenomenon requiring knowledge of its impact. We aim to study the epidemiological characteristics of sudden cardiac ischemic death in young, and to discuss his involvement in the occurrence of death. We performed a retrospective cohort study using autopsy data from the department of forensic medicine of the University Hospital of Fattouma Bourguiba, Monastir-Tunisia. A review of all autopsies performed during 23 years was done. In each case, clinical information and circumstances of death were obtained. We have included all sudden death in persons aged between 1 year and 35 years for the male and from one year to 45 years for female. We collected 312 cases of sudden death during the studied period. The collected data were processed using SPSS 20. The significance level was set at 0.05. Thirty-two cases of cardiac ischemic sudden death have been collected. Myocardial infarction was the second cause of sudden death in young patients. There was a male predominance. The most affected subjects were aged between 25-45 years. The death occurred more frequently at rest. Coronary artery disease has been discovered in twenty-four cases (75%). The myocardial infarction occurred on healthy coronary arteries in eight cases. An anomalous course of coronary arteries, in particular myocardial bridging, was found in eight cases (25%). Toxicological screening was negative in all cases. Identifying epidemiological characteristics of sudden cardiac ischemic death in this population is important for guiding approaches to prevention that must be based on dietary hygienic measures and the control of cardiovascular risk factors.

[Perineal recurrence of an aggressive angiomyxoma: Is an incomplete resection useful?]. / Récidive d'un angiomyxome périnéal agressif : une chirurgie d'exérèse incomplète est-elle utile?

Angiomyxoma is a rare but aggressive mesenchymal tumor. It commonly develops in the pelvis, perineum and groin and is more common in females. Angiomyxoma characteristically has a high incidence of local recurrence. The only treatment of recurrence is surgical re-excision. We report a case of recurrent aggressive angiomyxoma, which was only incompletely resected.

[Sudden cardiovascular death in adults: Study of 361 autopsy cases]. / La mort subite cardiovasculaire de l'adulte : étude autopsique de 361 cas.

AIMS OF THE STUDY: To describe epidemiological aspects of sudden cardiovascular death and to specify the etiopathogenic characteristics. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Our study is retrospective and descriptive. It included 361 cases of sudden cardiovascular death, which underwent autopsy in forensic medicine department of Monastir during eight years, from 1st January 2004 to 31st December 2011. RESULTS: The incidence of sudden cardiovascular death was 9 per 100,000 person. A marked male predominance was noted. The mean age was 55.75 years. In our series, myocardial infarction represents the leading cause of sudden cardiovascular death, 57.8% of cases. Other etiologies were hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (4.7%), heart failure (1.9%), arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (2.8%), valvular disease (2%), cardio-myo-pericarditis (1.9%), hydatid cyst of the heart (0.8%), ruptured aneurysm (2.5%), pulmonary embolism (1.9%) and aortic dissection (1.3%). A sudden cardiovascular death at work was found in 25 cases. These cases pose essentially a problem of imputability. CONCLUSION: Sudden cardiac death is usually the complication of underlying heart disease, sometimes overlooked. Several risk factors are involved. Sudden cardiac death in healthy heart or death caused by arrhythmia is an important entity seeking the intervention of several actors (forensic doctor, cardiologist, geneticist, media…) for prevention.

[Arrhythomgenic right ventricular dysplasia and sudden death: An autopsy and histological study]. / Dysplasie arythmogène du ventricule droit et mort subite : étude autopsique et histologique.

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) is cardiomyopathy where normal myocardial tissue is replaced with fibrofatty tissue. Histological examination performed on myocardial biopsy or on autopsy samples are used to confirm the diagnosis. However, in many cases, the diagnosis cannot be made on a simple macroscopic and histological study and requires genetic analysis and molecular biology. In this work, we propose to describe the main macroscopic and histological findings of ARVD through the study of an autopsy series. We report 12 autopsy cases of sudden death in ARVD collected in the Department of Forensic Medicine of the University Hospital Fattouma Bourguiba Monastir (Tunisia) during a period of 20years. Microscopic examination was performed on 5microns thick histological sections. All slides were reviewed by two operators in a double blind (physician pathologist, pathologist) and in each, the percentage of adipose tissue, fibrosis and infarction in the right ventricle, left ventricle and interventricular septum, the presence or absence of inflammatory infiltrate, the presence or absence of signs of degeneration of myocytes were noticed. ARVD was found in 12 cases (1.8% of sudden cardiac death). The age ranged between 13 and 67years (mean age: 45.3years). The death occurred in half of the cases during exercise. Macroscopic examination of the RV showed the presence of a wall thinning (thickness<3mm) in 9 cases. Histological study highlight RV adipose infiltration in all cases with a percentage between 15% and 60%, fibrotic lesions were observed in only 9 cases with an average percentage of 10.25% and signs of degeneration of myocytes were noted in 10 cases. In concordance with what has been reported in the literature, there is still no consensus regarding the criteria to be adopted to pose with certainty the diagnosis of ARVD and the presence of adipose tissue remains the criterion more suggestive.

Forensic medicine in Tunisia.

Tunisia is an Arab northern African country which counts 10 millions citizens. In Tunisia, there is a small number of forensic practitioners (20) distributed over four University and two regional Hospitals. Forensic activity is under the supervision of Tunisian Ministry of Public Health. The first forensic medicine department was set up in the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis (the capital) in the sixties, after which three other departments were founded in medical faculties and in their respective university hospitals (Sfax, Sousse and Monastir). These departments provide forensic medical education and research beside their daily practice. Forensic medical practice is divided in forensic pathology and clinical forensic medicine. In forensic pathology, we have to deal with violent or suspected deaths beside natural deaths. The clinical forensic medicine activity covers mainly forensic traumatology. Other fields of forensic sciences are in progress and ought to be developed all over the country. A forensic medical curriculum is provided in the four Tunisian Faculties of Medicine and in their University Hospitals. Nevertheless, the number of trainees remains small and could not currently satisfy the country needs.

Suicidal stab wounds of the throat.

Suicide by stabbing one's throat remains very rare and very few cases have been reported in the forensic literature. In such cases, the important distinction is between suicide and homicide. The direction of stab wounds, their depth, site and number have particular importance in helping to recognize suicide. Suicide when attempted by transfixion of the neck in middle aged and elderly adults often reveals a definite resolution to kill oneself.

Forensic medicine training in Tunisia.

Forensic medicine is a specialty new to Tunisia since local teams started working in this field only 3 decades ago. Forensic medicine departments are now established in university hospitals, associated with the four national faculties of medicine. Medical undergraduate education includes forensic medicine as part of the curriculum because of the current lack of forensic physicians and the need for practitioners with some training in this field. Specialization is achieved by a 4-year full-training residency, including both forensic pathology and medicine. The undergraduate and postgraduate education programmes are described.

[Medical confidentiality from the clay tablet to the optic fiber]. / Le secret médical de la tablette d'argile à la fibre optique.

Medical confidentiality is as old as medicine. Its protection has been variabe through ages. Hippocrate's Oath is considered to be the first reference to physician's duty to protect medical confidentiality. Arabic and Muslim medicine strengthened this obligation. Conflicts between community and patient's private interests led to derogations allowing medical record disclosing. Nowadays, protection of medical confidentiality is emphazised in charts and international codes related to patients rights.

[Cardiac troponin I and the post-mortem diagnosis of myocardial damage]. / Intérêt du dosage post-mortem des troponines I cardiaques dans l'identification des lésions myocardiques.

UNLABELLED: The aim of this study is to analyse the diagnostic efficacy of post-mortem dosage of cardiac troponine I in cadaver fluids in detection of myocardial damage. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Our study is prospective, interesting 72 corps autopsied at the Department of Forensic Medicine of the University Hospital Fattouma Bourguiba of Monastir-Tunisia. Were excluded from the study, resuscitated cases and those examined more than 48h after death. Levels of cardiac troponine I were measured in pericardial fluid, cardiac blood and peripheral blood. Statically significant correlations between different variables levels of cardiac troponine I and cardiac damage were studied. Receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curves were generated and areas under the curves were determined. SPSS (version 12.0) et MedCalc statistical software (version 11.0) were used for statistical analysis. Results were considered to be statistically significant when P<0.05. MAIN RESULTS: Cardiac troponin I levels in pericardial fluid, cardiac and peripheral blood are correlated significantly between subject with and without observable signs of myocardial damage with a P value respectively at 0.0007, 0.0009 and 0.004. ROC curves analysis showed that the pericardial fluid have the best sensibility and specificity with a cut-off level at 108ng/ml and an area under the curve at 0.925. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that cardiac troponin I may be a powerful aid in the diagnosis of myocardial damages. This biological test can be used in triaging sudden deaths before to external examination versus complete autopsy.

Fatal air embolism during female autoerotic practice.

Air embolism has been described in pregnant women and is a classic cause of death during attempted abortion by syringing. Death was caused by the introduction of an amount of air sufficient to cause a substantial air lock in the heart, pulmonary trunk or arteries. If the surface of the placenta has been stripped by the syringe, venous spaces are opened and air can pass into the circulation. Orogenital sex with vaginal insufflation can also cause air embolism during pregnancy. We report a case of air embolism in a 40-year-old non-pregnant woman subsequent to vaginal insertion of a foreign body (carrot) for an autoerotic purpose. The mechanism is roughly similar to syringing, the foreign body acting like a piston to displace a sufficient amount of air. In the present case, the endometrium stripping was probably due to the presence of an intrauterine device. As such risks may often be encountered and as, to our knowledge, no similar case has previously been reported, we may speculate if such air embolisms are underdiagnosed or dissimulated by the partners when questioned by the medical rescue teams.

Cardiac hydatid cyst rupture as cause of death.

Echinococcosis is a frequent parasitic human infection in sheep-farming areas. It is caused by the larval or the cyst stage of a tapeworm, mainly Echinococcus granulosis. Humans can be infected by ingesting tapeworm eggs, from which cysts will be developed mostly in the liver and the lung. Cardiac involvement of echinococcosis is rare and its clinical evolution is silent till the complication stage. A young adult died suddenly. The autopsy showed a ruptured hydatid cyst hollowed on the right side of the interventricular septum, protruding in the ventricle. The left pulmonary artery contained white-colored fragments of a membrane, similar to the one found in the right ventricle, associated to small vesicles. All these elements were obstructing this vessel, extending to small pulmonary arterial branches. Dissection of the other organs did not show other locations. Microscopic examinations ascertained the diagnosis of echinococcosis. Death was imputed to a right ventricular hydatid cyst rupture with pulmonary artery embolism.

Suicide by nitrous oxide poisoning.

Fatal nitrous oxide poisoning usually occurs accidentally during the administration of general anesthesia. It seldom occurs during autoerotic behavior or in acute drug abuse. We report an unusual case of a health professional who committed suicide by inhaling nitrous oxide.

[Colloid cyst of the fourth ventricle. Apropos of a case]. / Le kyste colloïde du quatrième ventricule. A propos d'une observation.

We report a case of a 29 year old patient with a colloid cyst of the fourth ventricule. Colloid cysts or epithelial cysts are exceptional in this site. A common neuroepithelial origin with third ventricule cysts could be explained by similar embryological developments of the prosencephalic and the rhombencephalic roofs. The diagnosis can only be made by histological examination.

[Malignant rhabdoid tumor of the central nervous system. Apropos of a case with immunohistochemical and ultrastructural studies, and review of the literature]. / Tumeur rhabdoïde maligne du système nerveux central. A propos d'une observation avec études immunohistochimique et ultrastructurale, et revue de la littérature.

The authors report a new case of cerebral malignant rhabdoid tumour in an eight year old girl. The diagnosis was confirmed on immunohistochemical and ultrastructural examinations showing cytoplasmic perinuclear inclusions composed of whorled filaments of vimentin. Base on a review of six cases reported in the literature, they analyse the clinical, histological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural features of this exceptional central nervous system neoplasm. Different histogenetic hypotheses are discussed.