Determinants of Tobacco Use and Prevalence of Oral Precancerous Lesions in Cab Drivers in Bengaluru City, India.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco is a most important risk factor for various types of cancer as well as some noncommunicable disease. Around 34.6% of Indian population consume tobacco. The tobacco consumption is higher in some vulnerable population such as drivers, daily wage laborers, and policemen. Tobacco consumption is known to cause oral cancers, and screening for oral cancer in these individuals is known to reduce mortality from cancer. The study was designed to assess the determinants of tobacco use and the prevalence of oral precancerous lesions in cab drivers. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study among cab drivers at prepaid taxi counters in Bengaluru city. A total of 450 cab drivers were enrolled in the study, of which 225 cab drivers were interviewed during morning hours and remaining half at night time using a semi-structured questionnaire. All were screened for oral cancer/precancerous lesions. RESULTS: Nearly 70.88% of cab drivers were consuming tobacco in any form. Long working hours, working at night, and family members consuming tobacco were significant risk factors for tobacco use among cab drivers. Forty-eight drivers were detected to have oral precancerous lesions. CONCLUSIONS: It was very evident that long hours of driving and infrequent shifts played a greater role in acquiring the habit. Behavioral counseling and new laws need to be formed to limit the working hours in drivers to have an effective tobacco control.

Nanoparticle mediated thermal ablation of breast cancer cells using a nanosecond pulsed electric field.

In the past, ablation of cancer cells using radiofrequency heating techniques has been demonstrated, but the current methodology has many flaws, including inconsistent tumor ablation and significant ablation of normal cells. Other researchers have begun to develop a treatment that is more selective for cancer cells using metallic nanoparticles and constant electric field exposure. In these studies, cell necrosis is induced by heating antibody functionalized metallic nanoparticles attached to cancer cells. Our approach to studying this phenomenon is to use similarly functionalized metallic nanoparticles that are specific for the T47D breast cancer cell line, exposing these nanoparticle cell conjugates to a nanosecond pulsed electric field. Using fluorescent, polystyrene-coated, iron-oxide nanoparticles, the results of our pilot study indicated that we were able to ablate up to approximately 80% of the cells using 60 ns pulses in increasing numbers of pulses and up to approximately 90% of the cells using 300 ns pulses in increasing numbers of pulses. These quantities of ablated cells were achieved using a cumulative exposure time 6 orders of magnitude less than most in vitro constant electric field studies.

Growth characteristics of mung beans and water convolvuluses exposed to 425-MHz electromagnetic fields.

Effects of high-frequency, continuous wave (CW) electromagnetic fields on mung beans (Vigna radiata L.) and water convolvuluses (Ipomoea aquatica Forssk.) were studied at different growth stages (pre-sown seed and early seedling). Specifically, the effects of the electromagnetic source's power and duration (defined as power-duration level) on the growth of the two species were studied. Mung beans and water convolvuluses were exposed to electromagnetic fields inside a specially designed chamber for optimum field absorption, and the responses of the seeds to a constant frequency at various power levels and durations of exposure were monitored. The frequency used in the experiments was 425 MHz, the field strengths were 1 mW, 100 mW, and 10 W, and the exposure durations were 1, 2, and 4 h. Results show that germination enhancement is optimum for the mung beans at 100 mW/1 h power-duration level, while for water convolvuluses the optimum germination power-duration level was 1 mW/2 h. When both seed types were exposed at the early sprouting phase with their respective optimum power-duration levels for optimum seed growth, water convolvuluses showed growth enhancement while mung bean sprouts showed no effects. Water content analysis of the seeds suggests thermal effects only at higher field strength.

[Cutaneous adverse reaction to Bio-Alcamid implant]. / Reacción cutánea tras implante con Bio-Alcamid.

In the last years new and numerous materials for the correction of defects and wrinkles have been developed. One of these materials is Bio-Alcamid, a non reabsorbable gel polymer constituted by meshes of poly-alkyl-imide, without known adverse effects. We report a 34-year-old woman that had Bio-Alcamid implants for acne scars and several months after presented nodular lesions together with a painful inflammatory nodule. The nodule was drained and culture of the purulent material yielded Streptococcus viridans. A cytology and a cellular block of that material showed a granulomatous inflammatory reaction together with a foreign body. The different types of reactions to implants and their pathogenic mechanism are discussed. It is important to know these possible reactions to filler materials given their increasing use and the potential medico-legal consequences.

Reacción cutánea tras implante con Bio-Alcamid® / Cutaneous adverse reaction to Bio-Alcamid® implant

En los últimos años se ha producido la aparición de nuevos y numerosos materiales para la corrección de defectos y arrugas. Uno de estos materiales es el Bio-Alcamid®, un gel polimérico gelatinoso no reabsorbible constituido por redes del grupo alquilimida, del cual no hay descritos efectos adversos. Presentamos una mujer de 34 años que recibió inyecciones de Bio-Alcamid® por cicatrices post-acné presentando varios meses después lesiones nodulares, junto con un nódulo inflamatorio muy doloroso. Fue drenado extrayéndose gran cantidad de material purulento y cultivándose un Streptococcus grupo viridans. Se realizó una citología y un bloque celular de ese material donde se objetivó una reacción inflamatoria granulomatosa junto con un material extraño. Se discuten los diversos tipos de reacciones a implantes y su mecanismo patogénico. Es importante el conocimiento de estas posibles reacciones a los materiales de relleno por el incremento debido a un mayor uso y por las consecuencias médicas y legales

In the last years new and numerous materials for the correction of defects and wrinkles have been developed. One of these materials is Bio-Alcamid®, a non reabsorbable gel polymer constituted by meshes of poly-alkyl-imide, without known adverse effects. We report a 34-year-old woman that had Bio-Alcamid® implants for acne scars and several months after presented nodular lesions together with a painful inflammatory nodule. The nodule was drained and culture of the purulent material yielded Streptococcus viridans. A cytology and a cellular block of that material showed a granulomatous inflammatory reaction together with a foreign body. The different types of reactions to implants and their pathogenic mechanism are discussed. It is important to know these possible reactions to filler materials given their increasing use and the potential medico-legal consequences

Postmenopausal frontal fibrosing alopecia.

Recently a new entity, postmenopausal frontal fibrosing alopecia, was added to the established subtypes of scarring alopecias affecting postmenopausal women. This condition is characterized by a progressive frontal hairline recession associated with scarring. We studied the clinical and histopathologic features in four women with this disorder. Of note, a history of bilateral oophorectomy in two of them appears to be a new association. All four cases had frontoparietal recession of the hairline and two of them also had loss of their eyebrows. None of our four patients had any mucous membrane or other skin lesions. Histological examination showed perifollicular fibrosis and lymphocytic inflammation around the isthmus and infundibular areas of the follicles. No effective treatments have emerged for this type of postmenopausal alopecia, but progression of the hair loss and scarring appears to be self-limiting. We believe that this condition is a distinct clinicopathological variant of lichen planopilaris.

Tumor de células granulares de localización cutánea múltiple. Presentación de un caso y consideraciones sobre su histogénesis / Multiple cutaneous granular cell tumor. A case report and observations relating histogenesis

El tumor de Abrikossoff o tumor de células granulares es una rara entidad y su presentación cutánea multiple es infrecuente.Se describe un caso de localización en cuello, espalda y antebrazo. Se comenta su histología, inmunohistoquímica y las hipótesis histopatogénicas más aceptadas (AU)

Miofibroma solitario infantil / Solitary infantile myofibroma

Describimos el caso de un niño de 2 años de edad, con una lesión nodular, desde el nacimiento, en pie izquierdo, en la que histológicamente se demuestra la presencia de miofibroblastos.Se propone, pues, el diagnóstico de miofibroma solitario infantil (AU)