The antiulcerative effect of Thai Musa species in rats.

Bananas are reported to have an antipeptic ulcer effect, however, the beneficial action can be affected by many factors, including the variety. Our study was undertaken to investigate the antipeptic ulcer effect of the Palo and Horn varieties of banana, grown and consumed in the northeast of Thailand. Indomethacin and acetic acid-induced gastric lesions in rats were employed as models of peptic ulcer disease. The lengths of gastric lesions in the glandular part of the stomach were measured for the assessment of the protective effect of bananas. The healing effect was studied by histological examination of the ulcerated area. The lesions in rats treated with the extract of banana were significantly less dominant than those of the control. The average length of total lesions of rats treated with an extract of Palo or Horn bananas at a dose of 1.0 g/kg/d for 3 days prior to indomethacin administration were 4.47+/-1.2 and 1.87+/-0.44 mm, respectively, whereas those observed in the control rats were 14.56+/-2.43 mm. In the ulcer-healing model, only the Hom-banana-extract-treated group showed a beneficial effect which manifested as a milder degree of histological change than that of the indomethacin-induced-chronic-ulcer control group. However, in acetic acid-induced ulcers, the histological changes of every group were similar. The present findings indicate that bananas of different varieties have varying antipeptic ulcer effects. The extracts of Palo and Hom bananas have a prominent gastroprotective effect, whereas only the extract of Hom banana had an observed ulcer-healing effect.

Fine needle aspiration cytology of metastatic transitional cell carcinoma to the liver.

A 63-year-old man presented with a three-month history of painless hematuria. A cystoscopic examination revealed a diffuse small nodulopapillary growth of the bladder mucosa. Biopsy resulted in the diagnosis of a transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), grade II. Therefore, total cystectomy with an ileal conduit was performed and the pathologic examination demonstrated a TCC grade II/III apparently confined to the mucosa. However, an ultrasonographic study carried out one year later revealed tumor masses in the pelvic cavity and the liver. FNA and needle biopsy of the liver were carried out and the diagnosis of a metastatic TCC was made from the former. Needle biopsy results pointed to a metastatic undifferentiated carcinoma, most likely originating from the TCC. The advantage of FNA is discussed. It is being used with increasing frequency to diagnose mass lesions in the liver and can identify metastatic tumors which have specific cytologic features that are different from primary liver tumor.

Molar pregnancy--associated ectopic decidua: report of a case and review of the literature.

Ectopic or extrauterine decidual transformation is regularly associated with pregnancy. This phenomenon has been observed most often in the ovary and cervix. Sporadic reports have documented decidua formation of peritoneal surfaces, lymph nodes and other organs in pelvic and abdominal cavity. Molar pregnancy-associated ectopic decidua has never been documented. We report the case of ectopic decidua at posterior surface of uterus, near the cul de sac, in a 45-year-old woman with molar pregnancy. The article review reveals that it is the first report of molar pregnancy-associated ectopic decidua.

Tuberculous brain abscess.

We report a case of tuberculous brain abscess. He developed neurological symptoms inspite of 6 months treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. His condition improved after surgical excision of abscess and short-course chemotherapy. Routine staining of pus is simple and a very useful technique to detect this entity.