Intramyofiber erythrocytes in skeletal muscle.

The authors describe the serendipitous discovery of clustered erythrocytes within myocytes in a biopsy obtained during repair of a torn tendon. Their perusal of the literature failed to uncover an analogous observation.

Pyogenic granuloma-like reaction in the necrotic, vessels-deprived femoral head of the rat.

Osteonecrosis of the femoral head was produced in rats by cutting the ligamentum teres and incising the cervical periosteum. As of the second postoperative week, fibrous tissue pervaded the necrotic epiphyses, macrophages and osteoclasts removed the debris, osteoblasts deposited lamellar-fibred and woven-fibred intramembranous bone, and remodeling began. In 16% of the rats killed during the 2nd postoperative week, the epiphyses contained big fragments of necrotic bone enclosed by densely packed, capillary-sized vessels. Ingrowth of this hypervascularized, pyogenic granuloma-like tissue is presumably due to the presence of excessive growth factors, reflecting an exaggerated pathophysiological reaction within the framework of organization of the necrotic epiphyses.

Liesegang rings in hemorrhagic urine.

Myriad Liesegang rings were encountered in the urine of a 43-year-old patient who was diagnosed as having idiopathic hematuria, emanating from the left ureter or kidney. Erythrocytes and the Liesegang rings spontaneously disappeared from the urine within 4 weeks. We are unaware of a report of a similar observation. Lack of descriptions may be due to underreporting or reflect true rarity of Liesegang rings in the urine. It is suggested that Liesegang rings may precipitate in the hemorrhagic urine as they do in diverse blood-imbibed tissues.

Fractal dynamics in the differential diagnosis of thyroideal follicular neoplasms.

In this study, we investigated the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of morphometric parameters of thyroideal follicular neoplasms based on concepts of fractal geometry. Thirty-seven follicular adenomas and 36 well-differentiated follicular carcinomas were assessed morphometrically. The nuclear area, nuclear area fraction, nuclear regularity factor, nuclear elongation factor, and slope setting (representing the ratio between the nuclear perimeter and nuclear regularity factor) were subjected to fractal dimensions analysis. By univariate analysis, the nuclear area, nuclear area fraction, nuclear regularity factor and slope values discriminate between adenomas and carcinomas. By multivariate analysis, the nuclear area, nuclear area fraction and slope values possess significant discriminatory powers in distinguishing between adenomas and carcinomas. Incorporating the nuclear area, nuclear area fraction, and slope values leads to a discriminatory power with 92% specificity and 83% sensitivity. The reciprocal relationships between the nuclear area, nuclear perimeter, and nuclear regularity factor of the cells of thyroideal adenomas and carcinomas may be expressed by fractal dimensions. Analysis limited to one parameter provides incomplete data. Expressing variations of the nuclear perimeter as a function of the nuclear regularity factor, the slope values constitute an independent attribute that significantly differentiates thyroideal adenomas from carcinomas.

The prognostic significance of the semiquantitatively determined estrogen receptor content of breast carcinomas. A clinicopathological study.

Response of breast carcinomas to tamoxifen treatment depends, among others, on the estrogen receptor status. The estrogen receptor content was semiquantitatively determined in immunostained sections of stage 1 and 2 cancers of patients who had undergone tumor excision, tamoxifen treatment, adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Weighted scores of the estrogen receptor content of the tumors were established by calculating the arithmetic means of the intensity of stained nuclei and the number of positively stained nuclei. Statistically, a cut-off value of > or = 2.1 signified a good prognosis; all patients whose tumors disclosed a weighted score of > or = 2.1 were alive and free of disease at the 10-year postoperative follow-up examination. On the other hand, one third of the patients whose carcinomas had a weighted score of < 2.1 presented with locally recurrent cancer, distant metastases, or both during the follow-up observation period. The statistically significant association between the patients' 10-year event-free survival and carcinomas with a weighted score of > or = 2.1 may serve oncologists in their decision making with respect to hormonal treatment.

The effects of enoxaparin on the reparative processes in experimental osteonecrosis of the femoral head of the rat.

The blood supply of one femoral head of 6-month-old rats was severed by incising the periosteum of the neck and cutting the ligamentum teres. The rats were killed on the 30th postoperative day and the femoral bones were obtained for semiquantification of the reparative processes in the necrotic heads. Fourteen rats were treated with enoxaparin and 14 untreated animals served as controls. Statistically, the amounts of necrotic bone in the epiphysis were less, the extent of remodeling of the femoral heads was milder, and the articular cartilage degeneration was slighter in the enoxaparin-treated than untreated rats. There was no significant difference in the quantities of newly formed bone in femoral heads of treated and untreated rats. These findings are in agreement with the known effects of unfractionated and low-molecular-weight heparins which enhance osteoclastic bone resorption and angiogenesis and decrease osteoblastic bone formation. The former activities, operative in minimizing the structural distortion of the femoral head, oppose the crucial event in the pathogenesis of post-osteonecrotic osteoarthritis.