Mystery of love, goiter and death in flu pandemic.

Ivan Mestrovic (1883-1962), a Croatian sculptor and architect, portrayed his close friend Marija Banac (born Racic) with a goiter. She died from flu in 1918 in Rome, just few days apart from her brother Edi Racic and his fiancée. In the tragic memory of the Racic family that disappeared in the burst of a terrible pandemic, Mestrovic built a church and mausoleum in Cavtat near Dubrovnik.

PRIMARY HYPERPARATHYROIDISM DETECTED BY PARATHYROID INCIDENTALOMA: CLINICAL FEATURES, WORK-UP AND MANAGEMENT.

CONTEXT: With the widespread use of neck ultrasound, parathyroid incidentaloma (PI) emerges as an additional opportunity for incidental detection of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN: This study aimed to investigate PHPT cases detected by PI and to compare them with other PHPT patients. A retrospective analysis of newly diagnosed PHPT patients between 2014 and 2020 was conducted in our hospital. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The cohort of 124 subjects was divided in two groups: 22 (17.7%) PHPT patients detected by PI (PI PHPT group) and the rest of 102 PHPT patients (non-PI PHPT group). Overall, 21 PIs were discovered on ultrasound and one was found during thyroid surgery. Clinical features, work-up and management of two study groups were compared. RESULTS: The PI PHPT group had lower ionized calcium at diagnosis (p=0.034), lower peak serum calcium during follow-up (p<0.01), less fractures (p=0.022) and was less likely to meet the international criteria for parathyroidectomy (p<0.01). Positive sestamibi scan (p=0.022) and confirmed concordant localization in at least two different parathyroid imaging techniques (p=0.033) were more likely in the PI PHPT group. The frequency of surgical management did not differ between groups. CONCLUSIONS: PHPT detected by PI is clinically relevant and mostly comparable to PHPT in other patients with some features that correspond more often to a mild disease. Higher rate of positive preoperative localization in PHPT detected by PI might encourage parathyroidectomy even without the international criteria met.

Multiple symmetric lipomatosis - a reflection of new concepts about obesity.

Multiple symmetric lipomatosis (MSL) is characterized by subcutaneous accumulation of nonencapsulated adipose tissue. In type 2 MSL accumulation occurs on proximal limbs, upper back and hips. This sometimes unrecognized disease is similar to an exaggerated female fat distribution and can be confused with simple obesity. Obesity is a heterogeneous disorder and we suppose that type 2 MSL might have a place on the edge of the obesity spectrum. Several contemporary concepts about adipose tissue could be recognized in the model of MSL. Changes in fat distribution among different depots of adipose tissue in obesity have emerged as origin of its metabolic complications. Decreased insulin resistance and raised adiponectin have been found in MSL just as in some other conditions with accumulation of the subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). In that context, MSL may present as a model for possible favourable metabolic impact of SAT depots. Adipogenesis in MSL is not a consequence of energy excess but it is an active hyperplastic proliferation of SAT. This kind of behaviour of some adipocytes in several subcutaneous areas in MSL suggests that the energy unrelated adipogenesis could contribute to the expansion of at least a part of SAT depot in obesity in general. Contrary to current concept that the signals for adipogenesis are dependent only on the energy equation, allowing this additional mechanism would imply a new approach to issues of obesity, foremost to differentiate its particular types for which these concepts may be relevant.

Clinical tumor cell distribution pattern is a prognostically relevant parameter in patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) cells are variably distributed among the major lymphoid compartments contributing to the heterogeneous clinical presentation and course of this disease. In order to evaluate this variable distribution we propose a model for its clinical assessment. DESIGN AND METHODS: We introduce the model for tumor distribution (TD) assessment based on TTM scoring system, where TD value represents percentage of total tumor mass infiltrating peripheral blood and bone marrow (TD=TM(1)/TTM). TD in B-CLL can be categorized into 3 subgroups: pure leukemia if TD=100%, predominantly leukemia if TD=50-99% and predominantly lymphoma TD<50%. RESULTS: Among 341 B-CLL patients there were 22.6%, 55.1%, 22.3%, pure leukemia, predominantly leukemia and predominantly lymphoma cases, respectively. TD parameter was strongly associated in univariate analysis with TTM size, Rai and Binet stages, spleen size and beta(2) microglobulin. TD was associated with response to therapy and survival, with higher TD values translated into higher response rates and longer survival. However, in univariate and multivariate Cox analysis TD displayed much stronger relationship with prognosis in female patients, where it is the strongest independent predictor of survival along with age and Binet stage. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: TD, a quantitative and simple clinical parameter, easily assessed in all patients, offers a reliable tool for evaluation of tumor cell distribution in B-CLL. It has independent and strong prognostic power in females, as opposed to males, possibly unmasking important, yet unrecognized, biological difference in B-CLL patients.