Estimation of the brain stem volume by stereological method on magnetic resonance imaging.

Neuron loss that occurs in some neurodegenerative diseases can lead to volume alterations by causing atrophy in the brain stem. The aim of this study was to determine the brain stem volume and the volume ratio of the brain stem to total brain volume related to gender and age using new Stereo Investigator system in normal subjects. For this purpose, MR images of 72 individuals who have no pathologic condition were evaluated. The total brain volumes of female and male were calculated as 966.81 ± 77.44 and 1,074.06 ± 111.75 cm3, respectively. Brain stem volumes of female and male were determined as 18.99 ± 2.36 and 22.05 ± 4.01 cm3, respectively. The ratios of brain stem volume to total brain volume were 1.96 ± 0.17 in female and 2.05 ± 0.29 in male. The total brain and brain stem volumes were observed smaller in female and it is statistically significant. Among the individuals whose ages are between 20 and 40, total brain and brain stem volume measurements with aging were not statistically significant. As a result, we believe that the measurement of brain stem volume with an objective and efficient calculation method will contribute to the early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as to determine the rate of disease progression, and the outcomes of treatment.

Computed tomography based measurement of the dimensions of foramen ovale and rotundum in trigeminal neuralgia.

OBJECTIVES: To compare sizes of the foramen ovale and rotundum in trigeminal neuralgia (TN) patients and healthy individuals on CT images. METHODS: Twenty-one TN patients and 24 healthy volunteers were included in this retrospectively designed study, carried out at the Department of Anatomy, Medical School, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey, between May 2004 and August 2009. The dimension of the foramen ovale on the cross-sectional images, and the foramen rotundum on coronal sections on CT images were examined. RESULTS: The mean sizes of the foramen rotundum on the right and left sides were 3.04 x 3.2 mm and 2.8 x 2.9 mm in TN patients, and 2.4 x 3.2 mm and 2.5 x 3.1 mm in controls. The mean sizes of the foramen ovale on the right and left sides were 4.8 x 6.04 mm and 4.9 x 5.5 mm in TN patients, and 3.7 x 8.2 mm and 4.1 x 7.6 mm in controls. The dimensions of left and right foramens were not significantly different in both TN patients and controls (p > 0.05). Furthermore, a statistically significant difference was not found between the foraminal dimensions of the TN patients and controls (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study revealed that the sizes of foramen ovale and rotundum are highly symmetrical in both groups, suggesting that sizes of the foramina are not associated with the occurrence of TN.

Evaluation of the mobile phone electromagnetic radiation on serum iron parameters in rats.

BACKGROUND: Electromagnetic fields (EMF) created by mobile phones during communication have harmful effects on different organs. OBJECTIVES: It was aimed to investigate the effects of an EMF created by a mobile phone on serum iron level, ferritin, unsaturated iron binding capacity and total iron binding capacity within a rat experiment model. METHODS: A total of 32 male Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into the control, sham, mobile phone speech (2h/day) and stand by (12 h/day) groups. The speech and stand by groups were subjected to the EMF for a total of 10 weeks. RESULTS: No statistically significant difference was observed between the serum iron and ferritin values of the rats in the speech and stand by groups than the control and sham groups (p>0.05). The unsaturated iron binding capacity and total iron capacity values of the rats in the speech and stand by groups were significantly lower in comparison to the control group (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: It was found that exposure to EMF created by mobile phones affected unsaturated iron binding capacity and total iron binding capacity negatively.

The effect of age and gender on the anatomic structure of Caucasian healthy eyelids.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the normal values of the eyelid parameters in Caucasians and to describe the effects of age and gender on eyelid and eyebrow anatomy. METHODS: We evaluated the effects of age and gender on eyelid structures in 100 Caucasian volunteers in the Ophthalmology and Anatomy Departments, University of Gaziantep Medical School, Turkey between 2003 and 2004. Forty-five females with mean age of 36 years (5-80 years) and 55 males with mean age of 39 years (3-68 years) participated in the study. We divided subjects into 6 groups according to decades. We measured the palpebral fissure length (PFL), the distance between the pupil center and the upper eyelid (PC-UE) and lower eyelid margin (PC-LE), the eyebrow height (EH), the eye crease height (ECH) and the distance from the reference line to the pupil center (RL-PC), using a reference line through the medial canthus and vertical line through the pupil center of the frontal slides. RESULTS: The measurements of PFL were between 23.5 mm and 29 mm in females, 24.8 mm and 29.1 mm in males and showed a gradual decrease with age. The PC-UE, PC-LE, ECH and RL-PC remained stable throughout life and were identical for both gender. However, EH ranging from 10.7-12 mm in females and 6.5-11 mm in males appeared to have a significant association with gender, which was higher in females than males, but was not effected with age. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate the importance of providing a normal anatomic relationship that relates to the patient's age and gender.

Peripapillary choroidal thickness in healthy Turkish subjects.

AIM: The objective of the study reported here was to investigate the normal peripapillary choroidal thickness (CT), measured by enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT), in healthy Turkish volunteers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective cross-sectional study, 57 eyes of 57 healthy Turkish subjects were enrolled. Each participant underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination and peripapillary CT measurement using EDI-OCT. RESULTS: The mean age of the 25 female and 32 male patients in the study was 30.9±10.6 years (range, 18-56 years). The mean peripapillary CT at the superior, inferior, nasal, and temporal sites was 225±57, 183±47, 220±57, and 233±59 µm, respectively. The inferior peripapillary CT value was significantly lower than the peripapillary CT values (P<0.001 for all), whereas no significant differences were found between the superior, nasal, and temporal peripapillary CT values. CONCLUSION: The findings of the study revealed that Turkish people had significantly lower peripapillary CT values in the inferior quadrant than in the superior, nasal, and temporal quadrants.

A magnetic resonance imaging study of the adhesio interthalamica in schizophrenia.

Several recent studies have found a relationship between midline cerebral malformations (cavum septi pellucidum, absence of the adhesio interthalamica) and schizophrenia. In this study, we investigated whether the adhesio interthalamica is more often absent in patients with schizophrenia than healthy cases and whether the absence of the adhesio interthalamica may be related to the volume of the third ventricle. Twenty-six patients (11 male, 15 female) in the schizophrenia group and twenty-nine (11 male, 18 female) cases in the control group were examined by MRI. The adhesio interthalamica was found to be absent more often among patients with schizophrenia compared with control subjects and patients without adhesio interthalamica did not have significantly larger third ventricle volumes. The absence of the adhesio interthalamica may be important in explaining the association between the abnormalities of brain midline structures and schizophrenia.

Unilateral nystagmus in an infant with acrocallosal syndrome.

Acrocallosal syndrome (ACS), is an extremely rare disorder characterized by the absence of corpus callosum (CC), macrocephaly, hypertelorism, pre- and postaxial polydactyly and severe motor and mental retardation. There are only 3 reports of ACS associated with ocular findings, including optic atrophy, esotropia and anophthalmus. We report on the first known Turkish case of ACS associated with unilateral nystagmus in addition to several neurologic abnormalities such as absence of the adhesio interthalamica and many others. A physically and mentally underdeveloped one year-old girl was evaluated for macrocephaly, polydactyly and left-sided nystagmus, which was not recognized until the fourth month. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed external hydrocephaly, triventricular hydrocephaly, midline brain abnormalities including partial agenesis of the CC, cavum septi pellucidi, cavum vergae, and absence of the adhesio interthalamica. The following anomalies were also noted; high arched palate, short nose with broad nasal bridge and anteverted nostrils, macrocephaly, frontal bossing, open and down turned angles of the mouth, hypertelorism, postaxial polydactyly of the left foot, hypertrichiasis, and hypertrichosis. On the basis of these findings, a diagnosis of ACS was made. In addition to neuroimaging, systemic research is needed in all patients presenting with asymmetric nystagmus as such a nystagmus may be associated with various external developmental abnormalities in addition to central nervous system involvement. Our case indicates that asymmetric nystagmus and midline brain abnormalities may also be included in the diagnostic criteria of ACS.

Coronary sinus dilatation. A simple additional echocardiographic indicator of severe rheumatic mitral and tricuspid valve disease.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the usefulness of examining the coronary sinus (CS) anatomic diameter as an additional surrogate marker of severity in chronic rheumatic valve disease (RVD). METHODS: In this cross-sectional observational study, we echocardiographically analyzed 88 patients with RVD, and 104 normal subjects in the Department of Cardiology, Gaziantep University Medical Faculty, Gaziantep, Turkey between February 2007 and April 2007. Echocardiographically all valve regurgitation, stenosis, left ventricular function, left/right atrial volume, and pulmonary artery pressure were obtained. Coronary sinus was assessed as a sonolucency in the posterior atrioventricular groove. RESULTS: Strong positive correlation was present between CS measurements and mitral mean gradient, mitral and tricuspid regurgitation grade, tricuspid stenosis gradient, pulmonary artery systolic pressure, left and right atrial volume, and New York Heart Association class. A statistically negative correlation was present between CS measurements and mitral valve area and ejection fraction. Only the mitral valve area, tricuspid regurgitation grade, and the right atrial volume were predictors of body surface area adjusted mean CS dilatation. CONCLUSION: In this preliminary study, we showed that echocardiographic assessment of dilated CS may provide useful additional information in predicting the severity of mitral/tricuspid RVD. Findings of this study needs to be confirmed in further studies.

Double right coronary artery: review of literature.

Anomalies of the coronary artery are often asymptomatic and uncommon. We report an extremely rare coronary artery anomaly, a double right coronary artery. A 50-year-old male patient was hospitalized with the diagnosis of unstable angina pectoris. Right coronary artery (RCA) injection showed filling of two separately originating RCAs, coursing towards the right atrio-ventricular groove. Then they give a marginal branch and a septal artery, terminated by giving off the posterior descending artery (PDA) in posterior interventricular groove. Coronary anomalies should be recognized to avoid problems during coronary intervention and cardiac surgery.

Severe monilethrix associated with intractable scalp pruritus, posterior subcapsular cataract, brachiocephaly, and distinct facial features: a new variant of monilethrix syndrome?

Monilethrix is a rare developmental hair shaft defect characterized by small elliptical node-like deformities with increased hair fragility resulting in partial or diffuse alopecia. The disorder is usually transmitted in an autosomal dominant fashion with incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity, but autosomal recessive inheritance has also been reported. It is thought to be without systemic involvement, whereas keratosis pilaris and follicular papules are almost invariably associated features. We describe an instance of monilethrix in a 9-year-old boy from consanguineous parents, characterized by universal dystrophic alopecia associated with intractable scalp pruritus, diffuse keratosis pilaris, and bilateral posterior subcapsular cataracts. His disease was further characterized by physical underdevelopment and distinct features of hypertelorism, a wide-based nose, long philtrum, relatively large mouth with thick lower lip, enlarged forehead, small, receding chin, short neck, and rounded (ultrabrachycranial) skull. The findings in our patient suggest that "monilethrix syndrome" is an appropriate term for defining the instances of monilethrix associated with other abnormalities. We conclude that our patient may represent a new and severe, autosomal recessive variant of monilethrix syndrome.

Hippocampal volume in schizophrenia and its relationship with risperidone treatment: a stereological study.

The purpose of this study was to assess the significance of the hippocampal volume differences and its relation with risperidone treatment in schizophrenia. In schizophrenic patients who were on risperidone treatment (n = 11) and in healthy volunteers (n = 11), volumes of the hippocampi were estimated using magnetic resonance images (MRIs). A detailed systematic series of coronal MRIs of the entire brain (3 mm thickness, T(1)-weighted, TR/TE 400/10 ms) was obtained for each subject. All estimations were done according to Cavalieri's method by a modified point-counting grid placed on surface areas of hippocampal slices. The mean right and left hippocampal volumes in schizophrenics and control subjects were 1059.4 and 1003.2 mm(3), and 1780.1 and 1589.1 mm(3), respectively. The corresponding coefficients of errors were 0.05 and 0.068, and 0.059 and 0.081, respectively. The volumes of left and right hemispheres were not significantly different in both schizophrenic patients and controls (p > 0.05). However, a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) was found between hippocampal volumes of the schizophrenic patients and controls. In conclusion, the hippocampal volume of the schizophrenic patients is significantly smaller than of the healthy controls. The patients who responded well to risperidone treatment had significantly greater hippocampal volumes than the patients who did not respond properly. Thus, hippocampal volume may be a predictor of the treatment response of schizophrenics to risperidone.