Thrombosed persistent median artery causing carpal tunnel syndrome associated with bifurcated median nerve: A case report

BACKGROUND

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a sporadically occurring abnormality due to compression of median nerve. It is exceedingly rare for it to be caused by thrombosis of persistent median artery.

CASE REPORT

A forty two year old female was referred for ultrasound examination due to ongoing wrist pain, not relived by pain killers and mild paresthesia on the radial side of the hand. High resolution ultrasound and Doppler revealed a thrombosed persistent median artery and associated bifurcated median nerve. The thrombus resolved on treatment with anticoagulants.

CONCLUSIONS

Ultrasound examination of the wrist when done for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome should preferably include looking for persistent median artery and its patency.

Aneurysmal bone cyst of the ethmoid sinus: A case report

BACKGROUND

Aneurysmal bone cyst is an expansile bone lesion, non-neoplastic in nature, occurring most commonly in long bones. It is uncommon in facial bones and exceptionally rare in ethmoid bone. Ten cases of aneurysmal bone cysts of ethmoid bone have been reported so far.

CASE REPORT

A young adolescent presented with decreased vision and pain in the right eye. MRI revealed an expansile lesion having conspicuous fluid levels with a multiloculated appearance in the right ethmoid bone extending to the right orbit. CT was done to characterize better bone details. Both biopsy of the lesion and histopathology of resected specimen confirmed aneurysmal bone cyst.

CONCLUSIONS

A characteristic appearance on MRI and CT examinations helped to confidently diagnose a relatively common lesion in an exceedingly rare location.

Overexpression of the maize homeo box gene, KNOTTED-1, causes a switch from determinate to indeterminate cell fates

The KNOTTED-1 (KN1) locus of maize is defined by dominant mutations that affect leaf cell fates. Transposon tagging led to the isolation of the gene and the discovery that KN1 encodes a homeo domain. Immunolocalization studies showed that in wild-type maize plants, KN1 protein is present in nuclei of apical meristems and immature shoot axes but is down-regulated as lateral organs, such as leaves, are initiated. The protein is not immunohistochemically detectable in wild-type leaves at any stage. In developing leaves of plants carrying the dominant Kn1 mutation, temporally and spatially restricted ectopic expression of KN1 causes the mutant phenotype. To better understand the function of KN1 in plant development, we sought to determine the phenotype of plants in which KN1 was constitutively expressed. We find that tobacco plants transformed with the KN1 cDNA driven by the CaMV 35S promoter have a dramatically altered phenotype. The phenotypes are variable and depend on the level of KN1 protein. Plants expressing moderate levels of KN1 are reduced in stature with rumpled or lobed leaves. Plants with relatively high levels of KN1 lack apical dominance and are severely dwarfed in overall height and leaf size. Small shoots originate from the surface of these diminutive leaves. On the basis of phenotypes in maize and tobacco, we propose that the KN1 homeo box gene plays a role in determining cell fate. The consequences of KN1 overexpression appear to depend on the concentration of KN1 and the timing of its expression during organogenesis.