Introduction Liposarcoma is the most common soft tissue tumor which is commonly found in the retroperitoneal region. This kind of tumor is usually well-differentiated with low to no potential to metastasize. Thymoliposarcomas are extremely rare tumors that are difficult to diagnose and differentiate from thymomas and other benign conditions . Presentation of a case:This report presents a case of a 46-year-old male patient with dyspnea, generalized fatigue and non-specific chest pain caused by a giant anterior mediastinal mass. Computed tomography scan revealed a large mass in the anterior mediastinum. CT guided biopsy was consistent with thymolipoma. The tumor was surgically resected. The histological analysis of the tumor revealed thymoliposarcoma. Discussion:Thymoliposarcoma usually presents with non-specific symptoms. The mean age of the diagnosis is 55.8 years old with a slight predominance in males. The corner stone of the treatment remains surgical excision of the tumor while the role of adjuvant therapy is not well documented.

Aims: Beta-2 agonists are the standard of care for asthmatic patients. Racemic albuterol and levalbuterol are two of the most commonly used bronchodilators of this category. Although their efficacy has been tested excessively, their effects on heart rate remain debatable by many conflicting articles in the medical literature. This review aims to summarize all available data in the literature concerning the effects of Racemic Albuterol versus Levalbuterol on heart rate in asthmatic children. Methods and Results: Our search covered five different databases: PubMed, SCOPUS, Wiley Online Library, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library. We included clinical trials investigating heart rate in asthmatic pediatric patients; either as a primary or secondary outcome. The primary outcome was heart rate changes. Secondary outcomes were respiratory rate, FEV1 peak percent changes, potassium serum levels, SpO2 peak changes, asthma score, and adverse effects. Eight clinical trials were included; seven of them were eligible for meta-analysis. In a dosing ratio of levalbuterol: albuterol =1:4, levalbuterol showed better outcomes on heart rate changes when compared with racemic albuterol (mean difference=-5.97, p=0.02). However, this difference was dose-dependent as it vanished with equivalent dosing of levalbuterol: albuterol =1:2. Levalbuterol also had a better effect on FEV1 changes (mean difference=3.72, p=0.003). However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two drugs regarding changes in respiratory rate, SpO2 , asthma score ,or adverse effects. Conclusion: Levalbuterol and racemic albuterol have almost the same effect on heart rate in asthmatic children when they are used in equivalent dosing (levalbuterol: albuterol =1:2).

Alveolar hemorrhage following thrombolytic agents administration is an extremely rare entity that has only been reported in twenty two patients in the medical literature. We herein report a case of a 60-year old male with an acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction who was treated with Streptokinase. Twelve hours after streptokinase adminstration, the patient developed severe hemoptysis and dyspnea and radiological studies were highly suggestive for acute alveolar hemorrhage. His past medical history is significant for severe chest trauma ten months prior to presentation. . Conservative therapy in addition to anti-coagulants withdrawal has led to gradual improvement in the next six days. We also discussed the aspects of our patient in comparison with published cases.

In this paper, a Stable, Thermal-aware and Energy-efficient routing Protocol (STEP) is proposed for Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) that not only deals with the thermal aspects and hot-spots problem but also saves energy and extends the stability period and network lifetime. Direct communication is used for real-time traffic (critical data) while multi-hop communication is used for normal data delivery. In multi-hop communication to achieve minimum power consumption and minimum temperature rise, the proposed protocol has a new cost function using multi-criteria decision making MCDM methods to determine the parent node or the forwarder. These methods provide a flexible decision-making process for selecting the next hop by considering different criteria at the same time. The proposed cost function has three criteria: residual energy, distance to the sink node and temperature. Residual energy criterion balances the energy consumption among the sensor nodes while distance criterion ensures successful packet delivery to the sink node and minimize the energy that will be consumed, the temperature criterion will avoid routing across hot nodes to protect the tissues. The simulation results show that the proposed protocol preserves the energy and increases the network lifetime & stability period so nodes stay alive for a longer period. A longer stability period contributes significantly to the delivery of packets, which is very important for continuous patient monitoring. Results also depict that the proposed protocol can achieve a better balance of the temperature rise comparing to the previous protocols.

Background Caustic substance ingestion is a high-risk medical emergency associated with high mortality and morbidity. To date, there are several treatment options with no standard method of care. Case presentation We report a case of a corrosive agent ingestion complicated with third-degree burns and severe stenosis of the esophagus and gastric outlet. After failure of conservative treatment, the patient underwent jejunostomy placement for nutritional support followed by transhiatal esophagectomy with gastric pull-up and intra-thoracic Roux-en-Y gastroenterostomy with good outcomes. The patient recovered from the procedure and has been tolerating oral intake very well with significant weight gain. Conclusion We put a new technique for treating severe gastrointestinal injuries caused by corrosive agent ingestion that resulted in both esophageal and gastric outlet strictures. These rare complex cases requires difficult treatment decisions. We believe that this technique provides many benefits for such cases and might be a feasible alternative for colon interposition.

Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) of the gallbladder is an extremely rare entity. Most reported cases were mistakenly diagnosed preoperatively as cholecystitis with or without cholelithiasis. We believe that our article demonstrates the 5th case of gallbladder LMS that was suspected preoperatively to be malignant rather than cholecystitis, which fortunately led to radical resection of the tumor instead of simple cholecystectomy. However, the definitive diagnosis relies exclusively on histological and immunohistochemical techniques. We present a case of a 62-year-old Caucasian female complaining of signs and symptoms suggestive for cholecystitis. On ultrasonography, the gallbladder appeared enlarged and filled with a necrotic mass; thus, the presence of adenocarcinoma was suspected. Multislice Computerized Tomography (MSCT) demonstrated no distant metastasis. An extensive radical cholecystectomy was performed, and histological techniques confirmed a leiomyosarcoma diagnosis. In addition, adjuvant chemotherapy of doxorubicin and ifosfamide was administrated. The patient was on follow-up for 2 years and is doing well till date. The discrimination of gallbladder sarcoma preoperatively remains a clinical and radiological challenge. Although radical resection of the tumor remains the mainstay of the treatment, we believe that adjuvant chemotherapy should be administrated in such cases. However, further studies are required in this field.

Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease. Although it is well known that patients with myasthenia gravis have a higher incidence of other autoimmune disorders, however, its association with pituitary adenomas is extremely rare. We believe that our case represents the 8th of this association and the 2nd case involving a GH-secreting adenoma. Here we report a case of a 45-year old Syrian woman who presented with typical complaints of myasthenia gravis as she was suffering from variable painless and effort-related dysphagia and dysarthria. Her complaints became more evident at the end of the day, while acromegaly only manifested as a 4-month history of headache and a special facies that was noted by the physician. Brain MRI scan demonstrated a 3.21 x 2.42 x 2.35 cm pituitary mass for which the patient underwent a trans-sphenoidal pituitary tumor resection. In addition, postoperative histopathological investigations confirmed the diagnosis of a GH-secreting macroadenoma. On following up, it was observed that her myasthenic symptoms improved significantly on Pyridostigmin and Prednisolone. In conclusion, the presence of headache in a myasthenic patient should raise the attention for other underlying causes including pituitary tumors.

Introduction. Immune thrombocytopenic purpura is an autoimmune hematological disorder characterized by low platelet level due to its destruction through autoimmune antibodies. Cerebral venous thrombosis is a serious condition defined by a thrombosis in the cerebral venous sinuses that occurs mostly in the presence of a hypercoagulable state. Hemorrhage and thrombosis are processes with a paradoxical etiology; thus, the association between these two conditions seems to be extremely rare. Case Presentation. We herein report a case of a 19-year-old female with a chief compliant of generalized tonic-clonic episode, severe headache, and blurred vision. Physical examination was significant for a bilateral Babinski’s sign and severe bilateral papilledema. Laboratory workup, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging were normal except for severe thrombocytopenia. Magnetic resonance venography was diagnostic for cerebral venous thrombosis. Her past medical history was significant for immune thrombocytopenic purpura that was treated with prednisolone 40 mg per day which posed a therapeutic challenge. High-dose prednisolone and platelet transfusion were initiated; enoxaparin was administrated and switched to warfarin after stabilization of platelet count. The patient was neurologically intact after 14 days of appropriate treatment and was on follow-up. Many hypotheses were suggested to explain the unexpected thrombotic events in a patient with immune thrombocytopenic purpura which were related to the disease etiology or treatment, taking into account common risk factors (such as age, obesity, smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, splenectomy, and oral contraceptive agents). Conclusion. The association between immune thrombocytopenic purpura (which is a major risk factor for bleeding) and cerebral venous thrombosis ( which is caused by a thromboembolic event )has carried a major challenge to the management plan. We believe that immune thrombocytopenic purpura and its treatment methods should be taken into consideration as risk factors for thromboembolic phenomenon.