False tendons are thin, fibrous or fibromuscular structures that traverse the cavity of the left ventricle with no connection to the valvular cusps; they may be single or multiple. We retrospectively analyzed echocardiograms for the prevalence of false tendons in the hearts of 368 (231 male, 137 female) newborns, infants, and children (mean age = 6.28 +/- 4.32 years) who were referred for echocardiography because of suspected acquired or congenital heart disease, but in whom no cardiac pathology was found. In addition, we studied the prevalence of false tendons in 90 hearts from three species of animals (dog, sheep, goat) and eight cadaveric human hearts. In our echocardiographic study, false tendons were detected in 97 of 368 hearts (26.4%). In our gross morphologic studies, false tendons were observed in most of the animal and human hearts: they were present in 5 of 8 (62.5%) human hearts, 14 of 20 (70%) dog hearts, 41 of 50 (82%) sheep hearts, and 16 of 20 (80%) goat hearts. The overall prevalence in animal hearts was 71 of 90 (78.8%). Histologic examination showed the false tendons to be composed of cardiac muscle, blood vessels, fibrous tissue, and Purkinje cells. The possible role of false tendons in innocent murmurs, cardiac rhythm disorders, or left ventricular dysfunction is discussed.

The presence of left ventricular bands has drawn attention to their possible clinical importance, though there are no concrete data to support their role in serious clinical diseases. We have investigated the incidence, location, microscopic and macroscopic structure of left ventricular bands in the human and animals. We examined 100 hearts: 28 human and 72 animal (dog, goat, sheep). Left ventricular bands were present in 13 of 28 (46%) human hearts and 62 of 72 (86%) animal hearts. The bands usually extended from the interventricular septum to the free walls in human hearts and from the papillary muscles to the interventricular septum in animal hearts. They were composed of muscle tissue in various proportions in human and dog hearts, and of connective and conductive tissue in sheep and goat hearts.

Torus palatinus (TP) is the most common exostosis of the maxillofacial skeleton. It usually does not cause symptoms, but removal may be required if it interferes with the function, denture placement, or suffers from recurring traumatic surface ulceration. Large variations in the prevalence of TP have been reported in different populations and were associated with age and sex. The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence, size, and location of TP in a population of young Turkish. A total of 1,943 schoolchildren, 1,056 males and 887 females, ranging in age from 5 to 15 years were assessed for the prevalence, size and location of TP. Inspection and palpation were examined for the presence or absence of TP. The prevalence of the TP in study population was 30.9%. TP was found significantly more in females than in males (34.3, 28.1%, P<0.005). The more of TP were smaller than 2 cm (91.5%), and in molar location (62.9%). This study indicated that the prevalence of TP in Turkish population was high. There was a strong correlation between the prevalence of TP and age or sex.

The authors believe that knowing the normal size of the structures in the orbital region and age-related changes will be useful to maintain the facial proportions in the plastic and reconstructive surgery and to protect aesthetic appearance of the face.

No abstract

Our results demonstrate that time-dependent abnormalities occur in IMA hemodynamics following TNBS administration. Our findings also indicate that ET-A receptors but not ET-B receptors play an important role in the colonic inflammation following TNBS administration.

Background: Sternum is one of the skeleton parts which have frequently congenital anomalies and variations are commonly used by researchers in determining sex. We evaluated the morphological characteristics and sex-related changes of the sternum in adult individuals using multidetector CT in our study. 162.21±6.17, respectively. We found that Hyrtl's law and Sternal index did not provide adequate accuracy for sex determination in our patients. It has been detected that the length of the Manubrium alone is not helpful for individual samples. Total length of the sternum was found to be more reliable than the length of the Manubrium and the length of corpus Sterni.We determined Sternal cleft and Sternal foramen as 0.5% and 3.5%, respectively. Conclusions:We suggest that the Morphometric standards cannot be universally applied and can demonstrate individual differences. The standard rules must be implemented for every population.

Saccharomyces boulardii is a probiotic used for the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. We aimed to investigate whether S. boulardii could alter the effects of clarithromycin (CLA) and methotrexate (MTX) on oro-caecal intestinal transit and oxidative damage in rats. Rats were divided into two groups receiving a single dose of MTX (20 mg/kg) or CLA (20 mg/kg per d) for 1 week. Groups were treated with either saline or S. boulardii (500 mg/kg) twice per d throughout the experiment. The control group was administered only saline. Following decapitation, intestinal transit and inflammation markers of glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde and myeloperoxidase were measured in intestinal and hepatic tissues. CLA and MTX increased intestinal transit, while S. boulardii treatment slowed down CLA-facilitated transit back to control level. Both MTX and CLA increased lipid peroxidation while depleting the antioxidant GSH content in the hepatic and ileal tissues. Conversely, lipid peroxidation was depressed and GSH levels were increased in the ileal and hepatic tissues of S. boulardii-treated rats. Increased ileal neutrophil infiltration due to MTX and CLA treatments was also reduced by S. boulardii treatment. Histological analysis supported that S. boulardii protected intestinal tissues against the inflammatory effects of both agents. These findings suggest that S. boulardii ameliorates intestinal injury and the accompanying hepatic inflammation by supporting the antioxidant state of the tissues and by inhibiting the recruitment of neutrophils. Moreover, a preventive effect on MTXinduced toxicity is a novel finding of S. boulardii, proposing it as an adjunct to chemotherapy regimens.Key words: Saccharomyces boulardii: Clarithromycin: Methotrexate: Intestinal toxicity: Hepatic toxicity Probiotics are viable micro-organisms that confer health benefits to the host when administered in adequate amounts. They have been used to treat several acute infectious and chronic intestinal diseases (1) . Saccharomyces boulardii is a probiotic yeast that has been shown to be effective in the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD) (2) . It exerts trophic effects, both in the mucosa and the endoluminal fluid of the small intestine, which appears to be mediated by the endoluminal release of polyamines (3) . As secretion of IgA and polymeric Ig receptors into the lumen of the small intestine impairs the attachment of micro-organisms and external antigens to intestinal epithelial cells, the proliferation of pathogens in the gut lumen is thus prevented (4) .In a mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease, S. boulardii treatment was shown to inhibit inflammatory bowel disease by suppressing CD4 þ T-cell number and interferon-g production within the colon, suggesting that both humoral and cellular immune defences are involved in the beneficial effects of S. boulardii on AAD (1) . Recent data support the efficacy of S. boulardii in gastrointestinal inflammatory conditions, including bacterial infections and inflammatory ...