BACKGROUND: 'Braun' is an illegal injectable dihydrocodeinone-enriched drug mixture of semi-synthetic opioids. It is prepared by palladium-catalysed hydrogenation from codeine-containing tablets. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to characterize the dermatologic consequences of long-term abuse of 'Braun'. METHODS: Skin biopsies of two long-term 'Braun' abusers were evaluated histopathologically, immunohistochemically and ultrastructurally. Palladium skin content was assessed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry. RESULTS: Both patients showed generalized diffuse dark blue-grey hyperpigmentation of the skin. In both, an abnormal population of cells containing intracytoplasmic brownish granular material was identified in the papillary dermis by light microscopy. Electron microscopy revealed a dense and minimally structured material that predominantly accumulated in macrophages, fibroblasts and vascular endothelial cells. XRF analysis confirmed elevated levels of palladium in the patient's skin in comparison to healthy controls. CONCLUSION: Long-term abuse of palladium-contaminated dihydrocodeinone ('Braun') results in excessive accumulation of granular material in various dermal cell types and causes generalized diffuse skin hyperpigmentation.

• MeSH
• fluorescenční spektrometrie MeSH
• hydrokodon škodlivé účinky   MeSH
• hyperpigmentace chemicky indukované   metabolismus   patologie   MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• narkotika škodlivé účinky   MeSH
• palladium škodlivé účinky   metabolismus   MeSH
• poruchy způsobené užíváním narkotik komplikace   MeSH
• syntetická léčiva škodlivé účinky   MeSH
• zakázané drogy škodlivé účinky   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• kazuistiky MeSH

Leiomyoma with bizarre nuclei (LBN) is an uncommon variant of uterine smooth muscle neoplasm. Involvement of fumarate hydratase (FH) has been suggested in the pathogenesis of a subset of LBN. The goal of our study is to assess the clinicopathological, morphological, immunohistochemical and molecular findings focusing on FH in LBNs (n = 108) and compare it with the findings in usual leiomyomas (UL; n = 50) and leiomyosarcomas (LMS; n = 42). Immunohistochemically, loss of FH expression was found in 67/108 of LBN, 1/50 of UL and in no LMS. Class 4/5 FH mutations were detected in 15/53 LBN with sufficient DNA quality for molecular analysis. Pathogenic variants of the FH gene were detected in neither UL nor LMS. Local recurrence after surgery was present in 18/92 of LBN patients, 7 of which were histologically verified and 2 of which were found to be LBN. Our results confirmed that LBN behave in a benign fashion, although they may relapse. FH gene mutations were a common finding only in LBN, but not in UL and LMS. Immunohistochemistry with an antibody against FH seems to have a good sensitivity (87%) and moderate specificity (58%) with regard to predicting FH gene mutations and could be used as a screening method in tumors with features suggestive of FH alterations to identify patients who are at risk for the FH aberrations.

• MeSH
• buněčné jádro patologie   MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• fumarasa genetika   MeSH
• leiomyom genetika   patologie   MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mutace MeSH
• nádorové biomarkery genetika   MeSH
• nádory dělohy genetika   patologie   MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

PURPOSE: The quality and precision of post-mortem MRI microscopy may vary depending on the embedding medium used. To investigate this, our study evaluated the impact of 5 widely used media on: (1) image quality, (2) contrast of high spatial resolution gradient-echo (T1 and T2* -weighted) MR images, (3) effective transverse relaxation rate (R2* ), and (4) quantitative susceptibility measurements (QSM) of post-mortem brain specimens. METHODS: Five formaldehyde-fixed brain slices were scanned using 7.0T MRI in: (1) formaldehyde solution (formalin), (2) phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), (3) deuterium oxide (D2 O), (4) perfluoropolyether (Galden), and (5) agarose gel. SNR and contrast-to-noise ratii (SNR/CNR) were calculated for cortex/white matter (WM) and basal ganglia/WM regions. In addition, median R2* and QSM values were extracted from caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, WM, and cortical regions. RESULTS: PBS, Galden, and agarose returned higher SNR/CNR compared to formalin and D2 O. Formalin fixation, and its use as embedding medium for scanning, increased tissue R2* . Imaging with agarose, D2 O, and Galden returned lower R2* values than PBS (and formalin). No major QSM offsets were observed, although spatial variance was increased (with respect to R2* behaviors) for formalin and agarose. CONCLUSIONS: Embedding media affect gradient-echo image quality, R2* , and QSM in differing ways. In this study, PBS embedding was identified as the most stable experimental setup, although by a small margin. Agarose and Galden were preferred to formalin or D2 O embedding. Formalin significantly increased R2* causing noisier data and increased QSM variance.

• MeSH
• ethery MeSH
• fluorokarbony MeSH
• formaldehyd MeSH
• fosfáty MeSH
• kontrastní látky MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• magnetická rezonanční tomografie přístrojové vybavení   metody   MeSH
• mapování mozku metody   MeSH
• mozek diagnostické zobrazování   patologie   MeSH
• odběr biologického vzorku MeSH
• oxid deuteria MeSH
• pitva přístrojové vybavení   metody   MeSH
• počítačové zpracování obrazu MeSH
• poměr signál - šum MeSH
• sefarosa chemie   MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• zalévání tkání přístrojové vybavení   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH