Effects of victimization on the belief in a just world in four ex-Yugoslavian countries

Levels of support for just world beliefs among young adults (N = 598) from four ex-Yugoslavian countries-Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Slovenia-were compared, taking into account victimization experiences and the general belief in a just world. Being a victim affected an individual's belief in a just world in the two less economically favored contexts: Victims of exclusion in Macedonia and victims of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina were less likely to believe in a just world than non-victims. These victimization variables partly explained why the mean scores of these two countries were less than those of the two others. A deleterious effect of cumulative negative events on belief in a just world was identified, in parallel with a lower endorsement of the belief when the first victimization occurred more recently.

Ex-vivo ultrasound control of resection margins during partial nephrectomy

Introduction: Surgery represents the treatment of choice for localized renal cell neoplasia. Partial nephrectomy (PN) has widened its indications over the past two decades and has shown oncological results equivalent to radical nephrectomy for small tumors. The role of negative surgical margins has been widely debated. Intraoperative fresh frozen section analysis is shown to be unreliable, expensive, time-consuming and not well correlated to final pathology. The goal of the present study was to assess the feasibility of intraoperative ex-vivo ultrasound (US) control of resection margins and its correlation to margin status at definitive pathology in patients undergoing PN.Material and Methods: The study was carried out in our institution from February 2008 to March 2010. Patients undergoing PN for T1-T2 renal tumors were included. Ex vivo US was performed by one single senior radiologist. Considering its availability, not all consecutive eligible patients were included. PN was undertaken in a standardized technique applying the "minimal healthy tissue margin" technique. Once resected, the specimen was kept in a saline solution and ex-vivo US was performed to evaluate the whole tumor pseudocapsule.Results: Twelve patients (five women, age (mean}SD) 65}11 years) were included. Intraoperative ex-vivo US showed negative surgical margin in all cases. US duration ranged from 1 to 4 minutes, with a median time of 1 minute. Definitive histological analysis confirmed the presence of two angiomyolipoma, eight pT1a tumors, of which seven were clear cell carcinoma and one was a type II papillary tumor, one pT1b clear cell carcinoma and one pT2 chromophobe carcinoma (size 2.9}2.3 cm). Final pathology revealed R0 margins.Conclusion: Intraoperative ex-vivo US control of resection margins in patients undergoing PN is feasible, time-efficient and well correlated to definitive pathological examination with regards to margin status.

Placental transfer of pyrimethamine studied in an ex vivo placental perfusion model.

Pyrimethamine is used as and anti-infectious agent because of its antifolate properties. Its action is synergistic with that of dapsone and sulfamides on Toxoplasma gondii. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the placental transfer of pyrimethamine in an ex vivo model of perfused human placental cotyledon at term. Human placentas were perfused according to the slightly modified method of Schneider. The pyrimethamine fetal transfer rate was approximately 30%, while cotyledon clearance was about 1.8 ml/min. The placental transfer of pyrimethamine seems to be independent of the maternal concentrations of pyrimethamine, suggesting passive diffusion mechanisms or a nonsaturable active transport at the tested concentrations.