Plasma cell neoplasms are characterized by dysregulated proliferation of mature B cells, which can present with either single (solitary plasmacytoma) or systemic (multiple myeloma (MM)) involvement. MM with extramedullary plasmacytoma (EMP) is a rare disease that accounts for approximately 3–5% of all plasmacytomas. EMP with gastrointestinal (GI) system involvement is an even rarer entity, accounting for <1% of MM cases. We present a case of aggressive MM with EMP invading the duodenum, initially presented with massive upper GI hemorrhage and small bowel obstruction. A 67-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital owing to a lack of either gas or feces passage for 3 days. Abdominal distention and vomit with a high coffee ground content were observed for 24 h. The patient’s condition was initially diagnosed as small bowel obstruction, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, severe anemia, acute renal failure, and hypercalcemia. Furthermore, an analysis of immunoelectrophoresis in the blood, bone marrow aspiration, and tissue biopsy supported the diagnosis of MM and EMP invading the duodenum, upper GI hemorrhage, and small bowel obstruction. Our study provided the possible involvement of MM and EMP in the differential diagnosis of patients with unexplained GI hemorrhage and small bowel obstruction. A thorough review of the literature regarding the association between MM, GI hemorrhage, and small bowel obstruction is presented in this study.

Intestinal intussusception is relatively rare in adults and accounts for approximately 5% of intestinal obstruction. Intussusception is classified into subtypes according to the location, including ileoileal, ileocolic, ileo-ileocolic, colo-colic, jejuno-ileal, or jejuno-jejunal; the ileocolic type being the most common. However, intussusception of a combination of different subtypes has rarely been reported in the available literature. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) is the most accurate tool to evaluate intestinal intussusception. The pathological lead point in the intestine typically results in adult intussusception. Surgical intervention is usually adopted in cases of adult intussusception due to a high incidence of underlying bowel malignancy. An inflammatory fibroid polyp (IFP) is one of the uncommon benign neoplasms of the gastrointestinal (GI) system, which can result in intestinal intussusception. Herein, we present a case of a 50-year-old female with combined ileoileal and ileocolic intussusception, which was initially diagnosed by abdominal CT. Therefore, laparoscopic right hemicolectomy surgery was performed, confirming the final diagnosis as ileoileal and ileocolic intussusception secondary to IFP.

Background: Thymoma is an epithelial mass arising from the thymus. Most thymomas are located in the anterior mediastinum. Ectopic intrapericardial thymoma is very unusual; to date, only eight cases of pericardial thymoma have been reported. Among thymoma patients, 20% to 25% are associated with myasthenia gravis. However, postoperative myasthenia gravis occurs in less than 1% of cases. Here, we share a rare case of ectopic intrapericardial thymoma that developed postoperative myasthenia gravis six months after surgery. Case presentation: A 66-year-old woman visited the outpatient department due to productive cough and chest pain. Chest radiography showed increased soft tissue opacity over the mediastinum. A soft tissue mass in the pericardium and a ground glass nodule in right upper lung were noted using chest computed tomography. The diagnosis of thymoma, type B2, pT3N0M0, and stage IIIA and synchronous adenocarcinoma in situ of the right upper lung was confirmed after surgical removal. Six months later, the patient developed postoperative myasthenia gravis. Conclusions: Thymoma is rarely considered a differential diagnosis in pericardial tumors. Surgical removal with adjuvant radiation therapy should be performed considering the malignancy potential of thymomas and cardiac complications. In patients without myasthenia gravis, a small chance of postoperative myasthenia gravis remains. Patients should be carefully monitored for myasthenia gravis after surgery.

Sarcomas, particularly undifferentiated small round cell sarcomas of bone and soft tissue, pose significant diagnostic challenges due to their nonspecific morphology and the necessity for comprehensive molecular analyses. This paper discusses a rare case of round cell sarcoma exhibiting the EWSR1-CREM fusion, offering insights into the complexities of its diagnosis and management. The patient, a 15-year-old female with a history of Type 1 diabetes, presented with persistent right thigh tenderness and swelling. MRI revealed a large necrotic mass in the retroperitoneal region. Histological analysis showed a well-demarcated tumor with diverse cellular morphologies and distinct necrotic areas. Immunohistochemical (IHC) tests identified dot-like staining for Desmin and Vimentin but negative results for several markers, including Cytokeratin and CD45. Strong ALK positivity was noted. Next-generation sequencing with the Illumina TruSight™ Oncology 500 assay revealed the fusion gene EWSR1-CREM, along with benign and uncertain mutations in other genes. The tumor’s morphology and immunoprofile, along with molecular findings, led to a diagnosis of round cell sarcoma with EWSR1-CREM fusion. This case adds to the spectrum of tumors associated with this fusion, often presenting diverse morphologies. The rarity of EWSR1-CREM fusion sarcomas poses a challenge in treatment, highlighted by the development of pulmonary metastases and disease progression after surgical excision in this patient despite the lack of an effective targeted therapy. In conclusion, this case emphasizes the need for a multidisciplinary diagnostic approach in complex sarcomas and highlights the importance of continued research on rare sarcomas, their genetic underpinnings, and potential therapeutic targets.

In embedding-matching acoustic-to-word (A2W) ASR, every word in the vocabulary is represented by a fixed-dimension embedding vector that can be added or removed independently of the rest of the system. The approach is potentially an elegant solution for the dynamic out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words problem, where speaker-and context-dependent named entities like contact names must be incorporated into the ASR on-the-fly for every speech utterance at testing time. Challenges still remain, however, in improving the overall accuracy of embedding-matching A2W. In this paper, we contribute two methods that improve the accuracy of embedding-matching A2W. First, we propose internally producing multiple embeddings, instead of a single embedding, at each instance in time, which allows the A2W model to propose a richer set of hypotheses over multiple time segments in the audio. Second, we propose using word pronunciation embeddings rather than word orthography embeddings to reduce ambiguities introduced by words that have more than one sound. We show that the above ideas give significant accuracy improvement, with the same training data and nearly identical model size, in scenarios where dynamic OOV words play a crucial role. On a dataset of queries to a speech-based digital assistant that include many user-dependent contact names, we observe up to 18% decrease in word error rate using the proposed improvements.

Middle ear adenomatous neuroendocrine tumors (MEANT) are rare neoplasms frequently misdiagnosed due to their nonspecific clinical presentations. We present the case of a 25-year-old woman who reported a 2-month history of tinnitus, dizziness, and left-sided conductive hearing loss. Otoendoscopy and computed tomography revealed a well-circumscribed, vascular soft-tissue mass in the epitympanum extending to the mastoid antrum, which was subsequently managed with complete transcanal endoscopic excision. Histopathological evaluation confirmed a well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumor. A definitive diagnosis was established through comprehensive immunohistochemical profiling, demonstrating positive staining for INSM-1 and chromogranin-A, alongside a low Ki-67 proliferation index of less than 3%. Following the procedure, the patient exhibited stable hearing and no clinical or radiologic evidence of tumor recurrence over an 8-year follow-up period. Ultimately, this case highlights the critical importance of utilizing the 2022 WHO classification and immunohistochemical markers to accurately diagnose MEANT. Furthermore, it underscores a vital clinical caveat: while complete surgical excision is the definitive treatment, the tumor's established propensity for delayed recurrence mandates indefinite, long-term clinical and radiologic surveillance.