A Week and a Day

In an experiment conducted as part of Alcohol Alert Week, 30 employees of the New Zealand Department of Health were asked to abstain from alcohol for 8 days. Twelve abstained completely and two drank an only one occasion. Both abstainers and non-abstainers learned something about their own, and New Zealand, attitudes to alcohol during the course of the experiment.     

A heart within a heart

A 44‐year‐old man with a history of end‐stage dilated cardiomyopathy status‐post orthotopic cardiac transplant 14 years ago presented for coronary angiography in preparation for re‐operative tricuspid valve replacement. Coronary angiography revealed an anomalous origin of the left coronary artery, with a common coronary trunk arising from the right coronary cusp and bifurcating into right and left main coronary arteries. Interestingly, the right and left coronary arteries coursed to form the shape of a heart, hence, a heart within a heart! © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A Week and a Day

In an experiment conducted as part of Alcohol Alert Week, 30 employees of the New Zealand Department of Health were asked to abstain from alcohol for 8 day3. Twelve abstained completely and two drank on only one occasion. Both abstainers and non-abstainers learned something about their own, and New Zealand, attitudes to alcohol during the course of the experiment.     

A patient with a diaphragmatic mass

Cystic teratoma of the diaphragm is a rare, generally asymptomatic, disease. We report a case which was disclosed by the development of fever and pain in the left hypochondria. Imaging ruled out surgical emergency and led to the diagnosis, describing the relations of the tumor.     

A decade o nosocom a acinetobacter

A review of nosocomial infections (NI) from January 1971 to April 1981 was conducted in a university-affiliated hospital to examine NI caused by Acinetobacter and to determine whether a rising trend in rates could be detected. Acinetobacter accounted for 85 of 6115 (1.4%) NI. Sites of infection were respiratory tract (42.2%), blood (17.8%), peritoneum (16.7%), urinary tract (10%), surgical wounds (7.8%), central nervous system (3.3%), and skin or eye (2.2%). All patients who developed NI from Acinetobacter were receiving systemic antimicrobial therapy; 58.8% were in the intensive care unit (ICU). The highest rates of Acinetobacter infection occurred in the early 1970s (2.3%); the lowest occurred from 1978 to 1981 (0.94%), p ～ 0.06. This decrease primarily resulted from two factors: a reduction in cross-infections, probably related to a structural change in the ICU from open-bed ward to single rooms, and the elimination of peritoneal infections traced to contamination of dialysate solution. We conclude that in this institution no rise in the proportion of NI caused by Acinetobacter has occurred over the past decade; if anything, there is a downward trend.