Age-related differences in spontaneous trait judgments from facial appearance

We tested whether there are age-related declines in detecting cues to trustworthiness, a skill that has been demonstrated to be rapid and automatic in younger adults. Young (M_age = 21.2 years) and older (M_age = 70.15 years) adults made criminal appearance judgments to unfamiliar faces, which were presented at a duration of 100, 500 or 1,000 ms. Participants’ response times and judgment confidence were recorded. Older were poorer than young adults at judging trustworthiness at 100 ms, and were slower overall in making their judgments. Further, the cues (i.e. perceptions of anger, trustworthiness and happiness) underlying criminality judgments were the same across age groups. Judgment confidence increased with increasing exposure duration for both age groups, while older adults were less confident in their judgments overall than their young counterparts. The implications are discussed.     

Port-Site Pyoderma Gangrenosum – A Rare Complication of Surgical Trauma

We report a case of pyoderma gangrenosum occurring at the site of a laparoscopic port insertion following laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair.     

Joint Recommendations for Reporting Carotid Ultrasound Investigations in the United Kingdom

At present in the United Kingdom a number of different criteria are used to grade disease in carotid ultrasound investigations. One main cause of this has been the difference in the method of grading angiograms used in the NASCET and ECST large carotid surgery trials. It is desirable that all centres reporting carotid ultrasound investigations report to the same standard. This paper presents recommendations for the reporting of ultrasound investigations of the extra cranial arteries produced by a Joint Working Group formed between the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Society for Vascular Technology of Great Britain and Ireland. The recommended criteria are based on the NASCET method of grading carotid bulb disease. Key recommendations include recording peak systolic velocity (PSV) and end-diastolic velocity (EDV) in both internal and distal common carotid arteries; measuring all velocities at a Doppler angle of 45–60°; the use of internal carotid PSV of >1.25 ms^?1 and >2.3 ms^?1 and a Peak Systolic Velocity Ratio of >2 and >4 to indicate >50% and >70% stenosis respectively; and the use of the St Mary's Ratio to grade >50% stenoses in deciles. General recommendations are also given for the acquisition, interpretation and reporting of the data.     

Response to drugs and diet in a compound heterozygote for familial hypercholesterolaemia.

A boy with a total plasma cholesterol concentration of 20.9 mmol/l which fell significantly with a low fat diet, cholestyramine and simvastatin, was shown to have two different mutations in the low density lipoprotein receptor gene, demonstrating that some patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia show a good lipid lowering response to treatment.