Alcohol misuse and depression in women criminals

The interaction of alcohol misuse and major depressive syndromes was examined in 66 convicted women felons. At an initial (index) evaluation and during a 6-yr follow-up, alcohol misuse and depression, although both highly prevalent, were not significantly related. Alcohol misusing and nonmisusing depressives had similar rates of treatment for depression. Follow-up alcohol misuse, occurring in one-quarter of those reinterviewed, was not predicted by an index history of depression even among index alcohol misusers. Nonsignificant trends did suggest some association between the two symptom groups. Depressive subjects with a history of alcohol misuse had a greater rate of depression during follow-up than nonmisusing index depressives. Follow-up misusers had a greater rate of follow-up depression than nonmisusers. Alcohol-related depression could not be discounted simply as a consequence of alcohol misuse. Depression in the context of alcohol misuse was highly predictive of future depression and suicide attempts. The relative independence of alcohol misuse and depression in this group underscores the complexity of their interaction, especially in a population with multiple disorders such as women criminals. The contention that phenomenologically defined major depressive disorders are heterogeneous is supported.     

Independent Familial Transmission of Alcoholism and Opiate Abuse

Interviews were conducted with 32 alcoholics, 72 opiate addicts, and 42 alcoholic-opiate addicts, and information was gained about the practices of their families. Alcoholism tended to cluster in families to a significant extent while, in contrast, alcoholism and opiate abuse did not occur in the same families significantly more or less often than expected by chance. Doubt is clearly cast on any unitary concept of addiction-proneness.     

Pseudoaneurysms complicating organ transplantation: roles of CT, duplex sonography, and angiography

In a retrospective study of proved pseudoaneurysms (PAs) in 15 patients with transplanted organs (11 liver, three kidney, one pancreas), the results of computed tomography (CT), duplex sonography, and angiography were reviewed. Of the 15 cases of PA, eight occurred at the arterial anastomosis and seven were nonanastomotic. Three of the eight anastomotic PAs were caused by infection. Of the seven nonanastomotic PAs, four were caused by percutaneous biopsy, two were caused by infection, and one was of undetermined cause. In nine (60%) of the 15 patients the PAs were incidentally detected at imaging studies performed for other reasons. Diagnosis requires a high degree of suspicion. CT was performed in nine cases and duplex sonography in ten. The diagnosis of PA was made with CT in six (67%) patients and with duplex sonography in five (50%). CT and duplex sonography could not enable diagnosis when the PA was small, when the arterial anastomosis was not included in the field of study, or when enhancement with intravenously administered contract material was suboptimal. Angiography depicted the PAs in all 15 patients. In three liver transplant recipients with gastrointestinal tract bleeding, the causative PAs were detected only with angiography.     

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty: the treatment of choice for renovascular hypertension due to fibromuscular dysplasia

Twenty-three renal artery stenoses in 21 hypertensive patients, caused by fibromuscular dysplasia, were treated with percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA). Follow-up over a period of 1 to 30 months, including angiography, renal vein renin assay, and radionuclide flow studies, was performed in 8 patients, each with one stenosis. Dilatation was initially successful in all cases and was successfully repeated in 1 case. The mean systolic pressure decreased by 61.81 mm Hg and the mean diastolic pressure by 36.28 mm Hg in response to treatment. Thirteen patients were cured, 8 were felt to have better control of blood pressure on medication, and there was no failures. This study demonstrates that PTA is a clinically effective method of treating renovascular hypertension due to fibromuscular dysplasia.