Promotion of knowledge transfer and retention in year 2 medical students using an online training exercise

Advances in Health Sciences Education - It was recently shown that novice medical students could be trained to demonstrate the speed-to-diagnosis and diagnostic accuracy typical of System-1-type...     

An Intelligent System to Enhance the Performance of Brain Tumor Diagnosis from MR Images

Journal of Digital Imaging - In the human body, cancer is caused by aberrant cell proliferation. Brain tumors are created when cells in the human brain proliferate out of control. Brain tumors...     

Acute airway obstruction following placement of a subclavian Hickman catheter

The purpose of this case report is to describe the events, intervention, and aetiology which led to acute airway obstruction in an adult patient after the placement of a Hickman catheter. Airway obstruction secondary to superior vena cava obstruction occurred after placement of a subclavian vein Hickman catheter. This was felt to occur, in part, to a narrowed superior vena cava as evident by subclavian venography. It resulted in emergency oral tracheal intubation to relieve airway obstruction. Shortly after removal of the Hickman catheter, the signs of superior vena cava obstruction syndrome resolved and the patient was extubated without incidence. It is concluded that, although rare, the serious complication of acute airway obstruction can occur after placement of a Hickman catheter.     

Hypertension in the elderly: Age- and disease-related complications and therapeutic implications

Summary Effective treatment of hypertension in the elderly requires an understanding of both the progressive course of the disease and the impact of aging on the cardiovascular system, including physiological, genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Review of the literature that has attempted to define the impact of an aging process on cardiovascular structure and function reveals a diversity of findings and interpretations. However, in general, normotensive elderly subjects exhibit the heart and vascular characteristics of muted hypertension, including many features of younger hypertensive patients: cardiac hypertrophy, diminution in resting left ventricular early diastolic filling rate, increased arterial stiffness and aortic impedance, diminution in the baroreceptor reflex, a diminished response to catecholamines and diminished renal blood flow, and an increase in peripheral vascular resistance (PVR). Treatment of elderly hypertensives is more challenging because of the greater likelihood of the presence of concomitant diseases, most importantly, coronary and peripheral atherosclerosis, renal dysfunction, and diabetes mellitus. Isolated systolic hypertension (ISH), the most common form of hypertension in the elderly, has also been clearly shown to be an important predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, including coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, and stroke. Treatment of ISH has been shown to lower systolic pressure safely and effectively in the elderly. By reducing PVR, and possibly the arterial stiffness, and thus the early reflected pulse waves, vasodilators, including calcium antagonists, may lower these three components of arterial impedance, and hence lower the arterial load on the heart. The cardiac hypertrophy and reduced left ventricular filling rate associated with hypertension in older individuals can also be ameliorated, to some extent, by calcium channel blockers.Proceedings of a symposium held in Atlanta, Georgia on March 2, 1991.     

Hexamethylmelamine, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil as second line chemotherapy after platinum for epithelial ovarian malignancies

Thirty-three patients were treated with HexAF after previous treatment with cyclophosphamide (C), Adriamycin (A), and cisplatin (P). The patients had either progressed on CAP, had persistent disease after CAP, or recurred after a negative second look. Treatment schedule was hexamethylmelamine (Hex) 150 mg po qd days 1-14, methotrexate (A) 40 mg/m2 IV days 1 and 8, and 5-fluorouracil (F) 600 mg/m2 IV days 1 and 8. Courses were repeated every 4 weeks. Thirty-one of 33 patients were evaluable for response. Three of 31 patients had partial responses, 7 of 31 had stable disease, and 21 of 31 progressed. Median survival of the responders (n = 3) was 23 months and the nonresponders (n = 28) was 6 months (p = 0.027). Patients with less than 1 cm disease (n = 12) had a median survival of 20 months, and those with greater than 1 cm (n = 21) had a median survival of 6 months (p = 0.004). Toxicity was mild. Even with a statistically significant survival advantage for HexAF responders, we consider a response rate of less than 10% unacceptable.     

Protease inhibitor therapy and fetal growth potential in HIV-positive women

Our objective was to test if protease inhibitors (PIs) increase the incidence of fetal growth restriction (FGR). Human immunodeficiency (HIV)-seropositive women were studied. At birth the neonatal weight percentile was assigned by predicted growth potential (GP), accounting for race, parity, weight, height, gestational age, birthweight, and gender (Gardosi, 1992). FGR was defined as GP < 10% percentile. Maternal age, CD4 count, viral load, weight gain, prenatal care, tobacco, alcohol, substance abuse, and PI use were related to FGR using chi-square and multiple regression analysis. Ninety-three of 191 women received PI. In these, FGR occurred in 27 (29%) compared with 15 (15.3%) in the non-PI group ( P = 0.02). Maternal CD4 count ( P < 0.0001) was the primary determinant, and smoking ( P = 0.037) was an independent cofactor for FGR (Nagelkerke r2 = 0.24). Twenty-six of 82 (31.7%) smokers had FGR, versus 16 of 109 (14.7%) of nonsmokers (odds ratio, 2.69; 95% confidence interval, 1.33 to 5.46; P = 0.005). After exclusion of the CD4 count, PI became a cofactor for FGR ( P = 0.021 and Nagelkerke r2 = 0.104). We concluded that maternal HIV status and smoking determine the risk for FGR. Although PIs increase the risk for FGR, this effect appears to depend on maternal disease severity.