Body pain and treatment response in late-life depression.

OBJECTIVE: The authors investigated the influence of body pain on 1) time to treatment response and 2) suicidal ideation, in late-life depression. They hypothesized that higher levels of body pain would predict a longer time to and lower likelihood of response, and increased levels of suicidal ideation. METHODS: Subjects (N=187) were older adult outpatients (age > or =69 years), with current episodes of major depression, who were openly treated with paroxetine up to 40 mg daily and weekly interpersonal psychotherapy. Response was defined as 3 consecutive weeks of Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression at < or =10. Body pain was measured with the Bodily Pain Index of the SF-36 quality-of-life assessment. Authors used survival-analysis models on the responder sample to test the effect of body pain on response, after controlling for severity of depression. RESULTS: Overall response rate was 75.4%. Nonresponders reported more severe pain at baseline. After covarying for severity of baseline depression, no effect was found for physical pain on time-to-response or degree of suicidality. Bodily pain remained stable during acute treatment for responders, independent of depression response to combination psychotherapy and antidepressant treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Older adult patients with higher levels of physical pain can still respond to antidepressant treatment; however, reported bodily pain may be associated with a more difficult-to-treat depression.     

Severe hypokalemia in thyrotoxic periodic paralysis

Thyrotoxic hypokalemic periodic paralysis is an uncommon but sometimes fatal disease in which early recognition and therapy may prevent untoward complications. The case of a 26-year-old Chinese man who presented to the emergency department with rapidly progressive profound weakness and severe hypokalemia (serum potassium, 1.2 mEq/L) is presented. The patient required endotracheal intubation, ventilatory assistance, and intravenous potassium administration. Emergency medical evaluation and management of this entity are discussed.     

System for prostate brachytherapy and biopsy in a standard 1.5 T MRI scanner.

A technique for transperineal high-dose-rate (HDR) prostate brachytherapy and needle biopsy in a standard 1.5 T MRI scanner is demonstrated. In each of eight procedures (in four patients with intermediate to high risk localized prostate cancer), four MRI-guided transperineal prostate biopsies were obtained followed by placement of 14-15 hollow transperineal catheters for HDR brachytherapy. Mean needle-placement accuracy was 2.1 mm, 95% of needle-placement errors were less than 4.0 mm, and the maximum needle-placement error was 4.4 mm. In addition to guiding the placement of biopsy needles and brachytherapy catheters, MR images were also used for brachytherapy treatment planning and optimization. Because 1.5 T MR images are directly acquired during the interventional procedure, dependence on deformable registration is reduced and online image quality is maximized.     

An approach to haemorrhoids

OBJECTIVE: Many patients with haemorrhoids are investigated because of the fear of missing colorectal cancer (CRC). The aim of this study was to determine whether a primarily clinical approach regarding the need for investigation was safe and did not miss patients with CRC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data was collected prospectively on 589 consecutive patients with the principle diagnosis of haemorrhoids at first clinic visit. All had clinical assessment including rigid sigmoidoscopy and were treated by phenol injection or banding. They were categorized for (1) no review unless symptoms persisted -'One Stop SOS' (2) outpatient review or (3) investigation. To check for the development of CRC they were contacted by postal questionnaire or telephone interview with a minimum of one year from diagnosis and treatment. All 589 patients were cross-referenced with the Pathology database and the Hospital Information Services System. RESULTS: Four hundred and sixty-nine (80%) answered the questionnaire; 352 patients (60% of the total group) fell in the 'one stop SOS' outpatient category; 95 (16%) patients were followed up to review response to treatment for large haemorrhoids; 105 (18%) were investigated with barium enema (12%), flexible sigmoidoscopy (4%), colonoscopy (1%) and miscellaneous (1%); 37 (6%) patients were either given a haemorrhoidectomy date or referred on with a different diagnosis. No patients selected for 'one-stop' treatment developed CRC. Five (0.8%) patients were diagnosed with CRC after appropriate investigation was instituted for suspicious symptoms. One patient with distal transverse colon cancer had a delayed diagnosis as she was investigated initially by flexible sigmoidoscopy. CONCLUSION: Most patients with the primary diagnosis of symptomatic haemorrhoids do not need investigation.     

12-month outcome of patients with major depression and comorbid psychiatric or medical illness (compound depression)

OBJECTIVE: Inpatients with major depressive illness often have coexistent nonaffective psychiatric and/or medical conditions. The authors' objective is to address the following questions: 1) What is the effect of comorbid illness on the severity of major depression and associated psychosocial factors? 2) How does the course of depression differ for patients with and without concurrent illness? 3) Do patients with compound depression differ in rate of recovery and time to recovery from patients with pure depression? METHOD: The subjects were 78 patients with a DSM-III diagnosis of major depression who were consecutively admitted to an acute care university-affiliated psychiatric hospital; 37 of these patients had major depression only and 41 had major depression compounded by a coexisting axis I, II, or III condition. The patients were studied while hospitalized and for 12 months after hospital discharge. Instruments used included the Modified Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Global Assessment Scale, and the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. RESULTS: Patients with compound depression reported significantly poorer functioning over the 12-month follow-up period and had lower recovery rates than the patients with pure depression. There were no differences in recovery rates between men and women with compound depression, but significantly more men than women with pure depression recovered. CONCLUSIONS: Compound depression is a common clinical occurrence, the course of illness is more difficult for patients with compound depression than for patients with pure depression, and the recovery rate of patients with compound depression is lower than that of patients with pure depression.     

Supratentorial hemangioblastoma associated with Von Hippel Lindau disease: case report and review of the literature

Multiple vascular lesions in the brain were identified by angiography in a 45-year-old woman with Von Hippel Lindau disease. One of these lesions was a histologically-proven hemangioblastoma. The occurrence of such lesions in a cerebral hemisphere is exceedingly rare and is usually related to Von Hippel Lindau disease.     

A new approach to chemotherapy based on molecular biology and nucleic acid chemistry: Matagen (masking tape for gene expression)

The nucleotide sequences of genes contain information which can potentially be used to understand gene function and thus the biological properties of living organisms. This information can also be used to develop innovative new strategies for chemotherapy employing sequence-specific non-ionic oligonucleoside methylphosphonates. These oligonucleotide analogs, termed Matagen (an acronym for masking tape for gene expression), have the following properties: (1) the negatively charged phosphodiester linkage normally found in nucleic acids is replaced with a non-charged methylphosphonate group which confers increased lipophilicity to the oligomer; (2) the oligomers form stable hydrogen-bonded complexes with complementary nucleic acid sequences and retain the fidelity of Watson-Crick base pairing; (3) the lipophilic oligomers cross the cell membrane and also enter various organs of the body; and (4) the methylphosphonate backbone is inherently resistant to nuclease hydrolysis and thus oligomers are taken up intact from cell culture media and remain stable within the cellular environment. Two general strategies are used to block gene expression by Matagens at the mRNA level in mammalian cells. In the first approach, Matagens complementary to specific sites such as the initiation codon region are used to block translation of mRNA. Thus Matagens specifically inhibit translation of rabbit globin mRNA in cell-free systems and rabbit reticulocytes, and vesicular stomatitis virus protein synthesis, but not cellular protein synthesis, in virus-infected cells. In the second approach, Matagens complementary to splice junctions of precursor mRNAs are used to inhibit splicing. For example, a Matagen complementary to the donor splice junction of simian virus 40 (SV40) large T-antigen mRNA inhibits T-antigen synthesis in SV40-infected cells, and a Matagen complementary to the acceptor splice junction of herpes simplex virus (HSV) immediate early pre-mRNA 4 + 5 inhibits HSV replication in virus-infected cells. Two new types of Matagen, one derivatized with the photoactivatable cross-linking group psoralen and the other derivatized with a hydroxyl radical-producing group, EDTA-Fe(II), have been designed to improve the efficacy of Matagen and to overcome some of the problems inherent in physical binding of Matagens to complementary nucleic acids. The Matagen approach provides a new way to design antiviral and chemotherapeutic agents in a rational manner. It combines nucleic acid chemistry and chemotherapy to form a common basis for drug development as well as to provide fundamental knowledge about organisms and humans.     

Aromatase activity in breast adipose tissue from women with benign and malignant breast diseases

In order to determine the significance of local oestrogen biosynthesis within the breast, aromatase activity has been measured in adipose tissue from the breasts of women with either benign (n = 36) or malignant breast disease (n = 51). Particulate fractions from all samples possessed aromatase activity, but levels in adipose tissue adjacent to malignant tumours were significantly higher than those in tissue close to benign breast lesions (P less than 0.0001). Elevated aromatase activity in adipose tissue from breast cancer patients may be of importance in view of the central role played by oestrogen in the natural history of breast cancer.     

Standards of care for area mental health services

A provisional set of standards of care was derived from a quality assurance strand of a wider research project, which reported the development of evaluation strategies for area integrated mental health services (AIMHS). In contrast to most published standards, they apply to all facets of care in a comprehensive catchment area mental health service, whether clinical or functional, community or hospital based, urban or rural, or managed by the public, private or voluntary sectors. We review briefly existing sets of standards of mental health services and report the process of development of standards of care, each with sub-sets of performance indicators and examples. While the AIMHS standards and a companion quality assurance manual are still undergoing refinement, they offer a guide for mental health professionals to the provision of services, and a checklist to service-users of services that should be available to them at every stage of care in a mental health system.