Worsening head bleeds in elderly blunt head trauma patients taking antithrombotics: Delayed CT head fails to change management

Background

Most elderly trauma patients suffer blunt head injury and many utilize antithrombotic (AT) medications. The utility of delayed CT-head (D-CTH) in neurologically intact elderly patients using AT who have an intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) on presentation is unknown. We hypothesized that D-CTH would not alter clinical management and aimed to evaluate the role of D-CTH in this population.

Peri-sleep-onset cortisol levels in children and adolescents with affective disorders.

BACKGROUND: Changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, as evidenced by patterns of cortisol secretion, have been of interest in understanding depression and anxiety disorders across the life span. Previous studies of pediatric depression have pointed to the period around sleep onset as a key time point for observing alterations in cortisol secretion associated with affective disorders. Evidence also indicates that pubertal development may influence the expression of HPA dysregulation. We hypothesized that adolescents with depression and youth with anxiety disorders exhibit elevated peri-sleep-onset cortisol. METHODS: Plasma cortisol was sampled every 20 min around sleep onset from children and adolescents with major depressive disorder (n = 116), anxiety disorders (n = 32), or no history of psychiatric disorder (control; n = 76). Sleep onset was determined by polysomnography. Classification of participants as children or adolescents was based on Tanner staging of pubertal maturation. RESULTS: Children with anxiety disorders had higher peri-sleep-onset cortisol than children with depression or control children. Adolescents with depression had marginally higher peri-sleep-onset cortisol than control adolescents and significantly higher peri-sleep-onset cortisol than children with depression. CONCLUSIONS: Depression and anxiety are associated with altered cortisol secretion around sleep onset, and these changes appear to be influenced by pubertal maturation.     

Fatal and non-fatal stingray envenomation

A fatality occurred in a previously healthy 12-year-old boy after a penetrating chest injury from a stingray barb. The injury occurred under freak circumstances. Death was a result of cardiac tamponade which was secondary to venom-induced, localized myocardial necrosis and spontaneous perforation, six days after the direct penetration of the right ventricle by the barb. Three other cases of less serious stingray envenomation are described which illustrate the significant localized morbidity that may occur without immediate wound exploration and toilet after adequate anaesthesia. We also report a study of a series of 100 minor stingray envenomations which, when treated, resulted in no morbidity. It is possible that local infiltration with 1% plain lignocaine may have a direct counteraction against stingray venom that remains in the wound area. Stingray venom has insidious, but powerful, localized tissue necrosing properties in humans.     

Nurse practitioner and physician assistant practices in three HMOs: implications for future US health manpower needs.

This study empirically examines the practices of non-physician providers (NPPs) within three large competitive health maintenance organizations (HMOs), as well as the physicians' and NPPs' views regarding the ideal role of NPPs. These roles are compared with NPP delegation patterns incorporated in the modeling methodology developed by the Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee (GMENAC). GMENAC recommended relatively high levels of delegation by physicians to NPPs. One of the HMO sites made use of NPPs at rates even higher than GMENAC's national ideals, while the rates at the other two were lower. The normative ideals for pediatric NPPs developed at each HMO were consistently higher than their actual roles. Concerns with acceptance and the role of NPPs are clearly no longer issues. Instead, the limits on NPP involvement appear to relate to considerations of costs, availability, and the increasing numbers of physicians competing for similar opportunities.     

Acquired renal cystic disease: two cases of associated adenocarcinoma and a renal ultrasound survey of a peritoneal dialysis population

Long-term dialysis patients frequently develop acquired renal cystic disease (ARCD). The discovery of ARCD and renal cell carcinoma in one of our hemodialysis patients led us to review the literature. ARCD has been described mainly in the maintenance hemodialysis (MH) population. Therefore, we investigated 20 peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients for ARCD using ultrasonography. Seven patients (35%) had detectable cysts and two patients (10%) had multiple bilateral cysts. One patient had a large asymptomatic complex cyst that proved to be an adenocarcinoma. Our study suggests that ARCD is relatively common in the PD population, and we speculate that it may be related more to length of time in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) than to the mode of dialysis. The potential for malignant change appears to justify a routine screening examination with ultrasonography and/or computerized tomography (CT) to detect this recently described and probably underrecognized entity.     

Mutations in SOX2 cause anophthalmia-esophageal-genital (AEG) syndrome

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Emphysematous pyelonephritis successfully treated with laparoscopic nephrectomy

Emphysematous pyelonephritis is a severe life-threatening infection which continues to carry significant morbidity and mortality. We present a case recently managed at our institution by laparoscopic nephrectomy. The patient survived, and in comparison to some of the more conventionally managed patients in the literature, made an extremely speedy recovery. We would advocate this option to be seriously considered when patients are suitable and appropriately trained surgeons are available.