Increasing the dose of varenicline in patients who do not respond to the standard dose.

Varenicline is a partial agonist of α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. It is effective at dosages of 2 mg/d for 12 weeks, but not for all smokers. It is possible that increasing the dose can increase the drug efficacy.

Etiology and prognostic significance of massive pleural effusions.

It has been stated that malignancy is the most common aetiology of massive pleural effusions. To determine the most frequent causes of massive pleural effusions and to assess the diagnostic yield of different diagnostic procedures and survival, we prospectively studied 1084 patients with pleural effusion. Massive pleural effusions were identified in 121 of 1084 patients (11.