Telemedicine Technology: a Review of Services, Equipment, and Other Aspects.

Purpose Of Review: Telemedicine uses technology to connect patients with providers at a distance. While the clinical aspects of this have been reviewed extensively, the technical aspects are not as well understood by allergists when they consider adding telemedicine to their practice. This review focuses on the technical aspects of setting up a telemedicine program.

COPD Diagnostic Questionnaire (CDQ) for selecting at-risk patients for spirometry: a cross-sectional study in Australian general practice.

Background: Using the COPD Diagnostic Questionnaire (CDQ) as a selection tool for spirometry could potentially improve the efficiency and accuracy of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) diagnosis in at-risk patients.

Aim: To identify an optimal single cut point for the CDQ that divides primary care patients into low or high likelihood of COPD, with the latter group undergoing spirometry.

Methods: Former or current smokers aged 40-85 years with no prior COPD diagnosis were invited to a case-finding appointment with the practice nurse at various general practices in Sydney, Australia.

Abdominal manifestations of extranodal lymphoma: spectrum of imaging findings.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to illustrate the spectrum of appearances of extranodal lymphoma in the abdomen using cross-sectional imaging techniques.

Conclusion: Extranodal lymphoma in the abdomen can mimic other neoplastic or inflammatory conditions. Although a definitive diagnosis is possible only with biopsy, it is important to consider extranodal lymphoma in the presence of certain imaging appearances in the appropriate clinical setting for the correct diagnosis, accurate staging, and optimal management.

Postoperative evaluation of the knee after autologous chondrocyte implantation: what radiologists need to know.

Articular cartilage lesions occur commonly. Cartilage is relatively avascular and is unable to self-repair. A chondral lesion may become symptomatic.

MR imaging of the finger tendons: normal anatomy and commonly encountered pathology.

MR imaging has emerged as a powerful tool in the evaluation of soft tissue structures such as the tendons of the hand and finger due to its excellent soft tissue contrast and multiplanar imaging capabilities. In the finger and hand, perhaps more than in any other location in the body, a detailed and intimate understanding of anatomy is crucial for lesion localization, directing clinical management and predicting long-term prognosis. These issues are of paramount importance to both the clinician and imager, both faced with the challenge of the complex anatomy and pathology associated with these delicate structures.

MR imaging of the hip abductors: normal anatomy and commonly encountered pathology at the greater trochanter.

Lateral hip pain, also referred to as the greater trochanteric pain syndrome, is a commonly encountered clinical problem with a broad set of differential considerations. A detailed understanding of the osseous anatomy of the greater trochanter, the correspond-ing attachment sites of the abductors of the hip, and the spatial and anatomic relations of their corresponding bursae is crucial to the accurate characterization and localization of pathologic findings in these structures. This article reviews the anatomy and pathologic findings of the osseous and soft tissue anatomy of the greater trochanter.

Magnetic resonance imaging of elbow instability.

Traumatic injury of the elbow, both in the acute setting as well as in the setting of chronic repetitive microtrauma, is quite common. Specifically, the frequency of elbow dislocation is second only to that of the shoulder. Unlike the shoulder, however, the elbow is an inherently stable articulation, considered one of the most congruous joints in the body.

'Proliferative' and 'synthetic' airway smooth muscle cells are overlapping populations.

The extension of airway smooth muscle cell (ASMC) functions, from just contractile, to synthetic and/or proliferative states, is an important component of airway remodelling and inflammation in asthma. Whereas all these functions have been demonstrated in ASM, currently, it is not known whether ASMC can be differentiated on the basis of their proliferative and synthetic functions. We used flow-cytometric techniques to determine, first, whether human ASMC are phenotypically heterogenous with regard to their secretory function, and second, the proliferative status of secretory cells.