Patient and clinician perspectives of factors that influence the delivery of alcohol brief interventions in Australian primary care: a qualitative descriptive study.

Background: Brief interventions (BIs) delivered in primary care can reduce harmful alcohol consumption. Yet, clinicians do not routinely offer BIs to reduce harmful alcohol use.

Objective: We explored the perspectives of clinicians and patients about the use of alcohol BIs during consultations in Australian primary care.

Peak Growth Hormone Response to Combined Stimulation Test in 315 Children and Correlations with Metabolic Parameters.

Background/aims: Studies are lacking regarding the timing of peak growth hormone (PGH) response. We aim to elucidate the timing of PGH response to arginine and levodopa (A-LD) and evaluate the influence of body mass index (BMI) and other metabolic parameters on PGH.

Methods: During growth hormone (GH) stimulation testing (ST) with A-LD, serum GH was measured at baseline and every 30 min up to 180 min.

Down syndrome and thyroid function.

Thyroid dysfunction in children with Down syndrome (DS) can occur as early as birth. As children with DS age, their risk for thyroid autoimmunity manifested as autoimmune hypothyroidism or Graves disease increases. The optimal timing and method for thyroid screening in children with DS remains controversial.

Update on Turner and Noonan syndromes.

Turner syndrome (TS) and Noonan syndrome (NS) have short stature as a constant feature; however, both conditions can present clinicians with a challenging array of genetic, cardiovascular, developmental, and psychosocial issues. In recent years, important advances have been achieved in each of these areas. This article reviews these two syndromes and provides updates on recent developments in diagnostic evaluation, growth and development, psychological issues, and treatment options for patients with TS and NS.

Short stature and its treatment in Turner and Noonan syndromes.

Purpose Of Review: We review recent developments in the approach to the treatment of short stature in patients with Turner and Noonan syndromes.

Recent Findings: Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome are clinically defined conditions associated with short stature. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved treatment with recombinant human growth hormone (hGH) for patients with Turner syndrome in 1996 and for those with Noonan syndrome in 2007.

Gamma/Delta T-cell functional responses differ after pathogenic human immunodeficiency virus and nonpathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus infections.

The objective of this study was to functionally assess gamma/delta (gammadelta) T cells following pathogenic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection of humans and nonpathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection of sooty mangabeys. gammadelta T cells were obtained from peripheral blood samples from patients and sooty mangabeys that exhibited either a CD4-healthy (>200 CD4(+) T cells/mul blood) or CD4-low (<200 CD4 cells/mul blood) phenotype. Cytokine flow cytometry was utilized to assess production of Th1 cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha and gamma interferon following ex vivo stimulation with either phorbol myristate acetate/ionomycin or the Vdelta2 gammadelta T-cell receptor agonist isopentenyl pyrophosphate.

Virally induced CD4+ T cell depletion is not sufficient to induce AIDS in a natural host.

Peripheral blood CD4+ T cell counts are a key measure for assessing disease progression and need for antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected patients. More recently, studies have demonstrated a dramatic depletion of mucosal CD4+ T cells during acute infection that is maintained during chronic pathogenic HIV as well as SIV infection. A different clinical disease course is observed during the infection of natural hosts of SIV infection, such as sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys), which typically do not progress to AIDS.

Patterns of mandibular invasion in oral squamous cell carcinoma of the mandibular region.

Background: Mandibular resections are routinely carried out for achieving a R0 resection for oral cancers. However, the need of mandibular resection to achieve this has always been questioned. The present study was carried out to define the pattern of mandibular involvement in carcinoma of the mandibular region.

Meningococcal septicemia presenting as bilateral endophthalmitis.

We present a patient with bilateral endophthalmitis as the presenting sign of meningococcal septicemia. Systematic examination and vitreous tap conclusively identified the microbe, and appropriate treatment was administered, with good recovery of vision.

Physician accessibility: an urban case study of pediatric providers.

Social disparity in the spatial distribution of healthcare providers in urban areas is a recognized problem. However, efforts to quantify the problem have been hampered by a lack of satisfactory measurements and methods. We revive and enhance a strategy based on provider density, proposed nearly three decades ago.

Culture and therapy: complementary strategies for the treatment of type-2 diabetes in an urban setting in Kerala, India.

There is an epidemic rise in diabetes in the developing world, with ensuing concern about the management and control of the disease. This study investigates the use of complementary therapies to manage Type 2 diabetes in an urban population in Kerala, a state in Southern India. Using ethnographic methods, it shows that the subjects' experiences of the disease and their health management decisions are closely linked to their cultural background and the environmental resources of the region.

Cellular manifestations of human papillomavirus infection in laryngeal tissues.

Background And Objectives: Although epidemiologic studies have suggested human papillomavirus (HPV) to be an etiological agent in laryngeal carcinogenesis, little is known on the cellular manifestations of HPV infection in these tumors. In this study, we investigated the frequency of HPV infection in various neoplastic and non-neoplastic laryngeal tissue and its association with expression of the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and the tumor suppressor protein p53.

Methods: Tissues were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of HPV and by immunocytochemistry for the expression of p53 and PCNA.