Personal beliefs about illness questionnaire-revised (PBIQ-R): reliability and validation in a first episode sample.

Objective: To further develop the Personal Beliefs about Illness Questionnaire (PBIQ), which reflects current constructs of social rank theory in relation to people experiencing psychosis.

Method: Drawing on extensive clinical and research experience and after consultation with other mental health professionals and service users, 17 new items were added to 12 from the original 16 PBIQ questions. These made up five theoretical constructs (entrapment, loss, social marginalization, shame, and control).

Bacteremia, fever, and splenomegaly caused by a newly recognized bartonella species.

Bartonella species cause serious human infections globally, including bacillary angiomatosis, Oroya fever, trench fever, and endocarditis. We describe a patient who had fever and splenomegaly after traveling to Peru and also had bacteremia from an organism that resembled Bartonella bacilliformis, the causative agent of Oroya fever, which is endemic to Peru. However, genetic analyses revealed that this fastidious bacterium represented a previously uncultured and unnamed bartonella species, closely related to B.

Abdominal abscesses due to actinomycosis after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: case reports and review.

We describe 2 patients who presented to a health care facility with abdominal abscesses years after undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy that was complicated by gallstone spillage. In both patients, sample cultures yielded Actinomyces species and enteric organisms. In 1 patient, crystallographic analysis of abscess debris confirmed the presence of gallstones.