False positive hepatitis C antibody test results in left ventricular assist device recipients: increased risk with age and transfusions.

Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) have been successfully used in patients with heart failure. However, LVADs may trigger immune activation, leading to higher frequencies of autoantibodies. We describe the clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory characteristics of LVAD recipients with false positive hepatitis C (FPHC) serology among 39 consecutive adult LVAD recipients who bridged to heart transplantation from January 2007 to January 2013 at Montefiore Medical Center.

Differential medical and surgical house staff involvement in end-of-life decisions: A retrospective chart review.

To quantify the house officer's role in end-of-life decisions, the authors abstracted charts for documentation of end-of-life discussions for 100 patients withdrawn from life-sustaining treatment. They assessed the proportion of end-of-life care notes written by house officers, controlling for service, length of stay, outpatient physician involvement, race, and diagnostic category. Patients on the medical service were 22 times more likely to have house officer end-of-life notes than patients on the surgical service (P < 0.

Toxic effects associated with consumption of zinc.

A 27-year-old man with a history of acne presented to his primary care physician because of fatigue and dyspnea on exertion of 4 weeks' duration. He was remarkably pale, orthostatic pulse changes were noted, and a systolic ejection murmur was heard. The patient had profound anemia (hemoglobin concentration, 5.