Efficacy of motivational enhancement therapy on alcohol use disorders in patients with chronic hepatitis C: a randomized controlled trial.

Aims: To determine the efficacy of motivational enhancement therapy (MET) on alcohol use in patients with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and an alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Design: Randomized, single-blind, controlled trial comparing MET to a control education condition with 6-month follow-up.

Setting: Patients were recruited from hepatitis clinics at the Minneapolis, Minnesota and Portland, Oregon Veterans Affairs Health Care Systems, USA.

Feasibility of dynamic telecytopathology for rapid on-site evaluation of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial fine needle aspiration.

Objective: Rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) at the time of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial fine needle aspiration (EBUS-TBFNA) is useful in obtaining adequate samples and providing preliminary diagnosis. We present our experience with ROSE of EBUS-TBFNA using telecytopathology.

Materials And Methods: Real-time images of Diff-Quik (Mercedes Medical, Sarasota, FL)-stained cytology smears were obtained with an Olympus (Olympus America, Center Valley, PA) digital camera attached to an Olympus CX41 microscope and transmitted via ethernet by a cytotechnologist to a cytopathologist in a cytopathology laboratory who rendered a preliminary diagnosis while communicating with an on-site cytotechnologist via the Vocera (San Jose, CA) voice communication system.

A 77-year-old man with progressive dyspnea, lung fibrosis, and ossification.

: Diffuse pulmonary ossification is a rare clinical entity in which mature bone formation occurs within the pulmonary tissues. It has been associated with multiple pulmonary and systemic conditions and may be an indicator of disease severity and chronicity. It is often diagnosed only post mortem, because of its variable presentation with either very significant findings, mimicking other serious conditions, or very subtle onset unrecognized on imaging.

Octreotide-induced asystolic events in an intensive care unit patient with gastrointestinal bleeding.

Octreotide is a somatostatin analogue used to control upper gastrointestinal bleeding. We report a case of a patient with no significant cardiac history who had multiple asystolic events during an octreotide infusion at a relatively low dose. Although octreotide leading to bradycardia and heart block has been documented in several case reports, to our knowledge, octreotide-associated asystole has not been described.

Phase I study of accelerated conformal radiotherapy for stage I non-small-cell lung cancer in patients with pulmonary dysfunction: CALGB 39904.

Purpose: The optimal treatment for medically inoperable stage I non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been defined.

Patients And Methods: Cancer and Leukemia Group B trial 39904 prospectively assessed accelerated, once-daily, three-dimensional radiotherapy for early-stage NSCLC. The primary objectives were to define the maximally accelerated course of conformal radiotherapy and to describe the short-term and long-term toxicity of therapy.

Pulmonary lymphangitic carcinomatosis as a primary manifestation of colon cancer in a young adult.

Pulmonary lymphangitic carcinomatosis is a metastatic lung disease characterized by diffuse spread of the tumour to the pulmonary lymphatic system. We describe the case of a 31-year-old woman who initially received a diagnosis of sarcoidosis based on the results of imaging studies. However, results of a transbronchial biopsy led to the diagnosis of pulmonary lymphangitic carcinomatosis from metastatic colon cancer.

The spectrum of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura: a clinicopathologic demonstration of tacrolimus-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in a lung transplant patient.

Immunosuppressive drugs used post-transplantation are among the most common causes of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Diagnosis is often confounded not only by its myriad presentations, but also because these manifestations may be explained by the comorbidities or complications of transplantation. A 61-year-old female who had a single lung transplant for severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease maintained on corticosteroids, tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil, was admitted for fever, headache with confusion and lethargy.

Massive pulmonary embolism secondary to anticardiolipin antibody syndrome.

Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, also known as Hughes syndrome, is a hypercoagulable disorder that increases the risk of recurrent vascular thrombosis. We present a case of 26-year-old female who developed massive bilateral pulmonary emboli after being started on oral contraceptive pills. Further work-up of the patient revealed that she had anticardiolipin antibody syndrome and the thrombotic event was precipitated by oral contraceptive pills.

Sarcoidosis presenting as intrascrotal mass: case report and review.

Sarcoidosis is a multisystemic disease that usually involves the lungs and lymph nodes, but almost any organ can be involved. Genitourinary involvement with sarcoidosis is extremely rare. We report the case of a 30-year-old African-American male who presented with a right-sided intrascrotal mass and diffuse lymphadenopathy.

Myristoylated alanine rich C kinase substrate (MARCKS) heterozygous mutant mice exhibit deficits in hippocampal mossy fiber-CA3 long-term potentiation.

The myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase substrate (MARCKS) is a primary protein kinase C (PKC) substrate in brain thought to transduce PKC signaling into alterations in the filamentous (F) actin cytoskeleton. Within the adult hippocampus, MARCKS is highly expressed in the dentate gyrus (DG)-CA3 mossy fiber pathway, but is expressed at low levels in the CA3-CA1 Schaffer collateral-CA1 pathway. We have previously demonstrated that 50% reductions in MARCKS expression in heterozygous Marcks mutant mice produce robust deficits in spatial reversal learning, but not contextual fear conditioning, suggesting that only specific aspects of hippocampal function are impaired by reduction in MARCKS expression.

Effect of myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase substrate (MARCKS) overexpression on hippocampus-dependent learning and hippocampal synaptic plasticity in MARCKS transgenic mice.

The myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase substrate (MARCKS) is a primary substrate of protein kinase C (PKC) thought to regulate membrane-filamentous actin cytoskeletal plasticity in response to PKC activity in the regulation of synaptic efficacy. We have recently reported that MARCKS expression is significantly elevated (45%) in the hippocampus of DBA/2J mice, which exhibit impaired hippocampus-dependent learning and hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP), compared with C57BL/6J mice. The latter finding led us to hypothesize that elevations in MARCKS expression are detrimental to hippocampal plasticity and function.

In vivo and in vitro neurogenesis in human olfactory epithelium.

The birth and differentiation of neurons have been extensively studied in the olfactory epithelium (OE) of rodents but not in humans. The goal of this study was to characterize cellular composition and molecular expression of human OE in vivo and in vitro. In rodent OE, there are horizontal basal cells and globose basal cells that are morphologically and functionally distinct.

Acute restraint stress reduces protein kinase C gamma in the hippocampus of C57BL/6 but not DBA/2 mice.

Protein kinase C gamma (PKC gamma) is highly expressed in the rodent hippocampus and has been implicated in long-term alterations in synaptic efficacy. Acute stress has been shown to negatively affect hippocampal synaptic plasticity, and the present study examined the effect of acute stress on PKC gamma expression/subcellular distribution by quantitative western blotting in two inbred mouse strains (C57BL/6J versus DBA/2J) with established differences in hippocampal plasticity. It was found that both DBA/2J and C57BL/6J strains exhibited similar basal, stress-induced elevations, and recovery of serum corticosterone levels.