Treatment of pain in fibromyalgia patients with testosterone gel: Pharmacokinetics and clinical response.

To test our hypothesis that testosterone deficiency plays an important role in chronic pain, a Phase I/II pilot study was initiated with 12 fibromyalgia patients to verify that a daily dose for 28days with transdermal testosterone gel would 1) significantly and safely increase mean serum testosterone concentrations from low baseline levels to mid/high-normal levels, and 2) effectively treat the pain and fatigue symptoms of fibromyalgia. Pharmacokinetic data confirmed that serum free testosterone concentrations were raised significantly above baseline levels, by assessment of maximum hormone concentration (Cmax) and area under the curve (AUC) parameters: free testosterone Cmax was significantly raised from a mean of 2.64pg/mL to 3.

Malignancy is associated with dermatomyositis but not polymyositis in Northern New England, USA.

Objective: To retrospectively evaluate the association of idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) and malignancy in patients seen at 1 academic center over a 23-year period.

Methods: Patients were identified using the International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition (ICD-9) codes and diagnoses, then confirmed by chart review. Population cancer statistics obtained from the US Centers for Disease Control for Vermont and New Hampshire were used for comparison.

The impact of resident duty hours reform on the internal medicine core clerkship: results from the clerkship directors in internal medicine survey.

Purpose: In July 2003, resident duty hours regulations were implemented. The impact of these regulations on medical student education has received minimal attention. The objective of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of internal medicine clerkship directors about the impact of resident physician duty hours reform on medical student teaching, assessment, and clerkship structure.