Anti-Yo-Associated Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration: Case Series and Review of Literature.

Anti-Yo-associated paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) syndrome is a very rare condition that is most commonly associated with breast and gynecologic cancers. Those cases associated with breast cancer tend to be human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive, though the reason for this correlation is unknown. Most commonly, the neurologic symptoms of the PCD syndrome predate the patient's cancer diagnosis.

Dose ratios between high dose oral morphine or equivalents and oral methadone.

Background: Methadone is a commonly used opioid in hospice and palliative care for patients with refractory pain. Various methadone dose conversion methods utilize progressively higher morphine equivalent dose (MED) to methadone dose ratios to compensate for increased methadone potency with escalating opioid doses.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the dose ratio between equianalgesic doses of high dose oral morphine (daily doses >1200 mg morphine or MED) and oral methadone.

Infectious disease or Hashimoto's encephalopathy flares: a case report.

Hashimoto's encephalopathy is an under-recognized and rare disease that presents a diagnostic conundrum since many features are suggestive of infectious etiologies and yet treatment is immunosuppressive medications. We describe a case of a male with a history of recurrent seizures who presented with a subacute onset of confusion, persistent leukocytosis and fever while on immunosuppressant therapy, whose response to high dose steroids was incomplete and who achieved a complete remission of all symptoms when plasmapheresis was initiated. A negative cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum microbiological testing in a patient with an abnormal EEG, increased CSF protein, and elevated thyroid antibodies should prompt consideration of Hashimoto's encephalopathy.

Identifying atypical cortisol patterns in young children: The benefits of group-based trajectory modeling.

The introduction of growth curve modeling into the field of neuroendocrinology has enabled researchers to examine mean patterns of change in unbalanced and/or incomplete repeated measures data. However, growth curve modeling assumes population homogeneity, or that all individuals follow roughly the same pattern of change, with differences expressed as deviation around the mean curve. Group-based trajectory modeling, in contrast, is designed for heterogeneous populations and as a result is able to identify atypical patterns of change over time that may exist within a population.

Acute pulmonary response of asthmatics to 3.0 ppm formaldehyde.

Previous studies have failed to demonstrate bronchoconstriction in unselected asthmatics after brief (less than or equal to 1/2-h), controlled exposures to formaldehyde (HCHO). This study was designed to evaluate the acute pulmonary response to 3 ppm HCHO in nine nonsmoking asthmatic volunteers over a more relevant exposure duration (3 hrs). Pulmonary function, nonspecific airway reactivity and symptoms were assessed before and at intervals during the exposure.