Remarkable Reduction of Cocaine Use in Dual Disorder (Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder/Cocaine Use Disorder) Patients Treated with Medications for ADHD.

: Cocaine use disorder (CUD) is a growing public health concern, but so far no effective pharmacotherapies have been demonstrated. Stimulant medications have proved to be promising in CUD treatment. The self-medication hypothesis (SMH) can help to explain this phenomenon better, especially in cases where CUD co-occurs with adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (A-ADHD).

The role of 18F-FDG PET/CT in management of paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis combined with small cell lung cancer: A case report.

Rationale: Limbic encephalitis is one of the most common paraneoplastic neurological disorders (PND). The role of brain Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose position emission tomography/computed tomography (CT) in paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis (PLE) and of the whole body 18F-FDG PET/CT in this setting, remains still not well defined.

Patient Concerns: We report a case of a patient with chronic inflammatory rheumatism, psoriasis and Hashimoto thyroiditis and subsequent appearance of static and dynamic ataxia and episodic memory deficit who was diagnosed as PLE combined with small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

A "Google Image" diagnosis of Madelung's disease.

Given the rare nature of Madelung's disease many clinicians will not have seen a patient with it and will not be able to recognise them: subsequently a diagnosis is unlikely to be made.

Frequency of trauma exposure and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Italy: analysis from the World Mental Health Survey Initiative.

Epidemiological studies have examined the relative importance of Traumatic Events (TEs) in accounting for the societal burden of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, most studies used the worst trauma experienced, which can lead to an overestimation of the conditional risk of PTSD. Although a number of epidemiological surveys on PTSD have been carried out in the United States, only a few studies in limited sample have been conducted in Italy.

The effectiveness of 124I PET/CT in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.

Aim: Several studies consider 124I PET useful in the evaluation of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). The aim of this work was to evaluate the usefulness of 124I positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) for: 1) pretherapeutic staging; 2) optimizing the administering activity in case of remnants ablation; 3) individualizing a complex dosimetry case by case especially in plurimetastatic patients.

Methods: A total of 69 patients were studied in our department between September 2007 and June 2008: 17 male and 52 female, aged 17-83 (mean age 46.

Prospective study of the burden of acute gastroenteritis and rotavirus gastroenteritis in children less than 5 years of age, in Padova, Italy.

Background: Data on the burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis in Europe are needed to help understand the potential impact of introducing new rotavirus vaccines.

Materials And Methods: As part of prospective observational study (Rotavirus gastroenteritis Epidemiology and Viral types in Europe Accounting for Losses in Public Health and Society Study, REVEAL) conducted in 2004--2005 in seven European countries, we studied, the characteristics of acute gastroenteritis and rotavirus gastroenteritis in children less than 5 years in primary care, emergency room and hospital settings (Padova, Italy).

Results: A total of 757 children with acute gastroenteritis were included and enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) results were available for 725 cases.

Scintimammography with a hybrid SPECT/CT imaging system.

Background: Planar scintimammography is useful for characterizing breast lesions >10 mm. Our aim was to evaluate Tc-99m sestamibi scintimammography with a hybrid (SPECTICT) device for functional anatomical mapping (FAM).

Patients And Methods: Three planar images and a chest SPECT/CT were performed with a hybrid device in 53 patients with mammographically suspicious lesions.

Particle-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emissions from non-catalysed, in-use four-stroke scooters.

The emissions of particle-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were evaluated in the exhaust of four (two EURO-0 and two EURO-1) four-stroke engine, in-use scooters with displacement of 150 cc, which were not equipped with catalytic converters. Non-catalysed motorcycles still represent a large proportion of circulating two-wheelers in Italy and, possibly, also in other countries. Tests were performed on a dynamometer bench, using the ECE-40 test cycle procedure.

Single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography in brain tumors.

Anatomic imaging procedures (computed tomography [CT] and magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]) have become essential tools for brain tumor assessment. Functional images (positron emission tomography [PET] and single-photon emission computed tomography [SPECT]) can provide additional information useful during the diagnostic workup to determine the degree of malignancy and as a substitute or guide for biopsy. After surgery and/or radiotherapy, nuclear medicine examinations are essential to assess persistence of tumor, to differentiate recurrence from radiation necrosis and gliosis, and to monitor the disease.

Integrated multislice CT and Tc-99m Sestamibi SPECT-CT evaluation of solitary pulmonary nodules.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate efficacy of multislice computed tomography (MSCT) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)-CT with Tc-99m Sestamibi in the assessment of solitary pulmonary nodules of uncertain significance. Scintigraphy was performed using a 'hybrid' g-camera that allows simultaneous acquisition of SPECT and CT images, with interesting results in diagnostic oncology.

Materials And Methods: Between September 2003 and August 2004, 23 patients with a solitary pulmonary nodule detected on CT underwent SPECT-CT using Tc-99m Sestamibi as a radiotracer.

123I-FP-CIT in progressive supranuclear palsy and in Parkinson's disease: a SPECT semiquantitative study.

Background And Aim: It is still debated whether or not I-FP-CIT single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) is able to differentiate between Parkinson's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Our aim was to use SPECT semiquantitative analysis to assess the capacity of I-FP-CIT to characterize Parkinson's disease versus PSP.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-one Parkinson's disease patients, 15 disease duration- and age-matched PSP patients and 20 age-matched healthy controls were included in this study.

Usefulness of SPECT/CT with a hybrid camera for the functional anatomical mapping of primary brain tumors by [Tc99m] tetrofosmin.

The aims of this study were to assess the clinical usefulness of [Tc-99m] tetrofosmin (TF) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and X-ray transmission computed tomography (CT), performed simultaneously with a hybrid imaging device for the functional anatomical mapping of brain tumors and to evaluate the additional information of SPECT/CT when compared to SPECT alone. Thirty (30) patients were studied: 20 were evaluated before undergoing surgery and 10 after surgery and before radiotherapy planning. The acquisition of both functional (SPECT) and morphologic (CT) images were obtained in a single session.

The effect of levodopa therapy on dopamine transporter SPECT imaging with( 123)I-FP-CIT in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate, by means of (123)I-FP-CIT SPECT, the effect of chronic treatment with levodopa on striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Methods: Fifteen patients under stable levodopa/carbidopa monotherapy were imaged twice: at baseline on medication and after at least 20 days of treatment wash-out. DAT levels were assessed from SPECT imaging for the entire striatum, the right and left striatum, the right and left putamen and the right and left caudate, as a ratio of regional brain activities using the formula: (striatal region of interest-occipital)/occipital.

123I-FP-CIT semi-quantitative SPECT detects preclinical bilateral dopaminergic deficit in early Parkinson's disease with unilateral symptoms.

Background And Aim: 123I-FP-CIT SPECT has been successfully used to detect the loss of dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons in Parkinson's disease at an early stage. In this study we evaluated the capacity of 123I-FP-CIT SPECT to assess bilateral dopamine transporter (DAT) loss in de-novo hemi-Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with one-sided clinical symptoms.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-nine de-novo hemi-PD patients at an early stage (Hoehn & Yahr stage 1) and 18 gender and age matched healthy subjects were studied.

Is SPECT/CT with a hybrid camera useful to improve scintigraphic imaging interpretation?

Objectives: To assess the usefulness of a hybrid imaging system (single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography, SPECT/CT) for functional anatomical mapping (FAM) using various radiotracers and the additional value of fused SPECT/CT images compared with SPECT alone.

Methods: Eighty-one consecutive patients studied for various clinical situations were evaluated: 10 with 111In-pentetreotide, four with 123I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine (I-MIBG), five with 99mTc-labelled red blood cells, two with 99mTc-antigranulocyte antibodies, four with 99mTc-nanocolloids, 10 with 67Ga, seven with 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate (99mTc-MDP), nine with 99mTc-sestamibi, 21 with 99mTc-tetrofosmin, two with 201Tl, three with 99mTc-ethylcysteinate dimer (ECD), one with 99mTc-hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (99mTc-HMPAO) and three with 123I-N-w-fluoropropyl-2-beta-carbomethoxy-3-beta-(4-iodophenyl) nortropanel (FPCIT). The acquisition of both anatomical (CT) and functional (SPECT) data was performed during a single session.

Protease-activated receptor 2 sensitizes the capsaicin receptor transient receptor potential vanilloid receptor 1 to induce hyperalgesia.

Inflammatory proteases (mast cell tryptase and trypsins) cleave protease-activated receptor 2 (PAR2) on spinal afferent neurons and cause persistent inflammation and hyperalgesia by unknown mechanisms. We determined whether transient receptor potential vanilloid receptor 1 (TRPV1), a cation channel activated by capsaicin, protons, and noxious heat, mediates PAR2-induced hyperalgesia. PAR2 was coexpressed with TRPV1 in small- to medium-diameter neurons of the dorsal root ganglia (DRG), as determined by immunofluorescence.

Control results on a sample of patients subjected to total thyroidectomy for papillary carcinoma: proposal for a personal diagnostic-therapeutic follow-up.

Well-differentiated thyroid neoplasms may be included among the most frequently occurring thyroid carcinomas. Papillary ca. is without doubt the best behaved type.

[Sentinel lymph node for breast cancer: remove less to know more].

Background: Our aim was to study the value of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy in patients with breast cancer seen at a community hospital.

Methods: Consecutive cases receiving primary treatment for unicentric breast cancer less than 3 cm in diameter were prospectively studied from January 1999 to July 2000. All patients signed a detailed informed consent.

Education issues in disaster medicine: summary and action plan.

Introduction: Change must begin with education. Theme 8 explored issues that need attention in Disaster Medicine education.

Methods: Details of the methods used are provided in the introductory paper.

Muscular uptake of Tc-99m MIBI and TI-201 in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Lack of dystrophin, a protein localized to the inner surface of the sarcolemma of the muscle fiber, is the cause of Duchenne type muscular dystrophy. Plasma membrane damage of the muscular fiber occurs, followed by Ca++ influx into the fibers. There is severe mitochondrial damage in dystrophic but still viable fibers.