[A rare cause of swelling of the little finger].

A 71-year-old man presented with a painful swelling of the tip of his little finger. Infection was considered, but antibiotics and incision did not give relief. Biopsy showed metastasis of anal carcinoma, for which he had been treated 7 years earlier with curative chemoradiotherapy.

[A woman with nausea and epigastric pain].

An 48-year old woman presented at the emergency room with epigastric pain and nausea. 6 months earlier she had a distended ascending colon, which resolved quickly after conservative treatment with nasogastric tube. Now she had similar complaints.

White Matter Lesions Are Not Related to β-Amyloid Deposition in an Autopsy-Based Study.

Population-based studies have investigated the relation between β-amyloid levels in cerebrospinal fluid or plasma and white matter lesions (WMLs). However, these circulating levels of β-amyloid in cerebrospinal fluid or plasma may not reliably reflect the actual degree of amyloid present in the brain. Therefore, we investigated the relation between WMLs and β-amyloid plaques and amyloid angiopathy in brain tissue.

Effects of the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist GTS-21 on the innate immune response in humans.

The vagus nerve can reflexively attenuate the innate immune response via binding of the vagal neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) to the α7 nicotinic ACh receptor (α7nAChR). We recently reported potent anti-inflammatory effects of the α7nAChR agonist GTS-21 in human leukocytes. In the present work, we investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of GTS-21 on the innate immune response during experimental human endotoxemia.