Impact of personalized alcohol intake and cognitive feedback on alcohol use behavior in hazardous drinkers: A quasi-randomized trial.

Background: Worldwide, alcohol use is a major contributor to the burden of disease and mortality. A sizeable literature suggests that brief web-based interventions that incorporate personalized normative and/or health consequences feedback are effective at reducing alcohol intake. The relative efficacy of an intervention that also includes individualized feedback about brain health has not been examined, nor has the utility of integrating a smartphone app component.

Microembolism from aortic aneurysm and ventricular thrombus: a complication of intravenous streptokinase.

Two patients sustained the rare complication of skin infarction following administration of intravenous streptokinase for acute myocardial infarction. We report evidence that dissolution of thrombus from an unsuspected source and subsequent microembolization of the skin may be responsible for this complication. In patients known to have an aortic aneurysm or ventricular thrombus, careful consideration should be given to the use of intravenous streptokinase following myocardial infarction.

Vasculitis in patients with systemic sclerosis and severe digital ischaemia requiring amputation.

Objectives: To document the incidence of histological vasculitis in amputation specimens from patients with severe digital ischaemia secondary to systemic sclerosis (SSc), and to look for an association between anticardiolipin (aCL) antibodies and severe digital ischaemia in SSc.

Methods: This was a retrospective review of patients with SSc who underwent amputation for digital ischaemia over a three year period.

Results: Five of nine patients had histological vasculitis, four of whom had aCL antibodies, although these were not present in high titre.