Platypnea-Orthodeoxia Syndrome Caused by an Intracardiac Shunt.

Platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome, a rare condition characterized by posture-related dyspnea, is usually caused by an intracardiac shunt, hepatopulmonary syndrome, or shunting resulting from severe pulmonary disease. We report the case of a 33-year-old woman who presented with increasing dyspnea and oxygen desaturation when she sat up or arose. Our diagnosis was platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome.

Thymic neuroendocrine carcinoma producing ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone and Cushing's syndrome.

Neuroendocrine carcinoma of the thymus, previously termed thymic carcinoid, is a rare clinical entity. Rarer still are such cases presenting with endocrinopathies. We report a case of thymic neuroendocrine carcinoma presenting with ectopic adrenocorticotroic hormone production and resultant Cushing's syndrome.

Comparison of normalization methods for the identification of biomarkers using MALDI-TOF and SELDI-TOF mass spectra.

Proteomic profiling by mass spectrometry has tremendous potential for identifying disease biomarkers. A key limitation of mass spectrometry is that the information provided on the abundance of the various peptides is only relative. Thus, normalization is typically employed.