Combined head and abdominal computed tomography for blunt trauma: which patients with minor head trauma benefit most?

The widespread availability of computed tomography (CT) in the diagnosis and management of blunt trauma has created the possibility of overuse without clear indications. Some clinicians believe that patients with head injury, intoxication, and/or distracting injury have an unreliable abdominal examination and should undergo combined head and abdomen CT. The objective of this study was to evaluate which patients with minor head trauma benefit most from combined head and abdomen CT.

Giant cystic abdominal masses in children.

In this pictorial essay the common and uncommon causes of large cystic and cyst-like abdominal masses in children are reviewed. We discuss and illustrate the following: mesenchymal hamartoma, choledochal cyst, hydrops of the gallbladder, congenital splenic cyst, pancreatic pseudocyst, pancreatic cystadenoma, hydronephrosis, multicystic dysplastic kidney, multilocular cystic nephroma, adrenal hemorrhage, mesenteric and omental cysts, gastrointestinal duplication cyst, meconium pseudocyst, ovarian cysts and cystic neoplasms, hematocolpos, urachal cysts, appendiceal abscess, abdominal and sacrococcygeal teratoma, and CSF pseudocyst. We also describe imaging features and clues to the diagnosis.

Interleukin 1 receptor dependence of serum transferred arthritis can be circumvented by toll-like receptor 4 signaling.

Inflammatory arthritis is associated with the release of a network of key cytokines. In T cell receptor transgenic K/BxN mice interleukin (IL)-1 plays a key role in joint swelling and destruction, as suggested by the ability of anti-IL-1receptor (IL-1R) antibody treatment to delay the onset and slow the progression of this disease. This mechanism is dependent on the signaling pathway intermediary myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), such that neither IL-1R nor MyD88-deficient mice developed visually detectable synovitis after transfer of arthritogenic sera.