Severe headache, neck pain, intermittent cough · Dx?

A 32-year-old Chinese woman sought care from our family medicine clinic because she had a headache, neck pain, and an intermittent cough that had produced white sputum for 7 days. She described the headache as severe and pressure-like, and said that it had progressively worsened over the previous 3 weeks, coinciding with her first trip outside of China to the United States. The patient indicated that she also had occasional vomiting, dizziness, a low-grade fever, chills, night sweats, and increasing fatigue.

Comparison of provisional 1-stent and 2-stent strategies in diabetic patients with true bifurcation lesions: the EES bifurcation study.

Background: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of true bifurcation lesions (Medina classification 1, 1, 1; 1, 0, 1; or 0, 1, 1) is challenging and may involve either a 1-stent strategy with provisional side branch stenting, or a 2-stent strategy. Diabetes mellitus is associated with greater atherosclerotic burden and higher incidence of bifurcation lesions, and unfavorable outcomes after PCI. It is unknown whether use of newer everolimus-eluting stent (EES) implantation impacts relative outcomes of 1-stent and 2-stent strategies in patients with diabetes.

Combined and independent impact of diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease on residual platelet reactivity.

Patients with both chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are at increased risk for thrombotic events compared to those with one abnormality alone. Whether this can be attributed to changes in platelet reactivity among those with both CKD and DM is unknown. We prospectively studied 438 clopidogrel-naïve patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Inhibition of renin activity slows down the progression of HIV-associated nephropathy.

In the present study, we evaluated the effect of inhibition of renin activity (aliskiren) on the progression of renal lesions in two different mouse models (Vpr and Tg26) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated nephropathy (HIVAN). In protocol A, Vpr mice were fed either water (C-VprA) or doxycycline [Doxy (D-VprA)] in their drinking water for 6 wk. In protocols B and C, Vpr mice received either normal saline (C-VprB/C), Doxy + normal saline (D-VprB/C), or Doxy + aliskiren (AD-VprB/C) for 6 wk (protocol B) or 12 wk (protocol C).

Adverse host factors exacerbate occult HIV-associated nephropathy.

In the present study, we hypothesized that HIV-1-induced occult HIV-associated nephropathy (HIVAN) would become apparent in the presence of adverse host factors. To test our hypothesis, Vpr mice (which display doxycycline-dependent Vpr expression in podocytes) with two, three, and four copies of the angiotensinogen (Agt) gene (Vpr-Agt-2, Vpr-Agt-3, and Vpr-Agt-4) were administered doxycycline for 3 weeks (to develop clinically occult HIVAN) followed by doxycycline-free water during the next 3 weeks. Subsequently, renal biomarkers were measured, and kidneys were harvested for renal histology.