Argentine tango: Another behavioral addiction?

Background: Behavioral addiction is an emerging concept based on the resemblance between symptoms or feelings provided by drugs and those obtained with various behaviors such as gambling, etc. Following an observational study of a tango dancer exhibiting criteria of dependence on this dance, we performed a survey to assess whether this case was unique or frequently encountered in the tango dancing community.

Methods: We designed an online survey based on both the DSM-IV and Goodman's criteria of dependence; we added questions relative to the positive and negative effects of tango dancing and a self-evaluation of the degree of addiction to tango.

Intervention study to improve smoking cessation during hospitalization.

Objectives: In France, hospitals have been smoke free since February 2007. A period of hospitalization may be a good time to enhance a smoker's motivation to quit. This study aimed to assess whether training medical staff in smoking cessation management might improve the rate of smoking cessation during hospitalization.

Patient preference for needleless factor VIII reconstitution device: the Italian experience.

Background: Needlestick injuries, mostly due to unsafe needle devices, are a frequent adverse event among health care workers and patients on chronic treatment, such as hemophiliacs. To improve the safety of these procedures, a needleless reconstitution system, Bio-Set((R)) has been implemented for the sucrose-formulated recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII-FS) Kogenate((R)) Bayer (Bayer Healthcare, Berlin, Germany). The aim of this study was to collect patients' satisfaction and safety data regarding the administration of rFVIII-FS with this new device.

Efficacy and safety of highly purified, doubly virus-inactivated VWF/FVIII concentrates in inherited von Willebrand's disease: results of an Italian cohort study on 120 patients characterized by bleeding severity score.

The efficacy of highly purified VWF/FVIII concentrates with standardized ristocetin cofactor content (VWF:RCo) has been already proven in patients with von Willebrand's disease (VWD). Aim of this retrospective study is to confirm efficacy and safety of two highly purified, doubly virus-inactivated VWF/FVIII concentrates in a large cohort of patients with VWD who were characterized at enrolment by bleeding severity score. Study drugs Alphanate or Fanhdi were given to 120 cases (51 males, 69 females, median age 50 years, range 6-83 years).

Hemarthrosis as acute presentation of acquired hemophilia in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus: successful treatment and long-lasting remission.

Hemorrhagic events due to production of antibodies directed against coagulation factors are rarely observed in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We report the case of a patient with clinically quiescent SLE who developed factor VIII inhibitor in acquired hemophilia presenting as hemarthrosis. Initial treatment with FVII, FVIII and FIX plasma concentrate, metilprednisolone and immunoglobulins i.

Clinical efficacy of highly purified, doubly virus-inactivated factor VIII/von Willebrand factor concentrate (Fanhdi) in the treatment of von Willebrand disease: a retrospective clinical study.

The goal of therapy in patients with von Willebrand disease (vWD) is to correct the dual defect of primary haemostasis and intrinsic coagulation reflected by low levels of von Willebrand factor (vWF) and factor VIII coagulant activity (FVIII:C). Factor VIII/von Willebrand factor (FVIII/vWF) concentrates are currently the treatment of choice in vWD patients unresponsive to desmopressin (DDAVP). However, only few studies on their clinical use are available so far.

Diaphragm kinetics during pneumatic belt respiratory assistance: a sonographic study in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The principal aim of this study was to demonstrate the usefulness of M-mode sonography as a noninvasive technique to evaluate diaphragm excursion. The secondary aim was to assess the efficacy of pneumatic abdomino-diaphragmatic belt ventilation in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Using M-mode sonography, we measured the amplitude of diaphragm excursion in seven patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in various positions (0 degrees, 45 degrees, 75 degrees ) with and without pneumatic abdomino-diaphragmatic belt respiratory assistance.

Congenital afibrinogenemia: mutations leading to premature termination codons in fibrinogen A alpha-chain gene are not associated with the decay of the mutant mRNAs.

Congenital afibrinogenemia is a rare coagulation disorder with autosomal recessive inheritance, characterized by the complete absence or extremely reduced levels of fibrinogen in patients' plasma and platelets. Eight afibrinogenemic probands, with very low plasma levels of immunoreactive fibrinogen were studied. Sequencing of the fibrinogen gene cluster of each proband disclosed 4 novel point mutations (1914C>G, 1193G>T, 1215delT, and 3075C>T) and 1 already reported (3192C>T).

Cryptococcal meningitis following a thrombotic microangiopathy in an unrelated donor bone marrow transplant recipient.

In patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation cryptococcosis is rarely encountered. We report a fatal case of Cryptococcus meningitis in a 12-year-old girl with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in second remission who had a transplant from a human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-identical unrelated bone marrow donor. The conditioning regimen was thiotepa, cyclophosphamide, and total body irradiation (TBI); graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis consisted of cyclosporin A, methotrexate, and antilymphocyte globulin (ALG).

Non-invasive quantification of diaphragm kinetics using m-mode sonography.

Purpose: The standard conditions of spirometry (i.e., wearing a noseclip and breathing through a mouthpiece and a pneumotachograph) are likely to alter the ventilatory pattern.

Pulmonary gas exchange capacity is reduced during normovolaemic haemodilution in healthy human subjects.

Purpose: To test the hypothesis that a physiological compensatory mechanism maintains respiratory gas exchange during normovolaemic haemodilution.

Methods: Pulmonary gas exchange capacity was evaluated in seven healthy subjects by measuring the lung diffusion of carbon monoxide (DLCO). During the measurement, various breath-holding times, inspiratory volumes, and sitting or supine positions, were randomly selected in an attempt to alter pulmonary capillary perfusion.

Analysis of risk factors in a cluster of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

A case-control investigation of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia was conducted in the town of Carbonia (Sardinia, Italy). Parents of 9 cases diagnosed between 1980 and 1989 and 36 controls were interviewed at their respective residences. None of the risk factors analyzed was associated significantly with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Cluster in Southwestern Sardinia (Italy).

In response to public concern about an increase in the incidence of leukemia among children in southwestern Sardinia (Italy), incident cases of childhood cancer (ages 0-14) were ascertained among residents in the province of Cagliari, which comprises all of southern Sardinia, in 1974-89. Completeness of the ascertainment of leukemia cases was validated by comparison with estimates derived from official statistics of mortality and survival curves. A significant excess risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (cALL) was found for children residing in the town of Carbonia.

[Right diaphragmatic kinetics measured by TM-mode ultrasonography with concomitant spirometry in normal subjects and asthmatic patients. Preliminary results].

The purpose of this study was to assess the diaphragmatic excursion using the TM-mode ultrasonography with concomitant pneumotachography in eight normal and five asthmatic subjects before and after salbutamol. We report the results in normal and asthmatic patients of this procedure. Particular findings were demonstrated in asthma.

Sonographic lung surface evaluation in pulmonary sarcoidosis: preliminary results.

The value of sonography in lung diseases such as sarcoidosis is not established. Twelve patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis and eight control subjects underwent a sonographic examination using a high frequency probe (7.5 MHz).

Childhood leukemia in south-west Sardinia (Italy).

Aim And Background: Public concern on an increased incidence of childhood leukemia in SW Sardinia prompted the authors to an epidemiological investigation.

Methods: Incident childhood neoplasms observed in the Cagliari province (Sardinia--Italy) in 1974-1989 were registered. Expected cases of the most frequent childhood cancers were calculated for each town, based on the sex-and age-specific incidence rates in the province.

Peripheral pulmonary lesions: ultrasonic features and ultrasonically guided fine needle aspiration biopsy.

When transthoracic biopsy is required for diagnosing lung diseases, radiographic procedures are the methods of choice, sonographic application being still limited. Sixty-four consecutive patients with pulmonary lesions adjacent to the chest wall underwent sonography. Findings showed hypoechoic homogeneous lesions (56 cases) with posterior regular margin (57 cases).

Ultrasonically guided aspiration biopsy in osteolytic bone lesions of the chest wall.

Sixteen consecutive patients with one or more osteolytic bone lesions of the chest wall radiologically confirmed underwent ultrasonically guided aspiration biopsy. Nine patients (56.2 percent) had bronchogenic carcinoma with a direct extension.

Ultrasonic signs of pneumothorax: preliminary work.

Ultrasonography is considered to have limited application in respiratory diseases because air reflects sound waves. Twenty-four patients with radiologically confirmed pneumothorax and 100 healthy subjects underwent sonography. In all normal subjects, the hyperechoic pulmonary interface showed respiratory motions termed the "gliding sign" with some comet-tail artifacts.

Sonographic approach to diagnosing pulmonary consolidation.

Thirty-nine consecutive patients with consolidated lung confirmed radiologically underwent sonography, and their sonograms were compared with results for 100 healthy subjects. The hyperechoic line of normal aerated lung and its air artifacts showed respiratory motions ("gliding sign," n = 100). Patients with pneumonia demonstrated distinct sonographic patterns.