Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: preliminary attempt at palliation with use of subselective alcohol ablation.

We report a case of severe apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in order to discuss the nature of this unusual condition and the possibility of using selective alcohol ablation to effectively treat symptomatic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that presents with apical aneurysm. A 73-year-old woman with severe, progressive dyspnea and intermittent chest pain was found to have localized left ventricular apical dyskinesia distal to an obstructive mid-distal muscular ring. The ring caused total systolic obliteration of the apical left ventricular cavity.

Cancer incidence and mortality in the Bucaramanga metropolitan area, 2003-2007.

Introduction: Cancer is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Population-based cancer registries (PBCRs) make possible to estimate the burden of this condition.

Aim: To estimate cancer incidence and mortality rates in the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area (BMA) during 2003-2007.

A role for the superior colliculus in the modulation of threat responsiveness in primates: toward the ontogenesis of the social brain.

Defense and social mechanisms in primates seem to share, at least in infancy, common neural substrata.Among these, recent research has implicated the primate superior colliculus (SC) on tasks involving visual detection and recognition of threatening stimuli, such as snakes and faces with emotional expressions. There is also evidence that both kinds of stimuli share specific characteristics and command special attention in the primate visual system.

Differential local spasticity in myocardial bridges.

To illustrate the effect of myocardial bridges on coronary vascular tone, we describe the cases of 2 patients with different clinical presentations in the context of reproducible increased spasticity at the site of myocardial bridging. One had an episode of takotsubo cardiomyopathy, and one developed typical Prinzmetal angina while receiving desmopressin treatment for pituitary insufficiency. In both patients, acetylcholine challenge clearly revealed both the presence and the severity of myocardial bridging while producing several recognizable degrees of abnormal spastic tendency.

[Correlation between the magnetic resonance imaging morphometry and the clinical and electroencephalographic findings in patients diagnosed with ulegyria and epilepsy].

Introduction: Ulegyria is a cortical lesion affecting neighbouring vascular zones, which gives the convolutions a mushroom-like appearance. It is an important cause of occipital epilepsy. AIM.

EEG and autonomic responses during performance of matching and non-matching to sample working memory tasks with emotional content.

Working memory (WM) is a memory system responsible for the temporary storage of information and its utilization in problem solving. The central executive is theorized as the controller of storage functions that support WM. Neurophysiological data suggest that electroencephalographic (EEG) theta and alpha oscillations in frontal and midline regions are involved in neural communication between the central executive and storage functions during WM performance.

Mycotic coronary aneurysm: report of two cases.

The number of percutaneous interventions with stent implantation has increased dramatically in recent years, although the frequent use of this device in reports of infections is extremely rare. In this article we report two cases of mycotic aneurysm after implantation of stents with different clinical presentations and outcomes.

Can claims-based data be used to recruit black and Hispanic subjects into clinical trials?

Objective: Evaluate the accuracy of an algorithm at identifying ethnic minorities from administrative claims for enrollment into a clinical trial.

Data Sources/study Setting: Claims data from a health benefits company.

Study Design: We compared results of a three-step algorithm to self-reported race/ethnicity.

Persistence with biologic therapies in the Medicare coverage gap.

Objectives: To describe persistence with teriparatide and other biologic therapies in Medicare Part D plans with and without a coverage gap.

Study Design: Retrospective (2006) cohort study of Medicare Part D prescription drug plan beneficiaries from a large benefits company. Two plans with a coverage gap (defined as "basic") were combined and compared with a single plan with coverage for generic and branded medications (defined as "complete").

Lack of clinically detectable acute changes on autonomic or thermoregulatory functions in healthy subjects after transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

Background: Neuromodulatory techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), have been increasingly studied as possible treatments for many neurological and psychiatric disorders. tDCS is capable of inducing changes in regional cerebral blood flow in both cortical and subcortical structures, as shown by positron emission tomography studies, and might conceivably affect hypothalamic and autonomic nervous system functions. However, it remains unknown whether acute changes in autonomic or hypothalamic functions may be triggered by conventional tDCS protocols.

Electroencephalographic brain dynamics of memory encoding in emotionally arousing context.

Emotional content/context enhances declarative memory through modulation of encoding and retrieval mechanisms. At encoding, neurophysiological data have consistently demonstrated the subsequent memory effect in theta and gamma oscillations. Yet, the existing studies were focused on the emotional content effect and let the emotional context effect unexplored.

Early postnatal hospital discharge: the consequences of reducing length of stay for women and newborns.

The objective of this study is to examine the literature and identify most salient outcomes of early postnatal discharge for women, newborns and the health system. An electronic search strategy was designed including the following sources: Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest and PubMed/MEDLINE, using the following terms: (early AND discharge) OR (length AND stay) AND (postpartum OR postnatal) AND (effect* OR result OR outcome). Content analysis was used to identify and summarise the findings and methods of the research papers.

[Anti-NMDA receptor paraneoplastic encephalitis: complete recovery after ovarian teratoma removal].

Introduction: A paraneoplastic syndrome characterized by neuropsychiatric symptoms, involuntary movements and seizures has been recently associated with antibodies targeting NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor in patients with an ovarian teratoma. Severe neurological impairment is frequent and treatment in the intensive care unit is often required because of ventilatory failure and life-threatening autonomic instability. Tumor removal is curative in many cases and neurological improvement is demonstrated shortly after surgery.

Longitudinal evaluation of health care utilization and costs during the first three years after a new diagnosis of fibromyalgia.

Objective: To evaluate health care resource utilization and costs 1 year before and 3 years after a fibromyalgia (FM) diagnosis.

Methods: This retrospective cohort analysis used claims from Humana to identify newly diagnosed FM patients ≥18 years of age based on ≥2 medical claims for ICD-9 CM code 729.1 and 729.

Financial and clinical characteristics of fibromyalgia: a case-control comparison.

Objective: To compare healthcare utilization and costs between subjects with and without fibromyalgia (FM) using claims data from a large health benefits company in the United States.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort.

Methods: We analyzed 24 months of medical and pharmacy claims data comparing healthcare utilization and costs among Humana members diagnosed with FM to a propensity score matched control group without a diagnosis for FM.

[Biopercular syndrome caused by unilateral ischemia. Report of one case].

Biopercular syndrome is a labio-facio-pharyngeal-laryngeal-gloso-masticatory diplegia, with automatic dissociation of movements. Ischemia is the most common etiology when it occurs bilaterally in the opercular area, but it has been also described in patients with bilateral subcortical lesions. There are few cases described with unilateral lesions.

Bone marrow mononuclear cell transplantation improves survival and induces hepatocyte proliferation in rats after CCl(4) acute liver damage.

Aim: The aim of this research was to evaluate the effects of bone marrow mononuclear cell (BMC) transplantation in rats with toxic acute liver damage induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)).

Methods: Cells from male Wistar rats were obtained using Ficoll density gradient and 0.2 ml (1 × 10(6) cells) were injected into the portal vein of female rats (n = 15) 24 h after damage.

Ethnic differences in HIV risk perceptions and behaviors among Black 18-39 year-old residents of Broward County, Florida.

The study assessed ethnic differences in the perceived risks of HIV infection, sexual experiences, and HIV-antibody testing histories among Black populations in Broward County, Florida. Data were analyzed for 2,731 well-characterized survey respondents 18-39 years old who indicated they were African Americans, Caribbean Islanders, English-speaking, or Creole-speaking Haitians. Creole-speaking Haitians were least likely to consider themselves at risk of HIV infection, report using condoms in the last 12 months, and indicate that they had ever been tested for HIV.

Identifying HIV risk-reduction strategies for Hispanic populations in Broward County.

Purpose: To improve the effectiveness of behavioral interventions for Hispanic young adults, we studied their perceived risks for HIV infection, lifetime and more recent sexual experiences, use of condoms, and HIV-antibody testing histories.

Methods: Logistic regression was used to analyze computer-assisted telephone-interview surveys of 1,596 randomly selected Hispanic residents of 12 high AIDS-incidence ZIP-code areas.

Results: After we controlled for gender, age, marital status, educational attainment, and language of preference, differences were found by country of origin.

Feeling pain in the rubber hand: integration of visual, proprioceptive, and painful stimuli.

The visual capture phenomenon has recently been explored, especially in the context of the rubber-hand illusion (RHI)--an illusion in which tactile sensations are referred to an illusory limb. We have induced the RHI with the difference that tactile-painful stimuli were added in order to verify the interaction between vision, touch, proprioception, and pain. Thirty volunteers were used.

Emotion processing for arousal and neutral content in Alzheimer's disease.

Objective. To assess the ability of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients to perceive emotional information and to assign subjective emotional rating scores to audiovisual presentations. Materials and Methods.

Low frequency (0.5Hz) rTMS over the right (non-dominant) motor cortex does not affect ipsilateral hand performance in healthy humans.

Reduction of excitability of the dominant primary motor cortex (M1) improves ipsilateral hand function in healthy subjects. In analogy, inhibition of non-dominant M1 should also improve ipsilateral performance. In order to investigate this hypothesis, we have used slow repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and the Purdue Pegboard test.

[Biopercular syndrome: report of two cases and literature review].

The anterior opercular or biopercular syndrome is a cortical pseudobulbar palsy due to bilateral lesions of the anterior brain operculum. It is characterized by preservation of reflex function and automatic activity, without mental impairment. Two cases are reported herein and the relevant literature reviewed.