M#1045: Training Course in Focused Assessment with Sonography for HIV/TB in HIV Prevalent Medical Centers in Malawi.

Purpose: Training medical providers of different backgrounds the "focused assessment with sonography for HIV-associated TB" (FASH) exam to expand the availability of ultrasound for TB diagnosis in resource poor settings in the central region of Malawi.

Methods And Materials: A survey was completed by the 19 eligible participants before and after a 4-day training course regarding the utility of the FASH exam. A six-question quiz was used to assess knowledge of the use of ultrasound in the FASH exam before and after the course.

Activation of the "Splenocardiac Axis" by electronic and tobacco cigarettes in otherwise healthy young adults.

The "Splenocardiac Axis" describes an inflammatory signaling network underlying acute cardiac ischemia, characterized by sympathetic nerve stimulation of hematopoietic tissues, such as the bone marrow and spleen, which then release proinflammatory monocytes that populate atherosclerotic plaques, thereby promoting ischemic heart disease. Electronic (e) cigarettes, like tobacco cigarettes trigger sympathetic nerve activation, but virtually nothing is known about their influence on hematopoietic and vascular tissues and cardiovascular risks. The objective of this study was to determine if the Splenocardiac Axis is activated in young adults who habitually use either tobacco or e-cigarettes.

Ureaplasma urealyticum continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis-associated peritonitis diagnosed by 16S rRNA gene PCR.

In some patients with peritonitis complicating continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), a causative organism is never identified. We report a case of Ureaplasma urealyticum CAPD-associated peritonitis diagnosed by 16S rRNA gene PCR. Ureaplasma may be an underrecognized cause of peritonitis because it cannot be recovered using routine culture methods.

Effect of tobacco craving cues on memory encoding and retrieval in smokers.

Previous studies have shown that cue-elicited tobacco craving disrupted performance on cognitive tasks; however, no study has examined directly the effect of cue-elicited craving on memory encoding and retrieval. A distinction between encoding and retireval has been reported such that memory is more impaired when attention is divided at encoding than at retrieval. This study tested the hypothesis that active imagery of smoking situations would impair encoding processes, but have little effect on retrieval.