Huntington's disease (HD): the neuropathology of a multisystem neurodegenerative disorder of the human brain.

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominantly inherited, and currently untreatable, neuropsychiatric disorder. This progressive and ultimately fatal disease is named after the American physician George Huntington and according to the underlying molecular biological mechanisms is assigned to the human polyglutamine or CAG-repeat diseases. In the present article we give an overview of the currently known neurodegenerative hallmarks of the brains of HD patients.

Huntington's Disease (HD): Neurodegeneration of Brodmann's Primary Visual Area 17 (BA17).

Huntington's disease (HD), an autosomal dominantly inherited polyglutamine or CAG repeat disease along with somatomotor, oculomotor, psychiatric and cognitive symptoms, presents clinically with impairments of elementary and complex visual functions as well as altered visual-evoked potentials (VEPs). Previous volumetric and pathoanatomical post-mortem investigations pointed to an involvement of Brodmann's primary visual area 17 (BA17) in HD. Because the involvement of BA17 could be interpreted as an early onset brain neurodegeneration, we further characterized this potential primary cortical site of HD-related neurodegeneration neuropathologically and performed an unbiased estimation of the absolute nerve cell number in thick gallocyanin-stained frontoparallel tissue sections through the striate area of seven control individuals and seven HD patients using Cavalieri's principle for volume and the optical disector for nerve and glial cell density estimations.

Double-wave reentry in orthodromic atrioventricular reciprocating tachycardia: paradoxical shortening of the tachycardia cycle length with development of ipsilateral bundle branch block.

Introduction: Attempts to terminate reentrant tachyarrhythmias by rapid pacing may accelerate the tachycardia. One mechanism for acceleration is double-wave reentry, where two simultaneous wavefronts travel around the same circuit.

Methods And Results: We report pacing acceleration of AV reciprocating tachycardia (AVRT) due to double-wave reentry in a patient with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

Minimally invasive alternative therapeutic options for lower urinary tract symptoms.

Many minimally invasive techniques designed to alleviate lower urinary tract symptoms have been evaluated, each of which offers a glimpse of the next generation of treatment. These minimally invasive techniques improve upon transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) by reducing the risk of postoperative complications. However, none have been compared with TURP in large-scale controlled trials, and therefore will not be able to replace TURP until their long-term durability is known.

Quality of life with an implanted left ventricular assist device.

Background: With the increasing use of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) for longer-term support of patients awaiting cardiac transplantation, we must now consider whether to use these devices as alternatives to medical therapy when biologic hearts are needed but not forthcoming. This expansion of use depends as much on quality of life as it does on survival. To draw an inference about long-term quality of life with implanted LVADs, we studied "bridged" patients at our institution.

Consultation-liaison psychiatry and the practice of medicine. The Thomas P. Hackett Award lecture given at the 42nd annual meeting of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, 1995.

The contributions of consultation-liaison psychiatrists have significantly influenced the practice of medicine. The author reviews the pertinent literature that substantiates this observation as well as suggests areas that hold promise for such contributions in the future.

Bacterial assay of contact lens wearers.

Purpose: The goal of the project was to determine the quantity of bacteria on the contact lens and adjacent areas of the eye. This paper is a quantitative study of the contact lens and ocular aerobic microbiota in a mixed group of daily and extended wear disposable contact lens users.

Methods: The contact lens, the lower fornix, tears collecting at the lower fornix, and edge of the lower lid at the Meibomian gland margin were assayed for the quantity of bacterial colony forming units (CFU).

Magnesium Therapy for Acute Myocardial Infarction.

The use of magnesium therapy for acute myocardial infarction remains controversial despite recent clinical trials such as ISIS-4. Magnesium has numerous beneficial effects in the setting of myocardial infarction, including inhibitory effects on platelet aggregation. Clinical trials of magnesium therapy for myocardial infarction have yielded conflicting results that may be related to the difference in the timing of magnesium administration.

Evaluation of surgical procedures. Changing patterns of patient selection and costs in heart transplantation.

During the past 4 years we have observed a marked increase in costs of heart transplantation in our center. This trend coincides with a shift in our recipient population toward the more severely ill patients. The percentage of patients bound for the intensive care unit has doubled.

Epidemiologic factors affecting antimicrobial resistance of common bacterial isolates.

The pattern of antimicrobial resistance of common bacterial isolates obtained from various groups of patients at a large tertiary-care center was compared with the pattern of resistance seen at a primary-care community hospital. At the tertiary-care center, significant differences in susceptibility were seen between pediatric and adult groups. In the tertiary-care center, the inpatients were more likely than the outpatients to have resistant staphylococcal and enterobacterial strains.

Physiological approach to surgery for tricuspid atresia.

A modification of Fontan's approach to the surgical management of tricuspid atresia was employed in nine patients. A valved conduit was used to create continuity between the right atrium and the surgically modified right ventricular chamber. Six patients had had previous shunting procedures.

Use of parenteral human globulin in acute, chronic, and recurrent urinary tract infections.

Sixty-four patients with recurrent or chronic urinary tract infections without evidence of disease demonstrated by conventional diagnostic methods underwent serum immunoglobulin studies. Only 23 were shown to have a deficiency of immune globulins, IgA, IgM, or IgG. Treatment with parenteral globulins resulted in sterile urine for the three-year follow-up period.

Total and free triiodothyronine in human serum.

A reliable method has been developed for the determination of total serum T3, dialyzable fraction (DFT3), and absolute concentration of free T3 (AFT3). Total T3 values (mean +/- SD) were: healthy euthyroid subjects, 0.33 +/- 0.