Teaching internal medicine resident physicians about Alcoholics Anonymous: a pilot study of an educational intervention.

Greater physician confidence in treating alcoholism is associated with a higher frequency of referring alcoholic patients for treatment, but many physicians have limited experience with Alcoholics Anonymous. We implemented a brief, didactic and experiential educational intervention about AA and evaluated its effect on knowledge and attitudes, using a before-after repeated measures study design. Thirty-six first-year internal medicine resident physicians received an educational intervention, which consisted of a 45-minute lecture about AA, a visit to an AA meeting, and a 30-minute debriefing session the next day.

Transsphenoidal meningoencephalocele in adults.

Background: Transsphenoidal meningoencephalocele is a rare congenital anomaly, reported only in 14 adult patients. It may be subdivided into intrasphenoidal, extending into the sphenoid sinus, and true transsphenoidal, traversing the floor of the sinus and protruding into the nasal cavity or nasopharynx.

Methods: We present the eighth case of true transsphenoidal meningoencephalocele reported in an adult.

Effects of testosterone and progressive resistance training in eugonadal men with AIDS wasting. A randomized, controlled trial.

Background: Substantial loss of muscle mass occurs among men with AIDS wasting.

Objective: To investigate the independent effects of testosterone therapy and progressive resistance training in eugonadal men with AIDS wasting.

Design: Randomized, controlled trial.

Distribution of cerebral microembolism in the anterior and middle cerebral arteries.

Background And Purpose: Cerebral infarcts occur more frequently along the middle (MCA) than the anterior cerebral artery (ACA) territory. The reason(s) for this difference remains speculative. The objective of this study was to investigate the distribution of cerebral microemboli as detected by transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) along the MCA and ACA territories.

Risk factor modification in stroke prevention: the experience of a stroke clinic.

Background And Purpose: [corrected] We reviewed Stroke Clinic data to determine the extent of risk factor modification achieved in patients with cerebrovascular disease over 2 years.

Methods: Visits to the Stroke Clinic of a tertiary medical center from July 1, 1994, through June 30, 1996, were reviewed. Obesity, smoking, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, and lifestyle changes were noted in patients with >/=2 visits (n=61) and measures (number varied) of these parameters.

Central levodopa metabolism in Parkinson's disease after administration of stable isotope-labeled levodopa.

We report the use of a new stable isotope-labeled form of levodopa (LD) to examine in vivo central LD metabolism in Parkinson's disease (PD). Eight patients representing a wide spectrum of disease severity were administered 50 mg of carbidopa orally followed in 1 hour by an intravenous bolus of 150 mg of stable isotope-labeled LD (ring-1',2',3',4',5',6'-(13)C6). Serial blood samples were taken every 30 to 60 minutes and a lumbar puncture was performed 6 hours after the infusion.

Composition of particles associated with embolic signals on transcranial doppler untrasonography.

The composition of particulate emboli associated with detectable signals on transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasonography has previously been studied in vitro. The purpose of this investigation was to study the composition of particles associated with similar signals in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy. We studied carotid endarterectomy specimens from four consecutive patients with internal carotid artery origin, symptomatic, severe, stenosis, and preoperative TCD showing signals that were unidirectional from the baseline, occurred throughout the cardiac cycle, lasted 25-100 ms, had intensities exceeding that of surrounding blood by at least 12 dB, and were associated with a characteristic chirping sound.