Recoiling, regrouping, and recovering: first-person accounts of the role of spirituality in the course of serious mental illness

Because many consumers view spirituality as important in their recovery, mental health professionals can benefit from a clearer understanding of the role of religion from the consumer's perspective.     

Incomplete arylamidase in psoriasis scales

The published data for overall cancer incidence for the registries of Birmingham (UK) and Connecticut (US) show remarkable similarity for men but diverge for women. The incidence of cancer of the endometrium, ovary and breast in Connecticut is higher than in Birmingham, and in each case the menopausal dislocation in the age-specific incidence plot of the Birmingham data is obscured in that for Connecticut. For endometrial cancer, the difference correlates with differences in the two countries in the use of oestrogen replacement therapy, recently implicated in the aetiology of endometrial cancer. The similarity in the pattern for ovarian and breast cancer, and the changing pattern of breast cancer incidence in Birmingham suggest a similar aetiological effect.     

New technique for lesser saphenous vein harvesting

A new technique using the Thompson self-retaining retractor system (Thompson Surgical Instruments, Inc, Traverse City, MI) to harvest lesser saphenous veins is presented. This modification, used in 10 patients undergoing redo myocardial revascularization, provided a rapid, comfortable, and convenient method for harvesting lesser saphenous veins.     

Recurrent malignant acrospiroma. Treatment by chest wall excision

Malignant acrospiroma is an uncommon tumor of the eccrine sweat gland. In contrast to its relatively more common benign counterpart, malignant acrospiroma is highly invasive, often with significant lymphatic and distant metastasis. The establishment of this diagnosis is difficult on both clinical and histopathologic grounds. After diagnosis, wide surgical excision is warranted to completely extirpate these lesions. We report the case of a 66-year-old female with a recurrent malignant acrospiroma. This patient's tumor was removed by wide radical resection, including chest wall excision, followed by reconstructive surgery and radiotherapy. After 16 months there is no evidence of local recurrence or distant metastasis.