Somatostatin receptor imaging of olfactory neuroblastoma

BACKGROUND: Cure of H. pylori infection in peptic ulcer patients significantly reduces the risk of ulcer recurrence. Since data on the rate of H. pylori reinfection in patients undergoing successful anti-H. pylori therapy are sparse, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the H. pylori reinfection rate in peptic ulcer patients receiving antibacterial treatment to heal their ulcer and cure H. pylori infection. METHODS: A total of 217 patients with H. pylori-associated duodenal or gastric ulcer were followed up after treatment with various antibacterial regimens resulting in histologically documented cure of H. pylori infection. Endoscopic and histological examinations were performed 4 weeks after completion of treatment and after 1, 2 and 5 years, or whenever dyspeptic symptoms occurred. To assess the H. pylori status two antral and two corpus biopsies were obtained for histological examination. RESULTS: Out of 217 patients with initially cured H. pylori infection 175 were available for endoscopic follow-up. At the time of analysis, 44 patients were re-examined after 1 year, 113 patients after 2 years and 18 patients after 5 years, giving a total of 360 patient years of follow-up. The mean duration of follow-up was 24.7 months. H. pylori reinfection was confirmed histologically in eight patients, three of whom becoming H. pylori-positive again within the first year of follow-up. Six of the eight patients with H. pylori reinfection also suffered an ulcer relapse. Eight cases of reinfection in 360 patient years represents an overall reinfection rate of 2.2%. Within the first 2 years of follow-up the reinfection rate was 0.8% per year. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that H. pylori reinfection is rare in peptic ulcer patients receiving successful anti-H. pylori therapy. H. pylori reinfection frequently coincides with ulcer recurrence. Cure of H. pylori infection results in cure of peptic ulcer disease, provided H. pylori reinfection does not occur.     

Quinine for leg cramp: time to call a halt?

The MURCS association is traditionally regarded as a disorder limited to the female sex. It has been hypothesized that men displaying the combination of azoospermia, segmentation abnormalities of the cervicothoracic spine and renal anomalies may have a male analogue of MURCS. Here we describe a patient with non-obstructive azoospermia and Klippel-Feil anomaly type II and suggest that this may represent another case of 'MURCS in the male'.     

Cultural effect on postoperative pain

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the S + G2/M fraction (proliferative index) is a prognostic determinant in breast cancers classified as Auer IV. STUDY DESIGN: Prognostic evaluation of Auer IV DNA histograms with respect to the high versus low S + G2/M fraction, obtained by image cytometry on consecutive breast cancer imprint preparations. RESULTS: When studying recurrence-free survival (n = 136), the prognostic value of S + G2/M was found to vary with time: it was negligible before the median time to relapse (1.5 years) but thereafter statistically significant, in both univariate and multivariate analysis. The same pattern was found when overall survival was used as the end point; the effect was delayed to about the median time until death (three years). Tumors with a low S + G2/M fraction were smaller and more often estrogen receptor- and progesterone receptor-positive than those with a high S + G2/M fraction. CONCLUSION: According to ICM-DNA values corresponding to the S + G2/M region, patients with breast cancers classified as Auer IV can be divided into subgroups with different tumor characteristics and prognoses.     

On the recollection of specific- and partial-source information

Memory judgments can be based on information that is more or less specific with respect to the source of an item. The authors introduce a procedure and multinomial model for measuring specific- and partial-source information. In 2 experiments, participants heard words spoken by 4 different voices: 2 male voices and 2 female voices. During the test, participants were required to remember who spoke the test items (e.g., Male 1, Male 2, Female 1, Female 2, or new word). Participants often remembered information about the gender of the source (i.e., partial-source information) when they did not remember information that identified the source itself (i.e., specific-source information). Dividing attention during retrieval impaired participants' memory for specific-source information (i.e., voice information) but did not affect memory for partial-source information (i.e., gender information).