Postgraduate Medical Journal articles from August 2001

Postgraduate Medical Journal archives from August 2001

Vitamin A and the developing embryo.
August 1, 2001... It was lust before the First World War when vitamin A was chemically identified as "fat soluble A" and in the 1920s studies were conducted on laboratory rats to see what happened when this component was left out of the diet. [1] A now familiar...

Familiar drugs may prevent cancer.
August 1, 2001... Abstract Despite positive results in large scale chemoprevention trials, many physicians are unaware of the potential cancer preventive properties of drugs in common usage. The antioestrogen tamoxifen and the selective cyclo-oxygenase-2...

Update on chronic viral hepatitis.
August 1, 2001... Abstract Many recent and significant advances in the field of chronic viral hepatitis, including therapy, suggest that an update on chronic hepatitis is timely. Chronic hepatitis B virus infection remains a significant worldwide cause...

Pharyngeal pouch (Zenker's diverticulum).
August 1, 2001... Abstract Pharyngeal pouches occur most commonly in elderly patients (over 70 years) and typical symptoms include dysphagia, regurgitation, chronic cough, aspiration, and weight loss. The aetiology remains unknown but theories centre upon a...

Ethical, professional, and legal obligations in clinical practice: a series of discussion topics for postgraduate medical education.
August 1, 2001... Topic 5: disclosing confidential information This is the last discussion topic in a series of five dealing with ethical, professional, and legal obligations of clinical practice. Junior doctors tend to lack confidence in these subjects, and...

Adrenal myelolipoma.
August 1, 2001... A 26 year old man presented with two days of abdominal pain and vomiting. Ultrasonography of his abdomen revealed a right adrenal mass that was confirmed by contrast enhanced (oral and intravenous) computed tomography (CT), which showed a 20 x...

Consultations and referrals for dyspepsia in general practice--a one year database survey.(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2001... Abstract Objective--Dyspepsia usually presents first in primary care. There are many reasons for referral including urgent problems (for example, haematemesis and melaena), treatment failure, or to exclude serious pathology. Referral will...

Medical Anniversary.
August 1, 2001... Thomas Hodgkin, 17 August 1798 Thomas Hodgkin (1798-1866) was born into a Quaker family at 14 Penton Street, Pentonville, London but in 1815 moved to Tottenham. His father was a successful private tutor. He became a student at Guy's...

A study of bone densitometry in patients with complex regional pain syndrome after stroke.(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2001... Abstract Introduction -- This study was undertaken to evaluate the bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with complex regional pain syndrome type-I (CRPS-I) after stroke, and to correlate it with various clinical and neurophysiological...

Mitochondrial cytopathy presenting with focal segmental glomeruloscierosis, hypoparathyroidism, sensorineural deafness, and progressive neurological disease.(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2001... Abstract A 6 year old boy who presented with steroid unresponsive nephrotic syndrome is reported. He was found to have focal segmental glomeruloscierosis and associated hypoparathyroidism and sensorineural deafness. The child progressed to...

A new variant of Carney's triad: phaeochromocytoma and chondrosarcoma.
August 1, 2001... Abstract A 61 year old hypertensive woman presented in 1986 with a right scapular chondrosarcoma. She developed type 1 diabetes mellitus in 1991 and suffered a stroke in 1991. Chest radiography showed pulmonary metastases in 1997. Further...

Generalised oedema, lethargy, personality disturbance, and recurring nightmares in a young girl.
August 1, 2001... A 17 year old girl presented with a six week history of loose, yellow motions, marked leg swelling, increased shortness of breath, lethargy, and decreased exercise tolerance. She had gained 10 kg in weight in four months. Her mother commented...

An unusual pituitary mass presenting with panhypopituitarism and hyponatraemia.
August 1, 2001... A 72 year old Asian man was transferred to our institution for work-up of hyponatraeemia and an intrasellar mass. At an outside hospital, the patient presented with a fever of 40[degrees]C (104[degrees]F) and mental status changes. The patient...

A Mauritian woman with fever, abdominal pain, and facial palsy.(neurosarcoidosis with pancreatic and liver involvement)
August 1, 2001... A previously well 43 year old woman of Mauritian origin presented to the surgeons with abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting occurring over a period of eight weeks. She described it as a band-like constricting sensation encircling the upper...

Hyperplastic polyposis coli associated with dysplasia.
August 1, 2001... Case reports CASE 1 A 56 year old woman with no previous history of gastrointestinal disease presented with a short history of abdominal pain, altered bowel habit, weight loss, and anaemia. There was no mucus or blood in the stool....

Confusion in an elderly patient: an uncommon diagnosis for such a common event.(iatrogenic hyperthyroidism with delirium and THS secreting pituitary macroadenoma)
August 1, 2001... A 90 year old woman was admitted to the emergency department with delirium and falls. She had a recent history of cognitive impairment, insomnia, drowsiness, and progressive disability. Three months before admission, in the course of a medical...

Siblings with multiple soft tissue calcifications.
August 1, 2001... Two brothers aged 10 years and 18 years presented with multiple soft tissue calcareous swellings around the elbows, arms, knees, and forearms, which had been present for the last three years. Both were in good general health and there was no...

A man with a murmur requiring nutritional support.
August 1, 2001... A 52 year old man complained of severe abdominal pain of 24 hours' duration. He had had two episodes of bloody diarrhoea in the past six hours. Medical history was unremarkable. On examination he was systemically unwell, pyrexial...

Heart failure, a thick tongue, and an abnormal cranial computed tomogram.
August 1, 2001... A 21 year old man was referred by primary care physicians with complaints of attacks of thick tongue lasting few minutes, of one year's duration. The attacks had increased in frequency over the previous month. He also complained of lethargy,...

Massive pleural effusion.(pancreaticopleural fistula secondary to chronic alcoholic pancreatitis)
August 1, 2001... A 50 year old alcoholic male patient, with a known history of chronic pancreatitis and insulin dependent diabetes but no past history of respiratory problems, presented with progressive shortness of breath for a duration of three months and...

Acute hepatocellular and cholestatic injury in a patient taking celecoxib.
August 1, 2001... Abstract A case of acute hepatocellular and cholestatic liver injury that may have been associated with the use of celecoxib is described. This case was reported to US Food and Drug Administration and the manufacturer of celecoxib. ...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
August 1, 2001... Posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome EDITOR,--I read with interest the excellent review on posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome published in January. [1] The author, however, has omitted an important differential diagnosis in his...

The Effectiveness of Continuing Professional Development.(Review)
August 1, 2001... J Grant and F Stanton. (Pp 39; [pound]12 non-members, [pound]10 members.) Association for the Study of Medical Education, 2000. ISBN 0-9044-73260.**** This publication saw life initially as a report on continuing professional...

Teaching & Learning in Medical Education: How theory can inform practice.(Review)
August 1, 2001... D M Kaufman, K V Mann, and P A Jennett. (Pp 40; [pound]2 non-members, [pound]10 members.) Association for the Study of Medical Education, 2000. ISBN 0-9044-73279.**** This is an up to date and succinct book outlining six important theories...

Opportunities and Options in Medical Careers.(Review)
August 1, 2001... Ruth Chambers, Key Mohanna, and Steve Field. (Pp 169; [pound]17.95.) Radcliffe Medical Press, 2000. ISBN 1-85775-451-4.*** The need for a source of reliable career advice and counselling for doctors is equalled by our failure until now to...