Purpose Takayasu’s arteritis is a chronic, granulomatous, large vessel vasculitis affecting the aorta and its large branches, and occurring most commonly in young women. It is the third most frequently diagnosed vasculitis in childhood. Generally, symptoms reflect ischemia to an affected organ or limb. A small percentage of patients develop neurologic symptoms such as visual disturbances, trans...

Influenza is occasionally complicated by CNS disorders, in particular impairment of consciousness. Severe disorders encompass multiple, distinct syndromes manifesting acute encephalopathy, whereas mild disorders represent multiple, ill-defined neuropsychiatric syndromes. Acute encephalopathy is manifested with seizures and coma, with or without multi-organ involvement. The outcome varies from d...

A substantial proportion of patients with sepsis get better, presumably as a consequence of appropriate antibiotic therapy, source control (if there is a localized site of infection), and transient physiological support of failed organ systems. What are the biological events that mediate this process? Can a better understanding of this process lead to novel therapeutic targets or strategies? Wh...

This study evaluates the clinical/immunological features and outcomes of 91 patients with the diagnosis of transient hypogammaglobulinemia of infancy(THI). Mean age at diagnosis was 8.4±5.2 months. IgG levels normalized at 30.6±11.88 months. Sixty three patients (69.3%) resolved in their first 3 years of life and 28 patients (30.7%) thereafter. In the univariate analysis, presence of atopy, occ...

The results of therapy with vincaleukoblastine in ~7 pat ients afflicted with various mal ignant diseases have been discussed. The drug caused a marked fall in the leukocyte count, with slight and transient decrease in platelets. A decrease in organ size and tumor mass was often produced. While slight anorexia, nausea, and nervousness have been noted in some patients and epilation or fever in a...

Perforation of the heart or great vessels by orthopedic wires is a rare complication that mostly results in severe or even lethal organ injury. Therefore, such conditions mostly require immediate surgical removal of the wires. However, in some individual cases, a conservative approach may be preferable. We describe a case of a 70-year-old woman whose aortic arch has been penetrated by two Kirsc...

WE HAVE SHOWN previously that combined but not discrete transient perioperative blockade of CD28!B7 and CD40/gp39 costimulatory pathways results in indefinite prolongation of islet allograft survival.! Similar observations have also been made in the realm of solid organ transplantation (TX).2 Additionally, the use of both rhCTLA4-Ig and anti-gp39 mAb (but not alone) have also resulted in abroga...

In a recent article, Balzer et al. [1] reported an unexpected relationship between an initial central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2) >80 % on ICU admission and increased morbidity and mortality in cardiac surgery patients. Interestingly, as compared with low (<60 %) or normal (60–80 %) ScvO2 levels, values above 80 % were associated with more acute kidney injury (AKI) and a higher hemodialysi...

Metastatic tumors in the sellar and parasellar regions are uncommon and rarely detected in clinical practice. We present four cases of sellar and parasellar metastatic tumors, which metastasized from distant organ in one case and extended directly from adjacent structures in three. Common presenting symptoms were cranial neuropathies, headache and facial pain. Invasion into the cavernous sinus ...

A 75-year-old male, known to have achalasia, was admitted to the intensive care unit with massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding and sepsis. He had a history of purulent pericarditis 18 months earlier. He also presented with atrial fibrillation associated with a cerebral transient ischemic accident two months earlier. A contrast computed tomography scan showed an atrio-esophageal fistula with ...