Objective. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the efficacy of auricular therapy by including a sham therapy control group. Methods. Relevant, randomized clinical trials (RCTs) were identified by searching medical related databases from, depending on journal, 1900 (at the earliest) to 1994 (at the latest) through May 2013. The outcome measure was a pain inten...

Mediastinal pancreatic pseudocyst is rarely a complicat ion of pancreatit is. Both the syndrome itself and diagnostic chest radiograph can easily be confused with hiatus hernia. It is a challenge for radiologists to distinguish a mediastinal pancreatic pseudocyst from a mediastinal cystic lesion on CT (computed tomography) axial imaging. Here, we present the case of a 51-year old man with sever...

BACKGROUND We herein present a case in which a Toxoplasma cyst was found in a transbronchial biopsy specimen from an immunocompetent patient with negative serology for the parasite. CASE PRESENTATION An 18-year-old Brazilian man presented with a 1-week history of dyspnea and fever and was diagnosed with right lower lobe pneumonia. He began inpatient treatment with intravenous antibiotics. Dur...

Valproic acid is the most widely used anti-epilep-tic drug in children, and it is probably the most frequent cause of drug-induced acute pancreatitis. Outcomes for patients with valproic acid-associated pancreatitis vary from full recovery after discontinuation of the drug to severe acute pancreatitis and death. Here, we present a case of valproic acid-induced severe acute pancreatitis with pse...

Auricular perichondritis is an uncommon complication following surgery of the external ear. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most commonly associated pathogen. Presented is a patient with auricular perichondritis successfully treated with norfloxacin, a newly available, orally administered antibiotic with antipseudomonal activity.

BACKGROUND AND AIM Pseudoaneurysms of the gastroduodenal artery (GDA) are rare and mostly associated with pancreatitis. However, they can occur as a possible complication following gastric or pancreatic surgery and thus prior recognition and prompt treatment is mandatory (Lee et al., 2009 [1]). We report a case of a ruptured GDA aneurysm in a patient who underwent roux-en-y-cystojejunostomy for...

To evaluate the effect of perifoveal pseudocysts on the anatomical outcomes of the idiopathic macular hole surgery as a prognostic factor. Twenty-one eyes of 20 consecutive patients with a Gass stage 3 or 4 idiopathic macular hole were enrolled in this prospective study between March 2012 and May 2013. Demographic data, medical history, and ocular examinations were recorded preoperatively and o...

The majority of Kudoa species infect the somatic muscle of fish establishing cysts. As there is no effective method to detect infected fish without destroying them these parasited fish reach the consumer. This work was developed to determine whether this parasite contains antigenic compounds capable of provoking an immune response in laboratory animals, in order to consider the possible immunop...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to compare the pain-relieving effect and the subjective well-being between auricular electro-acupuncture (EA) analgesia, auricular acupuncture (A) and conventional analgesia with remifentanil (CO). METHODS A total of 94 women undergoing IVF were randomized to auricular acupuncture with (EA, n = 32) or without (A, n = 32) continuous 1 Hz auricular stimulati...