BACKGROUND Hyperechogenicity of the substantia nigra was recently reported in patients with sporadic ALS with a frequency similar to PD. Data on the diagnostic utility compared to key differential diagnoses of ALS do not exist yet. METHODS We prospectively enrolled 43 patients with ALS, 29 with myasthenia gravis, 25 patients with inflammatory neuropathy, and 13 with cervical canal stenosis. A...

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a well-known diagnostic biomarker used in medicine to detect fetal developmental anomalies such as neural tube defects or Down's syndrome, or to follow up the development of tumors such as hepatocellular carcinomas. However, and despite the fact that the protein was discovered almost half a century ago, little was known about its physiological function. The study of A...

Australasian Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine May 2011 14 (2) As the new Editor for the AJUM, I am extremely honoured and excited to be involved both with ASUM and the new Editorial Board as we move together towards attaining PubMed recognition for Australia’s premier ultrasound journal. This is not a new goal by any means but one which needs to happen for our journal to get the recognition it...

An identification key to 29 valid species of Hoplolaimus is given. A compendium of the most important diagnostic characters for use in identification of species is included as a practical alternative and supplement to the key. Diagnosis of Hoplolaimus is emended and lists of species of the genus, their synonymies, species inquirendae, nomina nuda, and species transferred to other genera are giv...

Key-words Disease name and synonyms Definition/ Diagnosis criteria History Epidemiology Differential diagnosis Etiology Clinical description Physiopathology Diagnostic methods Genetic counselling Treatment References

Key-words Disease name and synomyms Diagnosis criteria/definition Differential diagnosis Incidence Clinical description Treatment Etiology Diagnostic methods Genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis Unresolved questions and outlook References

Key-words Disease name and synonyms Diagnosis criteria/definition Differential diagnosis Incidence Clinical description Management including treatment Etiology Diagnostic methods Unresolved questions References

Diagnostic errors have emerged as a serious patient safety problem but they are hard to detect and complex to define. At the research summit of the 2013 Diagnostic Error in Medicine 6th International Conference, we convened a multidisciplinary expert panel to discuss challenges in defining and measuring diagnostic errors in real-world settings. In this paper, we synthesize these discussions and...

Enuresis, particularly in children during sleep, can be a debilitating condition, affecting the quality of life of the child and his or her family. The pathophysiology of nocturnal enuresis, though not clear, revolves around the inter-related mechanisms of overactive bladder, excessive nocturnal urine production, and sleep fragmentation. The first mechanism is more related to isolated nocturnal...