The case of a 29-year-old former parenteral drug abuser who presented with a 3rd nerve palsy and contralateral ataxia is reported. The patient was found to have a positive HLTV-III titer and acquired immune deficiency syndrome was diagnosed. Computed tomography demonstrated two ring-enhancing lesions in the brain which were presumed to be due to Toxoplasma gondii.

A 31-year-old woman with a long history of furosemide abuse presented with abdominal pain. She had been using furosemide (>200 mg per day) for at least the last 15 years. She initially used furosemide to maintain her urinary volume and later for weight loss. Her abdominal pain was caused by paralytic ileus due to hypokalemia (2.1 mEq/L). Although abdominal and pelvic CT revealed no intestinal o...

Intimate partner violence is associated with significant psychiatric comorbidity. Treatment has focused on male perpetrators but recent studies indicate that this is of limited success in reducing male violence. This article reviews the current available treatments from three perspectives: that of the victim, the perpetrator, and the couple who wish to remain together. It also provides...

Malignant hyperthermia is a pharmacogenic disease and is manifest by a hypermetabolic crisis with tachycardia, ventricular ectopy, metabolic acidosis, and a rapid rise in body temperature. "Ecstasy", 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), is a semisynthetic amphetamine, the recreational use of which has increased in recent years. Severe reactions to MDMA have been noted in the past, includin...

PURPOSE The aim of this report was to report a heroin abuser with nondiagnosed giant uveal melanoma infiltrating the orbit and prolapsing through the face. METHODS We conducted a case report of the patient with giant melanoma. RESULTS In March 2013, a 39-year-old male with bleeding from the right side of his face was taken to the Emergency Center of the University Hospital Bratislava by amb...

This article considers some of the psychophysiologic mechanisms that underlie the driven, apparently self-destructive behavior of addicted persons. The authors review the available literature on the association between suicidal behavior and substance abuse. These issues are discussed in the context of the epidemiology and phenomenology of self-destructive behavior.

INTRODUCTION Injecting drug abusers are vulnerable to many infectious complications. We describe a case of tetanus in a Singaporean who regularly abused buprenorphine. CLINICAL PICTURE A 49-year-old male was hospitalised for progressive generalised spasms associated with dysarthria and opisthotonus. Tetanus was diagnosed clinically. TREATMENT Supportive management was instituted in the inte...

A 25-year-old male, a thinner abuser, swam in a pond just after thinner-sniffing and he drowned. Death from drowning was confirmed by diatoms in the lung and kidney. The drowning would seem to be induced by the effect of considerable high concentrations of toluene, absorbed into the body from thinner-sniffing, in tissues of the cadaver.

Infections caused by Ewingella americana have been rarely reported in the literature. Most of the cases that have been reported were among the immunocompromised patients. We report a case of E. americana causing osteomyelitis and septic arthritis of the shoulder joint in a previous intravenous drug abuser. The causative pathogen was identified by synovial fluid analysis and culture.

OBJECTIVE Stigma is a frequently cited barrier to help-seeking for many with substance-related conditions. Common ways of describing individuals with such problems may perpetuate or diminish stigmatizing attitudes yet little research exists to inform this debate. We sought to determine whether referring to an individual as "a substance abuser" vs. "having a substance use disorder" evokes differ...