Racial/Ethnic Differences in Concerns About Current and Future Medications Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE—To evaluate ethnic differences in medication concerns (e.g., side effects and costs) that may contribute to ethnic differences in the adoption of and adherence to type 2 diabetes treatments

Gastric outlet obstruction in a 12 year old male

Pyloric stenosis presenting beyond infancy is uncommon and poorly understood. Here, we present a case of primary acquired gastric outlet obstruction due to pyloric stenosis in a 12-year-old male child. The patient presented after a four-year history of persistent non-bilious, post-prandial emesis and failure to thrive. A Heineke-Mikulicz pyloroplasty was performed. Pyloric biopsy was without diagnostic abnormality. A gastrostomy tube was also placed at the time of pyloroplasty. The patient was asymptomatic after surgery and had gained 25 pounds after three and a half months. The gastrostomy tube was removed 4 months after the pyloroplasty. Literature review yielded 42 cases, including the current report, of patients ages 4 months to 17 years with a diagnosis of primary acquired gastric outlet obstruction. Useful studies for diagnosis of these cases include abdominal ultrasound, upper GI contrast study and esophagogastroduodenoscopy. The most common curative procedure reported in the literature was a pyloroplasty (31 cases). The remaining patients underwent Bilroth I gastrectomy (7 cases), balloon dilatation (3 cases) and pyloromyotomy (1 case). Keywords: Gastric outlet obstruction, Pyloric stenosis, Pyloroplasty, Failure to thrive, Adolescence, Eosinophilic esophagiti

Characterization of the calcification of cardiac valve bioprostheses by environmental scanning electron microscopy and vibrational spectroscopy

Bioprosthetic heart valve tissue and associated calcification were studied in their natural state, using environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). Energy dispersive X-ray micro-analysis, X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the various calcific deposits observed with ESEM. The major elements present in calcified valves were also analyzed by inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectroscopy. To better understand the precursor formation of the calcific deposits, results from the elemental analyses were statistically correlated. ESEM revealed the presence of four broad types of calcium phosphate crystal morphology. In addition, two main patterns of organization of calcific deposits were observed associated with the collagen fibres. Energy dispersive X-ray micro-analysis identified the crystals observed by ESEM as salts containing mainly calcium and phosphate with ratios from 1.340 (possibly octacalcium phosphate, which has a Ca/P ratio of 1.336) to 2.045 (possibly hydroxyapatite with incorporation of carbonate and metal ion contaminants, such as silicon and magnesium, in the crystal lattice). Raman and fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy also identified the presence of carbonate and the analyses showed spectral features very similar to a crystalline hydroxyapatite spectrum, also refuting the presence of precursor phases such as β-tricalcium phosphate, octacalcium phosphate and dicalcium phosphate dihydrate. The results of this study raised the possibility of the presence of precursor phases associated with the early stages of calcification.</p