Acute myocardial infarction and coronary vasospasm associated with the ingestion of cayenne pepper pills in a 25-year-old male

Capsaicin, one of the major active components of cayenne pepper pills, is an over-the-counter substance with sympathomimetic activity used commonly by young individuals for weight loss. Here we report the case of a previously healthy young male who developed severe chest pain after using cayenne pepper pills for slimming and sustained an extensive inferior myocardial infarction. Electrocardiography combined with a bedside transthoracic echocardiogram confirmed the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. The patient denied using illicit substances, and he had no risk factors for coronary artery disease. His medication history revealed that he had recently started taking cayenne pepper pills for slimming. A subsequent coronary angiogram revealed patent coronary arteries, suggesting that the mechanism was vasospasm. We postulate that the patient developed acute coronary vasospasm and a myocardial infarction in the presence of this known sympathomimetic agent. This case highlights the potential danger of capsaicin, even when used by otherwise healthy individuals

On the importance of primary and community healthcare in relation to global health and environmental threats:Lessons from the COVID-19 crisis

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become clear that primary healthcare systems play a critical role in clinical care, such as patient screening, triage, physical and psychological support and also in promoting good community advice and awareness in coordination with secondary healthcare and preventive care. Because of the role of social and environmental factors in COVID-19 transmission and burden of disease, it is essential to ensure that there is adequate coordination of population-based health services and public health interventions. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the primary and community healthcare (PCHC) system's weaknesses worldwide. In many instances, PCHC played only a minor role, the emphasis being on hospital and intensive care beds. This was compounded by political failures, in supporting local community resilience. Placing community building, social cohesion and resilience at the forefront of dealing with the COVID-19 crisis can help align solutions that provide a vision of a € planetary health'. This can be achieved by involving local well-being and participation in the face of any pervasive health and environmental crisis, including other epidemics and large-scale ecological crises. This paper proposes that PCHC should take on two critical roles: first, to support local problem-solving efforts and to serve as a partner in innovative approaches to safeguarding community well-being; and second, to understand the local environment and health risks in the context of the global health perspective. We see this as an opportunity of immediate value and broad consequence beyond the control of the COVID-19 pandemic.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Benign skin disease with pustules in the newborn

The neonatal period comprises the first four weeks of life. It is a period of adaptation where the skin often presents several changes: transient lesions, resulting from a physiological response, others as a consequence of transient diseases and some as markers of severe disorders. The presence of pustules in the skin of the newborn is always a reason for the family and for the assisting doctor to be worried, since the newborn is especially vulnerable to bacterial, viral or fungal infection. However, the majority of neonatal skin pustules is not infectious, comprising the benign neonatal pustulosis. Benign neonatal pustuloses are a group of clinical disease characterized by pustular eruptions in which a contagious agent is not responsible for its etiology. The most common ones are erythema toxicum neonatorum, the transient neonatal pustular melanosis and the benign cephalic pustulosis. These dermatoses are usually benign, asymptomatic and self-limited. It is important that the dermatologist and the neonatologist can identify benign and transient lesions, those caused by genodermatoses, and especially differentiate between neonates with systemic involvement from those with benign skin lesions, avoiding unnecessary diagnostic tests and worries

Do Immigrants Suffer More from Job Loss? Unemployment and Subjective Well-Being in Germany

This study asked whether immigrants suffer more from job loss than German natives do. Compositional, psychosocial, and normative differences between these groups suggest that various factors intensifying the negative impact of unemployment on subjective well-being are either more prevalent, more influential, or distinct among immigrants. Based on longitudinal data from the German Socio-economic Panel Study (1990-2012; N = 36,296 persons aged 20 to 64; N = 240,071 person-years), we used fixed-effects models to trace within-person change in subjective well-being across the transition from employment to unemployment and over several years after job loss. Results showed that immigrants' average declines in subjective well-being exceeded those of natives. Further analyses revealed gender interactions. Declines were smaller and similar among immigrant and native women. Among men, declines were larger and differed between immigrants and natives. Immigrant men showed the largest declines, amounting to one standard deviation of within-person change over time in subjective well-being. We conclude that psychosocial factors render immigrant men most vulnerable to the adverse effects of unemployment

Income comparison, collectivism and life satisfaction in Turkey

The current research examines the impact of income comparisons on life satisfaction in Turkey which has a feature of "collectivism" or "low individualism". This is done by analyzing the results of the "Life Satisfaction Survey" applied by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) for 2011. Using ordered logit estimations, this paper reveals that most of the income comparison, interaction variables and socio-economic variables have a significant explanatory power on life satisfaction levels in Turkey. The main emphasis of the paper is that reference group's self-reported life satisfaction is related to income comparisons, along with other socioeconomic factors. The impact of comparisons is asymmetric, in that in most cases, under-performing one's benchmark had a greater effect than out-performing it

Related factors of dental caries and molar incisor hypomineralisation in a group of children with cystic fibrosis

Aim: To investigate dental caries and molar incisor hypomineralisation (MIH)-related factors such as treatment, diet, brushing and salivary factors in children with cystic fibrosis (CF) compared with healthy peers. Study design: A cohort study was performed. Methods: This study was performed on 30 CF children comprising patients at the Faculty of Medicine and 30 control children recruited from the Dental School. Salivary factors, dental caries, MIH, daily diet, brushing habits were analysed. Statistical analysis was calculated by SPSS for Windows. Results: Decay missing filled teeth (DMF-T) score was 4.6 ± 4.0 in CF and 7.7 ± 2.7 in control (p = 0.001). 43 % of CF children with MIH were found to use antibiotics, but no significant difference in the caries experience was found with antibiotic usage (p > 0.05). DMF-T of CF adolescents (23 %) who use Tobramycin was 7 ± 3.5. DMF-T of CF children (20 %) who take other antibiotics was 2.5 ± 3.5, but no statistical difference was found (p = 0.054). Saliva pH, salivary flow rate, and buffering capacity were not found statistically significant (p > 0.05). Statistics: Percentage arithmetic mean value, standard deviation, independent sample t test, Fisher's exact test, Chi-square test and Mann-Whitney U test were used, while a p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Conclusions: Medication and diet could be considered as a risk factor for dental caries and factors such as salivary pH, good oral hygiene could play a protective role for oral health CF children. MIH frequency and lower caries experience seen in CF children could be due to salivary factors or pharmacological treatment they take. The multidisciplinary approach team would be advantageous in the management of children with CF and oral health should be under control during early years of life by paediatric dentists. © 2014 European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry

Lipid profile in the elderly and middle-aged patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in relation with gender [Tip 2 diabetes mellituslu yaşlı ve orta yaşlı hastalarda lipid profili ve cinsiyet ile ilişkisi]

2-s2.0-85079153590Objective: The aim of the present study was to determine the lipid profile in the elderly and middle-aged patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and its relation with gender. Material and Methods: A total of 592 patients with Type 2 DM aged ?60 years and 269 diabetic patients aged &lt;60 years as middle-aged with initial admissions or patients with two months of antihyperlipidemic medicine pause were recruited from the internal medicine outpatient clinic during December 2012-March 2018. Demographic and biochemical data were collected retrospectively. Abnormal lipid levels were accepted as total-cholesterol &gt;200 mg/dL, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) ?100 mg/dL, triglyceride (TG) ?150 mg/dL, and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) &lt;50 in women &lt;40 mg/dL in men. Results: In total, 506 (85.4%) elderly and 248 (92.1%) middle-aged patients had one or more types of dyslipidemia. There were statistically significant differences in the frequencies of isolated high TG (x2=7.54, p=0.01) and combined two parameter dyslipidemia such as LDL-C ?100 mg/dL &amp; HDL-C &lt;40 mg/dL &amp; TG &lt;150 mg/dL (x2 =4.30, p=0.03) for men between elderly and middle-aged patients. Combined two-parameter dyslipidemia such as LDL-C ?100 mg/dL, TG ?150 mg/dL &amp; HDL-C &gt;50 mg/dL (x2 =6.64, p=0.01), and isolated low HDL-C (x2 =2.91, p=0.05) for women were found to be different between the elderly and middle-aged patients. Conclusion: Hypertriglyceridemia with high LDL-C and isolated low HDL-C were more common in the elderly women than that in middle-aged women where isolated hypertriglyceridemia and combined high LDL-C with low HDL-C were higher in the elderly than the middle-aged for men. © 2019 by Turkish Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism Association