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

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

Breast feeding in organic acidaemias

Breast feeding has been recommended for the dietary treatment of infants with organic acidaemias, but studies documenting clinical experience are still very few. Nine infants, diagnosed with methylmalonic acidaemia (n = 4), propionic acidaemia (n = 1), isovaleric acidaemia (n = 2) and glutaric acidaemia type I (n = 2) were breast fed after diagnosis. The age of the patients was 28.9 +/- 13.4 months (mean +/- SD) (range 10-57 months). Eight patients were diagnosed with clinical symptoms and one because of an affected sibling. After the control of acute metabolic problems, an initial period with a measured volume of expressed breast milk was continued with on-demand breast feeding with the addition of a special essential amino acid mixture and energy supplements. Breast feeding was well tolerated in seven infants with good growth, metabolic control and neurological outcome. The duration of breast feeding was 12.3 +/- 7.4 months (mean +/- SD) (range 4-24 months) in these patients. Breast feeding was terminated in the patient with propionic acidaemia because of two acute metabolic episodes requiring hospitalization, and could not be continued in one of the patients with isovaleric acidaemia owing to shortage of breast milk. A decrease in the frequency of infections, acute metabolic episodes and hospital admissions was observed in breast-fed infants. Breast feeding of infants with organic acidaemias is feasible with close monitoring of clinical parameters such as growth, development and biochemistry, including amino acids, organic acids and ammonia

Design and performance of GaAs MMIC CPW baluns using overlaid and spiral couplers

The design and performance of microwave and MM-wave baluns using multilayer GaAs MMIC technology is presented. For MM-wave designs a compact overlaid coupler is employed. For lower frequencies it is shown that novel spiral couplers can be used. Results for baluns operating at 30-40 GHz and 5-15 GHz are presented

Design and performance of GaAs MMIC CPW baluns using overlaid and spiral couplers

The design and performance of microwave and MM-wave baluns using multilayer GaAs MMIC technology is presented. For MM-wave designs a compact overlaid coupler is employed. For lower frequencies it is shown that novel spiral couplers can be used. Results for baluns operating at 30-40 GHz and 5-15 GHz are presented