Dress and address in hospital psychiatry: an issue?

Background and aims: To assess the preferences of Dutch psychiatric patients in three general hospital psychiatric settings for the dress of psychiatrists and patients preference to be addressed by psychiatrists. To assess the associations concerning different clothing styles and the attributes of the patient-doctor relationship.Methods: One hundred and seventy-three adults, in and outpatients (aged 18-89 years) attending the psychiatry departments of three general hospitals, were included during the period June 2015 to May 2016. In these hospitals, the psychiatrist staff has different clothing policies. Data were analyzed with SPSS21.Results: Divided over the three hospitals, 173 patients were included, 96 inpatients and 77 outpatients. The patients' opinions on the psychiatrists' dress differed significantly between the hospitals in line with the local hospital clothing policy (p = 0.002 for the male psychiatrists, p = 0.000 for the female psychiatrists). The patients' ethnicity significantly influenced their preferences for dress and address, as a majority of the patients with a non-Dutch ethnic background expressed a preference for white coats, and address by surname (RR = 2.0, p = 0.003 for male and RR = 2.1 p = 0.002 for female psychiatrists). A significant difference in preference for being addressed by their first names by the psychiatrist was found between Dutch and non-native Dutch patients (RR = 2.6, p = 0.005). According to patients, the male psychiatrist in trousers and a long sleeve shirt and female psychiatrist in casual clothing were most often associated as being the friendliest, a white coat as being the most competent, and wearing smart attire as being the most accessible.Conclusion: Patients' preferences are in line with current local clothing habits. Ethnicity, setting and country influence a patient's preferences. Casual clothing for psychiatrists is assessed as being the friendliest but as the least competent, and white coats are assessed as being the most competent but as being less friendly and less accessible.

[Adrenal disease diagnosis: management of adrenal incidentaloma]. / Diagnostic des pathologies surrénaliennes : mise au point d'un incidentalome surrénalien.

Adrenal glands are specialized in biosynthesis of several hormones correlated to different clinical phenotypes in case of excess or lack of production. In addition to secretion disorders, tumors, secreting or not, can take place in adrenal glands. Incidentalomas are the most common adrenal diseases in clinical practice. The challenge of the management is to determine whether the lesion is benign or malignant and secreting or not in order to direct therapeutic management towards surgical option, pharmacotherapy or clinical follow-up. Several radiographic characteristics allow to predict the benign or malignant nature of a lesion (size and density of the tumor, fat content,...). Adrenal carcinoma is a very rare cancer but should be excluded because its extremely poor prognosis. If most incidentalomas are non-secreting, it is important to ensure that there is no Cushing syndrome, even subclinical (± 10 % of incidentalomas) or pheochromocytoma (± 10 % of incidentalomas), pathologies associated with a higher incidence of cardiovascular complications. Careful clinical evaluation for symptoms and signs related to excessive adrenal hormones production is recommended to prescribe appropriate hormone assays. Finally, the surgical indication will be guided by the probability of malignancy, the presence and the degree of hypersecretion but also the age, the general health and the choice of the patient.

Les glandes surrénales assurent la synthèse d'une série d'hormones qui en cas d'hypo - ou d'hyper-sécrétion pathologique peuvent entraîner différentes manifestations cliniques. Outre ces dérèglements sécrétoires, les glandes surrénales peuvent être le siège du développement de tumeurs. Les incidentalomes sont de loin les pathologies surrénaliennes les plus fréquentes en clinique. Le défi de la mise au point consiste à définir si la lésion est bénigne ou maligne et sécrétante ou non-sécrétante afin d'orienter la prise en charge thérapeutique vers une option chirurgicale, un traitement médica-menteux ou un simple suivi clinique et/ou radio-logique. Plusieurs caractéristiques radiographi-ques permettent de prédire la nature bénigne ou maligne d'une lésion (taille et densité de la masse, contenu graisseux,…). Le carcinome surrénalien est un cancer rarissime, mais de pronostic tellement sombre qu'il est impératif d'exclure ce diagnostic. De même, si la plupart des incidentalomes sont non-sécrétants, il est important de s'assurer de l'absence d'un syndrome de Cushing, même infra-clinique (± 10 % des incidentalomes) ou d'un phéochromocytome (± 10 % des incidentalomes), hypersécrétions associées toutes deux à une incidence élevée de complications cardiovasculaires. On recommande donc une évaluation clinique minutieuse à la recherche de symptômes et signes en rapport avec une production excessive d'hormones surrénaliennes pour prescrire les dosages hormonaux appropriés. Enfin, l'indication opératoire sera guidée par la probabilité de malignité, la présence et le degré d'hypersécrétion mais aussi l'âge, l'état général et le choix du patient.

Roles of hydrogen peroxide in thyroid physiology and disease.

CONTEXT: The long-lived thyroid cell generates, for the synthesis of thyroid hormones, important amounts of H2O2 that are toxic in other cell types. This review analyzes the protection mechanisms of the cell and the pathological consequences of disorders of this system. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: The literature on H2O2 generation and disposal, thyroid hormone synthesis, and their control in the human thyroid is analyzed. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: In humans, H2O2 production by dual-oxidases and consequently thyroid hormone synthesis by thyroperoxidase are controlled by the phospholipase C-Ca2+-diacylglycerol arm of TSH receptor action. H2O2 in various cell types, and presumably in thyroid cells, is a signal, a mitogen, a mutagen, a carcinogen, and a killer. The various protection mechanisms of the thyroid cell against H2O2 are analyzed. They include the separation of the generating enzymes (dual-oxidases), their coupling to thyroperoxidase in a proposed complex, the thyroxisome, and H2O2 degradation systems. CONCLUSIONS: It is proposed that various pathologies can be explained, at least in part, by overproduction and lack of degradation of H2O2 (tumorigenesis, myxedematous cretinism, and thyroiditis) and by failure of the H2O2 generation or its positive control system (congenital hypothyroidism).

Hemophagocytic syndrome associated with extracerebral toxoplasmosis in an HIV-infected patient.

Hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) is a clinical entity that combines non-specific clinical and biological features. The diagnosis is usually confirmed by a bone marrow examination. HPS may be primary or secondary to a malignancy or to an infectious or autoimmune disease. Since it was first described, various agents have been implicated, including viruses, bacteria, and parasites. In HIV patients, many cases occur with lymphoma or with a variety of opportunistic infections due to CMV, HHV8, Pneumocystis carinii, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, MAC, toxoplasmosis, and even pneumococcus. We report here a case of an AIDS patient presenting a HPS secondary to an extracerebral form of systemic toxoplasmosis that was only revealed by specific PCR in tissue other than the CNS.