A Case of Posttraumatic Pott's Disease.

Tuberculosis infection, which is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), most commonly manifests in patients with respiratory systems. However, it can also colonize other tissues including skeletal. In our case, a 77-year-old Caucasian male presented to the emergency department following a rollover motor vehicle collision with chief complaints of neck and lower back pain. After clinical improvement and a preliminary negative workup, the patient was deemed stable for discharge. Four months later, the patient was subsequently admitted for worsening back pain with workup suspicious for T9 and T10 discitis osteomyelitis and abscess formation on computed tomography (CT). During this admission, spinal Mtb was confirmed by acid-fast stain and real-time polymerase chain reaction of a CT-guided disc space aspirate of a left paraspinal cystic collection at approximately T9-T10. Given these findings, the patient was subsequently put on standard four-drug therapy for Mtb. Our case demonstrates the importance of considering Pott's disease in the diagnosis of lumbar spinal pain, especially in patients living in areas with high international migration and travel.

A Major Depressive Disorder in a Patient with Pseudobulbar Affect.

Pseudobulbar affect is a condition that presents as involuntary laughing or crying among patients with certain neurological conditions or injuries. There is an outburst of crying or laughing that may not be connected to the current emotional state. Because pseudobulbar affect often involves crying, the condition is frequently mistaken for depression. We present the case report of a 54-year-old male patient who had a stroke and who presented to his physician with a chief complaint of crying spells. His family expressed, and his physician believed, that he was suffering from depression because of his dramatic clinical presentation. The patient initially denied that he was depressed. Despite the denial, he was managed with psychotherapy and an antidepressant medication, Remeron (mirtazapine). The treatment did not improve his clinical symptoms. He was eventually treated with dextromethorphan/quinidine (DM/Q), 20 mg/10 mg, with a dramatic resolution of the crying spells.  However, psychosocial stressors, including the death of his father, job loss, and financial problems, made him depressed with vegetative symptoms. His crying spells came back and became more intense and frequent. He became worthless and hopeless. This depression was unrelated to his stroke. He was diagnosed with a major depressive disorder and was treated with antidepressants and psychotherapy. He experienced the depression several months after his crying spells resolved with the DM/Q. His recent bout of depression was treated with another antidepressant, vilazodone, and he was given a more intensive outpatient psychotherapy treatment. All the psychiatric symptoms, including the crying spells, have improved after treatment.

Evaluation of Antihemagglutinin and Antineuraminidase Antibodies as Correlates of Protection in an Influenza A/H1N1 Virus Healthy Human Challenge Model.

UNLABELLED: Despite long-term investment, influenza continues to be a significant worldwide problem. The cornerstone of protection remains vaccination, and approved vaccines seek to elicit a hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titer of ≥1:40 as the primary correlate of protection. However, recent poor vaccine performance raises questions regarding the protection afforded and whether other correlates of protection should be targeted. A healthy volunteer challenge study was performed with a wild-type 2009 A(H1N1)pdm influenza A challenge virus at the NIH Clinical Center to evaluate two groups of participants with HAI titers of ≥1:40 and <1:40. The primary objective was to determine whether participants with HAI titers of ≥1:40 were less likely to develop mild to moderate influenza disease (MMID) after intranasal inoculation. HAI titers of ≥1:40 were protective against MMID but did not reduce the incidence of symptoms alone. Although the baseline HAI titer correlated with some reduction in disease severity measures, overall, the baseline NAI titer correlated more significantly with all disease severity metrics and had a stronger independent effect on outcome. This study demonstrates the importance of examining other immunological correlates of protection rather than solely HAI titers. This challenge study confirms the importance of NAI titer as a correlate and for the first time establishes that it can be an independent predictor of reduction of all aspects of influenza disease. This suggests that NAI titer may play a more significant role than previously thought and that neuraminidase immunity should be considered when studying susceptibility after vaccination and as a critical target in future influenza vaccine platforms. IMPORTANCE: This study represents the first time the current gold standard for evaluating influenza vaccines as set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, a "protective" hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titer of ≥1:40, has been evaluated in a well-controlled healthy volunteer challenge study since the cutoff was established. We used our established wild-type influenza A healthy volunteer human challenge model to evaluate how well this antibody titer predicts a reduction in influenza virus-induced disease. We demonstrate that although higher HAI titer is predictive of some protection, there is stronger evidence to suggest that neuraminidase inhibition (NAI) titer is more predictive of protection and reduced disease. This is the first time NAI titer has been clearly identified in a controlled trial of this type to be an independent predictor of a reduction in all aspects of influenza.