The American journal of medicine
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Increasing numbers of U. S. citizens are studying medicine abroad and returning for graduate medical education and practice. The numbers and performance of U. ⋯ On each examination, U. S. citizen foreign medical school graduates did not do as well as all other foreign medical school graduates. Members of all groups met the same postdoctoral training requirements.
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Discrepancies have existed regarding the correlation between raised bile acid levels in cholestasis and the presence of pruritus. Nevertheless, the prevalent view is that bile acids have a direct etiologic role. To resolve the issue, we quantified separately all naturally-occurring bile acid species detectable in serum and skin, and on the skin surface of 13 patients with pruritus associated with cholestasis, 10 patients with cholestasis who did not have pruritus, three patients with uremia and generalized pruritus and in 10 controls. ⋯ We did find great overlap in these same values with data from the group with cholestasis but without pruritus. As expected, the symptomatic (uremic) and asymptomatic control groups showed comparable levels. The results of the present study together with those of a similar recent study provide strong evidence against the hypothesis of a direct causative role for retained bile acids in pruritus associated with cholestasis.
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Case Reports
Granulomatous mediastinitis due to Aspergillus flavus in a nonimmunosuppressed patient.
A patient with granulomatous mediastinitis due to Aspergillus flavus is described. A 22 year old black man presented with cough, fever and a right hilar mass. Mediastinal biopsies revealed granulomatous fibrosing mediastinitis with fungal elements compatible with aspergillus species. ⋯ The patient was treated with amphotericin B and 5-fluorocytosine but esophageal and superior vena caval compression developed and he died. This is the first reported case of granulomatous mediastinitis due to A. flavus in a patient whose immune responses were not suppressed (nonimmunosuppressed patient). Infection with Aspergillus species should be considered in the differential diagnosis of granulomatous mediastinitis.