Specific individual face recognition in the brain has been demonstrated with analysis of three dimensional neural activation patterns – cognitive engrams – revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Individual faces can also be differentiated by biometric pattern recognition from camera images using biometric analysis. A correlation between face recognition data obtained from these two methods is now documented. A two way correspondence between face data obtained by these and other means exists, which should facilitate face recognition, the utility of interrogation, and further the understanding of cognition.

This study aimed to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of combining bezafibrate with ginkgo biloba in doxorubicin-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Thirty Wister albino rats were allocated into five groups: The negative control group, the positive control group, both received 1 ml of D.W, bezafibrate group received (100 mg/kg), ginkgo biloba group received (60 mg/kg) and the fifth group received bezafibrate + ginkgo biloba. All the treatments were for 14 days along with doxorubicin on days 11–14 except for the negative control. Blood samples were used for the measurement of ALT, AST, ALP, total protein, total bilirubin, albumin, globulin, GSH, catalase, and IL-6. Liver tissue was sent for histopathological examination. The combination of ginkgo biloba and bezafibrate significantly decreased AST, ALP, AST/ALT ratio, albumin/globulin ratio, and IL-6 with significant elevations of catalase, and GSH. The combination group produced more hepatoprotection. This could be attributed to the additive anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of the combination.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:The impetus for this review was recent increased warnings of cardiovascular toxicity, fractures and bladder cancer associated with glitazone use.METHODS:A drug utilization review was performed regarding the use of Actos (pioglitazone) and Avandia (rosiglitazone) at Cooper Green Mercy Hospital (CGMH), an inner city safety net hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. Pharmacy records were reviewed hospital-wide to determine usage patterns of all anti-diabetic medications. Medline and the FDA websites were searched for articles on safety and efficacy of pioglitazone and rosiglitazone. Considerations were relative utilization profile, comparative efficacy, indications, relative cost, and safety profile of the two available medications in this drug class.RESULTS:On the basis of all of these factors, a hospital-wide switch of all rosiglitazone prescriptions to all pioglitazone was implemented, which was estimated to result in savings of $83,000 for the first year. No episodes of worsening of control of diabetes were anticipated, nor were episodes of decreased efficacy or adverse effects as a result of automatically switching patients from rosiglitazone to pioglitazone at the time of prescription filling.CONCLUSIONS:The conclusions can be summarized in a number of key points. • Clinicians should follow the American Diabetes Association guidelines [1] for treatment. • The basis for diabetic control is weight loss, diet and exercise. • Initial medication management for type II Diabetes Mellitus includes metformin and insulin. • There are no circumstances in which use of glitazone medications is preferable to other medication groups, and there are no clinical circumstances in which use of glitazone medications is absolutely necessary, as opposed to other classes of diabetic medication. • There are significant contraindications, warnings and precautions to use of glitazones, which must be taken into consideration before use in every individual patient. • Glitazones in particular should not be used in the following circumstances: congestive heart failure (CHF), concurrent bladder cancer or severe osteoporosis.

A wide range of neurological complications have been reported via the medical literature and the VAERS system after vaccination with recombinant outer surface protein A (OspA) of Borrelia. To explore this issue, 24 patients reporting neurological adverse events (AE) after vaccination with Lymerix, out of a group of 94 patients reporting adverse events after Lymerix vaccination, were examined for causation. Five reports of cerebral ischemia, two transient Ischemic attacks, five demyelinating events, two optic neuritis, two reports of transverse myelitis, and one non-specific demyelinating condition are evaluated in this paper. Caution is raised on not actively looking for neurologic AE, and for not considering causation when the incidence rate is too low to raise a calculable difference to natural occurence.

Neuroimaging was applied to provide visual documentation of the presence of pain in a patient complaining of long-term neck pain. Activation in the pain-related brain matrix was increased after induced pain, compared with a resting baseline condition, and decreased after the pain had subsided somewhat.

Interferon (IFN), a biological medication used to treat viral hepatitis and certain cancers, has clinically significant potential to cause a wide range of adverse neuropsychiatic effects. The spectrum ranges from agitation, aggression, insomnia and irritability, to suicidal thought and drug-seeking behavior (DSB). Out of a total population of 353 patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), 132 patients at an inner city hepatitis clinic underwent treatment. Those treated were questioned at intake and on a regular basis for the initiation or increase of DSB. In addition, when warranted, patients were tested for the presence of drugs they were not prescribed. Over a four year period, ten patients (4 currently receiving treatment with IFN, 4 with prior treatment, and 2 who never received IFN) reported an increase in DSB. The danger of developing IFN-induced DSB appears to be relatively low (< 3%) in our patient population, and we also observed DSB in HCV patients who were not treated with IFN. To our knowledge, this is the first study of the incidence of DSB associated with IFN treatment for HCV that completely surveyed the HCV-treated population and used urine toxicology to verify illicit drug use.

A 37 year old black woman is described with difficult-to-control diabetes (DM), morbid obesity, hypertension, and chronic skin abscesses. During admission for control of skin abscesses, she received trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ), which was continued for 30 days after discharge. She then required admission for UTI and was treated with antibiotics. Metformin and glimepiride were added at the time of discharge, as parenteral insulin was poorly controlling the DM. Shortly thereafter she developed a cholestatic drug reaction, which progressed to end-stage liver disease (ESLD) with the histologic features of vanishing bile duct syndrome (VBDS). Clinical characteristics of medication-induced cholestatic liver disease and VBDS are discussed.

Most studies comparing the response of African American (AA) patients to other groups for treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been performed in academic centers in the setting of clinical trials. In general, AA patients have lower response rates that are only partially explained by unfavorable prognostic factors, such as infection with genotype 1, high viral load, insulin resistance, obesity, hypertension, and others. We examined response rates associated with these adverse prognostic factors within race/ethnicity-sex strata for a cohort of patients treated at a inner-city hospital-based, safety-net clinic. From 2004-2008, 88 evaluable AA and 30 other patients received standard therapy for HCV consisting of weekly injections of peg interferon alfa-2 plus oral weight-based ribavirin. The predicted probability of a favorable virologic outcome ranged from 89.0% (95% CI: 63.7% = 97.3%) for other females to 4.1% (95% CI: 0.9% 17.9%) for AA females. Conclusion: Important interactions occur among race/ethnicity, sex, and co-morbidity in response to HCV therapy. Increasing co-morbidity places AA patients at greatest risk of non-response and raises the possibility that more aggressive treatment of co-morbidity might increase response rates in the vulnerable patients.

A patient is described who developed cardiomyopathy after receiving a therapeutic course of dextroamphetamine/amphetamine. The patient's cardiac function deteriorated to the point of heart failure, necessitating a heart transplantation. Cardiomyopathy associated with amphetamine use is a serious and potentially lethal condition. With early diagnosis, identification of the cause, and treatment, cardiomyopathy may be reversible. The dangers of therapeutic use of amphetamines are discussed, as well as problems and assumptions associated with U.S. Food and Drug Administration monitoring and removal from the market of harmful substances.

Five patients with hepatitis C (HCV), three of whom were treated with peginterferon alfa-2 (IFN) and two who were not treated with IFN, developed homicidal ideation (HI) during a 4-year period. Following accepted rules for determining causation, there appeared to be a causal relatedness between IFN use and the development of homicidal ideation for those patients taking IFN. None of these patients attempted a homicidal act while on treatment with IFN, nor in the follow-up period after treatment. The incidence of HI while treated with IFN in our patient population is estimated to be less than 1%. The ability of prescription medication to cause homicidal ideation is reviewed, and legal implications are discussed.

Interferon alfa2 (IFN-alpha2) is a parenterally administered cytokine used to treat patients with Hepatitis C and B, and malignancy. Interferon (INF) has a relatively high rate of central nervous system (CNS) adverse effects, including agitation, depression, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, suicidal thought and drug craving. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we studied patients with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who were not more than mildly clinically depressed at baseline for their CNS reaction to IFN-alpha2. During fMRI, patients underwent visual stimulation with pictures designed to induce feelings of depression. In the two patients who became clinically depressed or markedly anxious while on treatment with interferon, but not in patients who did not experience these effects, there was a significant activation in specific areas of the brain known to be involved with depression, along with an increase above baseline in the Beck Depression Scale for the patient who developed INF-induced depression. The activation pattern differed from that previously observed for endogenous depression, indicating that INF-induced depression may differ in its underlying neuropathology. Functional magnetic resonance imaging can be an important tool in understanding and monitoring for (INF and other) medication-induced CNS effects, and response to treatment.

Investigators have attempted for centuries to determine the truthfulness and accuracy of statements (Ford 2006). Methodologies include standard interrogation, with and without use of medication or coercion, polygraph, and brain fingerprinting using brain evoked response potentials (ERP). None of these technologies yields optimal results, for various reasons, and are not entirely suitable for measuring deception.

The increasing number and density of the human population, the emergence of lethal influenza strains, and the potential use of designer influenza virus as a bioweapon, collectively highlight a critical need for more rapid production of influenza vaccines and less invasive means of delivery. We have developed a nonreplicative adenovirus-vectored influenza vaccine that can be produced without the prerequisite of growing influenza virus. This new class of vaccines can be administered as a nasal spray or skin patch by personnel without medical training. We report here that adenovirus-vectored nasal and epicutaneous influenza vaccines were well tolerated by human volunteers. The nasal vaccine was more potent than its epicutaneous counterpart under the adjuvant-free experimental condition. These results provide the foundation for further human testing of needleless vectored vaccines as promising alternatives to current vaccines.