Editor—The use of dantrolene in the management of hyperthermia for acute ‘Ecstasy’ (3,4-methylenedioxymetamphetamine, MDMA) toxicity has been recently reviewed by Hall and Hendry. We would like to confirm the efficacy of dantrolene after a recent case that presented to our emergency department. A 21-yr-old male presented after collapse with, GCS 4/15, generalized rigidity, tachycardia (160 min)...

BACKGROUND Toxoplasma gondii, an apicomplexan parasite, is capable of infecting a broad range of intermediate warm-blooded hosts including humans. The parasite seems to be capable of altering the natural behavior of the host to favor its transmission in the environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the course, alterations in behavior along with normal kinetics of the abnormally induced...

Kartagener's syndrome is a condition that consists of situs inversus, bronchiectasis, and sinusitis. Some patients have respiratory symptoms that date from early infancy, and electron microscopical examination has shown that adults with this condition lack dynein arms in ciliary microtubules. It has been suggested that an inherited defect in ciliary ultrastructure, the immotile cilia, is the b...

A 25 year old Nigerian man presented with a three day history of a painful right knee, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, vomiting, and fever. Previously healthy, he had been admitted to hospital only once before suffering from sickle cell crisis. Examination showed he was drowsy but well orientated. His temperature was 38 5-C and he was moderately dehydrated with a blood pressure of 110/70 mm Hg, both...

Vilaça A, et al. BMJ Case Rep 2017. doi:10.1136/bcr-2017-221001 Description A 64-year-old man presented at the emergency department for lipothymia, nausea and palpitations for a few days duration. He was diagnosed with HIV infection 10 years ago. He never was compliant with his antiretroviral therapy (ART). Pertinent physical findings included tachycardia and tachypnoea. Laboratory work-up reve...

The clinical and radiological features in 38 infants less than 3 months of age with tuberculosis proved by culture are described and may aid early diagnosis of this often fatal condition. Respiratory symptoms, cough in 33 (87%) and tachypnoea in 31 (82%), were the commonest presenting symptoms. Twenty five infants (66%) had hepatomegaly and 20 (53%) splenomegaly. Mantoux testing gave an indurat...

The possibility of coagulopathy in Babesia canis rossi infections in the canine patient has been suggested in the literature, but minimal work has been done to evaluate the clinicopathological nature of it in further detail. Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) has not yet been implicated in canine babesiosis (CB), but may also be one of the causes of the sudden dyspnoea and tachypnoea that are freq...

OBJECTIVE To test whether steroids reduce respiratory distress in babies born by elective caesarean section at term. DESIGN Multicentre pragmatic randomised trial. SETTING 10 maternity units. PARTICIPANTS 998 consenting women randomised at decision to deliver by elective caesarean section; 503 randomised to treatment group. INTERVENTIONS The treatment group received two intramuscular do...

useful if practicable because this is invariably raised in acute myocardial infarction but is normal in pulmonary embolism. A "paradoxical" arterial pulse, which falls at the onset of inspiration and rises on expiration by more than 15 mm. Hgso that the change is detectable by the finger palpating the femoral pulse-is almost invariably present in acute cardiac tamponade from pericardial effusio...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to review the current status and usage of guidelines in the diagnosis and treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in European countries and to compare to established guidelines in the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and the World Health Organization (WHO). METHODS A questionnaire was developed and distributed by the Community-Acquired Pneu...