A 55-year-old woman comes to a psychiatrist complaining of experiencing a depressed mood over the past 3 months. She notes that her mood has been consistently low (3 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best she has ever felt), and she describes her condition as “just not me.” She has also noticed a decrease in energy and a weight gain of 6 to 7 lb occurring over the same period of time, al...

Dermatomyositis (DM) is a rare idiopathic inflammatory myopathy with characteristic skin lesions. Case series have shown an association between dermatomyositis and malignancy. Malignancy has been found in 15-25% of the adult patients with dermatomyositis. A 50-year-old new case of breast cancer, was admitted with muscle weakness and inability to walk. Physical examination revealed fever, perior...

Although rare, synovial sarcoma is the most common malignant non-rhabdomyosarcomatous soft tissue sarcoma in children and adolescents. Synovial sarcoma typically involves the soft tissues of the extremities, especially near large joints, but it can occur anywhere in the body in locations far from joint spaces. Although this tumor typically affects adults in their fourth decade of life, nearly h...

Yi, a young U.S.-born Hmong woman, is seriously distressed. She is having difficulty sleeping; she has lost her appetite; and she lacks interest in her studies. Yi also says that she has little energy and is having a difficult time balancing school and family obligations. Although she does not spontaneously use emotional terms to describe how she feels, when asked she agrees that she is unhappy...

A 48-year-old woman who worked as a cleaner in a Kashan University of Medical Sciences dormitory received a spider bite while collecting garbage on a summer afternoon. She feltimmediate irritation on her arm. She noticed a spider, which she removed and killed. The irritation, itching, and redness on her arm continued. Her hand became edematous and painful after four days and she suffered from i...