Citations

Herbal medications are being increasingly used by the American population especially for common conditions like arthritis. They have been reported to cause adverse effects, including significant hepatotoxicity, but reporting remains sporadic. We report here a patient who developed drug induced liver injury following the intake of Move Free, which is an over-the-counter arthritis supplement. We propose that Chinese skullcap, which is one of the herbal ingredients of the medication, is responsible for the adverse event. There was a strong temporal association between the intake of supplement and onset of symptoms, and also there have been a few recent case reports implicating the same component. A unique observation in our case is the occurrence of pulmonary infiltrates simultaneously with the hepatotoxicity, and this side effect has not been well documented before. Both the hepatic and pulmonary complications completely resolved over few weeks after the patient stopped taking the medication. Since these supplements are readily available over the counter, we feel that it is important to document possible adverse outcomes to raise awareness in the medical community and also among patients.

Cardiac channelopathies are potentially lethal inherited arrhythmia syndromes and an important cause of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in young athletes. Other cardiac rhythm and conduction disturbances also may indicate the presence of an underlying cardiac disorder. The 12-lead ECG is utilised as both a screening and a diagnostic tool for detecting conditions associated with SCD. Fundamental to the appropriate evaluation of athletes undergoing ECG is an understanding of the ECG findings that may indicate the presence of a pathological cardiac disease. This article describes ECG findings present in primary electrical diseases afflicting young athletes and outlines appropriate steps for further evaluation of these ECG abnormalities. The ECG findings defined as abnormal in athletes were established by an international consensus panel of experts in sports cardiology and sports medicine.

Employing general strain theory, the authors examine gender differences in the dynamic strain-and-coping relations between GPA, depression, and drinking. Using longitudinal high school data from the Youth Development Study, the authors test five hypotheses. GPA negatively affects drinking (confirming Hypothesis 1), but without consistent gender differences (Hypothesis 1a). GPA also negatively affects depression (Hypothesis 2), and more strongly for girls (Hypothesis 2a). Depression's positive effect on drinking supports Hypothesis 3, but gender comparisons refute Hypothesis 3a. Conversely, drinking positively affects lagged depression (Hypothesis 4), and more strongly for girls (Hypothesis 4a). Finally, drinking's largely absent effect on GPA rejects Hypothesis 5a, whereas depression's negative effect on lagged GPA, stronger among girls, supports Hypothesis 5b and Hypothesis 5c. A deleterious chain of effects occurs across high school, but mostly for girls only, possibly implicating gendered behavioral norms and socialization. This study informs general strain theory by suggesting that alcohol may provide divergent behavioral and emotional coping functions, respectively, for boys and girls.