Schizophrenics have among the highest rates of cigarette smoking. Some studies indicate that cigarette smoking or nicotine may ameliorate some of the cognitive or theoretically related neurophysiological deficits seen in schizophrenic patients. This study investigated the effects of nicotine nasal spray on measures of attention, verbal memory, and visual-spatial memory in schizophrenic patients who were chronic smokers, using a double-blind placebo-controlled pre-post experimental design. Compared to placebo, active nicotine spray significantly decreased reaction time on the Conner's CPT and improved scores on a measure purported to reflect spatial working memory on a dot task. There were trends for the increased number of hits and decreased number of errors in pre-post comparisons on the CPT task in the active nicotine session. There were no effects of active nicotine nasal spray on verbal memory. Our results suggest that nicotine may modestly enhance attention and spatial working memory in schizophrenic patients who are cigarette smokers and have been abstinent overnight.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important public health problem in Canada. In keeping with evolving evidence and understanding of HBV pathogenesis, the Canadian Association for the Study of Liver Disease periodically publishes HBV management guidelines. The goals of the 2018 guidelines are to (1) highlight the public health impact of HBV infection in Canada and the need to improve diagnosis and linkage to care, (2) recommend current best-practice guidelines for treatment of HBV, (3) summarize the key HBV laboratory diagnostic tests, and (4) review evidence on HBV management in special patient populations and include more detail on management of HBV in pediatric populations. An overview of novel HBV tests and therapies for HBV in development is provided to highlight the recent advances in HBV clinical research. The aim and scope of these guidelines are to serve as an up-to-date, comprehensive resource for Canadian health care providers in the management of HBV infection.

CFRD has an adverse effect on protein homeostasis by increasing net protein synthesis.

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There were no differences in clinical outcomes, including mortality, in cirrhotic patients admitted with AVB and NVB.

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Emergency physicians are trained to separate "sick" from "not sick" patients during their training. Nevertheless, every emergency physician will face situations in which early intervention is critical to their patient's outcome. Infectious diseases are responsible for many of these potentially poor outcomes. This article discusses early identification and treatment for several rapidly fatal infections, including two newly identified travel-related illnesses.