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BACKGROUND: The hurricane disasters of 2005 and the threat of pandemic infectious diseases compel medical educators to develop emergency preparedness training for medical students and other health care professional students. DESCRIPTION: This article describes an experiential exercise for learning a number of the general core competencies in the 2003 AAMC report titled 'Training Future Physicians about Weapons of Mass Destruction.' A modified tabletop exercise for medical and veterinary students, which was developed and implemented in 2005, is described. The exercise focused on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), an emerging infectious disease scenario that raised the possibility of biological attack. The students were assigned roles in small groups, such as community physicians, hospital personnel, public health officials, veterinarians, school nurses, and emergency managers. Fifteen faculty members were recruited from these various areas of expertise. Pre- and posttesting of medical students showed significant gains in knowledge. The authors describe the scenario, small-group role playing, study questions, injects, Web sites and readings, and evaluation tools. CONCLUSIONS: This experiential exercise is an effective, inexpensive, and easily adapted tool for promoting multiple competencies in mass health emergency preparedness for a variety of health care students including medical, veterinary, public health, and nursing students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Autoantibody production in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is associated with abnormalities of B cell function and phenotype. Clinical responses to B cell depletion therapy (BCDT), based on rituximab, are encouraging. Therefore, we undertook this study to investigate the effect of BCDT on antibody profiles. METHODS: Serial sera from 16 patients with active, refractory SLE were assayed for antinucleosome antibodies, anti-double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA), anti-extractable nuclear antigen, anti-tetanus toxoid, and antibodies to pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide for at least 1 year following BCDT. Anti-dsDNA antibodies derived from the V(H)4.34 immunoglobulin germ line gene (9G4+) were also measured. RESULTS: All patients achieved peripheral B cell depletion and improved clinically for at least 3 months. Antinucleosome and anti-dsDNA antibodies decreased to a mean +/- SD of 64 +/- 37% and 38 +/- 33% of baseline values, respectively, by 6-8 months post-BCDT. Levels of other autoantibodies and antimicrobial antibodies were generally unchanged. In the 9 of 16 patients who were still well at 1 year, anti-dsDNA antibodies fell to 42 +/- 36% of baseline values at 6-8 months and to 37 +/- 33% at 10-14 months. In patients who had disease flares within 1 year of BCDT, levels of these antibodies decreased to 60 +/- 40% and 83 +/- 93% of baseline values at 6-8 months and at 10-14 months, respectively. Circulating anti-dsDNA antibodies were positive for 9G4 expression in 4 of 6 patients tested, and flares in 2 of these patients were accompanied by rises in 9G4+ anti-dsDNA antibodies. CONCLUSION: These observations suggest that B cell clones committed to producing antinucleosome and anti-dsDNA antibodies, including the V(H)4.34 subpopulation of anti-dsDNA antibodies, have a relatively rapid turnover compared with B cell clones producing other antibodies. There was also a trend toward a greater and more sustained decrease in anti-dsDNA antibodies in patients with clinical benefit lasting >1 year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaders in this multispecialty group enlisted physicians to help find solutions to their institution's financial problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the case of a 5-year-old male who other than being six weeks premature at birth had no significant early medical problems, and had normal physical and cognitive development until preschool. It was then that his teacher noticed the child was having learning difficulties, staring spells, and difficulty expressing himself. He had a single generalized tonic-clonic seizure (GTCS) in September of 2008. A routine EEG revealed very frequent epileptiform discharges. He was started on levetiracetam and four months later his EEG showed continuous spike wave discharges during sleep. The spike wave discharges occurred in long runs, lasting a minute or more, without clear ictal evolution. The spike wave discharges were seen in a generalized distribution, maximal bifronto-temporally with some asymmetry (right greater than left). When the patient was subsequently awakened, the EEG dramatically improved and the spike wave discharges almost completely resolved. The spike and wave discharges recurred as the patient became drowsy again. Authors have described this as electrographic status during sleep (ESES) which is a typical childhood process of generalization of paroxysmal activity and can be seen with specific childhood epileptic encephalopathies. Treatment with levetiracetam was increased and his EEG and language subsequently returned to normal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]