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Background: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires all residents participate in scholarly activity during residency. Case reports provide trainees an opportunity to engage in scholarly activities. This study assesses internal medicine residents' perceived benefits of writing and presenting case reports and barriers to this process., Methods: A survey was disseminated to internal medicine residents at a tertiary academic center. The survey questionnaire aimed to assess residents' perceptions about benefits and barriers to writing and presenting case reports. Responses were obtained on a 5-point Likert scale, and the data were analyzed as respective frequencies and percentages., Results: Forty-three (34%) of the 125 eligible internal medicine residents completed the survey. Fifty-eight percent reported never having presented a case report. Ninety-six percent believed that finding an interesting case was an important factor in facilitating writing a case report, while 81% perceived finding a good mentor as equally important. Perceived barriers to case report writing included lack of training in reviewing scientific literature (59%), lack of adequate time (58%), lack of formal training in identifying and writing case reports (56%), and lack of a mentor (54%)., Conclusions: Our study showed that the majority of residents had not written or presented case reports. While case reports provide a myriad of educational value, various barriers exist that include lack of proper training, adequate time, and a mentor. Our findings suggest that additional institutional resources should be dedicated to designing a curriculum to address these perceived barriers., (Copyright© Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and The Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc.)

Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Background According to the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), mortality in Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has been rising since 2009, and an upward trend in mortality has been noted. Although there have been studies exploring the incidence of CDI and mortality in the national database, those studies were limited to one particular year. With the advent of newer modalities of diagnosis and treatment for CDI, the recent multiyear trend in disease-specific outcomes from large administrative databases is unknown. Objective To study the recent trend in nationwide hospital admissions and mortality along with hospital outcomes. Methods We queried the identified National Inpatient Sample from 2007 to 2011 to identify patients of age >18 years, with a discharge diagnosis of CDI identified by the International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition (ICD-9), clinical modification codes 008.45, respectively. Results We identified a decline in CDI mortality to 2.67% in 2011 as compared to 3.83% in 2007 (P<0.0001) with CDI as the primary discharge diagnosis and a downward trend in all-cause mortality from 9.2% in 2007 to 7.9% in 2011 (P<0.0001). We identified an upward trend in CDI-related hospital discharges from 2007 (N=325,022) to 2011 (N=333498). Hospital discharges with CDI as a primary discharge diagnosis also increased from 2007 (N=104,123) to 2011 (123,898). The mean length of stay decreased from 7.16 days in 2007 to 6.40 days in 2011 (P 0.0001). CDI was noted to be more common in the elderly (61-80), with a mean age of 68 years. Patients were of Caucasian descent (67%), female (64%), and primarily a Medicare payer (69%). Mean hospital charges increased from $31,551 to 35,654$ (P .04). Of interest, CDI was noted to be more common in large bed-sized non-teaching hospitals (57%) than large bed-sized teaching hospitals (42%). In terms of the geographical distribution of CDI, the southern states of the US had an increased incidence of CDI (36%) and the west coast (16%) had the least incidence. Conclusion  Our study shows an improved trend in-hospital mortality outcomes and a decreased length of stay likely related to the advancement in CDI treatments. Hospital charges were increased from 2007 to 2011 in spite of a decrease in hospital length of stay., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2020, Mohammed Abdul et al.)

Background: Currently, 33 states in the United States along with the District of Columbia have legalised cannabis in some forms. There is a paucity of data on the impact of legalisation of cannabis use on hospitalisations due to cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS)., Aim: To study the trends in CVS-related hospitalisations and cannabis use in CVS in relation to legalisation of recreational cannabis use in Colorado., Methods: All hospital admissions in Colorado between 2010 and 2014 with the diagnosis of CVS were identified using the Colorado State Inpatient Database. Five-year trends in CVS-related hospitalisations along with the cannabis use were analysed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine predictors of cannabis use in CVS., Results: There was a significant increase in CVS-related hospitalisations by 46% from 806 in 2010 to 1180 in 2014 when CVS was included as all-listed diagnoses (P < 0.001). The overall prevalence of cannabis use in CVS (13% with CVS as primary diagnosis and 17% with CVS as all-listed diagnoses) was much higher than non-CVS-related hospitalisations (1.7%) (P < 0.001 for both comparisons). Cannabis use increased dramatically in both CVS and non-CVS-related hospitalisations following legalisation of cannabis for recreational use in 2012., Conclusion: Our study shows a significant increase in CVS-related hospitalisations concomitant with an increase in cannabis use with its liberalisation in Colorado. Future studies on the relationship between cannabis use and hyperemesis are warranted, especially with its ongoing legalisation in the United States., (© 2018 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.)

Introduction Although medical students in the United States frequently rotate on a non-resident hospitalist team, there is a paucity of literature on their perceptions regarding such rotation. We sought to assess the perceptions of third-year medical students (M3s) regarding a non-resident hospitalist rotation. Methods We conducted a web-based survey of M3s who had previously rotated on a non-resident hospitalist service. We assessed their perceptions regarding patient assignments and complexities, rounding preferences, barriers to learning, and the benefits of the rotation. A descriptive analysis was performed on the responses. Results Out of 49 respondents, 47% preferred carrying a maximum of three patients during rounds and 57% preferred patients with fewer comorbidities. Fifty-one percent preferred rounding on all patients covered by the team as opposed to rounding on their assigned patients only. Despite several perceived benefits of the rotation, students also identified various barriers to learning while rotating in a non-resident hospitalist rotation. Conclusions Our study evaluated the perceptions of M3s regarding the ideal patient load, patient complexities, barriers to learning and various benefits of a non-resident hospitalist rotation. The students' perceptions can potentially be addressed and incorporated to make the non-resident hospitalist rotation more educational for the students., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Objective: The risk of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has not been well studied in patients with lymphoma. We thus sought to determine the risk of CDI in hospitalizations with lymphoma along with its trend, outcomes, and predictors using a large database., Methods: Hospital discharge data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) from 2007 to 2011 were used for the study. Using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes, all adult patients aged 18 years or older having a primary diagnosis of lymphoma were queried for the presence of CDI as any of the secondary diagnoses. The risk of CDI in lymphoma and its yearly trend were assessed. We performed multivariate logistic regression to determine the independent risk factors of CDI in lymphoma. Furthermore, we studied mortality and other adverse outcomes of CDI in patients with lymphoma., Results: There were 236,312 discharges (weighted) with the primary diagnosis of lymphoma. CDI was present in 2.13% of patients with lymphoma versus 0.8% in the nonlymphoma group ( P < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, the significant predictors of CDI in lymphoma were presence of infection (odds ratio [OR] 3.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.7-3.6), stem cell transplant (OR 2.7, 95% CI 2.3-3.4), graft-versus-host disease (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.4-2.8), race (Asian vs white, OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1-2.4), chemotherapy (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.4-1.8), gastrointestinal surgery (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.2-1.7), and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) (CCI of 2 vs 0-1: OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.1-1.4; CCI of 3 vs 0-1: OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.03-1.6). CDI in lymphoma was associated with worse hospital outcomes such as increased mortality (17% vs 8%), increased length of stay (23.6 vs 9.9 days), mean total hospital charges ($197,015 vs $79,392), rate of intubation (13% vs 4% vs 13%), and rate of total parenteral nutrition (11% vs 3%)., Conclusions: Hospitalization with lymphoma was associated with an increased risk of CDI. The significant predictors for CDI in lymphoma were infection, stem cell transplant, graft-versus-host disease, race, chemotherapy, gastrointestinal surgery, and Charlson Comorbidity Index. CDI in lymphoma was associated with increased mortality and other adverse outcomes warranting a need of more vigilance for CDI in patients with lymphoma.

Background and Aim: Pancreatic cancer is one of the common cancers in US and is associated with high mortality and morbidity. The objectives of our study were to look at the recent trends in the number of hospitalizations with pancreatic cancer., Methods: We identified patients with a discharge diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in the National Inpatient Sample from 2007 to 2011 using International Classification of Diseases-Clinical Modification, 9th revision (ICD-9-CM) codes. We looked at the yearly trend in the hospitalizations with pancreatic cancer and the outcomes which included length of stay (LOS), hospital charges and in-hospital mortality. We also performed multivariate analysis to look for the predictors of mortality., Results: There were 450, 414 patients with discharge diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. There was 18% increase in hospitalizations with pancreatic cancer in 2011 compared to 2007. Most of the patients were Caucasian (63%) with the mean age of 68 ± 0.14 years, had Medicare (57%) as primary insurance, were from Southern region (35%) and had higher Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) (87% with CCI > = 5). 6% underwent Whipple's procedure in the index hospitalization. After the adjustment for inflation, the mean hospital charges increased from $ 47,331 in 20007 to $ 53, 854 in 2011 (p = 0.01). LOS decreased from 7.31 ± 0.11 days in 2007 to 6.70 ± 0.09 days in 2011 (<0.001). Despite the increase in the number of hospitalizations of patients with pancreatic cancer, mortality decreased from 9.8% in 2007 to 8.1% in 2011 (p<0.001). On multivariate analysis, the independent factors associated with higher mortality were older age, male sex African-American race, insurance status other than Medicare, higher CCI and enrollment in palliative care. There was regional variation in mortality. Whipple's procedure conferred lower mortality., Conclusions: Our study showed downward trends in LOS and in-hospital mortality despite increasing hospitalizations with pancreatic cancer., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is significantly impacted in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Many studies have assessed HRQoL in patients of all ages, and few focus on the elderly., Aim: To determine the influence of advanced age (> 65 years) and age at diagnosis on patients with IBD., Methods: This is a retrospective study of prospectively collected data from a single IBD tertiary referral center. Patients had disease activity indices [Harvey-Bradshaw index (HBI), Ulcerative Colitis Disease Activity Index (UCDAI), and Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (SIBDQ)] recorded during every clinic visit. Three groups of patients: > 65 years, 41-64 years, and < 40 years with > 5 SIBDQ entries were included. Influence of disease type, disease duration, extent of involvement, and comorbidities such as cardiovascular (CV) disease, pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus (DM), and psychological disorders were noted as confounders. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and logistic regression model., Results: Disease severity indices significantly affected SIBDQ score in both Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) (p < 0.001 for HBI in CD, p < 0.001 UCDAI in UC). Disease extent (p = 0.011) and psychological disorders (p < 0.001) significantly affected SIBDQ score in CD. Chronological age, age at diagnosis, disease duration, number of clinic visits, CV disease, pulmonary disease, and DM were not significant predictors of SIBDQ score (p > 0.05)., Conclusions: HRQoL was negatively influenced by disease extent and psychological disorders in CD but not in UC patients. Advanced age was not a predictor of poor HRQoL in both CD and UC.

Cyclic-vomiting syndrome (CVS) is a chronic functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of nausea and vomiting. Although once thought to be a pediatric disorder, there has been a considerable increase in recognition of CVS in adults. The exact pathogenesis is unknown and several theories have been proposed. Migraine and CVS share a similar pathophysiology as suggested by several studies. Since there are no specific biomarkers available for this disorder, physicians should rely on Rome criteria for the diagnosis. Due to the lack of randomized control trials, the treatment of CVS is primarily empirical.

Background Writing and presenting case reports has educational benefits for medical students by providing them a platform for involvement in scholarly activities and promoting scientific writing and critical thinking. This study assesses medical students' perceived benefits, challenges, and barriers regarding the process of writing and presenting case reports. Methods A qualtrics survey was emailed to 225 fourth-year medical students of the Medical College of Wisconsin. All of the questions in the survey were focused on obtaining the students' perceptions of factors facilitating the writing or presenting of case reports, its benefits, and the perceived challenges and barriers to writing and presenting case reports. Responses were obtained on a five-point Likert scale. We performed conventional quantitative analysis on all the responses and analyzed the data as respective proportions. A comparison between the responses of those who have and have not presented case reports previously was performed using a chi-square test or Fischer exact test. Results Of the 84 medical students who completed the survey, 67% said they have not written or presented case reports in regional or national meetings. Ninety-nine percent of the total students believed ('agreed' or 'strongly agreed') that finding a good mentor was an important factor in facilitating the process of writing and presenting case reports, and 98% perceived finding an interesting case as equally important. The top three perceived benefits of writing or presenting case reports included improving scientific-writing skills (95%), enhancing curriculum vitae (CV) and securing residency positions (93%), and improving presentation skills (90%). The main perceived barriers to writing or presenting case reports included lack of formal training (74%) and lack of a mentor (71%). In a subgroup analysis, 95% of students who have never previously written or presented a case report, versus 79% of students who have done so, perceived that a lack of formal training and/or a lack of a mentor were major barriers to writing or presenting case reports (p=0.054). Conclusion Our study shows that the majority of M4s reported that they have not written or presented any case reports and that writing case reports has multiple educational values with considerable barriers. Our findings highlight the importance of good mentorship and formal training in case report writing., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Patients with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) are at a higher risk of ischemic stroke (IS) and intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). There is limited data available on risk factors and outcomes associated with IS and ICH in LVAD patients., Methods: All patients >18 years of age with an LVAD were identified based on the U.S. Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from the year 2007 to 2011. Patients with a discharge diagnosis of IS were compared to those without IS. In a separate analysis, patients with a discharge diagnosis of ICH were compared to patients without ICH. Trends, predictors and outcomes of IS and ICH were analyzed using a multivariate regression model., Results: Out of 17,323 discharges with a primary diagnosis of heart failure with LVAD, 624 (3.6%) patients had a co-diagnosis of IS and 387 (2.2%) had a co-diagnosis of ICH. From 2007 to 2011, the discharge diagnosis of heart failure with LVAD increased from 946 to 5,540, but the proportion of patients with IS remained about 3.4%, while the incidence of ICH decreased from 3.8% in 2007 to a plateau of around 2.2% in the following years. After adjusting for potential confounders, increasing Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) score was an independent predictor of IS and ICH. In-hospital mortality was four-fold higher in the IS group (odds ratio: 4.2; 95% CI: 2.3-7.6; P<0.0001) and 18-fold higher in the ICH group (OR: 18; 95% CI: 9-34, P<0.0001). Renal disease (OR: 5.3; CI: 1.3-22.1; P=0.02), liver disease (OR: 4.9; CI: 1.1-21.2; P=0.03) and abnormal coagulation profile (OR: 4.8; CI: 1.6-14.4; P=0.01) were independent predictors of mortality in LVAD patients with IS. Presence of diabetes mellitus (OR 4.3, P=0.1) and liver disease (or 2.8, P=0.2) showed trends towards predicting mortality in LVAD patients with ICH but did not reach statistical significance., Conclusions: Increasing comorbidity burden significantly increases the risk of both IS and ICH with LVAD. In our cohort, the incidence of IS and ICH increases the mortality 4- and 18-fold, respectively. Renal disease, liver disease and abnormal coagulation profile were independent predictors of mortality in LVAD patients with IS., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Background: Although sepsis is a known risk factor for cardiac arrhythmias, data on incidence and outcomes of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias in severe sepsis is limited. The purpose of this study is to examine the association of severe sepsis with cardiac arrhythmias and their impact on outcome in this patient population., Methods: We used hospital discharge data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) during the year 2012. All patients 18 years or older were included in the study. The International Classification of Diseases-Clinical Modification, 9th revision (ICD-9-CM) code was used to identify patients with discharge diagnosis of severe sepsis, atrial fibrillation (A Fib), atrial flutter (AFL), ventricular fibrillation (VF) arrest and non-ventricular fibrillation (non-VF) arrest. In order to study the association of arrhythmias with severe sepsis, two groups were defined: group a-with severe sepsis was compared to group b-without severe sepsis. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression methods were used to adjust for potential confounding factors and variables associated with cardiac arrhythmias were determined., Results: A total of 30,712,524 NIS hospital discharges (weighted for national estimate) were included in our study, of which 1,756,965 (5.7%) had severe sepsis. On multivariate analysis, after adjusting for potential confounders, severe sepsis was associated with higher risk of A Fib (OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.21-1.24), AFL (OR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.30-1.40), VF arrest (OR, 2.58; 95% CI, 2.38-2.79) (OR, 3.31; 95% CI, 3.07-3.57) and non-VF arrest (OR, 4.91; 95% CI, 4.74-5.07). In the severe sepsis group, cardiac arrhythmia was associated with higher in-hospital mortality (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.37-1.45), length of stay (LOS) >75% quartile (OR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.46-1.53) and total hospital charges >75% quartile (OR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.34-1.41). Advanced age, male sex, ischemic heart disease, diabetes mellitus (DM), congestive heart failure (CHF), valvular heart disease, respiratory failure, mechanical ventilation and use of vasopressors were independently associated with cardiac arrhythmias., Conclusions: Patients with severe sepsis are at high risk of atrial and life threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Despite adjustment for potential confounding factors, patients hospitalized with severe sepsis carry a significantly higher risk for cardiac arrest and increased mortality., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Background: Risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is well established; however, there is paucity of data on the potential added risk of VTE in patients with IBD with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). We sought to study the difference in VTE rates in hospitalized patients with IBD with CDI compared to those without CDI., Methods: We queried Nationwide Inpatient Sample from year 2011 to identify patients ≥18 years of age with a discharge diagnosis of IBD (i.e., Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis) based on ICD-9-CM codes 555.xx and 556.xx, respectively. Patients were further divided into 2 groups: those with and without CDI. To adjust and control for potential baseline differences between groups, 1:1 propensity matching was performed. Multivariate regression analysis was used to evaluate the difference in VTE rates in 2 groups., Results: Of 312,147 patients with the discharge diagnosis of IBD, 12,560 (4%) had CDI. VTE was present 6% in group with CDI versus 3% in group without CDI (P < 0.001). On performing multivariate analysis after propensity-score matching, CDI was significantly associated with VTE (adjusted odds ratio 1.7, 95% confidence interval 1.4-2.2, P < 0.001). On subgroup analysis, Crohn's disease with CDI had a higher association with VTE compared with Crohn's disease only. Similarly, ulcerative colitis with CDI had a higher association with VTE compared with ulcerative colitis only., Conclusions: Rate of VTE was higher in hospitalized patients with IBD with CDI compared with those without CDI, necessitating extra vigilance in this patient population.

Background: Data on cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) are limited to studies from tertiary care centers. There is a paucity of information about CVS on a national scale., Aim: To study the clinical characteristics, comorbidities, and hospital outcomes in patients hospitalized with CVS using a nationwide database., Methods: We identified all hospitalizations associated with a primary diagnosis of CVS in 2010 and 2011 using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample with an age category of 18-55 years. A 1:2 random sample of non-CVS hospitalizations with the same age category was obtained, and comparisons between groups were made. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine comorbidities independently associated with CVS., Results: Our study included 20,952 CVS and 44,262 non-CVS patients. CVS patients tended to be younger, male, and white compared to non-CVS patients. On multivariate analysis, CVS was significantly associated with comorbidities including dysautonomia, migraine, anxiety, marijuana use, irritable bowel syndrome, gastroparesis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, asthma, cigarette smoking, and hypertension. CVS patients underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy, colonoscopy, and gastric emptying tests more frequently. They had more favorable hospital outcomes like more routine discharges (discharge to home/self-care), lower mortality, and shorter length of stay but tended to leave against medical advice more frequently. CVS patients incurred total hospital charges of about $400 million over the 2 years., Conclusions: Our study showed that CVS is associated with several comorbidities and incurred substantial health care costs despite benign outcomes. Efforts to optimize therapy of CVS, manage comorbid conditions and reduce healthcare utilization are warranted.

Background/aims: There is a paucity of population-based studies on the association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and depression in the U.S. population. We sought to study this association using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database., Methods: We used NHANES data from 2009 to 2010. Our study included 190,269,933 U.S. adults without IBD and 2,325,226 with IBD. We sought to determine whether IBD is an independent risk factor for depressive symptoms (DS) in the U.S. population and studied the independent predictors of DS in IBD population., Results: DS was present in 49% of the IBD population versus 23% of the non-IBD population (p<0.001). During the multivariate analysis, we found that IBD was independently associated with DS in the U.S. population (p=0.002). The independent predictors of DS in the IBD population were older age (p=0.048) and divorced/separated/widowed status (p=0.005). There was nonsignificant increase in suicidal risk in IBD population with DS versus that in non-IBD population with DS (27% vs 12%, respectively, p=0.080). Only 36% of IBD individuals with DS visited mental health professional or psychiatrist within the past year., Conclusions: IBD is independently associated with DS in the U.S. population. Further research is warranted on risk stratification, screening and management of those with IBD who are at risk of depression.

Objectives: This study sought to assess the impact of morbid obesity on outcomes in patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA)., Background: Obesity is associated with increased risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; however, little is known about survival of morbidly obese patients with IHCA., Methods: Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database from 2001 to 2008, we identified adult patients undergoing resuscitation for IHCA, including those with morbid obesity (body mass index ≥40 kg/m 2 ) by using International Classification of Diseases 9th edition codes and clinical outcomes. Outcomes including in-hospital mortality, length of stay, and discharge dispositions were identified. Logistic regression model was used to examine the independent association of morbid obesity with mortality., Results: Of 1,293,071 IHCA cases, 27,469 cases (2.1%) were morbidly obese. The overall mortality was significantly higher for the morbidly obese group than for the nonobese group experiencing in-hospital non-ventricular fibrillation (non-VF) (77% vs. 73%, respectively; p = 0.006) or VF (65% vs. 58%, respectively; p = 0.01) arrest particularly if cardiac arrest happened late (>7 days) after hospitalization. Discharge to home was significantly lower in the morbidly obese group (21% vs. 31%, respectively; p = 0.04). After we adjusted for baseline variables, morbid obesity remained an independent predictor of increased mortality. Other independent predictors of mortality were age and severe sepsis for non-VF and VF group and venous thromboembolism, cirrhosis, stroke, malignancy, and rheumatologic conditions for non-VF group., Conclusions: The overall mortality of morbidly obese patients after IHCA is worse than that for nonobese patients, especially if IHCA occurs after 7 days of hospitalization and survivors are more likely to be transferred to a skilled nursing facility., (Copyright © 2017 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Opinion Statement: Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) is a chronic functional gastrointestinal disorder that is characterized by episodic nausea and vomiting. Initially thought to only affect children, CVS in adults was often misdiagnosed with significant delays in therapy. Over the last decade, there has been a considerable increase in recognition of CVS in adults but there continues to be a lack of knowledge about management of this disorder. This paper seeks to provide best practices in the treatment of CVS and also highlight some novel therapies that have the potential in better treating this disorder in the future. Due to the absence of randomized control trials, we provide recommendations based on review of the available literature and expert consensus on the therapy of CVS. This paper will discuss prophylactic and abortive therapy and general measures used to treat an episode of CVS and also discuss pathophysiology as it pertains to novel therapy. Recent recognition of the association of chronic marijuana use with cyclic vomiting has led to the possibility of a new diagnosis called "Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome," which is indistinguishable from CVS. The treatment for this purported condition is abstinence from marijuana despite scant evidence that marijuana use is causative. Hence, this review will also discuss emerging data on the role for the endocannabinoid system in CVS and therapeutic agents targeting the endocannabinoid system, which offer the potential of transforming the care of these patients.

Background: The benefit of statins in the prevention of cardiovascular disease is well founded, derived from their lipid lowering and pleiotropic effects. The concept of lipoproteins as lipid transporters has evolved to encompass functions in coagulation, inflammation, and redox reactions due to their unique protein cargo. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of statin therapy on lipoproteins and their protein cargo by use of an unbiased bottom-up proteomics approach in people with hypercholesterolaemia., Methods: 11 people fulfilling the inclusion criteria were recruited into this UK-based single centre prospective observational study. They were started on statins for primary prevention. Blood was withdrawn at baseline and after a minimum of 2 months of statin therapy. Plasma was co-incubated with a lipoaffinity resin. Isolated proteins were digested and analysed with label-free two-dimensional liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray high-definition ion mobility tandem mass spectrometry., Findings: 218 proteins were identified with Progenesis QI software, with 33 proteins demonstrating significant differential expression between the pre-statin and the on-statin samples (each p<0·05). 17 proteins were upregulated by statin therapy, including proteins concerned with cytoskeletal organisation (vinculin p<0·0001, tropomyosin α4 p=0·0108), antioxidative (peroxiredoxin 2 p=0·0092), and anti-inflammatory effects (transgelin-2 p=0·0071). Apolipoprotein B100 was downregulated by statin therapy, consistent with it mechanism of action (p=0·0006). Statin therapy downregulated novel proteins concerned with the modulation of pancreatic β-cell function (adipsin p=0·0056) and haemopoietic precursor proliferation (stem cell growth factor p<0·0001)., Interpretation: Our findings show that statins remodel the cytoskeletal architecture and mediate various anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiproliferative effects that might limit endothelial dysfunction. The downregulation of adipsin, a novel adipokine that stimulates insulin secretion, could explain the controversial link between statin use and the development of diabetes. This study extends our understanding of the beneficial and harmful pleiotropic effects of statin therapy., Funding: British Heart Foundation., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Patients with chronic kidney disease including renal transplant recipients (RTRs) have a markedly higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease than the general population. Many trials have established the role of statins in the prevention of cardiovascular mortality, not only by decreasing the low density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels but also by their pleotropic effects. These data from the general population may not be applicable to RTRs as these patients have different cardiovascular risk profiles. Till date, only a few prospective, randomized trials have assessed the use of statins in RTRs with regards to cardiovascular outcomes. The Assessment of Lescol in Renal Transplant trial, the largest trial so far, suggested that dyslipidemia management with statins in RTRs is associated with a significant reduction in the incidence of cardiac death and nonfatal myocardial infarction (although differences in the combined primary end point were not statistically significant). The current guidelines from National Kidney Foundation for managing dyslipidemia in RTRs recommend managing all chronic kidney disease patients as a coronary heart disease equivalent. The task group for drafting these guidelines concluded that based on the currently available evidence, additional studies may be needed in RTRs to confirm and extend the results of Assessment of Lescol in Renal Transplant trial.