Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 206

Pericardial effusion

William Ewart (1848 – 1929): While percussing the posterior chest, dullness at the left lower lung field is Ewart sign of pericardial effusion

Lewis Atterbury Conner (1867-1950): dullness at the left lower lung field is Conner sign.

Heinrich von Bamberger (1822-1888): Disappearance of Ewart or Conner signs when the patient sits up and leans forward is Bamberger sign of pericardial effusion

Bertolotti Syndrome

Sacralisation of the lower lumbar vertebrae. Partial or complete fusion of the transverse process of the L5 vertebra to the sacrum. Associated with scoliosis and symptoms of low back pain and sciatica. It can be unilateral or bilateral.

Bertolotti Syndrome is an atypical cause of low back pain or buttock pain caused by a transitional lumbar vertebrae with a large, “spatulated” transverse process that either fuses with the sacrum (sacral ala) or ilium, or forms a pseudo-articulation at that location (Seen on a lumbar spine AP X-ray).

This is a congenital abnormality, but doesn’t usually become symptomatic until a patient’s 20’s or 30’s.

• Thurston M, Weerakkody Y. Bertolotti syndrome. Radiopaedia
• Jahangiri A. Bertolotti syndrome. Radiopaedia
• Mario Bertolotti (1876-1957)
• Bertolotti M. Contributo alla conoscenza dei vizi differenzazione regionale del rachide con speciale riguardo all assimilazione sacrale della V. lombare. Radiol Med (Torino) 1917; 4: 113-144

Gaëtan Dugas

One of the most demonised patients in history for allegedly spreading HIV to the US

Initially, however, the CDC researcher, who was studying cases in Los Angeles, California, referred to Dugas not as “patient zero”, but as “patient O”, the letter “O” standing for “outside California” and subsequently the term “patient zero” was born.

In 2016 Nature published a report from Dr. Michael Worobey’s team who conducted a genetic study that looked at blood samples taken from gay and bisexual men in 1978 and 1979 as part of a hepatitis B study, and based on the results of the data, concluded that Dugas was not the source of the virus in the U.S.

On the family tree of the virus, Dugas fell in the middle, not at the beginning

Akathisia

A syndrome characterized by an inability to remain seated, with motor restlessness and a feeling of muscular quivering; may appear as a side effect of antipsychotic and neuroleptic medication.

Hawkinsinuria

Also called 4-Alpha-hydroxyphenylpyruvate hydroxylase deficiency, it is an autosomal dominant metabolic disorder affecting the metabolism of tyrosine.

Patients present with metabolic acidosis during the first year of life, which should be treated by a phenylalanine- and tyrosine-restricted diet. The tolerance toward these amino acids normalizes as the patients get older. Then only a chlorine-like smell of the urine indicates the presence of the condition, patients have a normal life and do not require treatment or a special diet.