BECAUSE of the substantial mortality and morbidity it causes, bacterial meningitis remains a major medical concern throughout the world. Changes in the patterns of susceptibility to standard antibiotics of the organisms most commonly causing meningitis in ...

IT has been hypothesized that a high dietary intake of fiber among people in nonindustrialized countries may confer some protection against cardiovascular disease by lowering serum cholesterol levels and blood pressure.¹ However, direct trials of ...

PERIOPERATIVE antibiotic prophylaxis reduces the risk of postoperative infection in a number of settings. Our knowledge of this effect comes both from studies in animals¹ and from randomized clinical trials.² The clinical trials supporting the use of ...

PNEUMONIA due to infection with Pneumocystis carinii is the most common of the opportunistic diseases included in the diagnosis of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the United States. Furthermore, it is estimated that 75 percent of patients ...

THE identification of factors that correlate with, and possibly contribute to, the outcome of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is important for our understanding of the pathogenesis and natural history of HIV infection and in ...

MORTALITY rates for white and nonwhite Americans have fallen steadily and in parallel since 1930 (Fig. 1). Lower rates for nonwhites have been associated with an improved living standard, better education, and better access to health care.^{1 , 2} These ...

THE development of molecular genetics, both as a self-contained field and as a body of techniques broadly useful in biologic investigation, has had a profound influence on medical research. The beneficiaries include every discipline in basic science and, ...

Presentation of Case

A 66-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, with severe weakness, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal bleeding.

There was a long history of abuse of tobacco and alcohol. The patient was ...

For almost a generation, dietary fiber has been a household word and has carried a remarkably persuasive aura of disease prevention. Both the public and cereal companies have taken up dietary fiber with great enthusiasm. Consumers can now rate breakfast ...

For almost 15 years, I have been straddling the fence between the medical profession and the public that consumes its services. My position as a onetime practicing physician and a current communicator to medical consumers has over the years drawn letters ...

Canada is perceived to have one of the best health care systems in the developed world, publicly funded and providing universal coverage. It has avoided the direct governmental controls of Britain's National Health Service and the increasingly close ...

To the Editor: The editorial and Sounding Board article about ethics and research on the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Africa (Oct. 20, 1988, issue)^{1 , 2} generated much interest in Nairobi. Kenyan ethics committees, established long before ...

To the Editor: Bergkvist and colleagues (Aug. 3 issue)¹ report that an apparent increased risk of breast cancer was associated with the use of estradiol compounds but not with conjugated estrogens or estriol. Regrettably, they do not state either the ...

To the Editor: The report by Schiff et al. (Aug. 10 issue)* regarding the prevention of ppregnancy-induced hypertension through the use of low-dose aspirin is very exciting. As the authors state, aspirin has effects on thromboxane production as well as ...

To the Editor: Accumulating evidence indicates that endothelin consists of three isomers, labeled endothelin-1, endothelin-2, and endothelin-3, and that endothelin-1 is secreted by endothelial cells. These peptides possess potent vasoconstricting ...

To the Editor: This letter calls attention to the plight of American black men. If we compute the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60, it is 16 and 9 percent for American white males and females, respectively.* In comparison, only 5.6 ...

To the Editor: Perrin and colleagues (May 4 issue)¹ report on differences in rates of hospitalization of children in Boston, Rochester, and New Haven. In an accompanying editorial, Wise and Eisenberg² emphasize the importance of poverty in accounting for ...

To the Editor: There is increasing pressure on American scientists to use the Système International (SI) units for plasma or serum cholesterol values.¹ Most journals now require their use; many even refuse to allow the traditional units (milligrams per ...

To the Editor: Papers on specialized subjects communicate with readers in the same field; some embrace more than one field, and the general reader perhaps has to open more than one medical dictionary.

The paper entitled "The Biology of Osteoarthritis" (...

ON January 21, public television stations across the country will air "Near Death," a documentary on decisions about life-sustaining treatment. This six-hour film, the latest work of Frederick Wiseman, is an immersion in the daily life of the medical ...

As medical information continues to evolve, the means for sharing data in a timely manner become progressively more difficult. While journal articles present the results of individual studies, they are narrowly focused. Whether any single research study ...

The variety of new medications for the management of hypertension is overwhelming in both scope and dimension. For this reason alone, a treatise on new strategies in the treatment of hypertension is timely and long overdue. This book will be most useful ...

Here is a procedural manual and morphologic atlas of laboratory hematology. The author presents methods in stepwise fashion: phlebotomy, preparing a blood smear, and performing a blood count with automated instruments. Next is the morphology of normal ...

As the field of transfusion medicine has emerged from its humbler origins of blood banking and immunohematology, increased attention has been given to this rapidly evolving area of therapeutics. These editors have provided a multiauthored textbook to give ...

"Sherlock," as the classic book on diseases of the liver and biliary system is known, has been the standard in the field since its first edition in 1955, and with good reason. Even before the publication of the first edition, Sheila Sherlock was a leading ...

Endoscopic ultrasonography is becoming part of clinical practice in cardiology (transesophageal cardiac imaging), urology (transrectal imaging of the prostate), and proctology (staging of rectal carcinomas). In the discipline of gastroenterology, ...

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Abstracts are being accepted for the "4th Annual Northeastern Sleep Society Meeting," to be held in Boston, March 31 and April 1.

Contact Donna Senato, Medical Postgrad. Div., 75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02115; or call (617) 732–6670.

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