FAMILIAL hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by unexplained myocardial hypertrophy.^{1 2 3} Diagnosis in childhood is particularly difficult, since the standard clinical and echocardiographic features of the disease ...

SMOKE inhalation has been well established as a cause of death in fire victims.^{1 2 3} The identity of the toxic gases leading to death is uncertain, however. In addition to carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide is a major source of concern. The thermal ...

IT is estimated that over 50 percent of the 100 million electrocardiograms (ECGs) recorded annually in the United States are interpreted with use of a computer.¹ Although many studies have evaluated such computer programs,^{2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15} ...

AMYLOID is a homogeneous, largely extracellular, proteinaceous material with a fibrillar ultrastructure and the property of green birefringence when stained with Congo red and viewed by polarization microscopy. Depending on the associated disease or ...

CHRONIC granulomatous disease is a rare inherited disease characterized by severe recurrent bacterial and fungal infections beginning in childhood.¹ Phagocytes from patients with chronic granulomatous disease exhibit defective killing of ingested ...

IN May 1988, the World Health Assembly declared that the World Health Organization was committed to the global eradication of poliomyelitis by the year 2000.¹ The eradication of poliomyelitis, as with smallpox, involves the additional criterion of the ...

Presentation of Case

First admission. A 66-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because of fever, sweats, and diarrhea.

He was well until three months earlier, when diarrhea began and gradually worsened. Two months before entry, night sweats ...

Smoke is a heterogeneous mixture of particulate matter (carbon particles coated with acids, aldehydes, and acroleins) and heated gases. The gases can be generally classified as irritants, such as hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, and ...

In the United States, more than 50 million electrocardiograms (ECGs) per year are read by computerized ECG-reading systems.¹ Portable equipment that interprets ECGs is now widely available to clinics and physicians. The rapid spread of computerized ECG-...

The cornea is the main refractive element of the eye and the first tissue of the visual system that processes visual images. The cornea has three layers: the epithelium, the stroma, and the endothelium. The epithelium is four to six cell-layers thick and ...

To the Editor: The infant deaths associated with "beanbag pillows" described by Kemp and Thach (June 27 issue)* have interested me a great deal and have stimulated some recent semiscientific experiments in which several other people and I have buried our ...

To the Editor: For short-term, symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee, Bradley et al. (July 11 issue)¹ found the efficacy of acetaminophen to be similar to that of ibuprofen, whether the latter was administered in a high or low dose. ...

To the Editor: The development of successful enzyme-replacement therapy for Gaucher's disease is a major achievement. For the first time, physicians can offer patients with this relatively common disorder a safe and effective treatment. Unfortunately, ...

To the Editor: Progestogens are used in postmenopausal women to oppose the stimulatory effects of estrogen on the endometrium and thereby to prevent endometrial hyperplasia. However, this therapy results in withdrawal bleeding and may also cause mood ...

To the Editor: Burke et al. (April 4 issue)¹ claim that blood cholesterol levels decreased significantly in the Twin Cities between 1980–1982 and 1985–1987, attributing the decrease to both changes in lifestyle and intervention by physicians. Total ...

To the Editor: There may not be any excess of noncardiovascular, noncancer deaths (including deaths from injury, violence, and suicide) in secondary prevention trials of cholesterol lowering. Our previously reported odds ratio of 2.10 (95 percent ...

Robert Wachter's book The Fragile Coalition tells the story of the international conference on the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) held in San Francisco in June 1990. The planning and implementation of that conference, described in the book, are ...

Behavior means observable activity, the things people do and say — what, how, with whom, where, when, and why. Therefore, I would expect a book entitled Behavioral Aspects of AIDS to examine the observed conduct of persons affected by AIDS. I was ...

Ten years into the HIV epidemic, many government officials, including those working in public health, continue to struggle with the social and political issues raised by the design and implementation of successful HIV-prevention programs. The behavior ...

One of the fears aroused by the human-genome project is that the human applications of modern genetic technology may bring about a resurgence of eugenics. There is concern that even the best intentions of scientists, physicians, and philosophers may be ...

The receipt of these books is acknowledged, and this listing must be regarded as sufficient return for the courtesy of the sender. Books that appear to be of particular interest will be reviewed as space permits. The Journal does not publish unsolicited ...

Notices submitted for publication should contain a mailing address and phone number of a contact person or department. We regret we are unable to publish all Notices received.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO, DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY

The following ...

On the basis of laws that more sharply define the legality or illegality of certain medical business practices, the federal government has circumscribed further the limits physicians must observe if they refer patients to independent, "free-standing" ...