DESPITE a substantial decline in infant mortality in the United States during the past five decades, profound racial disparities in infant mortality persist. Nationally, black infants continue to be at least twice as likely to die in the first year of ...

CUSHING'S SYNDROME is usually caused by excess corticotropin secretion, in which both adrenal glands are diffusely enlarged, or by an adrenal tumor. The tumor is usually autonomous and corticotropin-independent, but we have described a patient in whom ...

THE most common causes of spontaneous Cushing's syndrome are hypersécrétion of corticotropin, from either a pituitary adenoma or a non-endocrine tumor, and unilateral adrenal tumors.^{1 , 2} Although they are generally considered autonomous, adrenal tumors ...

ON the basis of electrophysiologic studies,^{1 , 2} electrophysiologic drug testing has been proposed as a means to assess the efficacy of antiarrhythmic agents and guide the long-term treatment of patients who have survived sustained ventricular tachycardia ...

NITROUS OXIDE is a widely used inhalation analgesic. In hospitals, it is usually a carrier gas for other, more potent anesthetics. In dental offices, it is administered with oxygen, primarily as a sedative to reduce anxiety. Nitrous oxide is also used in ...

HYPERTENSIVE heart disease can be defined as the response of the heart to the afterload imposed on the left ventricle by the progressively increasing arterial pressure and total peripheral resistance produced by hypertensive vascular disease. Although the ...

The physician of a 59-year-old man with a long history of mild, labile hypertension became concerned when, despite drug therapy, the patient's blood pressure remained persistently elevated, reaching levels as high as 180/120 mm Hg. He ordered a test of ...

Presentation of Case

A 49-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and weight loss.

The patient was well until six years earlier, when splenomegaly was found. The hematocrit ranged up to 55.1 percent, the ...

From the standpoint of both science and social policy, it is important to focus on the more than twofold disparity in mortality between black and white infants in the United States. This disparity turns partly on the risk of low-birth-weight infants (...

Spontaneous Cushing's syndrome is usually divided into that which is dependent on corticotropin and that which is not. In the first category are Cushing's disease, the ectopic corticotropin syndrome, and the very rare ectopic corticotropin-releasing—...

Nitrous oxide, popularly referred to as "laughing gas" because of its ability to cause euphoria, has been known for almost two centuries.¹ By the middle of the 19th century it was being used frequently and successfully as an anesthetic, and it has been ...

To the Editor: Lewis and colleagues (May 21 issue)¹ compared treatment of lupus nephritis with plasmapheresis plus an eight-week standard regimen of prednisone and cyclophosphamide with treatment with the standard regimen alone. They concluded that ...

To the Editor: In their randomized study (May 21 issue),¹ Miller et al. established the ineffectiveness of plasma exchange as a single treatment for corticosteroid-resistant polymyositis or dermatomyositis in 39 patients. In my own prospective, ...

To the Editor: In his article on atrial fibrillation, Dr. Pritchett (May 7 issue)¹ did not mention atrial fibrillation after coronary-artery bypass surgery. Atrial arrhythmias, especially atrial fibrillation, occur in 5 to 40 percent of patients after ...

To the Editor: In their otherwise excellent article (May 21 issue),¹ Kelen et al. understate the risk of acquisition of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection by health care workers as compared with the risk of acquisition of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)...

To the Editor: Intravenous immune globulin has been proposed as a safe and effective treatment for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy¹ and, more recently, the Guillain—Barré syndrome.² We describe two patients with inflammatory ...

To the Editor: Adrenalectomy is usually performed by either the transabdominal or the lumbar approach. Both procedures can be painful and require several days of recovery. Recently, laparoscopic surgery has been used for the removal of several organs.^{1 ,} ...

To the Editor: The report by Giovannucci et al. (May 21 issue)* of an apparent increase in the risk of lung cancer after vasectomy conspicuously omits data on the smoking habits of the patients' wives. Since nurses unfortunately seem to have a poor ...

This four-volume comprehensive, sophisticated description of digestive physiology is published by the American Physiological Society. Its target audience ranges from graduate-level students through senior research faculty. The field of physiology has been ...

This superbly written book, with contributions from many recognized experts, fills a long-standing void in the gastroenterologic literature. Outstanding contributions include chapters on esophageal varices, fulminant hepatic failure, pseudo-obstruction ...

Burton Korelitz, a recognized authority on gastroenterology, and Norman Sohn, a highly regarded gastrointestinal surgeon, have teamed up and gathered a group of physicians who are on the cutting edge of research into and clinical understanding of ...

Complications of Chronic Liver Disease is a well-written multiauthored textbook that is intended to develop a global view of the multisystem impairment associated with liver disease. This goal has been met. The reader of this book is rewarded with a ...

As stated by the editor, the goal of this new book on hepatobiliary disease was to provide an alternative to the encyclopedic textbooks currently available. This alternative textbook would be practical, comprehensive, and concise. To accomplish this goal, ...

The Large Intestine: Physiology, Pathophysiology, and Disease is a compendium of basic and clinical knowledge written by 60 contributors from the United States and other countries. The book consists of 41 chapters, which are organized in three sections ...

SUBACUTE HEPATIC FAILURE

The international symposium, subtitled "Update in Liver Diseases," will be held in Bombay, India, Nov. 21 and 22.

Contact Dr. Samir Shah, 322 Lamington Rd., K.K. Bldg., 3rd Fl., Bombay 400 007, India; or call (91) 22 3626943.

CALL ...

Effect of Cocaine Use on the Fetus (August 6, 1992;327:399–407). On page 400, in Table 1, the values for adjusted relative risk for smokers and nonsmokers were inadvertently transposed. For the perinatal outcome "Small for gestational age," the correct ...

These guidelines are in accordance with the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals." (The complete document appears in the February 9, 1991, issue of the British Medical Journal and the February 7, 1991, issue of the New ...