Mifepristone (RU 486) is a potent antiprogestin, but when it is administered alone in early pregnancy, termination of the pregnancy is incomplete in 20 percent or more of women¹–³. This relative lack of efficacy may be due to an insufficient increase in ...

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia has been the most frequent life-threatening opportunistic infection in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),¹,² but its incidence has fallen with the use of primary prophylaxis in persons with CD4+ T-...

More than half of patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have adverse effects when they are treated with either pentamidine or trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole¹. In laboratory animals a 1,4-hydroxynaphthoquinone designated as 566C80, or ...

Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in women in the United States¹. Gravidity or parity may be associated with an increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease in women, possibly because of elevations in blood glucose² and lipid ...

Fundamental to the maintenance of water balance in humans is the rate at which the kidneys excrete free water, which is primarily regulated by arginine vasopressin. The antidiuretic action of arginine vasopressin requires the binding of the hormone to the ...

Hereditary nephrogenic diabetes insipidus is a rare, X-linked disorder manifested by an inability to concentrate the urine despite high plasma concentrations of arginine vasopressin or the administration of large doses of vasopressin or its analogues¹,². ...

Figure 1. Pneumocystic Abscesses of the Spleen.

A computed tomographic scan of the spleen in an adult infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, who had a recurrence of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia despite secondary prophylaxis with aerosolized ...

The discovery that progesterone blocked ovulation and the development of the combined oral contraceptive pill in the 1950s were landmarks in the control of human fertility¹,². By providing women with a reliable method of regulating their fertility, the ...

Presentation of Case

A 71-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because of a rash, diffuse muscle weakness, and respiratory failure.

There was a long history of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and alcoholism. The patient had been in stable health ...

Rarely has an important scientific advance been the subject of as much political, ideological, and social controversy as mifepristone (RU 486). The development of a safe and effective antiprogestin compound had been the goal of researchers in the field of ...

The maintenance of plasma osmolality within a remarkably narrow range is achieved by very sensitive mechanisms that regulate thirst and the release of the antidiuretic hormone arginine vasopressin from the posterior pituitary gland. Vasopressin reduces ...

To the Editor: We are pleased that Figueroa et al. (Dec. 3 issue)¹ have reaffirmed the effectiveness of alglucerase (Ceredase) in reducing the manifestations of Gaucher's disease with a previously published,²,³ relatively low-dose regimen. However, we ...

To the Editor: Dr. Groop and colleagues (Jan. 7 issue)¹ reported that, in Finland, the A₂ allele of the XbaI polymorphism of the glycogen synthase gene is associated with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and identifies a subgroup of ...

To the Editor: Masur (Dec. 24 issue)¹ reviewed the prevention and treatment of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). Two strategies to reduce the toxic effects of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (...

To the Editor: Sabia et al. (Dec. 24 issue)¹ used myocardial contrast echocardiography to assess collateral flow, on the basis of experimental validation studies. The accuracy of this method in determining collateral flow in humans with chronic coronary ...

To the Editor: Kowey et al. (Dec. 24 issue)¹ described four patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillator devices who had nocturnal sensations of cardioversion, in some instances with observed “jolting” and verbal outcries. These episodes resemble ...

To the Editor: I do not know how many oncologists might use the dosages of chemotherapy described by McKeage et al. (Jan. 14 issue),¹ and thus how important this correction will be; however, the dosage intended was probably 100 mg of cisplatin and 500 to ...

To the Editor: In Images in Clinical Medicine, Klempner and Molloy (Dec. 17 issue)¹ showed a young man with Lyme disease who had erythema chronicum migrans and “Bell's palsy.” The term “Bell's palsy,” from the Scottish anatomist and surgeon,² is reserved ...

To the Editor: The article by Annas on compulsory payment for unwanted treatment (Dec. 24 issue)¹ mentions the recommendations of the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. Annas supports the recommendation that no hospital or attending physician ...

To the Editor: A 62-year-old physician from Moscow was admitted to the emergency department of the University Hospital in Vienna because of fainting after eating at a medical-convention banquet. In the ambulance on the way to the hospital, atrial ...

Lewis Thomas has noted that doctors “are as frightened and bewildered by the act of death as everyone else”¹. “Death is shocking, dismaying, even terrifying,” Thomas has written. “A dying patient is a kind of freak . . . an offense against nature itself”¹...

“'Organized skepticism' is alive and well in neonatal medicine and in obstetrics.” So states William Silverman in the foreword to Effective Care of the Newborn Infant, edited by John Sinclair and Michael Bracken. Indeed, this collection of reviews of the ...

The pediatric pathologist is more of a generalist than a specialist. The small number of pediatric pathologists does not allow subspecialization in an organ system or specific technology, which is the trend in other areas of pathology. It is therefore ...

This book is a welcome addition to the increasing number of books on pediatric and perinatal pathology. Together with the recent atlas Pathology of the Human Embryo and Previable Fetus by D.K. Kalousek, N. Fitch, and B.A. Paradice (New York: Springer-...

Practical Pediatric Oncology, a succinctly written 400-page textbook, provides the physician with a practical data base for the diagnosis and day-to-day management of cancer in children. It contains three major divisions encompassing 41 informative ...

Over the past two decades, there has been heightened interest in the subject of blood pressure and hypertension in infants, children, and adolescents. This interest has been stimulated by a number of factors, prominent among which are the realization that ...

Comprehensive Adolescent Health Care is an encyclopedic textbook dealing with the physical and mental health of teenagers. The authors represent many different disciplines -- there are physicians from many specialties, as well as behavioral and education ...

This book has long been needed. It is a clear, concise, well-written treatise on the evaluation and management of sexual abuse in children and adolescents. It will be of most use to clinicians engaged in the psychological evaluation and treatment of ...