After declining throughout the 20th century, the incidence of tuberculosis in the United States began to increase in the late 1980s¹,². The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic is believed to have had a central role in this rise³. In ...

Modern chemotherapy, appropriately prescribed and administered, cures 98 to 99 percent of cases of previously untreated pulmonary tuberculosis if the disease is caused by drug-susceptible Mycobacterium tuberculosis¹. Tubercle bacilli not previously ...

Physical activity beyond a certain level and duration is necessary to improve physical fitness¹ and may be an important factor in the prevention of death from ischemic heart disease². Since physical activity is more difficult to quantify than the level of ...

Physical-activity level, physical fitness, and other modifiable lifestyle characteristics may influence the risk of chronic disease and premature death¹–¹⁸. Changes in lifestyle may therefore promote optimal health and longevity. Harvard College archives ...

The stiff-man syndrome is a rare disorder of the central nervous system characterized by fluctuating but progressive muscle rigidity and spasms¹,². Sixty percent of the patients with this syndrome have autoantibodies directed against glutamic acid ...

Figure 1. Endoscopic Laser Third Ventriculostomy.

A 37-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because she had had headaches for two years. A neurologic examination was remarkable for the absence of retinal venous pulsations. Magnetic resonance ...

The solitary thyroid nodule, defined as a palpably discrete swelling within an otherwise apparently normal gland, is usually a benign lesion. However, patient and physician alike are typically concerned about the possibility of thyroid cancer. This review ...

Radiotherapy is curative for localized Hodgkin's disease,¹,² and there is now general agreement that advanced Hodgkin's disease can be cured by chemotherapy. This opinion is bolstered by the 20-year survival experience of the original group of patients ...

Presentation of Case

A 62-year-old woman was seen in the neuro-oncology clinic because of a question of a suprasellar tumor.

There was a 15-to-20-year history of “migraine headaches,” with nausea and vomiting. The patient was well otherwise until six ...

In his 1772 account of angina pectoris, the English physician William Heberden described a patient who “set himself a task of sawing wood for half an hour every day, and was nearly cured”¹. More recently, the question of whether regular physical activity ...

In many areas of the United States the battle against tuberculosis is being lost. Two major markers of this failure are the increasing incidence of tuberculosis and the rising prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculous infection. The recent epidemics of ...

To the Editor: In a randomized, controlled trial, Merlano et al. (Oct. 15 issue)¹ present data showing improved overall survival and progression-free survival among patients with advanced head and neck cancer treated by alternating radiotherapy and ...

To the Editor: The results of a randomized trial reported by Gordon et al. (Nov. 5 issue)¹ indicate that a chemotherapeutic regimen containing cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) and one containing bleomycin, doxorubicin, ...

To the Editor: The report of Aguayo et al. (Oct. 29 issue)¹ concerning “idiopathic” diffuse hyperplasia of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells associated with airway disease hypothesizes that these cells underwent primary hyperplasia. Although a small ...

To the Editor: I very much enjoyed reading the Clinical Problem-Solving article “Treating before Knowing” (Nov. 5 issue).¹ Perhaps it was the discussant's training as a nephrologist that caused him to zero in on the glomerulonephritis. It was also ...

To the Editor: In the Nov. 5 issue of the Journal, Gellert et al.¹ wrote about the benefits of the disclosure of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection by celebrities, saying that “such disclosures have an impressive effect on the public health.” ...

To the Editor: Many persons report ocular fatigue after prolonged work at video display terminals, in part prompting legislation regulating the use of these terminals¹. Since one of the main causes of ocular fatigue is dry eyes, we hypothesized that this ...

To the Editor: Red-man syndrome is a well-known erythematous reaction involving the upper trunk in patients who have received vancomycin¹. The flushing may be associated with pruritus and hypotension. It appears to be caused by histamine, other mediators,...

Very little formal training in the disposition of workers' compensation cases is provided in today's residency-training programs, no matter what the specialty. Most physicians who examine and treat patients covered by workers' compensation have learned ...

These four books have as their common subject the largest, most complex joint in the human body -- the knee. Beyond that, their focus and intended audiences are quite different.

The book edited by Laskin deals with a single operative procedure, total knee ...

In the past several years, there has been a great deal of interest among surgeons in the spine and in new operative techniques for dealing with diseases of the spinal cord and vertebral column. We have also seen the emergence of spinal surgery as a ...

All surgery is, in essence, an exercise in applied anatomy. This new textbook offers an explication of surgical techniques for the urinary system, grounded in the anatomical relations of the organs involved. The book achieves its aim with varying degrees ...

Total hip arthroplasty has become one of the most commonly performed operations in orthopedic surgery. In the 1970s this operation was considered to be a challenging procedure requiring specialized training, but in the 1990s it is a mainstay of the ...

In the preface to this new book, Drs. Yao and Pearce of the Northwestern University Medical School state that their purpose is “to examine the recent growth of technologies and their effectiveness in the diagnosis and treatment of vascular problems.” ...

In their history of tuberculosis, The White Plague, Rene and Jean Dubos note that the first national movement to control tuberculosis in the United States came from the Medico-Legal Society of the City of New York, a group of lawyers, scientists, and ...