Recipients of allogeneic bone marrow grafts run the risk of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) or graft failure, even when the donor and recipient have identical major histocompatibility antigens and are closely related.¹ These complications may arise from ...

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a frequent and often fatal complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Chemoprophylaxis of the recipient, reduction of the number of T cells in the donor marrow, or both have improved the outcome, but acute ...

The ob gene is an adipocyte-specific gene that encodes leptin, a protein that regulates body weight.¹ In mice, mutations in the ob gene that result in a lack of circulating leptin cause obesity. The administration of recombinant leptin causes weight loss ...

Primary pulmonary hypertension is a disease characterized by the progressive elevation of pulmonary-artery pressure and vascular resistance, ultimately producing right ventricular failure and death.¹–³ A variety of treatments have been used, including ...

Figure 1. A 17-year-old male patient presented with severe pulmonary hypertension of uncertain cause (i.e., primary pulmonary hypertension). A chest x-ray film (Panel A) revealed massive dilatation of the central pulmonary arteries (open arrows) and right ...

The legalization, in some form, of physician-assisted suicide has been the goal of referendums introduced in the states of Washington (defeated in 1991), California (defeated in 1992), and Oregon (passed in 1994, but not yet implemented because of court ...

In November 1994, Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide when voters approved a ballot initiative, the Oregon Death with Dignity Act.¹ Implementation of the measure, however, was quickly barred by an injunction. In August ...

Many pharmacologic advances involve creating compounds that bind and disable proteins. Such compounds include propranolol, which blocks the β-adrenergic receptor; cimetidine, which blocks the H₂ receptor; calcium-channel blockers; angiotensin-converting–...

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A 70-year-old man was brought to the emergency department because of syncope. He had a long history of type II diabetes treated with oral hypoglycemic agents but no history of heart disease, chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations, retinopathy,...

Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and graft rejection are the principal obstacles to successful allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Even among recipients of transplants from HLA-identical siblings, the incidence of severe acute GVHD ranges from ...

The notion that genetic abnormalities contribute to obesity gained important support with the identification of the ob gene and its protein product in 1994.¹ The ob protein, termed “leptin” from the Greek leptos, meaning thin, is produced in adipose ...

On May 25, 1995, the parliament of Australia's Northern Territory passed the Northern Territory Rights of the Terminally Ill Act,¹ making voluntary euthanasia legal. This act allows physicians to prescribe and administer lethal substances to terminally ...

To the Editor: The excellent study of the outcomes and costs of care for low back pain by Carey et al. (Oct. 5 issue)¹ found that chiropractors charged considerably more than primary care physicians but had higher scores for patient satisfaction. Neither ...

To the Editor: With respect to the review of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia by Guttmacher et al. (Oct. 5 issue),¹ we would like to highlight some additional points in the recognition and management of this condition. A hallmark of hereditary ...

To the Editor: The report by Knowles et al. (Sept. 28 issue)¹ and the accompanying editorial² on gene therapy for cystic fibrosis gave a very fair account of some of the difficulties involved. We are concerned, however, that the two articles taken ...

To the Editor: We wish to comment further on the possible risks of hydroxyurea therapy in sickle cell disease, a subject of considerable attention since the results of the Multicenter Study of Hydroxyurea in Sickle Cell Anemia were reported by Charache ...

To the Editor: In the report of Kline et al. describing an outbreak of tuberculosis among bar patrons (July 27 issue),¹ 4 of the 14 active tuberculosis cases occurred among patients seronegative for the human immunodeficiency virus who had positive ...

To the Editor: In Horsburgh's “Healing by Design” (Sept. 14 issue),¹ he does not mention the pernicious way in which medical economic pressures are influencing modern hospital design. Hospitals in competition with one another for paying patients spend ...

Molecular Cardiovascular Medicine, a recent addition to the Scientific American series of medical publications, is, like other books from this publisher, well packaged, with illustrations that add substantially to the worth of the text. The 20 chapters ...

This book is one of several on nuclear cardiology that have been published recently. Yet, this impressive monograph has a number of distinctive features. It was written by a single author who has been intimately involved in the development and validation ...

When I told one of my colleagues in adult cardiology that I was reviewing Primary Pediatric Cardiology, he asked, “Is there such a thing?” As the editor and coauthor of this book, Dr. Michael Gewitz, indicates in his preface, for the practicing ...

Since the two cardinal and generally dramatically overt clinical events caused by vascular disease are occlusion and rupture, it is quite natural, as the introductory chapter of this book notes, that solutions to vascular problems have developed from the ...