The prevalence of obesity has increased in both children and adults.¹,² The medical illnesses associated with obesity³ usually occur in adulthood, but adults rarely achieve sustained weight loss.⁴ Therefore, prevention of obesity in childhood and ...

Two general measures are available to reduce the impact of influenza: immunization with inactivated vaccines and antiviral prophylaxis and therapy with amantadine and rimantadine.¹ The usefulness of amantadine and rimantadine is limited by an antiviral ...

Human echinococcosis is a zoonotic infection caused by larval forms (metacestodes) of the tapeworm of the genus echinococcus found in the small intestines of carnivores. Human infection is acquired from ingestion of the parasite eggs from infected ...

Thyroid carcinoma is diagnosed in 14,000 people each year in the United States.¹ Most are effectively treated by surgery, followed often by radioiodine therapy and always by thyroid hormone therapy to suppress the secretion of thyrotropin. These patients ...

Figure 1. A 66-year-old man who was edentulous and did not wear dentures reported having a yellow tongue. He ate only liquefied foods, his oral hygiene consisted of mouthwashing, and he had not taken oral antibiotics recently. Black hairy tongue was ...

Amyloidosis is not a single disease but a term for diseases that share a common feature: the extracellular deposition of pathologic insoluble fibrillar proteins in organs and tissues. In the mid-19th century, Virchow adopted the botanical term “amyloid,” ...

The assessment of suicidal thoughts or behavior and its management are topics relevant to all clinicians, not just mental health professionals. Up to two thirds of patients who commit suicide have seen a physician in the month before their death.¹–⁵ Many ...

Presentation of Case

An 18-day-old girl was admitted to the hospital because of a left pneumothorax and cystic changes in the left lung.

The infant was a triplet, born by cesarean section to a 36-year-old mother after a 32-week gestation. The Apgar score ...

Obesity is a common condition with delayed and usually late-onset consequences. Since the prevalence of obesity is high and still growing, it is important to understand who is at risk for becoming obese and for what reasons, so that preventive measures ...

Zanamivir, a new antiviral agent for influenza, is a potent inhibitor of the viral neuraminidase of types A and B influenzaviruses.¹ The design of zanamivir was based on the three-dimensional structure of the neuraminidase, a structural unit on the ...

There are about 14,000 new cases of thyroid carcinoma in the United States each year, about 90 percent of them differentiated — papillary and follicular — carcinomas, and about 1100 deaths.¹ Thus, the number of patients needing follow-up grows, and ...

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

— Yogi Berra

A recent article by Bailar and Gornik¹ in the Journal pointed out the obvious — that cancer, a collection of diseases that will claim more than 560,000 lives in our country this year,² is “...

To the Editor: In their Special Article, provocatively entitled “Cancer Undefeated,” Bailar and Gornik (May 29 issue)¹ acknowledge the substantial changes in mortality due to cancer during the past 20 years in men and women under the age of 55 years. The ...

To the Editor: In their review of the management of anticoagulation before and after elective surgery, Kearon and Hirsh (May 22 issue)¹ assert that in patients with mechanical heart valves, anticoagulation should be discontinued perioperatively. They ...

To the Editor: Hydrochlorofluorocarbons are being developed as alternative solvents for use instead of chlorofluorocarbons, which deplete stratospheric ozone and increase ultraviolet radiation at the earth's surface.¹ The metabolism and toxicity of these ...

To the Editor: In their recent Clinical Problem-Solving article (May 15 issue),¹ Rozenman et al. suggest that the delayed diagnosis of endocarditis was the result of a failure to follow up on an appropriate initial diagnostic hypothesis that the patient ...

Intense public and professional attention has been focused on physician-assisted suicide since 1990, when Jack Kevorkian performed the first in a highly publicized series of assisted deaths. The debate is likely to continue in the wake of the recent ...

Violence has become a major issue in the lives of children in the United States. Its effects on their physical and mental health have created a real need to understand the extent of the problem, its implications for children's health, and strategies for ...

The remarkably rapid growth of psychology and other behavioral sciences in the 20th century has had an enormous impact on the way we see ourselves and understand our interactions with the world. Tracing the emergence of this field has become a ...