Benign prostatic hyperplasia is common among older men, and its symptoms interfere with normal activities and reduce the sense of well-being.¹ It can also be progressive, with a risk of urinary retention, bladder infection, bladder calculi, and renal ...

Polycythemia vera is a clonal hematopoietic disorder of stem cells characterized by erythrocytosis and, in most cases, granulocytosis and thrombocytosis. The overproduction of erythrocytes occurs in the absence of a recognizable physiologic stimulus, ...

Polycythemia vera, idiopathic myelofibrosis, chronic myelogenous leukemia, and essential thrombocythemia are classified as chronic myeloproliferative disorders because they arise through the clonal expansion of a multipotent hematopoietic progenitor cell, ...

Many studies have suggested an association between respiratory infection during childhood and the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adulthood.¹–³ The nature of such a link remains unclear, however, because of retrospective ...

Klinefelter's syndrome is a form of hypergonadotropic hypogonadism and infertility resulting from a supernumerary X chromosome (47,XXY), with an incidence of approximately 1 case in 500 phenotypic males.¹,² Some men with Klinefelter's syndrome who have ...

Figure 1. Platelet satellitism, an in vitro phenomenon of platelet rosetting around polymorphonuclear neutrophils, is observed exclusively in blood treated with EDTA as an anticoagulant at room temperature. Neither heparin nor citrate produces rosetting. ...

Alcohol use is associated with many health problems,¹,² along with 100,000 deaths and an annual economic cost of $100 billion in the United States.¹ From the perspective of generalist physicians, the term “alcohol problems” (problems caused by alcohol ...

Presentation of Case

A 74-year-old right-handed man was admitted to the hospital because of slowly progressive motor and cognitive difficulties and a right insular lesion.

The patient had been well until 52 months earlier, when depression with prominent ...

Finasteride, a 5α-reductase inhibitor that slows the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, is now a proven treatment for men who wish to reduce the genitourinary symptoms or the risk of serious complications of benign prostatic hyperplasia. ...

In the course of a day, the bone marrow of an adult produces over 10¹¹ cells — mainly erythrocytes, but also granulocytes, monocytes, lymphocytes, and platelets. This enormous output originates from progenitors with the potential to become any kind of ...

Recently, two rare genetic disorders have been linked to abnormalities in a novel cytokine-signaling mechanism, and the growth of leukemia cells was shown to be inhibited by selective blockade of this mechanism.¹–³ The details of this signaling mechanism ...

To the Editor: In their report on the results of a dose–response trial of sustained-release bupropion for smoking cessation, Hurt et al. (Oct. 23 issue)¹ “recommend using the 300-mg dose (150 mg twice a day) as the target dose for most patients, given ...

To the Editor: The paper by Pérez-Schael et al. (Oct. 23 issue)¹ on the efficacy of rotavirus vaccine in Venezuela and the accompanying editorial by Drs. Keusch and Cash ² deserve comment. The study included mostly children of low socioeconomic status, ...

To the Editor: Musey et al. (Oct. 30 issue)¹ suggest that their study shows that cytotoxic T lymphocytes have a modest effect of reducing the viral load, on the basis of the cross-sectional inverse correlation between human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (...

To the Editor: In their report of an anaphylactic reaction caused by the carboxymethylcellulose component of barium sulfate suspension (Oct. 30 issue),¹ Muroi and colleagues refer to another case report ² of an anaphylactic reaction during barium ...

To the Editor: We would like to comment on the Images in Clinical Medicine showing barium impaction in the sigmoid colon (Oct. 30 issue),¹ because this complication is rare if some precautions are taken.

For two days before the examination the patient ...

To the Editor: Idiopathic cystoid macular edema is an uncommon form of retinal edema that is refractory to treatment with drugs such as acetazolamide¹ that are used in patients with other types of macular edema.²,³ We describe the beneficial effect of ...

To the Editor: Although it is true that Maryland's surveillance system for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which has been in effect since 1994, is still being refined and improved, we have found that it has allowed us to perform all the public health ...

For years, the stereotype of the neurologist was that of an academic recluse who concentrated on diagnosing disease and was then preoccupied with admiring it rather than effectively treating it. This image has changed dramatically in recent years, a ...

The purpose of In Defense of the Brain is clearly defined by the editors in their preface: “We asked the contributors to provide the reader a current understanding, at the molecular level, of the strategies used by the host to defend the brain.” There is ...

This book is a collection of papers that report the experiences of physicians and other health care professionals as patients who have had neurologic illnesses. All but four papers were written by the afflicted professionals. The oldest paper, the famous ...

The incidence of multiple sclerosis is about 5 to 6 per 100,000 population, and despite the benefit of national support groups, patients are often devastated when the diagnosis is made. Equally, physicians caring for them feel helpless in the face of an ...