Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common causes of nosocomial and community-acquired infection.¹,² It is the most common cause of surgical-wound infections and second only to coagulase-negative staphylococci as a cause of nosocomial bloodstream ...

Before biosynthetic growth hormone became available, sufficient growth hormone was available to treat only children with severe growth hormone deficiency. The presence of severe growth hormone deficiency was usually identified by a serum growth hormone ...

Severe combined immunodeficiency is a rare, fatal syndrome that can be due to a variety of genetic abnormalities causing profound deficiencies of lymphocytes.¹–⁴ Shortly after the discovery of the HLA system in 1968,⁵,⁶ immune function was corrected in an ...

Over the past two decades, vancomycin has been considered the antibiotic of choice for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. Indeed, multidrug-resistant clones of MRSA for which the only available effective antibacterial agent is ...

Figure 1. A 22-year-old man with gigantism due to excess growth hormone is shown to the left of his identical twin. The increased height (Panel A) and enlarged hand (Panel B) and foot (Panel C) of the affected twin are apparent. Their height and features ...

Preoperative Autologous Donation

Preoperative autologous donation was rarely used before the recognition that HIV could be transmitted by blood transfusion. Fifteen years ago, fewer than 5 percent of eligible patients who were scheduled for elective ...

Radio-frequency catheter ablation has replaced antiarrhythmic-drug therapy for the treatment of many types of cardiac arrhythmia. This article reviews the biophysics and results of radio-frequency catheter ablation and the clinical indications for its ...

Presentation of Case

A 37-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because of fever, chills, and diffuse lymphadenopathy.

Eight weeks before this admission, the patient entered a rehabilitation hospital for alcohol detoxification. He had a two-week ...

“Tu quoque, fili?” means “You, my son, as well?” This was Julius Caesar's outcry when, surrounded by conspirators ready to stab him to death, he discovered among them Brutus, his adopted son. Caesar's outcry was one of surprise, but also one of ...

In the United States, recombinant growth hormone is approved for use in children for three conditions: growth hormone deficiency, Turner's syndrome, and chronic renal insufficiency before transplantation. Because the supply of growth hormone is unlimited ...

It has been 30 years since the first patient with combined T-cell and B-cell immunodeficiency was successfully treated with transplantation of bone marrow from an HLA-identical sibling.¹ Since then, hundreds of patients with severe combined ...

Each year thousands of reviewers contribute their expertise to peer review, a process that contributes critically to the quality of the Journal. The editors and the authors of the papers submitted to the Journal are grateful for the help of all our ...

To the Editor: With respect to the editorial on alternative medicine by you and Angell (Sept. 17 issue),¹ if we look outside our own borders at the policies of other developed countries, we find a more rational approach to herbal medicine. In Germany, ...

To the Editor: Although DiPaola et al. (Sept. 17 issue)¹ have done a superb job of evaluating the estrogenic properties of PC-SPES, a commercially available combination of eight herbs, there is an implication that this is the only “active” component of ...

To the Editor: The investigation by Slifman and colleagues of the contamination of a dietary supplement with Digitalis lanata (Sept. 17 issue)¹ is a splendid example of how cause and effect can be established by clinical correlation and the use of ...

To the Editor: In their Clinical Problem-Solving article, Beigel et al. (Sept. 17 issue)¹ describe a patient with abdominal pain of unclear cause whose symptoms responded well to the administration of a placebo. The discussant mentions that “the patient'...

To the Editor: Coppes et al. (Sept. 17 issue)¹ point to the importance of educating parents about the dangers of alternative therapies, but it is also important to report parents to child-welfare authorities if the doctor believes that the parents' ...

To the Editor: Citing a high median lethal dose to suggest that γ-butyrolactone is not a poison, Gorton (Sept. 17 issue)¹ obscures the unfortunate fact that the doses and the circumstances under which many people are misusing the substance can result in ...

These three reprinted books contain most of the published statistical data taken from the original interview schedules used by Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues from 1938 to 1963 to gather sexual histories. Except for two topically focused books published ...

Within the animal kingdom only one species, Homo sapiens, actively seeks to inhale smoke. All other species instinctively flee it. Cigarette smokers inhale some 4000-odd chemicals, including dozens known to be carcinogenic, cardiotoxic, or teratogenic. ...

The morbidity and mortality associated with cigarette smoking have been documented repeatedly, but the toxicity of nicotine itself is more complex and less well understood. The toxicity of nicotine is relevant to the differences in risk among various ...

Sisters in Sorrow is a vital and compelling book. Many books have been written about the Holocaust, and many more will be written: what makes this book essential reading? Sisters in Sorrow gives voice to the women who cared for the sick in the all-...

Mastic Gum Kills Helicobacter pylori Correspondence, N Engl J Med 1998:339;1946.. The first line of the letter should have read, “Even low doses of mastic gum — 1 g per day for two weeks,” not “1 mg per day for two weeks,” as printed. Also, the cell count ...

The American Health Care System — Expenditures Health Policy Report, N Engl J Med 1999:340;70-76.. On page 71, the sentence that begins on line 2 of the left-hand column should have read, “The question is important because as employers steer their workers ...

On October 27, 1997, Oregon legalized physician-assisted suicide.¹ Although there have been many studies of physician-assisted suicide, there are no data on the experiences of patients and physicians when the practice is legal.²–⁸ Physician-assisted ...

As the 20th century closes, the practice of medicine in the United States faces challenges as great as it ever has. On the one hand, medical science and technology have brought unimaginable benefits to the American population. On the other hand, these ...