Gallstones affect 10 to 15 percent of adults in the United States. Symptomat-ic gallstone disease is less frequent than asymptomatic disease but results in approximately 500,000 cholecystectomies each year. Among digestive diseases requiring ...

Increased protein turnover and negative nitrogen balance are characteristic features of critical illness.¹,² As a consequence, the structure and function of essential organs are compromised, most obviously in skeletal muscle, leading to respiratory-muscle ...

Venous thromboembolism is commonly found at autopsy in patients who received medical treatment and died in the hospital.¹,² Although the frequency of venous thromboembolism in these patients has not been established, it has been reported to be at least as ...

Inherited resistance to activated protein C is a thrombophilic condition resulting from a mutant factor V (factor V Leiden).¹ The mutation is relatively common among whites, with a frequency of 5 percent in the general population of European ancestry and ...

The long-term survival of donor lymphoid cells in recipients of solid-organ transplants or of fetal lymphocytes that cross the placenta and enter the maternal circulation has been established,¹–³ but the fate of other hematopoietic progenitors in organ ...

Figure 1. A 49-year-old sheep farmer came to us with a necrotic lesion on his chin, with surrounding gelatinous edema (arrow in Panel A), and a three-day history of obtundation. On examination, he had a temperature of 39°C, a stiff neck, Kernig's sign, ...

Anthrax is an often fatal bacterial infection that occurs when Bacillus anthracis endospores enter the body through abrasions in the skin or by inhalation or ingestion.¹ It is a zoonosis to which most mammals, especially grazing herbivores, are considered ...

Presentation of Case

An 82-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and acute renal failure.

The patient had had diabetes mellitus for 30 years, complicated by nephropathy, retinopathy, a mild neuropathy, and ...

Gallstones are an important cause of disease and a common reason for surgery. Women, particularly those who have had multiple pregnancies or have certain ethnic backgrounds, such as Native American or U.S. southwestern Hispanic, are at particular risk. ...

In this issue of the Journal, Takala et al.¹ report an increase in mortality among critically ill patients treated with growth hormone. This finding is of major importance and will generate considerable debate. The results of the two well-designed, ...

The mission of academic medical centers typically includes three distinct goals: providing patient care, educating future doctors, and acquiring new medical knowledge.¹ Academic medical centers seek excellence in each of the three areas to distinguish ...

To the Editor: Belay and colleagues (May 6 issue)¹ caution that a decrease in the sensitivity of the passive scheme for reporting Reye's syndrome in the United States might have contributed to the observed decline in incidence. Initially, the reporting ...

To the Editor: Michaud et al. (May 6 issue)¹ conclude that a high fluid intake is associated with a decreased risk of bladder cancer in men. An alternative explanation for the finding is that a high fluid intake results in decreased detection of bladder ...

To the Editor: Nousari et al. (May 6 issue),¹ described acantholytic changes in the respiratory epithelium of two patients with paraneoplastic pemphigus and respiratory failure. They suggested that autoantibodies directed against plakin proteins may be ...

To the Editor: The inhalation of the noxious fumes associated with the mixing of household cleaners can lead to pulmonary irritation and pneumonitis. Household ammonia (3 to 10 percent aqueous NH₃) and bleach (5 percent NaOCl) are two of the most common ...

To the Editor: In a recent letter, Capuron and Ravaud described their use of a depression rating scale as a method of predicting depressive symptoms associated with high doses of interferon alfa (April 29 issue).¹ We strongly endorse the authors' ...

To the Editor: Dr. Manian's indictment of the hospitalist movement (April 29 issue)¹ adds to the conjectural criticism hospitalists have been fielding since their visibility has increased. Rather than consider the potential improvements in quality and ...

To the Editor: Lead poisoning clusters among select groups, particularly children in the first four years of life, adults with occupational exposures, and those who renovate old homes. In adolescents it is unusual. I report here the cases of four ...

In Bologna, Italy, and surrounding cities in the 15th through the 18th centuries, physicians had to have a license to practice medicine, although fees and privileges (and much controversy and in-fighting over these) were determined according to rank (...

The medical use of marijuana has polarized public opinion, particularly because of its widespread recreational use over the past 30 years. Those in favor of its medical use point to the apparent safety of this ancient and “natural” remedy, the profusion ...

The end of the 20th century marks a pivotal point in the development of respiratory medicine. There has been an explosive growth in knowledge relevant to the field and the application of bioengineering, molecular biology, and microbiology to improve the ...

Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital (Case 20-1999) Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital, N Engl J Med 1999:341;110-116.. On page 115, the sentence that begins on the third line of the last paragraph of the Pathological ...

Effects of Different Forms of Dietary Hydrogenated Fats on Serum Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels Original Article, N Engl J Med 1999:340;1933-1940.. On page 1935, an incorrect version of Table 2 was printed. The correct version appears below.

Table 2. ...