Phenylpropanolamine is a synthetic sympathomimetic amine commonly found in appetite suppressants and cough and cold remedies. Each month, millions of Americans use products containing phenylpropanolamine. Since 1979, more than 30 case reports have been ...

Dietary supplements that contain ephedra alkaloids (also known as ma huang) and guarana-derived caffeine are widely consumed in the United States for purposes of weight reduction and energy enhancement. A number of reports of adverse reactions to dietary ...

Caffeine is a naturally occurring compound that is metabolized more slowly in pregnant women than in nonpregnant women.¹ Caffeine passes readily through the placenta to the fetus,¹ but the biologic mechanisms by which caffeine could induce a spontaneous ...

The association between cancer and venous thrombosis was first recognized more than 100 years ago¹ by Trousseau.² Modern studies have consistently found a significantly increased risk of a diagnosis of cancer after an episode of venous thromboembolism, ...

Prevention and treatment of infections with hepatitis C virus (HCV) remain a major challenge.¹ The main source of HCV infection in developed countries was formerly transfusion of contaminated blood and blood products but is now injection-drug use.²–⁴ In ...

Figure 1. A 51-year-old woman with mild hypertension for which she was taking a beta-adrenergic antagonist and a thiazide diuretic was sent to the emergency department because of the discovery of hypocalcemia (serum calcium concentration, 5.4 mg per ...

Syncope is a sudden and brief loss of consciousness associated with a loss of postural tone, from which recovery is spontaneous. The pathophysiology of all forms of syncope consists of a sudden decrease in or brief cessation of cerebral blood flow. ...

The four parathyroid glands, through the secretion of parathyroid hormone, regulate serum calcium concentrations and bone metabolism.¹ In turn, serum calcium concentrations regulate parathyroid hormone secretion; high concentrations inhibit secretion by ...

Presentation of Case

A 47-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of bronchopulmonary disease.

Six years before admission, pneumonia had developed, and asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease had been diagnosed. Thereafter, the ...

When Jane Henney, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced on October 10, 2000, the agency's intention to have products containing phenylpropanolamine withdrawn from the market, another chapter — perhaps the final one — for this ...

According to a recent report from the World Health Organization, it can be estimated that worldwide about 250 million adults — 7 percent of the population — are obese, defined as having a body-mass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of ...

To the Editor: We would view with caution the conclusion of Herrington and colleagues (Aug. 24 issue)¹ that women with established coronary heart disease should not use estrogen replacement with an expectation of a cardiovascular benefit. The results of ...

To the Editor: In their discussion of pravastatin therapy to reduce the risk of stroke, White et al. (Aug. 3 issue)¹ cite several references erroneously and present their findings without appropriate qualifying language.

First, they note that “several ...

To the Editor: In 1998, Schwartz et al. presented strong clinical evidence of an association between the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and the long-QT syndrome.¹ In a recent article, the same group describes an infant who nearly died of SIDS and in ...

To the Editor: Secondary cancer is an important complication of the treatment of childhood cancer. The occurrence of secondary acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after successful treatment of a variety of tumors¹–³ generally carries a poor prognosis. We report ...

Since nearly all workers in the stroke field know, or know of, Dr. Caplan, he can be forgiven for the somewhat immodest title of his book. But can one person alone write a comprehensive book on stroke in the 21st century? Osler's Principles and Practice ...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major health problem worldwide. About 100 million to 150 million people are infected, including approximately 4 million to 5 million in western Europe and 3 million to 4 million in the United States. Approximately 60 ...

With the marked increase in life expectancy achieved during the past century, we can expect that the elderly population will continue to grow disproportionately during the next 50 years. The oldest of the elderly, persons 85 years of age or older, now ...