To the Editor: Poliomyelitis is a clinical syndrome defined by the presence of fever, meningitis, and flaccid paralysis. In the United States, this syndrome was historically associated with infection by poliovirus but is now more commonly seen with other ...

To the Editor: In contrast to previous trials,¹,² the study reported by Abu-Laban et al. (May 16 issue)³ showed no beneficial effects of fibrinolysis in patients with cardiac arrest and pulseless electrical activity. However, Abu-Laban et al. studied a ...

To the Editor: Sartori and colleagues (May 23 issue)¹ demonstrate the marked benefits of salmeterol in the secondary prevention of high-altitude pulmonary edema. The authors propose that this benefit occurs through changes in pulmonary transepithelial ...

To the Editor: The results of the RAVEL study (Randomized Study with the Sirolimus-Coated Bx Velocity Balloon-Expandable Stent in the Treatment of Patients with de Novo Native Coronary Artery Lesions) (June 6 issue)¹ are promising and bring to light the ...

To the Editor: A “central institutional review board,” as proposed by Christian et al. (May 2 issue),¹ may be a national ethics review board or a central research ethics committee, but it cannot be an institutional review board (IRB). By definition, a ...

To the Editor: The criteria discussed by Light in his Clinical Practice article on pleural effusion (June 20 issue)¹ are stringent and highly sensitive in identifying an exudate. However, their specificity is low, particularly in patients with heart ...

To the Editor: We wish to elaborate on the risks and prevention of nosocomial cryptosporidiosis, briefly discussed in the review of cryptosporidiosis by Chen and colleagues (May 30 issue).¹ Multiple nosocomial outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis have resulted ...

To the Editor: Recent reports have highlighted the risk of hyperlactatemia and multiorgan failure in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected patients receiving interferon plus ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C.¹,² The mitochondrial toxicity of ...

Psychopharmacology as a discipline burst on the scientific horizon as precipitously as the psychotropic drugs that gave rise to the field. At a time of frustration at how psychiatry had lagged behind other fields of medicine in major advances, there ...

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), now in its fourth edition (DSM-IV), has had a profound impact on the practice of psychiatry and has created a level of medical and social interest and debate comparable to that accompanying ...

The doctor–patient relationship is widely regarded as pivotal in the effective delivery of health care. Its unique features make it a prime example of a locus of confidentiality and trust between professional and layperson. It has symbolic properties that ...

Retrospective Assessment of Mental States in Litigation: Predicting the Past, edited by Robert I. Simon and Daniel W. Shuman — a doctor–lawyer team — is an outstanding collection of essays on retrospective assessments of mental states in both civil and ...