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March 4, 2004  Vol. 350 No. 10

Perspective
963-965

GB virus C (GBV-C), an RNA virus in the Flaviviridae family, is a close relative of the hepatitis C virus. Although it has been shown that many people worldwide are infected with this virus, no clear association between the virus and a known disease state ...

965-966

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is currently the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and is expected to become the third leading cause of death by 2020. Cigarette smoking is the major risk factor, but as many as 20 percent of ...

966-968

Over the past two years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has worked with publishing partners (including the Journal) to improve online access to scientific resources as a way of supporting health professionals, medical researchers, and academics in ...

968-970

It is a perverse reaction, but one that I notice myself having more and more frequently these days. After all, it should not still be happening, not here in America, and most definitely not in Boston, where we probably have more HIV research laboratories ...

Original Articles
971-980
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Long-term treatment with cyclophosphamide enhances renal survival in patients with proliferative lupus nephritis but can have considerable toxic effect. This study compared up to three years of quarterly intravenous injections of cyclophosphamide with oral azathioprine and oral mycophenolate in 59 patients with lupus nephritis after induction therapy (short-term intravenous cyclophosphamide plus corticosteroids). The event-free survival rate was higher in the mycophenolate mofetil and azathioprine groups than in the cyclophosphamide group (P=0.05 and P=0.009, respectively).

981-990

Prior research studies have not consistently documented improved survival among people who are coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and GB virus C (GBV-C), a virus that is not pathogenic in humans. In this study of 271 HIV-infected men enrolled in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, men who had GBV-C viremia for five to six years after HIV seroconversion had higher rates of survival than men who had never been infected or those with clearance of GBV-C.

991-1004

In the Women's Health Initiative trial, postmenopausal women who were randomly assigned to take estrogen plus progestin were found to have a lower risk of colorectal cancer than women who were assigned to take placebo. However, the cancers that were found in the hormone group were more advanced than those that were found in the placebo group.

1005-1012

Although the primary physiological abnormality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is airway obstruction, extrapulmonary manifestations of COPD also contribute to the risk of death. The authors of this study devised a novel index based on body-mass index, the forced expiratory volume in one second, the distance walked in six minutes, and the patient's perceived level of dyspnea.

Review Articles
1013-1022

The single most common cause of the withdrawal or restriction of the use of marketed drugs has been QT-interval prolongation associated with polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, or torsade de pointes, a condition that can be fatal. This review summarizes the current knowledge about molecular and clinical predictors of drug-induced QT-interval prolongation and torsade de pointes and discusses how new molecular predictors of drug action might be incorporated into drug-development programs and clinical practice. A general approach to drugs suspected of causing this problem is presented.

1023-1035

Combinations of antiretroviral drugs have proven remarkably effective in controlling the progression of HIV disease and prolonging survival, but these benefits can be compromised by the development of drug resistance. About 50 percent of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy in the United States are estimated to harbor viruses that express resistance to at least one of the available antiretroviral drugs.

Images in Clinical Medicine
1036
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A 61-year-old man who reported progressive exertional dyspnea of 12 years' duration received a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on the basis of a 150-pack-year history of smoking, emphysema on radiographic evaluation, and a forced ...

e9
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A 29-year-old man infected with HIV presented with abdominal pain and diarrhea after an episode of P. cariniipneumonia.

Clinical Problem-Solving
1037-1042

    A previously healthy 16-year-old girl presented to her physician because of a two-day history of sore throat, fatigue, fever, headache, and vomiting. On examination, her temperature was 36.7°C. She had mild erythema and white plaques on her tonsillar pillars and mild tenderness of the anterior neck, without lymphadenopathy.

    Editorial
    1044-1046

    From a historical perspective, there are few diseases for which the cause, natural history, and response to treatment have been as complex or difficult to define as those of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In large part, this is because SLE represents ...

    Clinical Implications of Basic Research
    1047-1048

    Researchers have long been interested in identifying a final, common pathway for psychosis. The existence of such a pathway is implied by the fact that various drug intoxications, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, psychotic depression, severe sensory ...

    Correspondence
    1049-1053

    To the Editor: Forastiere and colleagues (Nov. 27 issue)1 are to be congratulated on their important study of concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy for organ preservation in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer. However, the final sentence of their ...

    1053-1054

    To the Editor: Skolnik (Dec. 11 issue),1 in his editorial accompanying the report by Robbins et al.2 on initial therapy for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, suggests that nelfinavir, which was a component of the antiretroviral regimens used ...

    1054-1057
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    To the Editor: In the study protocol described by Colao et al. (Nov. 20 issue),1 cabergoline was given at a dose of 0.5 mg per week to patients with nontumoral hyperprolactinemia, microprolactinomas, or macroprolactinomas and then stopped abruptly. I ...

    1057

    To the Editor: Huskamp et al. (Dec. 4 issue)1 found that incentive-based formularies affect not only prescription-drug costs, but also patients' compliance with medications. Why do patients use less medication when offered more choice? One possible ...

    1058

    To the Editor: In Case 36-2003 (Nov. 20 issue),1 Singh and Bazari suggest that for patients with presumptive drug-induced acute interstitial nephritis, initiation of corticosteroid therapy should be “straightforward” and that the response of renal ...

    1059

    To the Editor: The contemporary palmomental reflex can no longer be viewed as primitive. Usually elicited by a probing question from a staff physician, it is a reflexive action observed in medical students and house officers. The reflex involves a quick ...

    Book Reviews
    1060

    Warning: the surgeon general has determined that smoking cigarettes increases the chance that you will need to ask your closest friends and relatives to assist you in bathing, using the bathroom, preparing meals, shopping, and taking care of your most ...

    1060-1061
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    Mesothelioma is a multiauthored book that aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the epidemiology, biology, diagnosis, and treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Edited by Drs. Bruce Robinson and Philippe Chahinian (from Perth, Australia, and ...

    1061-1062

    Asthma and its immunopathophysiology are subjects that prompt many questions. How important are inhaled allergens to sensitization and provocation? What is the role of inflammatory cells, such as eosinophils, lymphocytes, mast cells, and basophils? Does ...