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May 26, 2005  Vol. 352 No. 21

Perspective
2155-2157

On March 21, the CDC confirmed the presence of Marburg virus in 9 of 12 samples of tissue and blood from Angola. Dr. Nestor Ndayimirije and Mary Kay Kindhauser discuss how the features of Marburg hemorrhagic fever and the conditions in Angola have made ...

2158-2160

Sixty percent of the world's children with cancer have little or no access to effective therapy, and their survival rates are predictably inferior to those in countries with advanced health care systems. Drs. Raul Ribeiro and Ching-Hon Pui ask what, if ...

2160-2162

Dr. Robert Steinbrook discusses how progress against gag clauses could be forthcoming, spurred by public concern about medication safety, distrust of the pharmaceutical industry, and advocacy within the medical community for greater openness in conducting ...

Original Articles
2163-2173
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The proper management of asthma with the use of inhaled corticosteroids requires the adjustment of doses in proportion to the patient's need for treatment. In this study, the investigators compared groups treated according to two regimens, one based on conventional guidelines for the treatment of asthma and one based on measurements of the fraction of nitric oxide in the exhaled air. In the latter group, equivalent control of asthma was maintained with lower doses of inhaled corticosteroids.

2174-2183

Using data derived from two large New York State registries, this study compared three-year survival rates among patients with multivessel coronary disease who had undergone coronary-artery bypass grafting (CABG) and those who had received a coronary stent. Survival rates were uniformly superior with CABG. Although this study was not randomized, it has important implications for the selection of revascularization procedures in patients with multivessel coronary disease.

2184-2192
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In this case–control study of 1953 patients with colorectal cancer and 2015 matched controls, statin treatment was associated with a decrease in the risk of colorectal cancer of almost 50 percent. Results were similar in analyses adjusted for the use or nonuse of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs; the presence or absence of exercise, hypercholesterolemia, and a family history of colorectal cancer; and diet.

2193-2201
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In this randomized trial, sargramostim (a recombinant granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor) was not significantly more likely than placebo to result in the primary outcome of a clinical response (a decrease from baseline of at least 70 points in the Crohn's Disease Activity Index [CDAI]). However, sargramostim was more likely to induce significant improvements in secondary outcome measures, including rates of remission (defined by a CDAI score of 150 or less). Injection-site reactions and bone pain were common among patients treated with sargramostim, and three patients in this group had serious adverse events.

Special Article
2202-2210
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This survey of 107 medical schools revealed that clinical-trial contracts with industry vary across institutions. Although 93 percent of institutions do not allow contract provisions permitting sponsors to decide that results should not be published, a substantial percentage allow contracts specifying that sponsors can draft manuscripts (50 percent) or insert their own statistical analyses into manuscripts (24 percent). The authors call on medical schools to develop standards for clinical-trial agreements with industry.

Review Article
2211-2221

Differences in drug responsiveness are common, often leading to challenges in optimizing the dosage regimen for a particular patient. Recent advances provide a rational framework for understanding many interpatient differences in drug disposition and their clinical consequences. This article focuses on the cytochrome P-450 enzymes, a superfamily of microsomal drug-metabolizing enzymes that play an important role in oxidative drug metabolism.

Images in Clinical Medicine
2222
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A 33-year-old woman who had had Crohn's disease for many years reported the development of dull pain in the left lower back, which was associated with sporadic episodes of fever (>38.5°C), during the previous seven months. She had been treated with ...

e20
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This harmless contaminant was seen in a routine cervical smear of a young woman. What is it?

Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital
2223-2231

    A nine-year-old girl was admitted to the hospital because of headache, papilledema, visual changes, and vomiting. The headaches had begun 18 months before admission, and enuresis 9 months before admission, followed by decreased visual acuity. A neurologist had found bilateral papilledema. On admission, the blood pressure was 210/130 mm Hg. A pediatric intensivist and a pediatric nephrologist discuss the urgent treatment and diagnostic evaluation of a child with hypertension.

    Editorials
    2233-2235

    Clinicians caring for patients with asthma need help. Asthma affects approximately 27 million persons in the United States. Despite the availability of effective therapies, asthma remains a source of significant morbidity and use of health care resources....

    2235-2237

    During the past three decades, randomized trials and registries have provided extensive evidence regarding the indications for and preferred method of coronary revascularization.1 The initial trials focused on indications for coronary-artery bypass ...

    2238-2239

    Colorectal cancer is a major health concern, with more than 1 million cases and half a million cancer-related deaths estimated worldwide in 2002.1 These statistics are sobering, considering that the availability of well-established screening and surgical ...

    Clinical Implications of Basic Research
    2240-2242

    Two new mouse models have been devised that shed light on the genesis of endometriosis and endometrioid ovarian cancer, suggest drugs for the treatment of endometrioid ovarian cancer, and provide a means of testing them.

    Correspondence
    2243-2245

    To the Editor: The design and execution of the First Multicenter Intrapleural Sepsis Trial (MIST1), reported by Maskell et al. (March 3 issue),1 are discordant with the contemporary management of pleural-space infections. The anatomical features of ...

    2245-2246

    To the Editor: In their study of determinants of the outcome of asymptomatic mitral regurgitation, Enriquez-Sarano et al. (March 3 issue)1 concluded that patients who have an effective regurgitant orifice of at least 40 mm2 should be considered for ...

    2246-2247
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    To the Editor: In his review of antithyroid drugs (March 3 issue),1 Cooper does not mention the potential advantage of combined treatment with antithyroid drugs and thyroxine (referred to as the “block–replace regimen”). Even if such a regimen has not ...

    2248-2249

    To the Editor: In the discussion of Case 5-2005, that of a patient with invasive endocarditis possibly due to bartonella (Feb. 17 issue),1 Dr. Biddinger noted that the initial examination was normal. I beg to differ.

    This patient, fired from his job only ...

    2249-2250

    To the Editor: Ingested toothpicks have often been reported as the cause of gastrointestinal injuries,1 and in one case a toothpick migrated into the pericardium, resulting in constrictive pericarditis.2 We report an unusual case of cardiac tamponade due ...

    Book Reviews
    2251-2252

    Insults to the adult brain are regularly followed by degeneration of nerve tissue and an ensuing impairment of brain function. This process occurs in acute injury, such as brain or spinal cord trauma or cerebral ischemia (stroke), and in chronic ...

    2252

    This is the second textbook in recent years to provide a comprehensive assessment of the evolving field of pediatric neuro-oncology. Before the publication of this book and Tumors of the Pediatric Central Nervous System (R.F. Keating, et al. Stuttgart, ...

    2252-2253
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    This multiauthored textbook compiles recent scientific advances in brain-tumor biology. In the past 10 to 15 years, there has been an explosion of information regarding the genesis and pathological classification of and new treatments for brain tumors. ...

    2253-2254

    Stephen Waxman is the epitome of a molecular scientist who heads a clinical department. His research interests focus on membrane channels in health and disease, especially in spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis. Waxman deplores the bad old days (...