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January 5, 2006  Vol. 354 No. 1

Audio Summary of this Issue

Perspective
1-3
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In October, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Gonzales v. Oregon. Drs. Timothy Quill and Diane Meier write that beneath the surface of this case lies the risk of empowering agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency to evaluate the end-of-life ...

4-7

Web-based search engines are transforming our use of the medical literature. Dr. Robert Steinbrook explains that the ongoing changes are part of a broader trend in society.

7-9

A recent study demonstrated the role of a single gene in specifying sexual behavior in a fruit fly. Dr. Dennis Drayna writes that these findings prompt provocative thinking about the contribution of genetic factors to sexual orientation in humans.

Original Articles
11-22

In this double-blind trial, two oral doses of a live attenuated G1P[8] rotavirus vaccine were highly efficacious in protecting infants against severe diarrheal disease. During the active surveillance of 63,225 infants, the risk of intussusception was no greater after vaccination than it was with placebo (six cases vs. seven cases).

23-33

In this randomized trial, the clinical efficacy of an oral, live pentavalent human–bovine reassortant vaccine was estimated to be 98.0 percent against severe gastroenteritis due to rotavirus. In the safety study, which included 68,038 infants, the rates of intussusception were similar in the vaccine and placebo groups (relative risk, 0.8; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.3 to 1.8).

34-43
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In a trial of adjuvant chemotherapy for ovarian cancer, a regimen of intravenous paclitaxel plus intraperitoneal cisplatin and paclitaxel was superior to intravenous paclitaxel plus intravenous cisplatin.

Review Articles
44-53

    This review summarizes recent changes in the treatment of adults with community-acquired bacterial meningitis. It explains the initial assessment and management, the use of adjunctive corticosteroids, and intensive care monitoring. The authors detail the approach to complications such as transtentorial herniation, hydrocephalus, and focal seizures.

    54-66

    Autoimmune hepatitis is a generally progressive, sometimes fluctuating chronic hepatitis of unknown cause that occurs in children and adults of all ages. It is important to distinguish autoimmune hepatitis from other forms of chronic hepatitis, because a high percentage of cases respond to antiinflammatory or immunosuppressive therapy, or both. Appropriate management can prolong survival, improve quality of life, and avoid liver transplantation. This review discusses the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of this important form of hepatitis.

    Images in Clinical Medicine
    67
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    An 85-year-old male cigar smoker with no notable medical history presented with black discoloration and hairy appearance of the tongue, which had lasted for several years. He said he did not use bismuth-containing compounds. Black hairy tongue, also known ...

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    This 38-year-old man had an incomplete spinal cord injury due to a diving accident some years earlier. He reported new pain in the left knee.

    Clinical Problem-Solving
    68-73

      A 63-year-old man presented to the emergency department with shortness of breath that had begun the evening before, after he had gone to bed, and worsened progressively during the night. He had had no fevers, chills, cough, hemoptysis, chest pain, or peripheral edema and had no history of congestive heart failure. Five months earlier, a pulmonary embolus had been diagnosed, for which he received warfarin maintenance therapy; the results of prothrombin-time testing, expressed as an international normalized ratio, were consistently above 2.0.

      Editorials
      75-77
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      Rotavirus disease kills approximately half a million children annually in developing countries and accounts for one third of hospitalizations for diarrhea worldwide.1 In 1999, global efforts to control the tremendous health burden of gastroenteritis ...

      77-79

      Patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer typically receive intravenous taxane and platinum-based chemotherapy in an attempt to eradicate residual disease after surgical debulking. This treatment yields overall median survivals of approximately 37 ...

      Clinical Implications of Basic Research
      80-82

      A kinase inhibitor protected against synovial inflammation and joint destruction in a mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis.

      Correspondence
      87-88

      To the Editor: Tirosh et al. (Oct. 6 issue)1 found higher fasting glucose levels within the normoglycemic range to be a risk factor for type 2 diabetes in young men. They collected blood in fluoride tubes, which were sent to the laboratory uncentrifuged. ...

      88-90

      To the Editor: Drumm and colleagues (Oct. 6 issue)1 identified sequence variants in the TGFβ1 gene as genetic modifiers of lung disease in cystic fibrosis. TGFβ1 is encoded on chromosome 19q13, 4.5 Mbp from the CFM1 locus that confers a risk of meconium ...

      90-94

      To the Editor: The recent studies by Bucaneve et al.1 and Cullen et al.2 (Sept. 8 issue) suggest that many patients with cancer and neutropenia may benefit from levofloxacin prophylaxis. Although the reports were published in tandem, their clinical ...

      94-96

      To the Editor: In the article by Abraham et al. (Sept. 29 issue),1 the ADDRESS (Administration of Drotrecogin Alfa [Activated] in Early Stage Severe Sepsis) trial showed no benefit of drotrecogin alfa (activated) (DrotAA) in patients with severe sepsis ...

      96-97

      To the Editor: The review (June 30 issue)1 on γ-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) generated correspondence (Oct. 13 issue),2 which revealed that biochemical genetics laboratories can detect GHB.2 There is an additional detection method worth noting.

      When a ...

      97-98

      To the Editor: It is believed that low-carbohydrate diets work best in reducing weight when producing ketosis.1 We report on a 51-year-old white woman who does not have diabetes but had ketoacidosis while consuming a “no-carbohydrate” diet. There was no ...

      Book Reviews
      99-100

      Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza is one of the most influential population geneticists of our time. Now in his 80s, he is a principal investigator and professor emeritus in the Department of Genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine. I first encountered ...

      100-101

      The approach to a child with a developmental disability is frequently challenging for professionals and family members alike. Genetics of Developmental Disabilities does much to give the reader the practical information necessary to address this task. The ...

      101

      The identification of the sequence of the human genome has unveiled the existence of 25,000 to 35,000 genes, but the functions of most of their products are still shrouded in mystery. Advances in genomics, proteomics, and the emerging field of lipidomics ...

      102

      The scientific and public interest in stem-cell research has increased dramatically since human embryonic stem cells were first isolated in 1998. An increasing number of scientists and clinicians are joining stem-cell researchers to find ways of using ...

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