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April 13, 2006  Vol. 354 No. 15

Audio Summary of this Issue

Perspective
1549-1552

Drs. Ruth Berggren and Tyler Curiel write that when patients and staff were evacuated from Charity Hospital in New Orleans, they could not fully comprehend the devastation of the health care infrastructure. Seven months after Katrina, health care in New ...

1550-1551
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Two outpatient clinics serving the disenfranchised have adapted in creative ways to deliver community-based care to New Orleans. Charity Hospital's HIV Outpatient (HOP) Clinic, funded under the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, ...

1552-1555

In The Access Principle, John Willinsky argues that since the knowledge conveyed in scientific publications is a public good, access to it should be broadened as far as possible. Martin Frank writes that Willinsky's argument on behalf of the ultimate goal ...

Original Articles
1557-1566

In this randomized trial, the addition of Burch colposuspension to abdominal sacrocolpopexy (performed for the treatment of pelvic-organ prolapse) decreased postoperative urinary stress incontinence in women without preoperative stress incontinence, without increasing urge incontinence. These findings will help inform decisions about surgical treatment of women with pelvic-organ prolapse.

1567-1577
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In epidemiologic studies, the plasma total homocysteine level has been found to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In the HOPE-2 trial of high-risk patients, treatment with folic acid, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6 reduced plasma total homocysteine levels. However, treatment with B vitamins was not associated with a reduction in cardiovascular risk.

1578-1588

Observational reports have found that lower homocysteine levels are associated with lower rates of coronary heart disease and stroke. Treatment with folic acid and vitamin B12, with or without vitamin B6, lowers plasma homocysteine levels. In the NORVIT trial in patients after myocardial infarction, such therapy did not decrease the rate of recurrent infarction, stroke, and sudden death.

1589-1600

Antibiotics have a limited role in the treatment of acute exacerbations of asthma. In this study, a macrolide antibiotic, telithromycin, was administered for 10 days after an acute exacerbation of asthma and led to improvements in symptoms but not in home-measured peak expiratory flow rates. There was no relationship between bacteriologic status and the response to asthma treatment, and the mechanism of the effect is unknown.

Review Article
1601-1613

    The intake of trans fat has been associated with coronary heart disease, sudden death from cardiac causes, and diabetes. This article reviews the evidence for physiological and cellular effects of trans fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids with at least one double bond in the trans configuration. The authors consider the feasibility and potential implications of reducing or eliminating the consumption of trans fatty acids from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in the United States.

    Videos in Clinical Medicine
    e13

      This video demonstrates the insertion of an arterial line and considers indications, contraindications, and potential complications.

      Images in Clinical Medicine
      1614
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      Three months after undergoing Roux-en-Y bariatric surgery, a 32-year-old woman presented with glossitis, angular cheilitis, and an erythematous, desquamative dermatitis with a distribution indicative of photosensitivity causing a burning sensation on her ...

      e14
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      This man had obstructive nephropathy necessitating hemodialysis and transplantation. His course was complicated by severe secondary hyperparathyroidism.

      Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital
      1615-1625

      A 54-year-old woman was seen in the gynecologic oncology clinic because of a pelvic mass that was associated with urinary frequency and urgency, pelvic pain, fever, and weight loss. A large, central pelvic mass was noted on examination, and imaging studies showed a complex solid and cystic mass with ascites. The evaluation and management of malignant tumors of the ovaries and fallopian tubes are discussed by a multidisciplinary team.

      Editorials
      1627-1629

      Pelvic-organ prolapse occurs when pelvic organs herniate toward or through the vaginal opening. It is common and costly. Each year, nearly 200,000 women undergo surgery for prolapse; approximately 30 percent of those women will have a second operation ...

      1629-1632

      In 1969, McCully first proposed that homocysteine causes atherosclerosis.1 His hypothesis was based on the finding of atherosclerotic plaque at autopsies of young people with homocystinuria. This hypothesis was later modified to include a broader ...

      1632-1634

      Although the root cause of asthma is not known, treatments have been developed that target facets of the underlying pathologic abnormalities of asthma: airway inflammation, hypersecretion of mucus, and airway hyperresponsiveness. These treatments not only ...

      1635
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      This week, the Journal's table of contents includes a new type of article, Videos in Clinical Medicine. Innovative technology affords us the opportunity to offer peer-reviewed educational videos that capitalize on the ability of moving images to teach ...

      Clinical Implications of Basic Research
      1636-1638

      An enzyme that modifies the glucose transporter GLUT-2 protects mice against diabetes and is suppressed by a high-fat diet.

      Correspondence
      1639-1641

      To the Editor: Gershlick et al. (Dec. 29 issue)1 report that emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (rescue PCI) for failed thrombolysis results in a statistically significant reduction in major cardiac and cerebrovascular events as compared with ...

      1641-1643

      To the Editor: Armstrong et al. (Jan. 5 issue)1 may have overestimated the benefit of intraperitoneal therapy in ovarian cancer, as compared with standard intravenous carboplatin plus paclitaxel. We undertook an exploratory cross-trial analysis (Figure 1)...

      1643-1645

      To the Editor: Shankaran et al. (Oct. 13 issue)1 report improved neurologic outcomes and reduced mortality in newborns with perinatal asphyxia treated with mild hypothermia. This confirms previous observations from one randomized trial and eight ...

      1645-1647

      To the Editor: Since its approval in France in 1988, a regimen of mifepristone (RU 486) and a prostaglandin has been used to terminate more than 1.2 million pregnancies of up to seven weeks of gestation. Most women have received oral mifepristone (at a ...

      1647-1648

      To the Editor: Yager and Davidson (Jan. 19 issue)1 state unequivocally that the use of oral contraceptives is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. This view is not supported by an article that appeared in the Journal in 20022 and in the ...

      1648-1649

      To the Editor: Like many others who discuss remedies for the shortage of nurses, Chaguturu and Vallabhaneni (Oct. 27 issue)1 mention the issue of pay only in passing and emphasize such nebulous measures as the “creation of work environments that are ...

      1649-1650

      To the Editor: Recent recalls of implantable pacemakers and defibrillators have cast a spotlight on the need for improved product reliability.1 Although it is estimated that the failure rate of these devices is low, the true rate of device malfunction is ...

      1650-1652

      To the Editor: The daily intake of about 5 g of trans fat is associated with a 25 percent increase in the risk of ischemic heart disease.1 For this reason, it is recommended that the consumption of trans fat be as low as possible.2 We determined the ...

      Book Reviews
      1653-1654

      “If there were a silver lining about the physician-assisted suicide debate, it was that this tension helped catalyze the palliative care movement.” So writes Joseph Fins in A Palliative Ethic of Care. People on both sides of the issue of physician-...

      1654

      Death has become a worthy subject of study only late in the development of modern medicine. Until the 1970s, dying was considered to be mainly a private issue, embedded in specific social, cultural, and religious contexts. End-of-life decision making is ...

      1655

      During the final decade of the 20th century, several excellent accounts were written on the trio of topics of the Nazification of the medical profession in Germany from 1933 to 1945, human medical experimentation conducted in concentration camps, and the ...

      Correction
      1655

      Delirium in Older Persons Review Article, N Engl J Med 2006:354;1157-1165.. On page 1164, in Table 4, the dose for quetiapine should have been “25 mg twice daily,” rather than “2.5–5.0 mg once daily,” as printed. The article has been corrected on the ...

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