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January 12, 2006  Vol. 354 No. 2

Audio Summary of this Issue

Perspective
109-112

Research conducted at biosafety level 4 continues to be both revered and feared. Dr. Robert Steinbrook discusses the rapid expansion of biosafety level 4 research in the United States.

113-115

The United States has become preoccupied with the threat of bioterrorism. Dr. David Relman describes the important consequences for the biomedical research agenda, funding priorities, and the regulatory environment.

115-117

In 2004, 763 million people crossed international borders, reflecting an increase of 73 percent over the course of 15 years. Dr. David Hill writes that in order to fully understand the risk to an individual traveler, the physician must undertake a careful ...

Original Articles
119-130

More than 17,000 ill returned travelers were evaluated within the GeoSentinel network, 30 specialized travel clinics around the globe. Some of the most common pathogens identified were those causing malaria, dengue, and rickettsial disease. The proportionate morbidity of various travel-related infectious diseases was calculated according to region of travel.

131-140

Angiotensin-converting–enzyme (ACE) inhibitors provide renal protection in patients with mild-to-moderate renal insufficiency, slowing progression. However, the efficacy and safety of this class of medications in patients with advanced renal insufficiency are less clear. The results of this randomized, double-blind study indicate that benazepril, an ACE inhibitor, confers substantial renal benefits in patients without diabetes who have advanced renal insufficiency.

141-150

The survival of patients receiving transplanted lungs is poorer than that of patients receiving transplants of many other organs. In this trial, inhaled cyclosporine, in addition to systemic immunosuppression, did not improve rejection rates but was associated with better overall survival and chronic rejection–free survival.

151-157
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Pacemaker channels in the sinoatrial node generate the sinus rhythm and regulate the heart rate. In an Italian family affected by sinus bradycardia, a mutation was identified in the α-subunit of the cardiac pacemaker channel. This mutation mimics the effect of mild vagal stimulation on heart rate.

Clinical Practice
158-165

A 36-year-old woman with a long history of catamenial migraines had had a headache almost every day for a year. The background headache was mild, but it became severe and incapacitating at least twice a week, interfering with work and sleep. She took six to eight tablets containing a combination of aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine per day, with minimal relief. She did not have fever, weight loss, diplopia, or tinnitus. Her headaches were not exacerbated by a Valsalva maneuver or positional change. Her physical examination was normal. How should she be evaluated and treated?

Review Article
166-178

Although the overall cure rate of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children is about 80 percent, affected adults fare less well. This review considers recent advances in the treatment of ALL, emphasizing issues that need to be addressed if treatment outcome is to improve further.

Images in Clinical Medicine
179

A 37-year-old woman from Illinois with a history of an idiopathic T-cell deficiency (CD4 cell count, 249 cells per cubic millimeter, and negative for infection with the human immunodeficiency virus), histoplasma pneumonia in childhood, and recurrent ...

e2
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This 85-year-old woman presented with right shoulder pain and swelling and a large hematoma extending into the chest wall. Passive mobility was painful but largely unrestricted. She had had no recent trauma.

Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital
180-187

A 64-year-old man who had received a double-lung allograft because of emphysema six months previously was admitted to the hospital with cough, hemoptysis, and abdominal pain of three days' duration. He had a history of smoking, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer. Since the transplantation, he had had an episode of rejection and had recently had thrombophlebitis of the leg. A chest radiograph revealed a new right upper-lobe infiltrate, and a cytomegalovirus antigenemia test was positive at 185 cells per two slides. A diagnostic procedure was performed.

Editorials
189-191

In this issue of the Journal, Hou and colleagues1 present data indicating that the use of benazepril, an angiotensin-converting–enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, is feasible and beneficial in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease, a point that has been much ...

191-193

During the past two decades, lung transplantation has evolved from a new investigational intervention performed in fewer than 20 patients per year at one institution to an accepted, albeit complex, therapy for a wide variety of end-stage lung diseases ...

Sounding Board
194-201

The authors argue that extensive reform of the system of drug regulation in the United States is needed to improve drug safety. In order to develop a more comprehensive system that is not so narrowly focused on testing of drugs before marketing, the authors propose a new federal authority for drug regulation, to be made up of three independent centers: a Center for New Drug Approval, a Center for Post-marketing Studies, and a Center for Drug Information.

Correspondence
202-203

To the Editor: Fredricks and colleagues (Nov. 3 issue)1 reported complex communities of bacteria and a high level of species diversity in vaginal secretions from women with bacterial vaginosis. However, the study of vaginal fluid alone provides an ...

203-205

To the Editor: In their study on the treatment of early syphilis, Riedner et al. (Sept. 22 issue)1 concluded that the wider use of oral azithromycin should be encouraged as part of syphilis-control programs in developing countries. Whereas this ...

205-207

To the Editor: The cost-effectiveness of implantable cardioverter–defibrillator (ICD) therapy reported by Sanders et al. (Oct. 6 issue)1 is overly optimistic, because it does not fully account for several factors that raise the costs and lower the ...

207-209

To the Editor: Shortly after reading the commentary by Neumann et al. (Oct. 6 issue),1 I met with several residents in internal medicine to discuss economic evaluation in health care. I was struck by their lack of knowledge not only about the methods and ...

209

To the Editor: We fear that the discussion of “syncope” in the Case Records, as in Binder et al. (Aug. 25 issue),1 may confuse readers. Seizures, hypoglycemia, and psychiatric conditions are considered causes of syncope (as listed in Table 1of the ...

209-210

To the Editor: Lamin A/C gene mutations are associated with various disorders,1,2 including cardiac abnormalities characterized by atrial fibrillation, conduction-system disturbances, sudden death, and heart failure.3,4 In retrospective analyses, we have ...

211-212

To the Editor: The injection of silicone for cosmetic procedures is common practice in the United States. We describe a case of severe silicone-induced pneumonitis leading to respiratory failure. A previously healthy 30-year-old woman presented with ...

Book Review
213-215

Jeanne Guillemin, a professor of sociology at Boston College and the author of Anthrax: The Investigation of a Deadly Outbreak (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), a definitive study of the 1979 anthrax attack by terrorists in the former ...

Corrections
215

Exhaled Nitric Oxide and Asthma Correspondence, N Engl J Med 2005:353;732-733.. In the letter by Smith and Taylor, in the first full paragraph of the right-hand column on page 733, lines 3, 10, and 18 should have read “long-acting beta-agonists,” rather ...

215

Cerebral Folate Deficiency Syndrome Correspondence, N Engl J Med 2005:353;740.. In the letter by Willemsen et al., author Marcel M. Verbeek's name was misspelled.

215

Low HDL Cholesterol Levels Clinical Practice, N Engl J Med 2005:353;1252-1260.. On page 1257, in the left-hand column, line 6 of the first full paragraph should have read, “. . . high-dose niacin (2 to 4 g per day) . . .,” rather than “. . . (2 to 4 mg ...