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August 17, 2006  Vol. 355 No. 7

Audio Summary of this Issue

Perspective
645-647
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Drs. Jim Kim and Paul Farmer discuss the lessons they have gleaned from their work in setting global AIDS policies at the World Health Organization in Geneva and in implementing integrated programs for AIDS prevention and care in places such as rural ...

647-649

The CDC is poised to issue new recommendations for testing for HIV in adults, adolescents, and pregnant women. Drs. Ronald Bayer and Amy Fairchild write that these moves signal the end of the exceptionalism that has distinguished public health policy with ...

649-651

    Deaths from cholera are again making news, this time in Angola. Drs. David Sack, Bradley Sack, and Claire-Lise Chaignat discuss whether there is hope for controlling cholera.

    Original Articles
    653-665

    In patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia or right-sided endocarditis, daptomycin was shown to be noninferior to standard antimicrobial therapy (vancomycin or an antistaphylococcal penicillin with low-dose gentamicin). Microbiologic evidence of treatment failure was more common in the daptomycin group, whereas treatment failure caused by an adverse event occurred more often in the standard-therapy group.

    666-674

    The rapid emergence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) as a community pathogen threatens to change the practice of outpatient medicine. In this report, investigators from emergency departments in 11 cities throughout the United States show that S. aureus accounts for 76 percent of culturable skin and soft-tissue infections, of which 59 percent are MRSA.

    675-684

    In this clinical trial, patients who had a rheumatic disease and were receiving glucocorticoids were given either daily alendronate and alfacalcidol placebo or daily alfacalcidol and alendronate placebo. Alendronate was more effective than alfacalcidol in the prevention of glucocorticoid-induced bone loss in the lumbar spine.

    685-694
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    In this prospective study, moderate-to-severe white-matter abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at term equivalent among very preterm infants were significant predictors of neurodevelopmental impairments at a corrected age of two years. These abnormalities were predictive of severe motor delay and cerebral palsy even after adjustment for findings on cranial ultrasonography and other clinical factors.

    Special Article
    695-703
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    In this large survey of Americans 55 years of age or older, functional limitation was inversely associated with income across a broad range of income, with functional limitation most common among persons at the poverty line and least common among those at 700 percent or more of the poverty line.

    Clinical Therapeutics
    704-712

    Rheumatoid arthritis that was resistant to methotrexate and sulfasalazine developed in a 25-year-old woman who was evaluated for possible treatment with a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor. These agents are effective in some patients who have not had a response to other therapies. They increase the risk of infection, and their long-term efficacy and safety are not established.

    Images in Clinical Medicine
    713

    A 25-year-old bodybuilder was hospitalized with a painful left upper arm five days after injecting 1.5 ml of a steroid preparation into the medial aspect of his left biceps brachii muscle. He reported using a sterile needle obtained from a pharmacy, but ...

    e6
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    An eosinophil count was 17 percent in this 14-year-old refugee from Cameroon. Direct examination of blood revealed highly motile microfilariae.

    Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital
    714-722

    A 41-year-old woman had a three-year history of multiple painful subcutaneous nodules on the head, neck, and trunk. The pain was present at rest and increased on palpation of the nodules and with activity. The patient described intermittent fever and swelling of the arms and legs. Examination disclosed subcutaneous nodules on the neck and trunk that were tender on palpation. A diagnostic procedure was performed.

    Editorials
    724-727

    The decline in the development of new antibiotics, the recognition that partial vancomycin resistance may result in some vancomycin treatment failures among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, and the emergence of new community-...

    727-729

    Among the most pressing questions for the parents and caregivers of extremely preterm infants are those about their children's future. Will they survive? If so, what are their chances of leading a life that we consider normal?

    In a large study of infants ...

    Clinical Implications of Basic Research
    730-732

      The cryopyrin gene, previously shown to be mutated in patients with periodic-fever syndrome, is critical in the innate immune response to some bacterial infections and to the inflammation that occurs after exposure to the crystalline material found in the joints of people with gout and pseudogout.

      Correspondence
      733-734

      To the Editor: In the Consortium for Radiologic Imaging Studies of Polycystic Kidney Disease (CRISP) study (May 18 issue),1 Grantham et al. found that in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), cysts enlarged at a steady rate, ...

      734

      To the Editor: I was surprised that the article by Kennedy et al. (May 18 issue)1 about language acquisition in deaf children did not mention signing or sign language. Deaf children cannot hear. This creates natural limits on the effectiveness of speech ...

      734-736

      To the Editor: I am troubled by two apparent contradictions in the conclusions reached by Studdert et al. (May 11 issue)1 in their article on medical malpractice litigation. First, why do they say that accounts of “frivolous litigation are overblown” ...

      737-738

      To the Editor: The discovery of a V617F mutation in the Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) gene was a seminal advance in our understanding of the chronic myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs). Ostensibly, the recent Case Record by Chung et al. (May 18 issue)1 was ...

      739

      To the Editor: A 52-year-old woman with multibacillary (borderline lepromatous) leprosy, who had been treated intermittently with dapsone since 1965, presented to our department in 1996 with active skin lesions, a positive bacterial index (5+) on skin ...

      740-741

      To the Editor: Tumor necrosis factor α antagonists have been shown to be effective agents in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis; however, they have also been shown to increase the risk of the reactivation of tuberculosis in patients with latent ...

      Book Reviews
      742

      Preterm births have continued to increase despite years of research into the causes, epidemiology, and management of preterm labor. In the United States, the rate of preterm births now exceeds 12 percent. There are many hypotheses to explain this ...

      743

      With nearly one fourth of all solid tumors located in four organs, genitourinary oncology is proportionately underrepresented in the literature of basic science, epidemiology, clinical research, and translational research. However, this topic is well ...

      743-744

      Pelvic inflammatory disease is common and costly. Worldwide, approximately 333 million women with this disease present with acute signs and symptoms of pelvic infection, but countless others suffer from long-term sequelae of the disease, including pain, ...

      744-745

      Uterine Leiomyomata falls short of its potential to enlighten clinicians about this rapidly evolving topic. Uterine leiomyomas may affect up to 70 to 80 percent of American women, but for much of the past century there was little need for a new book on ...

      Corrections
      745

      The Potential of Human Papillomavirus Vaccines Perspective, N Engl J Med 2006:354;1109-1112.. On page 1109, in the middle column, lines 12 through 16 should have read, “The two investigational HPV vaccines are based in part on technology developed at the ...

      745

      Cost-Effectiveness of Cervical-Cancer Screening in Developing Countries Correspondence, N Engl J Med 2006:354;1535-1536.. In the letter by Goldie, on page 1536, lines 3 through 6 should have read, “The study that Dr. Suba refers to was conducted in the ...

      746

      Homocysteine Lowering with Folic Acid and B Vitamins in Vascular Disease Original Article, N Engl J Med 2006:354;1567-1577.. On page 1573, in Figure 2, the number of patients at the start of the study in the placebo group should have read 2764, and the ...

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