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November 1, 2007  Vol. 357 No. 18

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Perspective
1793-1795

Peter Orszag and Philip Ellis write that the United States' financial health will be determined primarily by the growth rate of per capita health care costs. Yet discussions of health care reforms have not seriously addressed the issue of how to slow ...

1796-1797

On September 6, Senators Charles Grassley and Herb Kohl introduced the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Eric Campbell discusses the implications of the bill, which would require manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices with annual revenues of ...

Original Articles
1799-1809

Mortality is increased in the year after a hip fracture, and strategies that improve the outcome are needed. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial compared yearly intravenous zoledronic acid with placebo first administered within 90 days after surgical repair of a hip fracture in patients who were unable or unwilling to take oral bisphosphonates. Zoledronic acid was associated with a reduced relative risk of a new clinical fracture and a reduction in mortality from all causes.

1810-1820

This trial tested the efficacy of S-1, an oral prodrug that converts to fluorouracil within cells, in the adjuvant treatment of gastric cancer in Japanese patients after gastrectomy and an extended (D2) lymph-node dissection. Treatment with S-1 for 1 year after surgery was associated with longer overall survival than surgery alone. An important feature of this trial is the D2 dissection, which is not commonly performed in Western countries.

1821-1828

In this study of 2000 people 45 years of age or older who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as part of a prospective, population-based cohort study, asymptomatic brain infarcts were found in 7.2% of subjects, cerebral aneurysms in 1.8%, and benign primary tumors in 1.6%. Incidental brain findings on brain MRI are not uncommon.

1829-1833
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Stimulation of an electrode implanted over the right temporoparietal junction in a patient with intractable tinnitus did not provide relief of his tinnitus but consistently resulted in the patient's perception that he was outside his body (out-of-body experience). Positron-emission tomographic scanning localized the areas of the brain that were active during this experience.

Clinical Practice
1834-1840
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A 75-year-old woman has type 2 diabetes mellitus, peripheral vascular disease, and a gangrenous ulcer of her left foot. A below-the-knee amputation is recommended, but she declines, saying that she has lived long enough and wants to die with her body intact. Her internist is concerned about her increasing confusion over the past year and notes that she appears to be depressed. How should her physician determine whether her decision is competent?

Review Article
1841-1854

    This review of leukotrienes, which are lipid mediators with a broad array of clinical effects, and leukotriene receptors considers the biochemical and physiological aspects of these molecules, examines their roles in asthma and other diseases, and explains the pharmacologic effects of antileukotriene agents.

    Images in Clinical Medicine
    1855
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    A 68-year-old man with a history of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was admitted to our hospital with a 1-day history of dyspnea, fever, and epigastric and chest pain. Shortly after admission, the patient's hypoxemia became progressively ...

    e19
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    This 69-year-old man presented with discoloration of the left foot and pain while at rest.

    Clinical Problem-Solving
    1856-1859

      A previously healthy 65-year-old woman went to her primary care physician in late August seeking evaluation of a “spot” that had appeared on her right leg 3 weeks earlier. One week later, the skin lesion had resolved, but she returned with reports of malaise and diffuse arthralgias that had progressively worsened, with intense, disabling pain and stiffness in her neck, shoulders, wrists, hands, knees, and ankles.

      Editorials
      1861-1862

      More than 300,000 hip fractures occur annually in the United States,1 the majority related to osteoporosis and falls in older people. Not surprisingly, the public health implications and economic burden associated with this condition are enormous.2,3 In ...

      1863-1865

      Gastric cancer is a leading cause of illness and death from cancer worldwide, with nearly a million new cases diagnosed each year and a 5-year survival rate of less than 20% among patients in most parts of the world other than Japan, where the rate is ...

      Correspondence
      1866-1868

      To the Editor: In the report on the spread of obesity in a social network, by Christakis and Fowler, and the accompanying editorial by Barabási (July 26 issue),1,2 variables of social and economic status (SES) are not mentioned. Social networks conceal a ...

      1868-1869

      To the Editor: The main limitation of the study of a large cohort of patients with type B acute aortic dissection from the International Registry of Acute Aortic Dissection (IRAD), reported by Tsai et al. (July 26 issue),1 is the exclusion of patients ...

      1869-1871

      To the Editor: In their review of drug-induced immune thrombocytopenia, Aster and Bougie (Aug. 9 issue)1 do not mention an important aspect of drug-induced thrombocytopenia–thrombosis. Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (both oral and intravenous ...

      1871-1872

      To the Editor: The Perspective article about mevalonate kinase deficiency and autoinflammatory disorders by Haas and Hoffmann (June 28 issue)1 accompanies the Brief Report by Neven et al.2 The Perspective describes the disease spectrum of human ...

      1872-1873

      To the Editor: In their letter to the editor, Budach et al. (Aug. 2 issue)1 report on two patients with squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck who had severe radiation dermatitis while receiving a combination of radiotherapy and cetuximab, a ...

      1873-1874

      The authors report on two otherwise healthy young women who had myocardial infarction with acute ST-segment elevation associated with the use of phentermine and sibutramine.

      1874-1876

      To the Editor: Infliximab, a monoclonal antibody against tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), is used in Japan for the treatment of patients with active rheumatoid arthritis that is resistant to methotrexate.1 Methotrexate is used only for patients who do ...

      Book Reviews
      1877-1878

      In the middle third of the 20th century, there were two important changes in medicine in the United States: the introduction of new science-based therapies (including antibiotics, chemotherapy, transplantation, and hormones) and the internationalization ...

      1878

      The rapidly expanding field of pediatric hepatology deals with a set of diseases that are vastly different from those that are addressed in the field of adult hepatology. The pediatric diseases are a varied mix of inborn errors of metabolism, congenital ...

      1879

      Pediatric Endocrinology, now in its fifth edition, builds on the strengths and progressive improvements of previous editions. It is a compendium of practical, hands-on endocrinology with a focus on obesity and metabolic disorders in children.

      The book is ...