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July 19, 2007  Vol. 357 No. 3

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Perspective
209-213
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A rapid increase in the rate of organ recovery from deceased persons has occurred in the category of donation after “cardiac death.” Dr. Robert Steinbrook writes that these donations remain troubling to some and are not as widely accepted as donations ...

213-215

Dr. Viviany Taqueti describes the case of a 29-year-old heroin addict with chronic aortic insufficiency who presented to the emergency department with acute onset of fever, chills, anorexia, and malaise. The patient seemed indifferent to the medical team'...

Original Articles
217-227
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In a randomized trial, 2161 patients with peripheral arterial disease were assigned to combination therapy with an antiplatelet agent and an oral anticoagulant or to antiplatelet therapy alone. At a mean follow-up of 35 months, the rate of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes was not significantly different between the two groups. The group receiving combination therapy had a significantly higher rate of life-threatening bleeding.

228-238
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In this randomized trial involving 662 patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease, 23% of patients who were treated with certolizumab pegol (a pegylated humanized Fab′ fragment that binds tumor necrosis factor) had a response at both 6 and 26 weeks, as compared with 16% of patients treated with placebo (P=0.02). Rates of remission did not differ significantly between the two study groups. Serious infections were reported in 2% of patients in the certolizumab group and in less than 1% in the placebo group.

239-250

Patients who had a response to open-label induction treatment with certolizumab pegol were randomly assigned to receive maintenance treatment with certolizumab pegol or placebo. At 26 weeks, more patients in the certolizumab group than in the placebo group had maintained their response (63% vs. 36%, P<0.001). Serious infection occurred in 3% of patients in the certolizumab group and in less than 1% in the placebo group.

Special Article
251-257

In vitro fertilization (IVF) with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is effective for male-factor infertility; its role for other forms of infertility is unclear. ICSI is more costly than IVF alone and may confer more risks. In the United States from 1995 to 2004, the use of ICSI increased dramatically, while diagnoses of male-factor infertility remained stable. These data suggest that guidance regarding the appropriate use of ICSI is warranted.

Clinical Therapeutics
258-265

A 28-year-old woman with recently diagnosed chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) presents for consideration of appropriate treatment. No siblings are available as candidate donors for stem-cell transplantation. Imatinib, an inhibitor of the BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase present in almost all CML, is recommended. The patient may need to take imatinib indefinitely to maintain suppression of abnormal bone marrow clones.

Review Article
266-281

Once foods in the United States were fortified with vitamin D, rickets appeared to have been conquered, and many considered major health problems from vitamin D deficiency resolved. But vitamin D deficiency is common. This review considers the role of vitamin D in skeletal and nonskeletal health and suggests strategies for the prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency.

Images in Clinical Medicine
282
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A 56-year-old woman presented with jaundice and a painless mass in her left supraclavicular fossa that had become progressively enlarged during the preceding 8 weeks. Physical examination revealed a hard lymph node measuring 6 cm by 6 cm in the left ...

e3
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This 25-year-old woman went bungee jumping from 150 ft (46 m). Immediately afterward, she noticed a substantial decrease in vision in her left eye.

Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital
283-291

A 38-year-old woman came to the Gastrointestinal Cancer Genetics Clinic of this hospital because of a family history of breast and gastric cancer. Her mother had died of gastric cancer, and her maternal aunt had bilateral breast cancer and died of gastric cancer. Screening upper gastrointestinal endoscopy had been negative in the patient. A diagnostic procedure was performed.

Editorials
293-296

Atherothrombosis describes the occurrence of both atherosclerosis and thrombosis in an artery, a common feature of peripheral arterial disease.1 It is estimated that 1 in 16 U.S. residents who were at least 40 years of age in 2000 (approximately 8.5 ...

296-298

For decades, many patients with Crohn's disease required prolonged courses of corticosteroids, repeated surgeries, or both, despite treatment with 5-aminosalicylic acid (mesalamine) or immunomodulators such as azathioprine. The introduction of infliximab, ...

Clinical Implications of Basic Research
299-300

Systematic muting of gene expression in a cell line of non–small-cell lung cancer indicates potentially therapeutic drug combinations.

Correspondence
301-302

To the Editor: Lacroix et al. (April 19 issue)1 report that a restrictive transfusion strategy (a hemoglobin threshold of 7 g per deciliter) is as safe as a liberal strategy (a hemoglobin threshold of 9.5 g per deciliter) in pediatric patients in the ...

302-303

To the Editor: Larsen et al. (April 12 issue)1 describe salutary changes in many markers of inflammation in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus treated with anakinra, an interleukin-1–receptor antagonist. They report a significant difference in the ...

303-304

To the Editor: Lau et al. (April 19 issue)1 suggest the infusion of high-dose omeprazole before endoscopy to reduce the need for endoscopic therapy in patients with non–aspirin-related bleeding peptic ulcers. We find it difficult to support this proposal,...

304-306

To the Editor: Francis (April 5 issue)1 states that an 8-hour dosing schedule of unfractionated heparin may be preferable to a 12-hour dosing schedule. However, a recent meta-analysis that included 12 studies and 7978 patients has shown that a regimen of ...

306-308

To the Editor: As many as 25% of pheochromocytomas — catecholamine-producing tumors located along the sympathetic nervous system, including the adrenals — occur in hereditary tumor syndromes that include von Hippel–Lindau disease (VHL gene),1 multiple ...

308-309

To the Editor: Vitamin D intoxication that is associated with the consumption of dietary supplements is reported rarely.1 In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) learned of the following case.

A 58-year-old woman with diabetes mellitus and ...

Book Reviews
310-311

Perhaps nowhere in medicine is it more apparent than in the world of psychiatry that illness cannot exist outside culture. How a person perceives a symptom and how a society defines a disorder determine whether a physician ever makes a diagnosis and ...

311-312

Stephen Hinshaw's book will be of interest to readers well beyond the fields of psychology and psychiatry. He begins with a critical analysis of concepts and deftly summarizes the major schools of thought regarding what mental illness is, removing the ...

312-313
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Laser treatment has been available for more than 30 years, yet diabetic retinopathy remains the most important cause of visual loss among people of working age in developed countries — and increasingly in developing countries. Not surprisingly, a great ...

Corrections
313

Case 8-2007: A 48-Year-Old Man with Chest Pain Followed by Cardiac Arrest Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital, N Engl J Med 2007:356;1153-1162.. The third sentence of the fifth paragraph (page 1154) should have read “Magnesium, at a dose of ...

313

HPV in Head and Neck Carcinomas Editorial, N Engl J Med 2007:356;1993-1995.. The last sentence of the fourth paragraph should have read “Moreover, on pathological examination of paraffin-embedded specimens with the use of in situ hybridization, HPV-16 was ...