The prevention of mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) during breast-feeding is a unique opportunity to curtail the AIDS epidemic. In this trial in Malawi, 3016 infants without HIV-1 infection who were born to infected mothers were randomly assigned to receive a single dose of nevirapine plus 1 week of zidovudine (control regimen) or the control regimen plus extended daily prophylaxis with nevirapine or with nevirapine plus zidovudine until the age of 14 weeks. Extended prophylaxis significantly decreased the rate of HIV-1 transmission (10.6%, 5.2%, and 6.4%, respectively) at 9 months.

Minimizing the risk of maternal-to-child transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a high priority. In this trial in Zambia, 958 HIV-infected women were randomly assigned to breast-feeding according to the standard practice or to abrupt weaning at 4 months. There was no significant difference in HIV-free survival between the study groups at 24 months.

Noninvasive ventilation (either continuous positive airway pressure or noninvasive intermittent positive-pressure ventilation) had no effect on 7-day or 30-day mortality in patients with cardiogenic pulmonary edema, as compared with standard oxygen therapy. Noninvasive ventilation should be used only to relieve symptoms and correct metabolic disturbances.

This report describes three generations of a family that included five cases of multiple myeloma, three cases of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), and five cases of prostate cancer. The putative progenitor had progeny with prostate cancer, multiple myeloma, and MGUS with two female partners.

In a family with hereditary atrial fibrillation, linkage analysis and candidate-gene sequencing identified a frameshift mutation in the atrial natriuretic peptide gene. This mutation segregated with atrial fibrillation in the family and generated a fusion protein that was detected by radioimmunoassay in the plasma of affected family members. The mutant protein caused shortening of the atrial monophasic action potential and the effective refractory period in isolated perfused hearts.