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November 13, 2008  Vol. 359 No. 20

Audio Summary of this Issue

Perspective
2085-2086

Foreword

The editors asked several experts to share their perspectives on the crisis in U.S. primary care. Their articles, which address this crisis from six different angles, follow. We also brought the five U.S. contributors together for a roundtable ...

2086-2088

Foreword

The editors asked several experts to share their perspectives on the crisis in U.S. primary care. Their articles, which address this crisis from six different angles, follow. We also brought the five U.S. contributors together for a roundtable ...

2086-2089

Foreword

The editors asked several experts to share their perspectives on the crisis in U.S. primary care. Their articles, which address this crisis from six different angles, follow. We also brought the five U.S. contributors together for a roundtable ...

2087-2090

Foreword

The editors asked several experts to share their perspectives on the crisis in U.S. primary care. Their articles, which address this crisis from six different angles, follow. We also brought the five U.S. contributors together for a roundtable ...

2087-2091

Foreword

The editors asked several experts to share their perspectives on the crisis in U.S. primary care. Their articles, which address this crisis from six different angles, follow. We also brought the five U.S. contributors together for a roundtable ...

2087-2092

Foreword

The editors asked several experts to share their perspectives on the crisis in U.S. primary care. Their articles, which address this crisis from six different angles, follow. We also brought the five U.S. contributors together for a roundtable ...

e24
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U.S. primary care is in crisis. Primary care physicians must care for more and more patients, with more and more chronic conditions, in less and less time, for which they are compensated far less than subspecialists. They must absorb increasing volumes of ...

Original Articles
2095-2104

Positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) is used to improve oxygenation in patients with acute lung injury or the acute respiratory distress syndrome. In this pilot trial, the investigators show that adjusting PEEP with the use of measurements of esophageal pressure to estimate transpulmonary pressure leads to improved oxygenation as compared with the conventional approach to ventilator management.

2105-2120

This study examined the association of body-mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio with the risk of death among more than 350,000 European subjects who had no major chronic diseases. The data suggest that both general and abdominal adiposity are associated with the risk of death and support the use of waist circumference or waist-to-hip ratio in addition to BMI for assessment of the risk of death, particularly among persons with a lower BMI.

2121-2134

In this 10-month, crossover, double-blind study of 16 patients with severe, refractory obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus reduced the symptoms of OCD. Eleven patients had serious adverse events, including one intracerebral hemorrhage and two infections requiring electrode removal.

Clinical Practice
2135-2142
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A female high-school soccer athlete reacts to a defender, plants her leg, cuts to the left without contact, feels her leg give out, hears a pop, and has acute pain. She is unable to walk off the field or return to play. That evening her knee progressively swells. The next day she presents for evaluation. How should her case be managed?

Review Article
2143-2153

This review deals with germ-line genes that increase susceptibility to five major types of cancer: breast, lung, pancreatic, prostate, and colorectal cancer. Often familial, often appearing at a young age, and often with atypical features, these cancers are caused by mutations in a germ-line gene and frequently with a second mutation in a gene in a somatic cell. The review ends with a discussion of clinical implications, especially for genetic counseling.

Images in Clinical Medicine
2154
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A 39-year-old woman was struck by a truck traveling at high speed. Cervical computed tomography showed a dislocation between the C5 and C6 vertebrae (Panel A, sagittal reconstruction). Physical examination revealed less than antigravity strength in the ...

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This 49-year-old man presented to the emergency room with a 2-day history of decreased vision in his left eye. His visual acuity in that eye was 20/200.

Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital
2155-2164

    A 65-year-old right-handed man was transferred to this hospital because of the recent onset of confusion and memory loss. MRI scans of the brain showed symmetric abnormalities involving the temporal lobes, left basal forebrain, and insular regions. A CT scan of the chest disclosed an anterior mediastinal mass. A diagnostic procedure was performed.

    Editorial
    2166-2168

    Treatment of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) was introduced more than 40 years ago.1,2 Few practitioners question the effects of PEEP on hemoglobin saturation, but the optimal dose titration is ...

    Correspondence
    2169-2172

    To the Editor: How do Shai et al. (July 17 issue)1 explain why the subjects in their study regained weight between month 6 and month 24, despite a reported reduction of 300 to 600 calories per day? Contributing possibilities may include the notion that a ...

    2172-2173

    To the Editor: In a randomized study of the effect of tibolone on fracture rates among postmenopausal women between the ages of 60 and 85 years, Cummings et al. (Aug. 14 issue)1 report that tibolone significantly reduced the risk of invasive breast ...

    2174-2176

    To the Editor: The studies by Eriksson et al. and Lassen et al. (June 26 issue)1,2 show the superiority of oral rivaroxaban over a fixed dose of enoxaparin for thromboprophylaxis. In both studies, there was a wide range in the body weights of the ...

    2176-2177

    To the Editor: Doran et al. (July 17 issue)1 found low rates of exception reporting among family practices in England and conclude that there is little evidence of gaming in the pay-for-performance system. The authors did not have access to the reasons ...

    2177-2179

    To the Editor: In the United States, the dissemination of a major clone of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), designated USA300, and outbreaks of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VREF) have been described....

    Book Reviews
    2180-2181

    Pulmonary hypertension and its effects on right heart function have long been an enigma to most clinicians. However, remarkable progress has been made in recent years. We are now able to accurately classify the condition and have a better understanding of ...

    2181

    The development of intravenous nutrition that enables patients to survive for months or years, even when they are completely dependent on it, should be considered one of the major medical advances of the 20th century. Until intravenous nutrition was ...

    2182-2183

    In this book, Nicolas Rasmussen tackles a topic that is important to the readership of the Journal. Unfortunately, he appears to be biased from the start, and his bias leads him to conclusions that do little to solve many of the problems he raises in the ...