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December 25, 2008  Vol. 359 No. 26

Audio Summary of this Issue

Perspective
2745-2748

More than 294,000 children in China have reportedly been affected by melamine contamination of tainted infant formula. Dr. Julie Ingelfinger writes that the contaminated formula was taken off the market, but the story of melamine contamination is far from ...

2748-2751

Dr. Abraham Verghese discusses the problem with a “chart as surrogate for the patient” approach. He believes that if one eschews the skilled and repeated examination of the real patient, then tests, consultations, and procedures that might not be needed ...

Original Articles
2753-2766

In this randomized study, children and adolescents with primary diagnoses of separation anxiety or generalized anxiety disorders or social phobia received cognitive behavioral therapy, sertraline, a combination of these treatments, or placebo for 12 weeks. The results indicate that both cognitive behavioral therapy and sertraline reduced the severity of anxiety in children with anxiety disorders, and a combination of the two therapies had superior response rates.

2767-2777

Type 1 diabetes and celiac disease, both of which are associated with HLA class II genes, cosegregate in populations, suggesting a common genetic origin. In this article, the authors tested whether any non-HLA loci are shared. They report susceptibility alleles shared by both diseases, indicating that common biologic mechanisms underlie these immune-mediated disorders.

2778-2789

DNA damage in normal cells triggers a newly discovered pathway that raises intracellular pH, which in turn deaminates and impairs the antiapoptotic Bcl-xL protein, thereby causing an increase in apoptosis. This pathway was found to be suppressed in mature myeloid cells and stem cells from patients with chronic myeloid leukemia and polycythemia vera.

2790-2803

Current standard therapy for Wegener's granulomatosis and microscopic polyangiitis combines corticosteroids and cyclophosphamide to induce remission, followed by a less toxic immunosuppressant. This prospective, open-label, multicenter trial indicated that the safety and efficacy of azathioprine and methotrexate are similar for maintenance therapy after initial remission in these two conditions.

Clinical Practice
2804-2813
  • Full Text Audio

A 62-year-old man presented with a 5-day history of progressively worsening dyspnea and orthopnea after returning from a 3-day business trip to the Far East. On physical examination, the heart rate was 102 beats per minute and the blood pressure 110/60 mm Hg. The lungs were clear, and the extremities appeared normal. A computed tomographic scan showed multiple thrombi in the pulmonary arteries and a dilated right ventricle. How should this case be managed?

Review Article
2814-2823

Metastases are the principal cause of death in patients with cancer. Recent advances bring hope that it will be possible to identify the molecules and processes involved in metastasis, and this new knowledge could lead to effective methods of preventing and treating metastases. This review describes the properties of cells that enable them to surmount physical boundaries, disseminate, and colonize a distant organ.

Videos in Clinical Medicine
e32

    Many distal-extremity injuries can initially be managed in an outpatient setting with the use of basic splinting techniques. Splinting immobilizes injured extremities, prevents further injury, decreases pain and bleeding, and allows healing to begin. This video demonstrates splinting techniques for common injuries.

    Images in Clinical Medicine
    2824
    • Free Full Text

    A 43-year-old man, who is an identical twin, presented with a 2-year history of lethargy, weakness, and headaches and a several-year history of gradual loss of body hair and declining libido. He had undergone left orchidopexy at 6 years of age. A physical ...

    e33
    • Free Full Text

    An 87-year-old man tripped and fell; subsequently, persistent pain developed in the left hip. A radiograph of the left hip 2 weeks after the fall revealed no evidence of fracture.

    Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital
    2825-2833
    • Video

    A 26-year-old man was seen in the Neuro-Ophthalmology Clinic because of blurred vision and discomfort in the right eye. On examination, there was decreased visual acuity, loss of color vision, a relative afferent pupillary defect, a swollen optic nerve, and visual-field abnormalities. Computed tomography of the orbits and sinuses revealed sinusitis with erosion of the optic canals. A diagnostic procedure was performed.

    Editorials
    2835-2836

    Generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and social phobia are relatively prevalent disorders that affect 6 to 20% of children and adolescents.1 However, these disorders frequently go unrecognized by medical professionals. This is a ...

    2837-2838

    Some families seem to be afflicted with more than their fair share of chronic illness — and sometimes more than one. Why does a particular disease develop in some members of a given family, whereas other members fall victim to apparently unrelated ...

    Correspondence
    2839-2841

    To the Editor: Since the 1995 publication of a study1 reporting the efficacy of intravenous thrombolysis with alteplase for limiting the devastating effects of acute ischemic stroke, we have learned repeatedly that successful thrombolysis is time-...

    2842-2844

    To the Editor: Johnson et al. (Sept. 18 issue)1 discuss the use of computed tomographic (CT) colonography as a noninvasive option in screening for colorectal cancer, with optical colonoscopy and histologic review serving as the reference standard. Two ...

    2844-2845

    To the Editor: In his article on gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists as a treatment for endometriosis, Olive (Sept. 11 issue)1 describes a 36-year-old woman with pelvic pain who did not have a response to hormonal treatment initiated on a ...

    2845-2846

    To the Editor: The medical mystery in the October 30 issue1 concerned a 71-year-old man with a 10-day history of dizziness, progressive lethargy, and confusion. A complete blood count showed pancytopenia (white-cell count, 2900 per cubic millimeter [...

    2846-2847

    To the Editor: The response of infantile hemangiomas to propranolol reported in the letter by Léauté-Labrèze et al. (June 12 issue)1 catapulted the use of this treatment to first-line status among physicians managing this disease. Not included in their ...

    2847-2848

    To the Editor: Proteinuria developed in a 48-year-old man in 2003. His mother had died 10 years earlier from renal amyloidosis. Laboratory tests showed isolated nephrotic-range proteinuria (urinary protein excretion, >7 g per 24 hours) with normal ...

    2849-2850

    To the Editor: The risk of type 1 diabetes among the monozygotic twins of patients with type 1 diabetes is reported to be as low as 30%; this percentage is usually based on the ascertainment of data at a single time point.13 Less is known about the ...

    Book Reviews
    2851-2852

    Bioethics has reformed medical practice by elevating patient autonomy over physician paternalism. Robert Veatch was a leader of this movement, but in his view, the transformation has stalled. In this book, Veatch follows patient autonomy to its logical ...

    2852-2853

    As Paul S. Frame observed at a meeting of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in the early 1990s, “An ounce of prevention is a ton of work.” This observation remains true today, and Carl Bartecchi and Robert Schrier have done much of the heavy lifting ...

    Corrections
    2853

    Tumor Necrosis Factor α and Colitis-Associated Colon Cancer Clinical Implications of Basic Research, N Engl J Med 2008:358;2733-2734.. In the first sentence of the fourth paragraph (page 2733), etanercept should have been described as “a human TNF-α ...

    2853

    Accuracy of CT Colonography for Detection of Large Adenomas and Cancers Original Article, N Engl J Med 2008:359;1207-1217.. In Table 4 (page 1215), row 2, the table entry should read, “No. of lesions.” We regret the error. The table has been corrected on ...