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July 31, 2008  Vol. 359 No. 5

Audio Summary of this Issue

Perspective
445-448
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It is likely that during the coming year, Congress will pass legislation bringing tobacco products under the regulatory authority of the FDA. Allan Brandt writes that it behooves public health advocates and Congress to fully understand all the ...

448-451

Japanese teams have been at the forefront of the development of surgical procedures for the treatment of gastric cancer. David Forman and Paola Pisani discuss why gastric cancer occurs so frequently in Japan.

Original Articles
453-462

This randomized trial of the surgical treatment of curable gastric cancer in Japan compared gastrectomy and extended (D2) lymphadenectomy with gastrectomy and D2 lymphadenectomy plus para-aortic nodal dissection (PAND). There were no significant differences in overall survival between the two groups. Gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy remains the preferred surgical treatment for curable gastric cancer in Japan.

463-472

Women-controlled methods to prevent male-to-female transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are needed. In this study of vaginally applied 6% cellulose sulfate gel conducted in India and Africa, 1398 women were randomly assigned to use the gel or placebo before sexual acts. Use of the gel did not prevent the acquisition of HIV or other sexually transmitted infections and may have increased the risk of HIV infection.

473-481

Experimental evidence suggests that cyclosporine may attenuate myocardial reperfusion injury. In a pilot trial, 58 patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction were randomly assigned to receive an intravenous bolus of either cyclosporine or saline immediately before undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. Creatine kinase release was significantly reduced in the patients who received cyclosporine. These results require confirmation in a larger trial.

Special Article
482-491

After enactment of a law in Scotland that prohibited smoking in public places, the number of hospital admissions for acute coronary syndrome decreased by 17%. The decrease was greater among persons who had never smoked than among smokers, suggesting that the reduction in passive smoking had a public health benefit.

Review Article
492-507

Malignant gliomas, the most common type of primary brain tumor in adults, are associated with disproportionate cancer-related morbidity and mortality. Recently, there have been important advances in our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of malignant gliomas and progress in treating them. This review summarizes the diagnosis and management of these tumors in adults, highlighting new advances.

Images in Clinical Medicine
508
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An otherwise healthy and functional 35-year-old man had an undisplaced fracture of the right fifth metacarpal neck after a fall. He presented 21 months later with pain, extensive swelling (Panels A and B), and loss of function in his right hand up to the ...

e5
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This 32-year-old woman with ocular albinism presented with a congenital horizontal pendular nystagmus. She had no cutaneous manifestations of albinism.

Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital
509-515

A 35-year-old woman was admitted to the psychiatry service 5 days after the birth of her first child because of confusion, agitation, and delusions. A diagnosis of bipolar disorder had been made 2 years earlier, which was treated with lithium and citalopram. She discontinued her medications to become pregnant and had stated that if a relapse occurred, she should not be given medications that would prevent her from breast-feeding her infant.

Editorials
517-518

    The Supreme Court has launched the country on a risky epidemiologic experiment. The announcement by the Court last month of its decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, 1 which struck down a ban on handgun ownership in the nation's capital, has set the ...

    518-520

    Every year, 500,000 people in the United States have an ST-elevation myocardial infarction.1 Timely and effective reperfusion with the use of either primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or thrombolytic therapy remains the most effective ...

    Health Law, Ethics, and Human Rights
    521-525

    The author discusses the case of Coombes v. Florio, in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned a trial judge's ruling to dismiss a lawsuit against a physician whose patient was the driver in a car accident that resulted in the death of a child. The trial judge had ruled that physicians' responsibilities were restricted to their patients, whereas the court ruled that the victim of a car accident can sue the driver's physician if the physician has failed to inform the patient about medication side effects that may impair driving.

    Clinical Implications of Basic Research
    526-528

    Syndecan-1, a heparin sulfate protein, is vital to the integrity of the intestinal epithelium in the mouse.

    Correspondence
    529-533

    To the Editor: In the Ezetimibe and Simvastatin in Hypercholesterolemia Enhances Atherosclerosis Regression (ENHANCE) study by Kastelein et al. (April 3 issue),1 the addition of ezetimibe to simvastatin boosted the decrease in levels of low-density ...

    533-535

    To the Editor: In the Home Automated External Defibrillator Trial (HAT) (April 24 issue),1 Bardy et al. recruited patients who had had a previous myocardial infarction and who were not eligible for an implantable cardioverter–defibrillator (ICD),2 at a ...

    535

    To the Editor: Watson-Jones et al. (April 10 issue)1 report that the suppression of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) does not decrease the incidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in female workers at recreational facilities in ...

    536

    To the Editor: In our article on lung transplantation and survival in children with cystic fibrosis (Nov. 22 issue),1 the recording of censoring dates, but not deaths, for 27 of the 514 patients in the final data set that we analyzed was in error. The ...

    536-537

    To the Editor: Kesselheim and Avorn (April 17 issue)1 dramatically understate the robust, sound constitutional protection the U.S. Supreme Court affords truthful, nonmisleading commercial communication such as that embodied in reprints of scientific ...

    537-539

    To the Editor: TP53, a tumor-suppressor gene, is frequently inactivated by somatic mutations in cancer. Inheritance of a heterozygous TP53 mutation results in the Li–Fraumeni syndrome of a hereditary predisposition to cancer.1 A germ-line mutation of the ...

    539-541

    In a phase 1 trial, a CMV-specific CD8+ T-cell response was induced in a patient with glioblastoma after vaccination with dendritic cells and autologous tumor. CMV in glial cells could serve as an immunotherapeutic target in glioblastoma.

    Book Reviews
    542-543

    This comprehensive and practical book describes the experiences of the pioneers who established integrative oncology programs at five of the leading National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States: the University of Texas M.D. ...

    543-544

    Whether acupuncture from China, Ayurvedic therapies from India, or homeopathy in Europe, in her scholarly book, Roberta Bivins presents the belief systems that gave rise to such ancient practices and then follows their subsequent problematic global ...

    544-545

    Asbestos, a well-known carcinogen, is responsible for the dramatic increase in the incidence of pleural mesothelioma among men in Western countries in the past 40 years. This increase is a result of the substantial occupational exposure to asbestos ...

    545-546

    This year began with the death of Judah Folkman, an enormous blow to the medical and scientific communities. It was in the Journal, in 1971, that Folkman published the seminal framework for his ideas about what is now known as tumor angiogenesis. The ...

    Corrections
    546

    Exclusion of Patients from Pay-for-Performance Targets by English Physicians Special Article, N Engl J Med 2008:359;274-284.. The reference list was inadvertently altered during the final processing of the file before publication. The corrected reference ...

    e6

    Lung Transplantation and Survival in Children with Cystic Fibrosis Original Article, N Engl J Med 2007:357;2143-2152.. In the Results section of the Abstract (page 2143), the third sentence, “Burkholderia cepacia infection decreased survival, regardless ...