Table of Contents
Highlights from Medical Grand Rounds
- Treating Respiratory Infections in HIV-Positive Patients
In HIV-positive patients, respiratory infection symptoms can usually be treated or at least suppressed, but the clinical response may be obscured.
- A Mimic of Vasculitis
Of the many disorders that imitate vasculitis, one is particularly challenging to the diagnostician and produces significant patient morbidity and mortality.
- Antimicrobial Resistance in Neisseria Gonorrhoeae
Many of the N gonorrhoeae strains seen today are impervious to the relatively inexpensive drugs advocated for primary treatment in earlier years.
CME Notebook
- The changing face of the AIDS epidemic
HIV infection in women; bone marrow aspiration and biopsy in HIV infection; septic arthritis and HIV infection; current demographics of AIDS in the United States; common CNS infections in AIDS.
Contributions
- Acute tubulointerstitial nephritis
This condition should be suspected in patients with new azotemia who do not exhibit prerenal factors, features typical of acute tubular necrosis or a glomerular process, or evidence of obstructive uropathy.
- Quality of life assessment by patients with inflammatory bowel disease
Patients evaluated their quality of life on a questionnaire designed to more accurately reflect treatment outcome and to act as a tool for quality assurance assessment.
- Consent to treatment with zidovudine among HIV-infected patients
A high percentage of HIV-infected patients, both asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic, are consenting to zidovudine therapy, despite the risk for serious adverse effects associated with this agent.
- Stereotactic biopsy of nonneoplastic lesions in adults
Stereotactic biopsy is useful in identifying non-neoplastic intracranial lesions when the diagnosis was unclear by conventional means. An accompanying commentary puts the results in perspective.
Editorial
Review
- Experimental therapies for multiple sclerosis: current status
A critical analysis of current experimental agents and obstacles to the development of effective drug therapy.
State of the Art: Pulmonary Disease
- Spirometry: a key diagnostic test in pulmonary medicine
Spirometry permits diagnosis of a wide range of diseases and can be used to reinforce medical advice to modify harmful behavior, such as cigarette smoking.
Current Drug Therapy
- Moricizine: pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic, and therapeutic profile of a new antiarrhythmic
This agent appears to be well tolerated, with a low incidence of both short-term and long-term side effects. However, more clinical experience is needed to better define its antiarrhythmic role.
Case Report
Issues in Bloethics
- A good death: is euthanasia the answer?
Better pain management and a willingness to provide care within already established ethical and legal guidelines are the appropriate responses to current proposals for assistance in dying.
Commentary