Table of Contents

When I went to medical school, we were taught that viruses couldn’t jump from animals to humans. It looks like you can forget that rule.

We can hope that a pandemic does not occur—or we can take proactive steps to prevent one. In particular, we must improve vaccination rates among patients and health care workers.

The answer depends on the cause of the thrombocytopenia and on whether surgery or childbirth is planned.

A major flaw of the studies to date is that they failed to measure changes in levels of oxidative stress.

The new technique appears to be as effective as conventional open surgery in taking weight off and keeping it off.

There are a variety of treatments for this severe form of premenstrual syndrome. Caution is needed with alternative therapies.

Evidence does not support the indiscriminate use of vitamins A, C, or E or beta carotene to prevent or reduce cardiovascular disease.

Intensive diabetes control is beneficial but increases the risk of hypoglycemia. Over time, patients may lose the ability to sense hypoglycemia, increasing their risk.

Although nutrition support can decrease postoperative morbidity and mortality, some patients do worse with total parenteral nutrition than with standard care.

There is often uncertainty about which patients with a head injury need an imaging test, especially if the injury appears to be minor.