More articles from From The Editor
- Viruses change; we can, too
As we learn more about the mpox (formerly monkeypox) virus, Sossai et al in this issue of the Journal discuss how our understanding of its link to variola has led to therapeutic and prophylactic vaccination options.
- Myasthenia gravis: An update for internists
Recognizing the spectrum of the disease in patients’ complaints enhances our clinical reasoning skills when faced with the extremely commonly expressed symptom of “fatigue.”
- Some complexities of diabetes and the heart
Patients with diabetes are at greater risk of coronary artery disease than their peers without diabetes. That’s straight and simple. But there the simplicity ends.
- Test ordering: Balancing the good for the many with the good for the one
Three articles this month address how we order clinical tests, one on the question of treating the patient with asymptomatic bacteriuria, the others on the advantages and disadvantages of standing orders for “daily labs” for inpatients.
- Another vaccine article? Yes, but a different vaccine
As newer vaccines against Streptococcus pneumoniae have arrived, so have confusing recommendations and guidelines for the sequence and timing of administration.
- Decongesting heart failure with diuretics: Easier to prescribe than to fully understand
Digging deep into the pathophysiology of diuretic resistance reveals complex interacting pathways. But none of these pathways can fully explain or be used to safely reverse diuretic resistance.
- Balancing the myths of corticosteroid therapy
No class of drug has more mythical attributes, interfaces with different medical specialties, or clinical street lore than corticosteroids.
- Circulating lipids are not all bad: An LDL mimic that may be only skin deep
Although lipoprotein-X separates out by density in the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) fraction and thus may appear as LDL in the laboratory report, it is biologically unique.
- Nontuberculous mycobacterial musculoskeletal infections: Recognizable, when suspected
Two articles in this issue offer valuable insight into when to suspect these infections in patients who present with swollen, indurated, peripheral soft-tissue structures.
- A clinical trial and another clinical practice bites the dust, or should there not be an appendix?
Studies over the past 2 decades have assessed an alternative approach to acute appendicitis: treatment with systemic antibiotics and observation.