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Primecuts – This Week In The Journals

March 10, 2014
Primecuts – This Week In The Journals

By Jessica Taff, MD

Peer Reviewed

While the world’s political attention turned to conflict in Ukraine this week, the New York Times turned national attention to several physicians with big political ambitions . Currently, 17 physicians sit in the House or Representatives and 3 in the Senate, numbers that are expected to grow in the near future. While keen medical knowledge may not always translate to savvy political skill, the two fields do have a common theme of perpetual change and controversy. In both, new…

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The Sentinel

March 7, 2014
The Sentinel

By Michael D. O’Donnell

The patient was a 60 year old female with a history heavy chain (AH) amyloidosis with renal and cardiac involvement, nephrotic syndrome, and hyperlipidemia who presented with progressive generalized weakness and fatigue for several weeks and nausea and vomiting for 5 days. The patient was seen in cardiology and hematology clinic one month prior to admission at which time chemotherapy was recommended for treatment of amyloidosis, but the patient needed time to confer with her family. After admission to medicine,…

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From The Archives: Should My Patient with a Solid Tumor be Anticoagulated in the Absence of Venous Thromboembolism?

March 6, 2014
From The Archives: Should My Patient with a Solid Tumor be Anticoagulated in the Absence of Venous Thromboembolism?

Please enjoy this post from the archives dated September 8, 2011

By David Altszuler, Class of 2012

Faculty Peer Reviewed

An empiric association between occult malignancy and thrombophlebitis has been recognized since Trousseau first reported the syndrome in 1865. The mechanism by which cancer predisposes to thrombophilia has not been fully elucidated; however, it is now clear that this is a symbiotic relationship. The second leading cause of death in hospitalized cancer patients (and a leading cause of death in ambulatory cancer patients) is…

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West Nile Virus: Just How Bad Is It?

March 5, 2014
West Nile Virus: Just How Bad Is It?

By Julian Horwitz

Peer Reviewed

As of mid-August 2012, the CDC had reported 1118 cases of West Nile virus (WNV) infections and 41 related deaths, which, pro rata, made 2012 the most prolific year for WNV in the United States . Although West Nile’s classification as a public health crisis remains debatable, the lack of treatment and vaccination options make associated severe infections a real threat.

West Nile virus, a single-stranded RNA virus of the Flavivirus family, was first isolated in Uganda in 1937 .…

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Primecuts – This Week In The Journals

March 3, 2014
Primecuts – This Week In The Journals

By Kerrilynn Carney, MD

Peer reviewed

This week in global, national, and local news: the Winter Olympics came to a close in Sochi with Russia leading the medal count; Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a bill that would have given business owners the right to refuse service to gay men and lesbians on religious grounds; and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio reneged on Mayor Bloomberg’s promise to reserve space inside NYC Public School buildings for Charter Schools. Oscar buzz is still in full force, and…

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School Fees Or Head CTs: Reflections For Ethical Clinical Practice

February 28, 2014
School Fees Or Head CTs: Reflections For Ethical Clinical Practice

By Steffen Haider, MD

Peer Reviewed

She was a thin, 4-year old girl brought to the Accident Centre by her mother for evaluation of new-onset bruising around the eyes after being an unseatbelted passenger in a motor vehicle crash three days earlier. She denied vomiting or having a headache, and her mother said that she had not been sleeping excessively or acting unusual. She was alert, ambulatory, and quiet but not in distress, without other injuries aside from bilateral periorbital ecchymoses not apparent at initial…

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The Yolk Or The Egg

February 27, 2014
The Yolk Or The Egg

By Nicole A. Lamparello, MD and Molly Somberg, MD, MPA

Peer Reviewed

You hear it wherever you eat, whether at the deli ordering a breakfast sandwich or at the diner for Sunday brunch, “Egg whites only, please.” For the last decade, there has been a strong movement toward avoiding egg yolks; instead people are opting for only the ‘healthier’ egg white when ordering or cooking their breakfast.

However, are egg whites truly ‘healthier’ than eating whole eggs? What is the basis for this decision being…

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Primecuts – This Week In The Journals

February 24, 2014
Primecuts – This Week In The Journals

By Miguel A. Saldivar, MD

Peer Reviewed

This week’s edition of Primecuts brings highlights from studies on a variety of topics ranging from prescription drug abuse to cost-effective medical care. Given that the CDC classified the issue of prescription drug abuse/overdose as an “epidemic” in 2012, we begin with a paper on opiate prescriptions in the Medicare population.

The relationship between use of multiple opiate providers and hospitalizations

The British Medical Journal published a retrospective observational study that analyzed data on opiate prescriptions…

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