By Jessica Leifer
Faculty Peer Reviewed
As a new third year medical student excited to finally be seeing my own patients and still looking for my style as an interviewer, I approach the social history in the systematic way we have learned in the first 2 years of medical school. God forbid I leave something out. Over the past month of my first clerkship, I’ve grown comfortable with asking the uncomfortable questions: Are you currently sexually active? With men,…
By Farzon A. Nahvi
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Once thought to be exclusively the domain of gang members, prisoners, and those in the military, tattoos are now increasingly popular with the general population. The increasing visibility of tattoos on high-profile individuals such as athletes, musicians, and actors, combined with the increasing acceptability of tattoos among professionals, have made tattoos a common part of modern culture. Nevertheless, tattoo artists are subject to little regulation, and tattoo art comes with some real…
Please enjoy this post from the Clinical Correlations archives first posted May 20, 2009
By Aditya Mattoo, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Prompted by personal experience, I thought I would explore the alleged causative role of power lines in hematologic malignancies for the next installment of Myths and Realities. In recent years, two close family friends living at separate locations but in homes adjacent to lots with electrical transformers were diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.…
By Bradley Ching, Class of 2011
Faculty Peer Reviewed
What do every road trip, football game halftime, and trans-continental plane flight have in common? Usually a disgusting toilet paired with the urgent need of people to use them. While no one takes pleasure from these encounters, could they in fact be a risk for acquiring a sexually transmitted disease?
Gonorrhea or “the clap,” as it is lovingly nicknamed, is caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae and…
By Michael C. Brabeck, MD, Adam Davis, MD, and Shaun Rodgers, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Case:
A 56-year-old male was admitted to Bellevue Hospital Center with chronic back pain and a three month history of subjective fevers, decreased appetite, and a thirty pound weight loss. His past medical history was remarkable only for chronic alcohol abuse. He denied other substance abuse. There were no previous health care facility exposures, and the patient had no history of military…
Please enjoy this post from the Clinical Correlations archives first posted May 7, 2009
Seema Pursnani, MD
Because your parents have designated you as the family doctor, your Uncle Joe calls to ask you if he should take this medication called Diamox before going trekking in the Himalayas. You work at Bellevue in New York City: who climbs mountains here? What do you say?
Why do illnesses develop from changes in altitude?
The essential culprit…
Please enjoy this post from the Clinical Correlations archives first posted April 22, 2009
Michael T. Tees, MD, MPH
On the wards and in the clinic, the physician is frequently presented with a patient with a decreased appetite and alarming weight loss. The patient is likely frustrated with their own fraility, the family is upset at the poor nutritional state of their loved one, but the healthcare provider should be the most concerned. This clinical presentation without a…
Brandon Oberweis, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Case Report:
A 48-year old gentleman with no significant past medical history presents to the emergency department with new-onset left upper extremity hemiparesis, visual field deficits, and decreased level of consciousness. A non-contrast CT scan was performed and revealed right-sided focal hypoattenuation in the middle cerebral artery distribution. Following acute management of this patient, further studies were conducted to elucidate the underlying etiology of the cerebrovascular accident. An echocardiogram with an…
By Michael Ford, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
2.65 x 10 # of erythrocytes in circulation, assuming Hematocrit 45% 120 Lifespan in days of an erythrocyte 2.5 million # of new erythrocytes produced each second to replace dying cells† 5.3 million # of erythrocytes per microliter of blood†,* 4,000 – 11,000 # leukocytes per microliter of blood 150,000 – 400,000 # platelets
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Please enjoy this post from the Clinical Correlations archives first posted March 19, 2009
Aditya Mattoo MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
For our first post, I wanted to address the age old belief that changes in the weather can affect arthritis pain. Since the time of Hippocrates, who wrote about the effects of hot and cold winds on people’s health, this topic has been debated. Even Osler suggested in 1892 that arthritis sufferers of wealth vacation…
By Sana Shah, Class of 2011
Faculty Peer Reviewed
The Islamic faith is characterized by five central pillars: the public declaration of one’s faith, five daily prayers, an annual tax to the poor, a pilgrimage to Mecca, and annual fasting. Muslims fast together during the month of Ramadan, which is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and will next occur from August 1st-30th, 2011. The month begins 10 to 11 days earlier each year in the…
By Ijeoma Ejigiri, Class of 2011
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Whooping cough. 100 day cough. Pertussis. These are the various names for the disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. This small gram-negative coccobacillus, transmitted via respiratory droplets, is responsible for causing coughing paroxysms followed by a long inspiratory gasp, during which the characteristic high-pitched “whoop” occurs. These coughing paroxysms can last for ten weeks or longer, hence the moniker “100 day cough.” The paroxysmal phase is usually preceded by…
