By Courtney Maxey
Faculty Peer Reviewed
At this point it seems that the general public is aware of the relationship between exposure to the sun and skin cancer. It is troubling, however, that our culture still considers a dark tan to be “healthy” despite the World Health Organization’s classification of ultraviolet light emitted from tanning devices as a human carcinogen, based on observational studies that show a 75% increase in cutaneous melanoma in people using tanning devices before age…
By Nina Sainath, Class of 2011
Faculty Peer Reviewed
According to the latest US Census Bureau report analyzing the use of languages in the United States, over 20% of Americans speak a language other than English at home. Of this population, greater than 24% report that they do not speak English well or do not speak English at all. With a United States population of more than 300 million, this makes over 70 million people with limited English proficiency.…
By Elizabeth P. Gurney, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
In the United States, population-based studies estimate that 1-4% of women self-identify as lesbian or bisexual and 4-17% have had same-gender sexual activity since puberty. Since the publication a decade ago of the Institute of Medicine report urging investigation of health issues for lesbian and bisexual women, sensitivity to the unique challenges faced by this group has increased. Despite improvements in cultural competence and awareness training for physicians, lesbian and bisexual…
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…
By Mary Whitman, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Clinical question: What should the medical work-up be for an adult newly diagnosed with uveitis?
Uveitis, defined as intraocular inflammation of the eye, can be idiopathic and limited to the eyes, or can be a manifestation of systemic inflammatory diseases and infectious diseases.
The single most common cause of uveitis is idiopathic. However, uveitis is a manifestation in spondylarthropathies, inflammatory bowel disease, Behcet’s Disease, and sarcoidosis, and may…
By Suzanne MacFarland, MS4
Faculty Peer Reviewed
There is a stranger in the clinic room, and it is not your patient. This stranger is a multifaceted, opinionated entity with likely conflict-of-interest. This new acquaintance has already spoken to your patient and influenced the direction of this visit in the form of health statistics, symptom explanations, and feared complications. Now your patient wants to know what you think. In an age when patients will often have diagnosed their problem before…
By Karina Vivar, MS4
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in the U.S. and worldwide, and the problem appears to be worsening. By definition, vitamin D deficiency is a serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH D) level of less than 20 ng/mL. Vitamin D insufficiency is defined as a serum 25-OH D level from 20 to 30 ng/mL. Unless there is a high risk for fracture and a clinical suspicion of deficiency, it is not routine to screen…
By Ryan Macht, MS4
Faculty Peer Reviewed
On January 11th, the New York City Health Department announced its plans for the National Salt Reduction Initiative, a public health proposal designed to decrease sodium consumption throughout the country. High levels of dietary sodium have frequently been associated with increased rates of hypertension and adverse cardiovascular events. The mean salt intake in the United States is extremely high in all age groups and well above the current recommendations of 5.8 g…
By Ari Pollack, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
The onset of acromegaly is subtle, and its progression is usually very slow. In fact, the usual interval from the onset of symptoms until diagnosis is about twelve years. The manifestations of acromegaly result from excessive secretion of growth hormone (GH), which targets the liver, resulting in stimulation of hepatic secretion of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which causes many of the clinical manifestations of acromegaly. The most common cause of acromegaly is…
By Radhika Sundararajan, M.D., Ph.D
Faculty Peer Reviewed
A healthy 18 year-old female presents to Urgent Care after slipping and falling this morning in the bathroom and hitting her head on the tile floor. She denies any loss of consciousness, vomiting, or current neurological deficits, but does have a mild occipital headache where she struck her head. She has heard a lot about recent research regarding concussions in young athletes and asks if you think she suffered a concussion and what this means for her.
What…
By Sarah A. Buckley & Nicholas M. Mark
Faculty Peer Reviewed
An 18-year-old male presents complaining of crampy abdominal pain, nausea, and intractable vomiting for the past year. The symptoms are episodic, lasting several weeks and remitting for weeks to months. The patient states that his abdominal pain is 10 out of 10 in severity, and that he has been vomiting up to 20 times each day. He has been evaluated at multiple hospitals, and he has had numerous…
