By Patrick Olivieri
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Alcohol is a well-established part of our culture,as a social lubricant or a way to wind down at the end of the day. Recently, however, binge drinking (4 or more drinks for a woman, 5 or more drinks for a man) has been rapidly increasing, with as many as 32% of Americans reporting at least occasional bingeing. Additionally, men have been shown to binge drink 30% of the time when they go out socially.It is well known that alcoholism…
Jenny Gartshteyn, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
It’s the week of July 4th 2012, people gather on the boardwalks and rooftops, fireworks light up the sky – silent tribute to how far art and science have advanced since the first discovery of fireworks in China in the 10th century. Paralleling the advancement in pyrotechnics from year to year is the growing body of medical research and knowledge. In this spirit of progress, let’s review some of the more exciting medical findings from this week.
In this week’s issue…
Alexander Volodarskiy, MD
With every new summer come hotter days, shorter nights, and the inevitable medical metamorphosis on July 1st: senior residents finally graduating and nervous, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed new interns, hearts in hand, arriving to save lives. With them in mind, we jump into this week’s section of Prime Cuts.
In this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, Kang et al. looked at whether patients with left-sided infective endocarditis could benefit from early surgery. The study excluded patients with small vegetations (≤10 mm), right-sided vegetations,…
Vivian Hayashi MD and Robert Smith MD, Mystery Quiz Section Editors
The answer to the mystery quiz is thymoma associated with myasthenia gravis. The clue to the case is the intermittent dysphagia and chewing difficulty. If one considers myasthenia in the differential, then an otherwise grossly normal appearing chest radiograph may be viewed more closely, with attention directed to the upper, anterior mediastinum. The chest radiograph shows the ascending aorta (image 3, arrow); on the lateral film, the retrosternal space, which normally contains air, appears…
By Lakshmi Tummala, MD and Todd Cutler, MD
In the spirit of prevention, please wear hats and apply a generous amount of sunscreen while reading this week’s issue of primecuts.
This week the United States Preventive Services Task Force released updated guidelines for cervical cancer screening recommending that women aged 21 to 65 years old, regardless of sexual history, be screened with a PAP smear every three years. For women who wish to lengthen the intervals between screening periods, beginning at age 30, women…
Please enjoy this post from the archives dated January 15, 2010
John J. Mercuri
Faculty peer reviewed
Introduction
The 111th Congress allocated $19 billion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 toward the creation of an electronic health record (EHR) for each person in the United States by 2014.(1) The recent debate over EHRs has focused largely on the economic, logistical, and political consequences of implementing such a system; however, the country should also contemplate the ethical ramifications of EHRs. Addressing these concerns…
Vivian Hayashi MD and Robert Smith MD, Mystery Quiz Section Editors
The patient is a 61 year old man admitted to the psychiatry service for depression. During the hospitalization the patient reported a three year history of dysphagia and occasional right sided chest pain not clearly associated with exertion. He first noted difficulty chewing and swallowing turkey on Thanksgiving Day. The symptoms were intermittent thereafter and involved solid foods but not liquids. His chewing and swallowing difficulty abated for a year but returned one year…
A Commentary By Antonella Surbone MD PhD FACP, Ethics Editor on the Article Bidil: The Future of Medicine or A Return to the Dark Past?
On April 18, 2012, President Barack Obama during his campaign was photographed on the bus that Rosa Park was riding on December 1, 1955 when she refused to give up her seat for a white passenger.
“I just sat there for a moment, President Obama said, and pondered the courage and tenacity that is part of our very recent…
