By Jennifer Ng, MD
Peer Reviewed
Beauty and suffering are often thought to be intertwined. It is hard to have your cake and eat it too. In the quest for beauty, women (and men) have subjected …
Category: Clinical Questions
Clinical Correlations
Diagnostic Challenges in Latent Tuberculosis Infection: A Brief Review of Available Tests and their Appropriate Use
July 15, 2015
By: Miguel A. Saldivar, MD
Peer Reviewed
“Indeterminate.” Many clinicians have expressed frustration when reading this word on a Quantiferon-TB Gold test result. The obligate follow-up question is: what is the next best step? Repeat …
Why Do We Do What We Do: Common Hospital Practices Revealed
February 27, 2015
By Dana Zalkin
Peer Reviewed
A code is called on the overhead speaker and the on-call teams rush to the scene to see what awaits them. EKG leads are being placed, medications are being …
Approach to the Hospitalized Patient with Community-Acquired Pneumonia: Should Procalcitonin Be Part of the Initial Evaluation?
November 21, 2014
By Matthew Light, MD
Peer Reviewed
A 79 year-old female, 20 pack-year ex-smoker with history of mild systolic congestive heart failure is referred to the emergency department (ED) after an outpatient visit with her …
Why Do Toenails Grow More Slowly Than Fingernails?
November 14, 2014By Alice Drain
Peer Reviewed
Warm weather heralds the arrival of flip-flops and the exposure of toes previously tucked away in socks and boots. This sudden pedal presence makes one wonder, why do toenails grow more slowly than fingernails?
Get Your Caffeine fix while lowering your diabetes risk – too good to be true?
July 17, 2014
By Jennifer Ng, MD
Peer Reviewed
Addiction, by definition, is a negative word. It implies the overindulging of something with a high or uncertain risk to benefit ratio, such as coffee. Yet …
The Rise in Tick-Borne Diseases: Is Climate Change Responsible?
June 4, 2014
By Nadia Jafar
Peer Reviewed
As a resident of Connecticut, I grew up acutely aware of tick-borne diseases. Nonetheless, I was surprised to see at least 3 cases of tick-borne infections during the month …
Are Probiotics Effective In Preventing Clostridium Difficile Associated Diarrhea?
May 30, 2014
By Theresa Sumberac, MD
Peer Reviewed
Antibiotic associated diarrhea is a common complication of antibiotic therapy, occurring in 5% to 39% of all patients receiving treatment. Nearly one third of these cases are attributed …