By: Miguel A. Saldivar, MD
Peer ReviewedÂ
“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? …
Category: Systems
Clinical Correlations
Neurologic Complications In Infective Endocarditis: To Anticoagulate Or Not To Anticoagulate
July 10, 2015
By Shannon Chiu, MD
Peer Reviewed
The annual incidence of infective endocarditis (IE) is estimated to be 3 to 9 cases per 100,000 persons in developed countries [1-2]. Neurologic complications are the most severe and …
Microbiome Blues in E
April 1, 2015
By M tanner
Many  bacteria live in and on me—I’ve always known that. But when I learned that bacteria make up 90% of the cells in my body, it made me feel so sucio, so unclean.
I went through my …
Diabetic Foot Ulcers: Pathogenesis and Prevention
March 19, 2015
By Shilpa Mukunda, MD
Peer Reviewed
On my first day on inpatient medicine at the VA Hospital, Mr. P came in with an oozing foot ulcer. Mr. P, a 60-year-old man with …
Ethical Considerations in the Use of Cordons Sanitaires
February 19, 2015
By Rachel Kaplan Hoffmann, M.D., M.S.Ed., and Keith Hoffmann, J.D.
Peer Reviewed
On December 6, 2013, a two-year-old boy living in southeastern Guinea became the first victim of …
Shifting Paradigms in Cancer: Vaccines
January 22, 2015
Joshua Horton
Peer Reviewed
We are not winning the war against cancer, if war is even an appropriate metaphor. When Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act into effect in 1971, many …
Mechanisms of Angiotensin Blockade in the Management of Diabetic Nephropathy
December 11, 2014
By Miguel A. Saldivar, MD
Peer ReviewedÂ
When a patient with diabetes comes into a clinic or hospital, it is not uncommon to hear the question, “Is he/she on an angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitor (ACEI) or an angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB)?” Most …
Unraveling The Mysteries of Prinzmetal’s Angina: What Is It And How Do We Diagnose It?
October 8, 2014
By Anjali Varma Desai, MD
Peer Reviewed
Mr. Q is a 55-year-old male smoker who presents with recurrent chest pain in the mornings over the past several months. The patient reports being awakened from sleep at approximately 5:00 a.m. each …