More articles from From the Editor
- Toward understanding chronic kidney disease in African Americans
African Americans respond differently to some treatments than the white male patients who participated in the clinical trials.
- When cold-induced vasospasm is the tip of the iceberg
For a minority of patients, Raynaud phenomenon may be the presenting sign of a systemic disorder.
- A rose by any other name is still a rose—but why a rose?
Christopher Columbus returned from the New World with a chronic illness, now believed to have been reactive arthritis.
- To have not and then to have: A challenging immune paradox
The immune reactivation syndrome can occur when the immune system in an immunosuppressed patient with a partially controlled indolent infection is suddenly normalized.
- Evidence helps, but some decisions remain within the art of medicine
In bacterial meningitis, precise diagnosis by lumbar puncture both offers benefit and poses risk.
- Channeling the flow of medical information
Accesssing information today is like drinking from a firehose. We need some kind of valve to adjust the flow.
- Blending classic clinical skills with new technology
Back “in the day,” the giants of medicine relied on old-fashioned skills; today, we have an upgraded set of tools.
- Thoughtful vaccination
Vaccination against the varicella-zoster virus reduces the likelihood of shingles and postherpetic neuralgia.
- Fighting the reflux reflex
We should think twice when making a clinical diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease.
- Appropriate diagnosis of tickborne infections
Fear of undertreatment of early infection can morph into unwarranted treatment of nonexistent chronic infection.