 |
 |
|
|
Articles 
Rebecca Smith-Bindman, Diana L. Miglioretti, Nicole Lurie, Linn Abraham, Rachel Ballard Barbash, Jodi Strzelczyk, Mark Dignan, William E. Barlow, Cherry M. Beasley, and Karla Kerlikowske African-American women with breast cancer are more likely than white women to present with larger tumors at more advanced stages. They are also less likely to receive screening mammography at recommended intervals than white women. African-American and white women who are screened at the same intervals have similar-stage tumors at diagnosis, but African-American women have higher-grade tumors than white women regardless of screening frequency. Screening interval and biological features both contribute to African-American women having more advanced cancer at diagnosis.
Hiroyasu Iso, Chigusa Date, Kenji Wakai, Mitsuru Fukui, Akiko Tamakoshi and the JACC Study Group* In this retrospective cohort study, drinking more green tea and coffee was associated with a reduced risk for diabetes. Drinking black or oolong teas was not associated with the risk for diabetes. These relationships were strongest in women and in overweight men.
Allen J. Dietrich, Jonathan N. Tobin, Andrea Cassells, Christina M. Robinson, Mary Ann Greene, Carol Hill Sox, Michael L. Beach, Katherine N. DuHamel, and Richard G. Younge Telephone support improved cancer screening rates among women who had received care at urban community health centers for at least 1 year. This intervention seems to be well suited to health plans, large medical groups, and other organizations seeking to increase cancer screening rates and reduce disparities in care.
Jennifer E. Cummings, Robert A. Schweikert, Walid I. Saliba, J. David Burkhardt, Fethi Kilikaslan, Eduardo Saad, and Andrea Natale The authors report 9 patients who developed an atrial–esophageal fistula within several weeks after radiofrequency catheter ablation around the pulmonary vein for atrial fibrillation. All died. Only 3 patients received correct diagnoses before death, although all patients presented to a physician. This disorder may have an indolent presentation that mimics other disease states, such as stroke or sepsis.
Medicine and Public Issues
Harold C. Sox and Drummond Rennie The scientific literature is a record of the search for truth. Publication of faked data diverts this search. The scientific community has a duty to warn people to ignore an article containing faked data and must try to prevent authors from inadvertently citing it. The scientific community accomplishes these tasks by publishing a retraction and linking it to the fraudulent article's citation in electronic indexes of the medical literature, such as PubMed. Another task is to check the validity of every article written by an author who has published faked data. A case history of scientific fraud perpetrated by Eric Poehlman shows the scientific community at work on these tasks.
Clinical Guidelines
Amir Qaseem, Vincenza Snow, Nick Fitterman, E. Rodney Hornbake, Valerie A. Lawrence, Gerald W. Smetana, Kevin Weiss, Douglas K. Owens for the Clinical Efficacy Assessment Subcommittee of the American College of Physicians* This guideline was developed to guide clinicians on clinical and laboratory predictors of perioperative pulmonary risk before noncardiothoracic surgery and to evaluate the efficacy of strategies to reduce the risk for postoperative pulmonary complications. The target audience is general internists or other clinicians involved in perioperative management of surgical patients.
Gerald W. Smetana, Valerie A. Lawrence, and John E. Cornell This background review supports the American College of Physicians' clinical practice guideline on risk assessment for postoperative pulmonary complications after noncardiothoracic surgery.
Valerie A. Lawrence, John E. Cornell, and Gerald W. Smetana This background review supports the American College of Physicians' clinical practice guideline on reducing postoperative pulmonary complications after noncardiothoracic surgery.
Editorials
Mary B. Barton Disparities in health care access and health outcomes in the United States present a significant challenge. Two articles in this issue discuss cancer screening in special populations. One reports from the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium on 2 potential sources of the disproportionate burden of breast cancer mortality borne by African-American women. The other trial tested "prevention coaches" as a means to increase use of cancer screening services by largely Hispanic and African-American patients at community and migrant health centers in New York City.
Letters Self-Management Education for Osteoarthritis
Tamoxifen Therapy for Retroperitoneal Fibrosis
Correction: A Prognostic Index for Systemic AIDS-Related Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Treated in the Era of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy
Correction: Summaries for Patients: Exenatide or Insulin Glargine for Suboptimally Controlled Type 2 Diabetes?
Jennifer Fisher Wilson
George N. Braman
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In this Issue
Articles
Previous Issue