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Here: 5 things (at least) you may not know about human viral hepatitis.

Diet diaries and food frequency questionnaires are both effective tools to capture important patterns between food items and symptoms of IBD.

When it comes to the prostate, most men in this study couldn’t locate it or identify its function. Translation: patients and physicians don’t speak the same language. Clinicians need to be “bilingual” when they’re talking with patients.

Which test should you order if you suspect Clostridium difficile infection-and how often do you check the stool for the C difficile toxin? Here: the answer-and explanation.

Keeping your patients satisfied can help keep you sane-and possibly even happy. Here: strategies for enhancing clinician/patient communications.

Obesity, a health hazard in its own right, is linked with heart disease, diabetes, and a wide range of other clinical concerns. This week’s photo quiz offers a variety of presentations to test your diagnostic acumen.

Insurers are looking to trim costs by reducing readmissions. For patients with HIV, and their providers, this may lead to some unanticipated consequences. Here are some suggestions for reducing the risk.

Here: a fruitful approach to the evaluation of dizziness that focuses on timing, triggers, and associated symptoms, followed by a complaint-directed physical exam with special attention to specific germane aspects of the neurologic exam and (when indicated) selective testing.

Choroidal hemorrhage in the left orbit with retinal detachment: your dx?

A 30% to 40% prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among Crohn disease patients highlights the importance of testing these patients for vitamin D levels.

The 5 quiz questions this week are far-ranging and cover conditions as rare as opisthorchiasis and as common as obesity. See how you fare...

The real impact of nutritious menu changes at fast food chains like McDonalds remains to be seen, but these-along with modifying the dosage schedules of patients who appear to be statin-intolerant-may prove to have long-term salubrious effects.

Data from pivotal international phase III clinical trials showed superior efficacy, safety, and convenience for a new wave of direct-acting oral agents. The breakthrough will benefit physicians in all practice settings, including primary care.

Here: strategies for making the exam more comfortable and efficient, and tips for using topical anesthetics, removing earwax, extracting a plantar foreign body, and approaching the Dx of appendicitis.

The “take home” from this presentation: be cautious with inappropriate use of drugs with or without black box warnings, but maintain a healthy skepticism about some of these warnings. Cases in point: droperidol, antidepressants, clindamycin.

A presentation on October 14, 2013, at the American College of Gastroenterology Scientific Session by Joseph A. Murray, MD, FACG  (Mayo Clinic)Murray JA. Implications of gluten intolerance and celiac disease in IBS.  

Chronic pain affects more Americans than diabetes mellitus, heart disease, and cancer combined. Here are some facts and figures about pain for you to consider.