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A 12-year-old black girl is hospitalized because of increasinglysevere dyspnea and sore throat. The sorethroat started about a week earlier and was accompaniedby fever and chills. The patient was evaluated at an urgentcare center when her symptoms worsened, where she wasgiven ampicillin for a presumptive “strep throat.” A generalizedmaculopapular erythematous rash developed within24 hours of the start of therapy, and the ampicillin waspromptly withdrawn. The rash cleared gradually thereafter.Now the patient’s sore throat has worsened to the pointthat she has difficulty with drinking and eating. She hasbecome increasingly dyspneic during the past 24 hours.

A 40-year-old man has had discomfort at the distal end of thefingers of both hands for several weeks. He has also noticed nail pitting andonycholysis. He denies any trauma or inciting event and has been otherwisehealthy. He has no family history of inflammatory bowel disease, althoughhe believes that some family members have had rashes.

In her response to a reader’s question about clot prevention in a patient with systemiclupus erythematosus (SLE) and anticardiolipin antibody syndrome,Dr Bonnie Bermas recommends warfarin (CONSULTANT, September 15, 2003,page 1329).

Over the past 8 years, fragile vesicles,painful ruptured bullae, and erosionshave developed on the sun-exposed skinof a 57-year-old man. Some of the vesicleserupt at sites of minor trauma; othersarise spontaneously. A corticosteroidcream prescribed by another practitionerfor presumed atopic dermatitisfailed to clear the lesions.

Mammography is auseful tool. However,it has limitations. Until recently,it had been viewedas the ultimate diagnostictest, capable of detecting allbreast cancers in their earliest,treatable stages. Thissimply is not true. Evenwhen performed by themost capable institutionsand radiologists, mammographyhas a sensitivity of80% to 85% for the detectionof breast cancer. This hasbeen established by numerousstudies.1,2

A 21-year-old man presents to the emergency department with abdominal painof 6 hours’ duration. When the pain began, it was diffuse and periumbilical; now,it is worse and localized to the right lower quadrant. It has been accompanied byanorexia but not by diarrhea or emesis. Lying down, consuming liquids, andshowering have not provided relief.

Q:How frequently does hypertension occur in association withobstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and how is OSA best treated?

Heart failure statistics are daunting:550,000 new cases each year, a 1-yearmortality rate of nearly 20%, and annualdirect and indirect costs that total $24.3billion.1 The diverse etiology of heartfailure and the complex, progressivecourse of the disease can make treatmentdecisions daunting as well.

Breast cancer causesmore deaths than anycancer except lung cancer inwomen of all ages. In womenbetween the ages of 40and 59 years, it is the leadingcause of cancer death.1

A 56-year-old African American woman complains of malaise, nausea, and vomitingof several weeks’ duration. In addition, urinary output is reduced, and shehas mild dyspnea. She denies abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, and bonepain; however, she has had a mild but persistent backache for several months.

Q:Recent research has defined mild cognitiveimpairment as a transitional state between thecognitive changes of normal aging and Alzheimerdisease (AD) and other dementing illnesses. Whatcriteria are used to differentiate mild cognitiveimpairment from more innocuous syndromes, such asbenign senescent forgetfulness? Are patients with mildcognitive impairment considered to have incipientclinical AD?

A 38-year-old woman presents with a pruritic, tender rash on the trunk and extremitiesthat has not changed over the past few days. She has taken fluvastatinand sertraline for 1 year and a popular, over-the-counter weight-loss product for1 or 2 weeks. The patient denies using any other medications. She has had norecent illnesses.

This recent headline succinctly summarizes a crisisof major proportions looming in the health carefield. According to the American Geriatrics Society,the fastest growing segment of the Americanpopulation consists of those who are 85 years andolder. Their numbers are expected to reach 19 million by2050. By 2020, more than 53 million Americans will be65 years or older. Many families will contain 2 generationsof geriatric patients.

Breast cancer remainsa significant healthconcern for women. Amongwomen at average risk,breast cancer will develop in1 of 8, and 1 in 30 will die ofthe disease.1 Although therehas been recent excitementabout the potential of geneticscreening to predict individualbreast cancer risk, itis important to keep in mindthat nearly 75% of women inwhom breast cancer hasbeen diagnosed have hadno risk factors other thansex and age.2

Q:How can I best demonstrate to my patients who smoke theaccelerated decline in pulmonary function that occurs in smokersover time, in hopes of motivating them to quit smoking?

Tortuous, dilated varicosities; multiple smaller caliberabnormal perforating vessels; and chronic brawnyedema of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) were seenon a 70-year-old man’s left leg (A). He reported that theedema and discoloration had worsened over the last15 years. The brawny edema stopped just above theankle, indicating that compression by the patient’s sockcontrolled the signs and symptoms of CVI.

For about 3 to 4 months, a 53-year-old man has had gradually worsening footdiscomfort. He describes the discomfort as a burning sensation accompaniedby numbness and tingling. Initially, these symptoms were present only in hisfeet, but for several weeks they have involved both ankles as well. Althoughthe discomfort is always present, it is occasionally aggravated by the bed coversor by heavy woollen socks. The patient has no skin lesions, motor symptoms,or other abnormalities of his legs or feet.

A 23-year-old man complains of looseness, clicking, and intermittent soreness in his right knee.In addition, the knee locks for short periods, and he has an occasional shooting pain up his rightthigh that causes the knee to buckle when he is walking. These symptoms have occurred intermittentlyover the past year, along with periods when the knee functions normally.