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To what do you attribute symptoms of rash and fever in: a man with type 2 diabetes; a woman with systemic lupus erythematosus; a previously healthy girl.

An 82-year-old man presents with shoulder pain resulting from a fall the day before. He has had intermittent episodes of light-headedness, chest pain, and "flutterings in the chest" over the past week--including one this morning. Episodes last about 2 hours and resolve spontaneously. He denies any loss of consciousness, weakness, or worsening of symptoms with exertion. He also denies headache, abdominal pain, and other injuries. His medical history includes coronary artery disease (treated with bypass grafting 10 years earlier); prostate cancer; and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, for which he is receiving chemotherapy.

An 82-year-old man presents with shoulder pain resulting from a fall the day before. He has had intermittent episodes of light-headedness, chest pain, and "flutterings in the chest" over the past week--including one this morning.

Three case studies of patients with fever and rash challenge you to distinguish infectious from other causes and serious from non-threatening.

TORONTO -- If all women of child-bearing age took a daily dose of folic-acid fortified multivitamins, they would sharply reduce the risk of several major birth defects, researchers here concluded.

BOSTON -- Concerns that immune-modifying anti-arthritis drugs could increase the risk of malignancies may be unfounded, according to a review of U.S. and Canadian databases.

SENDAI, Japan -- Clues to the cause of sometimes fatal crescentic glomerulonephritis, and a possible therapeutic target, may have been uncovered by a mutation in a strain of experimental mice.

BETHESDA, Md. -- In two men with advanced melanoma, genetically altered T-cells wiped out their cancer, leaving them disease-free 18 months after treatment, researchers here said, but the therapy did not work in 15 other patients.

BOSTON -- Celebrex (celecoxib) can prevent sporadic colorectal adenomas, as well as reduce post-polypectomy recurrences, but these pluses may be outweighed by cardiovascular minuses.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Symptomatic delay of benign prostatic hyperplasia may be a serendipitous benefit of the daily use of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, according to investigators here.

BOSTON -- For patients with tunnel vision, a device that incorporates a camera, computer, and transparent head-mounted display may help them find objects outside their field of vision.

BALTIMORE -- A genome-wide analysis has found 51 genetic regions that appear to be linked to alcoholism, including genes involved in cell signaling, gene regulation, and development, among other things.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) may help surgeons aggressively walk the fine line between how much brain tumor to resect without excessive damage to a patient's quality of life, researchers said.

This special report from Zach Wise, a MedPageToday contributing photographer, presents the sights and sounds of New Orleans medicine a year after Hurricane Katrina.

NEW ORLEANS -- A year after Katrina's winds and surging waters destroyed much of this city, New Orleans' health care system is still at sea.

CORTE MADERA, Calif. -- If alcoholics quit drinking early enough and stay sober long enough, the recovery of their mental functions will be nearly complete, a study here suggested.

RICHMOND, Va. -- A single genetic variation may help explain why African American women have a higher risk of delivering premies because of early rupture of the amniotic membrane.

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