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Affecting virtually every aspect of our health care system, the stunning growth and rapid integration of hospital-based medicine has affected the practice of both medicine and surgery by significantly modifying the delivery of inpatient, outpatient, and subacute care. This article details the history of hospitalists in the United States by defining the practice of hospital medicine and reviewing the evidence extolling its virtues. Although hospital medicine appears here to stay, work must still be done to address a number of current and future issues facing hospitalists and the health care community embracing them.
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Increase in Blood Glucose Concentration During Antihypertensive
Treatment as a Predictor of Myocardial Infarction; Adverse Drug Events
in Ambulatory Care; Prevention of Hip Fracture by External Hip
Protectors; Rapid MRI vs Radiographs for Patients with Low Back Pain;
Effectiveness of Anticholinergic Drugs Compared with Placebo in the
Treatment of Overactive Bladder; A Randomized Trial of a Low
Carbohydrate Diet for Obesity
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Nasally Administered Flu Vaccine Comes to United States; Paxil: Not
Recommended for Children; Prilosec Granted OTC Status; Finasteride and
Prostate Cancer; Xolair: First Biologic Agent for Asthma; West Nile
Virus Update; Study Shows COX-2 Inhibitors Appear Safe with Aspirin in
Asthma Patients; Lamictal Approved for Bipolar Disorder
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The diagnosis of patients with chest pain is straightforward only occasionally. A systematic method of evaluating these patients is essential to assess for potentially life-threatening conditions. This article discusses noncardiac causes of chest pain, particularly GI causes and aortic dissection.
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The long-awaited JNC-7 report was recently published in summary form; a more comprehensive manuscript will be forthcoming. JNC-7 takes into account many of the randomized controlled trials dealing with hypertension published over the past few years, and thus, is very much up to date. Some highlights of the report are as follows.
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Prognostic Value of Ambulatory Blood-Pressure Recordings in Patients with Treated Hypertension; Tazarotene Cream in the Treatment of Psoriasis; Antihyperglycemic Effect of Oolong Tea in Type 2 Diabetes
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This is the first study to convincingly demonstrate a strong dose-dependent relationship between increasing weight and increasing symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux.