• Articles

    Acute Bronchitis

    WILLIAM J. HUESTON, ARCH G. MAINOUS, III

    Antibiotics generally do not provide significant relief of symptoms or shorten the course of acute bronchitis, because most cases are viral in origin.

    Bacterial Vaginosis: An Update

    BARBARA A. MAJERONI

    Appropriate diagnosis and treatment of bacterial vaginosis may lower a patient's risk of associated pelvic inflammatory disease, endometritis and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

    Osteopetrosis

    JEROME CAROLINO, JUAN A. PEREZ, ANCA POPA

    Osteopetrosis is a hereditary bone disorder that may be asymptomatic in adults, a life-threatening disease in infants or a variant associated with short stature and cerebral calcifications in children.

    Dietary Therapy for Preventing and Treating Coronary Artery Disease

    STEVEN C. MASLEY

    Dietary changes can help reduce the premature morbidity and mortality associated with coronary artery disease. Family physicians can influence their patients' eating habits with brief discussions regarding food choices and adequate follow-up support.

    Pitfalls in the Radiologic Evaluation of Extremity Trauma: Part II. The Lower Extremity

    CHRISTINE M. SHEARMAN, GEORGES Y. EL-KHOURY

    This article discusses the mechanism of injury, plain-film signs and advanced imaging techniques in the diagnosis of some commonly missed fractures and dislocations of the lower limb.

    Diabetic Foot Ulcers: Prevention, Diagnosis and Classification

    DAVID G. ARMSTRONG, null D.P.M., LAWRENCE A. LAVERY

    Frequent reevaluation and meticulous maintenance may keep a diabetic foot ulcer from progressing to a limb-threatening condition that requires amputation.

    Seasonal Affective Disorders

    S. ATEZAZ SAEED, TIMOTHY J. BRUCE

    Seasonal affective disorder is a pattern of major depressive episodes associated with major depressive or bipolar disorders. Two seasonal patterns, fall-onset (“winter” depression) and spring-onset (“summer” depression), have been identified.

    Diagnostic Approach to the Confused Elderly Patient

    DAVID V. ESPINO, AVRIL C.A. JULES-BRADLEY, CINDY L. JOHNSTON, CHARLES P. MOUTON

    Only after delirium and psychiatric disorders have been ruled out can dementia be diagnosed in an elderly patient with confusion.

    Family Practice International

    Anne D. Walling

    (Great Britain—The Practitioner, September 1997, p. 512.) Parkinson's disease occurs in one of every 1,000 persons and is associated with normal life expectancy despite the morbidity caused by hypokinesis, rigidity, tremor and impaired postural reflexes. Patients and family...

    Inside AFP

    Problem-Oriented Diagnosis

    JANIS WRIGHT

    The article “Diagnostic Approach to the Confused Elderly Patient” on page 1358 of this issue is the first in a series from the Department of Family Practice at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. David A. Katerndahl, M.D., and Clinton Colmenares,...

    AAFP News Now: AFP Edition

    Newsletter

    Rosemarie Sweeney, Verna L. Rose

    Selected policy and health issues news briefs from AAFP News Now.

    Quantum Sufficit

    Quantum Sufficit

    Monica A. Preboth, Rachel Richards

    Guns and families—often a deadly combination. Forty-four percent of white households and 24 percent of non-white households have a firearm, according to a General Social Survey cited in American Demographics. A shotgun was kept by 64 percent of the white families and 40...

    Editorials

    Management of Bacterial Vaginosis During Pregnancy

    DARON G. FERRIS

    From a clinician's perspective of diligent diagnosis and proper treatment, bacterial vaginosis may be the most innocently ignored and improperly managed vaginal infection. Diagnosis involves consideration of microbiologic, cytologic, clinical and chemical factors. The most...

    Family Physicians and the Tuberculosis Epidemic

    ROBERT HIGGINS

    In 1995, more people in the world died of tuberculosis than in any other year in history.1 The incidence of tuberculosis is increasing, even in the United States. From 1953, when national statistics on tuberculosis were first kept, until 1981, a 5 percent annual decrease in...

    Medicine and Society

    Cultural Aspects of Caring for Refugees

    DAVID S. KANG, LUCINDA R. KAHLER, CATHERINE M. TESAR

    One cannot pick up a newspaper or turn on the television without confronting the seemingly unending dramas of wars and conflicts between nations. These conflicts produce long lines of starving women and children waiting to receive food or medical treatment from organizations...

    Diary from a Week in Practice

    Diary from a Week in Practice

    We are continually thankful that family practice residency programs prepare us well for the breadth of problems encountered in family practice. So it was when JRH saw a patient with parotitis, something that he doesn't see that often. Confidently, he initiated a course of...

    Conference Highlights

    Conference Highlights

    Verna L. Rose

    (25th Anniversary Annual Meeting of the North American Primary Care Research Group) The development of an optimal care pathway for the management of patients with type 2 (non–insulin-dependent) diabetes provides a framework for the delivery of quality, cost-effective health...

    Special Medical Reports

    ACIP Releases Recommendations for the Immunization of Health Care Workers

    VERNA L. ROSE

    The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), in consultation with the Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), has released recommendations concerning the use of certain immunizing agents in health care workers in the United States. These...

    Consensus Statement Focuses on Diagnosis and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders in Primary Care

    VERNA L. ROSE

    The American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, the Alzheimer's Association and the American Geriatrics Society convened a consensus conference on the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The members of the consensus panel and expert presenters were from the...

    Clinical Briefs

    Clinical Briefs

    VERNA L. ROSE

    Because rapid weight reduction remains popular among amateur wrestlers and has significant health consequences, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has released a position statement on weight loss in wrestlers. In addition to recommending that coaches and wrestlers...

    Letters to the Editor

    A Pulseless Hand: Accidental Epinephrine Injection

    MICHAEL A. AHEARN

    Reducing Complications in Type 2 Diabetes

    Antibiotic Therapy and Serum Digoxin Toxicity

    Tips from Other Journals

    Incidence of Thyroiditis After Pregnancy Loss

    RICHARD SADOVSKY

    Guideline for Management of Alcohol Withdrawal

    GRACE BROOKE HUFFMAN

    Treating Hypercholesterolemia in Postmenopausal Women

    BARBARA APGAR

    Plasma Homocysteine Levels and Risk of Atherosclerosis

    GRACE BROOKE HUFFMAN

    Value of C-Reactive Protein Measurements in Children

    RICHARD SADOVSKY

    Rate of Airway Hyperreactivity in Children with Sickle Cell

    RICHARD SADOVSKY

    Decreased Pain in Blood Collection in Neonates

    GRACE BROOKE HUFFMAN

    Inhaled Ipratropium and Oral Theophylline for Asthma

    JEFFREY T. KIRCHNER

    Effect of St. John's Wort as Treatment for Depression

    BARBARA APGAR

    Parental Consent and Rate of HIV Testing in Adolescents

    JEFFREY T. KIRCHNER

    Needle Length for Effective Immunization in Children

    GRACE BROOKE HUFFMAN

    Driving Performance, Mental Status and Alzheimer's Disease

    GRACE BROOKE HUFFMAN

    HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors and Stroke Risk

    GRACE BROOKE HUFFMAN

    Topical Tretinoin and Alpha-Hydroxy Acids for Photoaging

    BARBARA APGAR

    Acquisition of Genital Herpes Among Pregnant Women

    JEFFERY T. KIRCHNER

    Single-Dose Fosfomycin for Urinary Tract Infection

    BARBARA APGAR

    Levomethadyl Acetate for Opioid-Dependent Patients

    GRACE BROOKE HUFFMAN

    Cholesterol Awareness Among Patients Following Screening

    JEFFREY T. KIRCHNER

    Family History as a Risk Factor for Testicular Cancer

    JEFFREY T. KIRCHNER

    Risk of Maternal-Infant Transmission of Hepatitis C

    JEFFREY T. KIRCHNER

    Information from Your Family Doctor

    Acute Bronchitis: What You Need to Know

    Acute bronchitis is an infection of the bronchial tree (tubes that carry air from the mouth and nose to the lungs). When these tubes get infected, they swell, and mucus forms. Mucus is the material that comes up when you cough. The swelling of the tubes makes it more...

    Bacterial Vaginosis

    The vagina normally contains a lot of good bacteria, called lactobacilli, and a few other types of bacteria, called anaerobes. When there are too many anaerobes, a mild infection, called bacterial vaginosis, is the result.

    Good Nutrition Can Prevent and Treat Coronary Artery Disease

    The vessels that bring blood to the heart are called the coronary arteries. They are like narrow tubes. A fatty substance called plaque can build up in these arteries and make them even more narrow, so less blood gets to the heart. If you have coronary artery disease, your...

    When You Have Diabetes—10 Steps to Healthy Feet

    See your family doctor regularly to be sure your diabetes is in good control. Have your doctor look at your feet at every visit.

    Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder

    Seasonal affective disorder (also called SAD) is a type of depression that follows the seasons. The most common type of SAD is called winter depression. It usually begins in late fall or early winter and goes away by summer. A less common type of SAD, known as summer...



    Disclosure

    All editors in a position to control content for this activity, AFP journal, are required to disclose any relevant financial relationships. View disclosures.


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