Subj: Medscape's MedPulse 4.5 Date: 96-04-12 10:07:54 EDT From: news@mail.medscape.com (Medscape) To: news@mail.medscape.com ============================================================= _ _ __ _ /|// /_ / \ / / /_ /__/ __ __ __ __ __ \__\ \_\\_\\_ _\\__\ \\ \__'s MEDPULSE(TM) - Weekly Newsletter The Online Resource for Better Patient Care ============================================================= http://www.medscape.com/ ============================================================= MedPulse(TM) is a weekly e-mail newsletter informing registered members of new content posted on Medscape during the preceding week. To easily access the articles highlighted below, point your browser to: http://www.medscape.com/home/MedPulse.html ________ CONTENTS o Tidbits: - 35,420 members as of 31 March - 29,447 articles read this week - 1,466 new members this week o Announcements - Clinical Editor Position Open at Medscape - Become a Member of Medscape's Internet Training Faculty o Feature Articles - A Man from Honduras with Fever and a Rash - Antiretroviral Therapy: In Search of the Optimum Combination - A Painful Facial and Palatal Process o Articles and Columns - Safety and Toxicity of Antimicrobials During Pregnancy - Prevention of Clostridium difficile-Toxin-Associated Diarrhea in Patients with Neoplastic Disease - Tuberculosis: A Clinical Handbook - Xenotransplantation: Risks, Clinical potential, and Future Prospects - Fluconazole Treatment of Fungal UTIs in Pediatric Patients - Infectious Diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean: Are They Really Emerging and Increasing? o Exam Room - Neck pain from meningismus versus simple myalgia - Significance of oxygen in mucormycosis pathogenesis and treatment o User Support - Logging on to Medscape - What if you forget your password? - Receiving MedPulse - Reader Feedback ========================== _____________ ANNOUNCEMENTS o Clinical Editor Position Open at Medscape ------------------------------------------------------------- Join Medscape's innovative editorial team as a clinical editor. Medscape is looking for an individual with strong writing and clinical medicine skills to take on editorial and project evaluation and development duties. Position requires excellent writing skills, solid clinical medicine background, and strong team orientation. Send CV to stephen_smith@medscape.com o Become a Member of Medscape's Internet Training Faculty ------------------------------------------------------------- Medscape is providing "medicine on the Net" training and Internet access kits at major medical meetings around the country in 1996. We are building a faculty of clinicians to provide one-to-one and group introductions to the clinical resources available on the Web. For more information, contact stephen_smith@medscape.com ________________________________ FEATURE ARTICLES ADDED THIS WEEK Medscape's Feature Articles include links to related clinical information on the World Wide Web and encapsulated Medline reviews. o A Man from Honduras with Fever and a Rash ------------------------------------------------------------- One day after arriving in Key West, Florida from Honduras, this man developed an influenza-like illness. What is the most likely diagnosis? o Antiretroviral Therapy: In Search of the Optimum Combination ------------------------------------------------------------- Only a few years ago, our options for treating HIV disease were either to give AZT or to watch and wait. Now clinicians are faced with a panoply of treatment options, including other nucleoside analogs and protease inhibitors. How can we best decide what is the optimum treatment in such a rapidly changing field? Dr. Robert Yarchoan discusses the various factors to consider when designing and customizing a patient's antiviral regimen. o A Painful Facial and Palatal Process ------------------------------------------------------------- When this patient was told she had a swell face, her physician wasn't kidding! What bug might cause cellulitis on the left side of the face, pain and a burning sensation in the mouth, and a stuffy left nostril? ========================== ____________________________________ ARTICLES AND COLUMNS ADDED THIS WEEK o Safety and Toxicity of Antimicrobials During Pregnancy ------------------------------------------------------------- Antimicrobial agents are used frequently during pregnancy. Unfortunately, only a few antimicrobials have been shown to be completely nontoxic when given to pregnant women. Antimicrobial agents and their potential use during pregnancy are discussed; however, the current information available is often limited. Potential side effects of antimicrobial agents must be considered in the selection of optimal therapy for the pregnant patient. o Prevention of Clostridium difficile-Toxin-Associated Diarrhea in Patients with Neoplastic Disease ------------------------------------------------------------- The toxin produced by Clostridium difficile is a major cause of nosocomial diarrhea. Antibiotic use predisposes patients to C. difficile acquisition and overgrowth. Patients with neoplastic disease are at increased risk because of additional factors including chemotherapy, surgery, and debilitation. Transmission in the hospital setting occurs via hand carriage by health care workers and by environmental contamination. Measures to reduce transmission include hand washing, isolation, barrier garb use, and environmental disinfection. Early diagnosis will lead to initiation of preventive measures that will subsequently decrease transmission of this nosocomial pathogen. o Tuberculosis: A Clinical Handbook ------------------------------------------------------------- The re-emergence of tuberculosis (TB) over the last decade provides an appropriate forum for the presentation of this volume. The extraordinary difficulties posed by current outbreaks include aspects of TB that, throughout its long history, have never been dealt with before--including multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and TB in the setting of HIV infection. The scope of this disease and its associated problems have changed so dramatically that it is difficult even for infectious-disease practitioners to keep pace. Thus, this first edition of Tuberculosis is likely to be received with great enthusiasm. o Xenotransplantation: Risks, Clinical potential, and Future Prospects ------------------------------------------------------------- The reemergence of xenotransplantation as a therapeutic option for the hundreds of thousands of people dying each year of heart, kidney, lung, and liver failure has raised ethical, social, and scientific questions. End-stage organ failure is one of the most important public health problems facing Americans today. Although clearly an experimental procedure, xenotransplantation between closely related species, such as baboons and humans, offers an alternative to allotransplantation as a source of human organ replacement. o Fluconazole Treatment of Fungal UTIs in Pediatric Patients ------------------------------------------------------------- Fungal urinary tract infections (UTIs) are relatively uncommon but increasing in incidence. Despite the variety of agents available to treat these infections, they remain a therapeutic challenge to clinicians. Amphotericin B has traditionally been the drug of choice for systemic fungal infections, but its use is limited by frequent and severe adverse effects such as fever, chills, nausea, and phlebitis. Three pediatric patients with Candida infections were treated successfully with fluconazole (3 to 5mg/kg per day). Although it is not currently indicated for children, fluconazole appears to be a safe and effective treatment for UTIs caused by Candida organisms in these patients. o Infectious Diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean: Are They Really Emerging and Increasing? ------------------------------------------------------------- During 1995, infectious disease epidemics in Latin America and the Caribbean received wide publicity: dengue throughout the region, Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) in Venezuela and Colombia, and hemorrhagic fever in Nicaragua. Increased awareness of these diseases followed extensive reports in the scientific community about the threat of emerging infections. Are infectious diseases increasing in the region or are we simply seeing the results of better reporting of persistent problems? Analysis suggests that both factors are at work. ========================== _________ EXAM ROOM The "Exam Room" is a collection of Medscape's self assessment features, such as Today's Question and PicTours. o Today's Question -- Questions posted this week ------------------------------------------------------------- ? How is the stiff neck characteristic of meningismus distinguished from simple myalgia? ? What is the significance of oxygen in the pathogenesis and treatment of mucormycosis? ========================== ____________ USER SUPPORT o Signing in at Medscape ------------------------------------------------------------- Access to Medscape is free, but registration is required. You only need to register once to use Medscape. Registration automatically signs you in. So on the visit during which you register, you will be able to access all of the contents of Medscape without having to sign in manually. On each subsequent visit to Medscape, you will be asked to sign in when you select material to read. There is no need to go to the registration page if you have already registered. o What if you forget your password? ------------------------------------------------------------- If you forget your password, send e-mail to: "webmaster@medscape.com" noting your original ID (if you can remember it) and he'll reply with your password. o Receiving MedPulse ------------------------------------------------------------- MedPulse is sent weekly to all registered users of Medscape. If you do not want to receive this newsletter, send a reply to this e-mail (to "news@medscape.com") with "no more news" in the Subject of your reply. If this doesn't work, please notify the Webmaster (webmaster@medscape.com) o Reader Feedback ------------------------------------------------------------- We welcome comments and suggestions from readers on the content and format of MedPulse. Is the format easy to read? Are the contents too long, or would you like more information? Send your comments to: stephen_smith@medscape.com Chris Pepper: http://www.medscape.com/staff/pepper/ 134 W 29th Street; New York, NY 10001; 212 714 1740 x247, fax 212 629 3760 ----------------------- Headers -------------------------------- From news@mail.medscape.com Fri Apr 12 10:07:41 1996 Return-Path: news@mail.medscape.com Received: from mail2.medscape.com ([192.246.193.8]) by emin22.mail.aol.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id KAA07105 for ; Fri, 12 Apr 1996 10:07:35 -0400 Received: from mail.medscape.com (192.246.193.5) by mail2.medscape.com with ESMTP (Apple Internet Mail Server 1.1b11); Mon, 8 Apr 1996 14:27:35 -0400 Received: from [192.246.193.14] by mail.medscape.com with ESMTP (Apple Internet Mail Server 1.1b11); Mon, 8 Apr 1996 14:27:30 -0400 Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 8 Apr 1996 14:27:32 -0400 To: news@mail.medscape.com From: Medscape Subject: Medscape's MedPulse 4.5