JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Case Reports
Dysesthesia, witchcraft, and conversion reaction. A case successfully treated with psychotherapy.
An intelligent, well-educated black woman from the rural South, through an interaction of psychopathology and cultural background, experienced dysesthesia as a conversion reaction and came to believe that she was the victim of witchcraft. After neurological evaluation showed no abnormalities, she was successfully treated with conventional psychotherapy. Belief in hexing or root work is still alive today and should be inquired about in patients with unusual symptoms and an appropriate cultural background.
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In the nationwide Community Hypertension Evaluation Clinic screening of more than 1 million people, the group classifying itself as overweight had prevalence rates of hypertension 50% to 300% higher than other screenees. Frequency of hypertension in overweight persons aged 20 to 39 years was double that of normal weight and triple that of underweight persons. ⋯ Thus this study confirms, in the largest group surveyed to date, similar findings in previous cross-sectional surveys. It is also consistent with data from longitudinal and intervention studies on the importance of overweight in relation to hypertension.
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Comparative Study
Will heroin eventually see the light of day for treating chronic pain?