The New England journal of medicine
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We previously described two members of a family affected by an apparently genetically determined fatal disease characterized clinically by progressive insomnia, dysautonomia, and motor signs and characterized pathologically by severe atrophy of the anterior ventral and mediodorsal thalamic nuclei. Five other family members who died of this disease, which we termed "fatal familial insomnia," had broader neuropathologic changes suggesting that fatal familial insomnia could be a prion disease. ⋯ Fatal familial insomnia is a prion disease with a mutation in codon 178 of the PrP gene, but the disease phenotype seems to differ from that of previously described kindreds with the same point mutation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Topical tretinoin (retinoic acid) treatment for liver spots associated with photodamage.
The hyperpigmented lesions commonly called liver spots distress patients, in part because such lesions are associated with aging. We investigated their treatment with topical 0.1 percent tretinoin (retinoic acid). ⋯ Topical 0.1 percent tretinoin significantly improves both clinical and microscopical manifestations of liver spots; these lesions do not return for at least six months after therapy is discontinued.
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Health professionals have charged that magazines that depend on revenues from cigarette advertising are less likely to publish articles on the dangers of smoking for fear of offending cigarette manufacturers. Special concern has focused on magazines directed to women. Restricted coverage of smoking hazards could lead readers to underestimate the risks of smoking in relation to other health risks. ⋯ This study provides strong statistical evidence that cigarette advertising in magazines is associated with diminished coverage of the hazards of smoking. This is particularly true for magazines directed to women.