The New England journal of medicine
-
The majority of Death with Dignity participants in Washington State and Oregon have received a diagnosis of terminal cancer. As more states consider legislation regarding physician-assisted death, the experience of a comprehensive cancer center may be informative. ⋯ Overall, our Death with Dignity program has been well accepted by patients and clinicians.
-
Both genetic variation at the 17q21 locus and virus-induced respiratory wheezing illnesses are associated with the development of asthma. Our aim was to determine the effects of these two factors on the risk of asthma in the Childhood Origins of Asthma (COAST) and the Copenhagen Prospective Study on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC) birth cohorts. ⋯ Variants at the 17q21 locus were associated with asthma in children who had had HRV wheezing illnesses and with expression of two genes at this locus. The expression levels of both genes increased in response to HRV stimulation, although the relative increase was not associated with the 17q21 genotypes. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health.).