The American journal of medicine
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Multicenter Study
Hospital admissions through the emergency department: does insurance status matter?
To assess the effect of insurance status on the probability of admission and subsequent health status of patients presenting to emergency departments. ⋯ Uninsured patients with one of three common chief complaints appear to be less frequently admitted to the hospital than are insured patients, although health status does not appear to be affected. Whether these results reflect underutilization among uninsured patients or overutilization among insured patients remains to be determined.
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Acquired hemophilia is a rare disease caused by the development of auto-antibodies against factor VIII. ⋯ This large study helps to clarify the presentation and clinical course of acquired hemophilia. Prospective studies are needed to determine the efficacy of treatment.
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In nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, the kidney is unable to concentrate urine despite normal or elevated concentrations of the antidiuretic hormone arginine vasopressin (AVP). In congenital nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI), the obvious clinical manifestations of the disease, that is polyuria and polydipsia, are present at birth and need to be immediately recognized to avoid severe episodes of dehydration. Most (>90%) congenital NDI patients have mutations in the AVPR2 gene, the Xq28 gene coding for the vasopressin V2 (antidiuretic) receptor. ⋯ Similarly AQP2 mutant proteins are trapped intracellularly and cannot be expressed at the luminal membrane. The acquired form of NDI is much more common than the congenital form, is almost always less severe, and is associated with downregulation of AQP2. The advances described here are examples of "bedside physiology" and provide diagnostic tools for physicians caring for these patients.
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Both generalist and pulmonologist physicians care for patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We studied patients hospitalized with severe COPD to explore whether supervision of care by pulmonologists is associated with greater costs or better survival. ⋯ Our findings suggest that for patients hospitalized with exacerbation of severe COPD, those with pulmonologist attending physicians do not have higher hospital resource use or better survival than those with generalist attending physicians.