CD20 is a surface protein confined to B cells. An anti-CD20 antibody will bind only to B cells. A monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody tagged with iodine-131 can deliver radiation from decaying iodine-131 to B cells. These principles were applied to the initial treatment of advanced follicular lymphoma with a single infusion of ¹³¹I-tagged mouse anti-CD20 antibody (¹³¹I-labeled tositumomab). More than half the patients had a complete remission, and most of them have remained in complete remission for as long as seven years.

Although this was not a randomized, controlled trial, the results are compelling, because conventional treatment does not cure advanced follicular lymphoma.

This analysis of national data shows that since the implementation of a program of universal childhood varicella vaccination in 1995, the mortality from this disease has declined sharply. During the period of 1990 through 1994 in the United States, there were about 145 deaths per year due to varicella. By 1999 through 2001 the number of deaths had declined to about 66 per year.

These data document the fact that vaccination of children against varicella has led to a reduction in mortality from this disease, especially among young children.

In a series of 22 patients with primary generalized dystonia refractory to medical therapy, bilateral pallidal stimulation significantly improved movement and functional disability, without adverse effects on cognition or mood. Complications occurred in three patients, without permanent sequelae.

These data support the use of this therapy in selected patients with primary generalized dystonia, although more data are needed to assess the risks of uncommon complications.

During the 2003 football season, large skin abscesses due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) developed in five players on a professional football team. All the infections involved the same clone of MRSA, which appears to be widely distributed in the community.

MRSA is increasingly a cause of community-acquired infections. After the institution of infection-control measures, the outbreak on this football team resolved.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignant diseases, with an estimated 1,023,000 new cases and 529,000 deaths worldwide each year. This review considers recently developed cytotoxic chemotherapies and biologic agents that are effective against colorectal cancer and assesses their use as treatments for metastatic disease and as components of adjuvant therapy.

A 20-year-old man was transferred to an academic medical center for further evaluation of diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever. Two months before admission, he presented to a community hospital with dull, intermittent pain in the right lower quadrant. A colonoscopy performed at that time revealed patchy erythema, edema, and ulcerations from the transverse colon to the cecum. The terminal ileum also appeared inflamed and had linear ulcerations.

A patient's right to privacy ends with the patient's death, but the privacy rights of the surviving family members are less clear. Annas discusses recent court rulings that have broadened privacy rights to include the family of the deceased. An Icelandic court ruled that a daughter could prevent the inclusion of information about her deceased father in a genetics research database. Given that relatives share patients' DNA, issues of family privacy will be hotly debated as genetic testing becomes more common in research and clinical practice.

A recent study suggests that type 1 angiotensin receptors on the surface of monocytes must dimerize — through a mechanism mediated by transglutaminase — to become activated and hence best able to adhere to the vascular endothelium.