In this Danish study, body-mass index in childhood was associated with coronary heart disease (CHD) events in adulthood. The association was stronger in boys than in girls, and the risk of an event in adulthood increased in both sexes as the child's age increased from 7 to 13 years. These important data focus attention on the public health significance of the epidemic of childhood obesity.

This longitudinal observational study of people living in various regions of Switzerland relates the rate of loss of lung function to declines in exposure to inhaled particulates less than 10 µm in diameter. Persons living in regions where there were the greatest decreases in particulate exposure had the smallest declines in lung function. Cleaning up particulate pollutants has a health benefit.

Laboratory exposures of persons with asthma to diesel exhaust are associated with physiological and clinical changes that are consistent with diminished disease control. In this trial, which involved persons with mild or moderate asthma, exposure to diesel exhaust during a walk on a London street was associated with physiological changes in lung function as compared with a walk in a nearby park. Exposure to diesel exhaust can result in worsening of asthma.

This study assessed the effects of 26 weeks of therapy with tesamorelin, a growth hormone–releasing factor analogue, versus placebo on visceral adiposity in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); 86% of the patients were men. Daily tesamorelin treatment decreased the amount of visceral fat and improved the lipid profile. Treatment with tesamorelin is a potential strategy for HIV-infected patients who have treatment-associated accumulation of central fat.

Obesity, which is increasingly common among adolescents, is a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). In this report, modeling the effects of overweight and obesity in adolescents on the risk of future CHD projects a substantial increase in the number of cases in the future.

Profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss is diagnosed in a 4-month-old baby girl, and a cochlear implant is recommended. Unlike hearing aids, which amplify sound, cochlear implants stimulate the cochlear nerve directly. The benefit of this form of therapy depends on the patient's age at implantation, but it also requires participation by the patient and family in therapy for speech and oral language development.

A 23-year-old black woman presented to the emergency department with diffuse, colicky abdominal pain of 1 hour's duration. The pain was followed by nausea and episodes of bilious vomiting and did not radiate or change with the patient's position. The patient did not report fever, chills, diarrhea, hematochezia, or melena.

A recent study underscores the importance of substance P and its upstream mediator, FosB, in modifying learned helplessness — a model of depression — in mice.