Anemia is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and renal events among patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease. This placebo-controlled trial randomly assigned such patients to receive darbepoetin alfa or placebo. The two composite end points were death or cardiovascular disease and death or end-stage renal disease. Darbepoetin alfa did not reduce either outcome and was associated with an increased risk of stroke.

Genetic analyses showed that mutations affecting the interleukin-10 receptor are associated with early-onset colitis. Further molecular analyses showed that the mutations abrogated interleukin-10 signaling. Treatment of one of the affected children by means of allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation was successful.

This article describes a group of 11 patients between the ages of 6 and 21 years who had recurrent sinopulmonary infections, extensive cutaneous viral infections, severe allergies, and elevated serum levels of IgE; some of the patients also had asthma or reactive airway disease or susceptibility to cancer. All patients had loss-of-function mutations in the DOCK8 gene.

Kuru, a neurodegenerative disease associated with endocannibalism in Papua New Guinea, is the classic example of prion disease. Certain polymorphisms at codon 129 of the prion protein gene (PRNP) are highly associated with susceptibility to the development of kuru. In this report, further investigation involving kuru-exposed survivors in Papua New Guinea shows that certain polymorphisms in PRNP codon 127 lead to genetic resistance to kuru.

This review gives an account of recent advances in our knowledge of the intestinal immune system and how it becomes perturbed in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The importance of genetic factors in these diseases has been increasingly recognized, and this article emphasizes their roles.

A 23-year-old man was transferred to this hospital because of cough, hoarseness, fever, and abnormalities on chest imaging. One month before admission, a nonproductive cough developed, followed by hoarseness, dyspnea on exertion, and fever. Imaging studies at another facility showed pulmonary and mediastinal masses and a lesion in the pelvis. Positron-emission tomographic scans obtained at this hospital showed ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose–avid lesions. A diagnostic procedure was performed.

Treatment of a mouse model of aggressive pancreatic cancer with an inhibitor of the hedgehog pathway enhanced tumor sensitivity to gemcitabine and resulted in the stabilization of disease.