The effects of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibition on renal function in elderly patients are similar to those seen with nonselective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Thus, COX-2 seems to play an important role in human renal function.

Results of outcome report cards for simulated survival in patients with congestive heart failure depend on the method used to adjust for severity. Relying on report cards that use one of the currently available risk adjustment methods may lead to erroneous conclusions about the quality of care at particular hospitals.

Adherence to protease inhibitor therapy of 95% or greater optimized virologic outcomes for patients with HIV infection. Diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric illness should be further investigated as means to improve adherence to therapy.

In the case reported here, transfusion of HIV RNA–positive, HIV-seronegative blood did not lead to infection of the recipient, probably because potent postexposure antiretroviral therapy was initiated promptly.

A three-drug regimen of indinavir, zidovudine, and lamivudine suppressed viremia in two thirds of the 33 study patients for at least 3 years.

The authors provide an overview of the treatment of heroin dependence, with an emphasis on recent developments in pharmacologically based treatment approaches.

The report from the Society for Health and Human Values–Society for Bioethics Consultation Task Force is the first multidisciplinary and multi-institutional attempt in the United States to articulate what ethics consultation is and what competencies it requires.

In this issue, the Society for Health and Human Values–Society for Bioethics Consultation Task Force summarizes its report on core competencies for health care ethics consultation. Although this report is an informative starting point for someone interested in learning about ethics consultation, it softens or avoids some points of disagreement. Four such issues are committees versus individual consultants, interdisciplinary competency, practical wisdom versus character, and financial support for ethics services.

The biologist Edward Wilson has said that “a discovery does not exist until it is safely reviewed and in print.” That's a strong statement, but it says much about why print publication is important and why the print version of Annals looks different beginning with this issue.

It is a peculiar privilege of a rural doctor to walk among one's dead.

The Ars Medica collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is a major resource of worldwide reputation. It numbers more than 2000 works, and its subject matter reflects the broadest spectrum of medical topics, including examples from pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and even veterinary medicine.