A decision aid consisting of an education video, brochure, and chart marker increased ordering and performance of colon cancer screening tests.

Carriers of mutations at the ataxia-telangiectasia locus, who make up 1.4% to 2% of the general population, have a higher mortality rate and an earlier age at death from cancer and ischemic heart disease than noncarriers.

Tuberculin conversion among health care workers was strongly associated with inadequate ventilation in general patient rooms and with type and duration of work. Conversion was not related to ventilation of respiratory isolation rooms.

Bone mineral density is reduced at several skeletal sites in most women with anorexia nervosa. Weight, but not estrogen use, is a significant predictor of bone mineral density at all skeletal sites in this population.

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease are at increased risk for fracture compared with the general population.

This case-based discussion focuses on the clinical management of a patient whose hazardous drinking progresses to alcohol dependence and requires coordinated care.

Few internal medicine subspecialty training programs are currently designed to provide adequate research training as defined by the Institute of Medicine and American Board of Internal Medicine.

The reports by Grinspoon and Bernstein and their colleagues in this issue are examples of the detailed clinical observations on secondary osteoporosis that are necessary for understanding normal and disordered bone remodeling.

In this issue, Whitcomb and Walter prompt us to think about the role of departments of internal medicine in being responsible for the national problems in clinical research and in helping resolve them.

If I made house calls, it was usually for the Amish. One special house call gave me a glimpse of what it must have been like to be a physician long ago.

The main areas of focus for this Update are coronary heart disease, osteoporosis, breast cancer prevention, hormone replacement therapy and oral contraceptives, weight loss, cancer screening, domestic violence, and sexual dysfunction.