The extent of carotid artery atherosclerosis as measured by B-mode ultrasound has been shown to be strongly and independently correlated with the presence or absence of coronary atherosclerotic disease (CAD), but no studies to date have used carotid B-mode ultrasound to compare the extent of atherosclerotic disease in the two arterial circulations. We used data from a registry of patients undergoing cardiac catheterization and B-mode ultrasound of the carotid arteries to compare the extent of CAD (number of major coronary vessels with 50% or greater stenosis as judged by a consensus interpretation) with the extent of extracranial carotid atherosclerosis. Four hundred thirty-four patients (234 men, 200 women) greater than 40 years of age were stratified by gender and then divided into quartiles on the basis of a B-mode score that was derived by summing arterial wall thickness at nine sites in the left and nine sites in the right carotid arteries. Evaluation of extent of CAD for the four B-mode quartiles showed that men in the lowest B-mode quartile were over six times more likely to have normal coronary arteries than three-to four-vessel CAD, while men in the highest B-mode quartile were over 10 times more likely to have three-to four-vessel CAD than normal coronary arteries. The findings were similar for women but not as dramatic Gender-specific discriminant function models using traditional risk factors alone or in combination with B-mode score were developed to predict the extent of CAD. Discriminant models containing traditional risk factors alone performed only slightly better than a model that contained only the B-mode score. The addition of the B-mode score to models of traditional risk factors added little to the predictive ability for CAD extent (/Irteriosclerosis and Thrombosis 1991;11:1786-1794) E pidemiological studies have established certain factors (age, male gender, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, and smoking) as predictors of clinical manifestations of coronary artery disease (CAD).1 -3 These same risk factors have also

The seven complaint categories of physician behaviors should be useful in developing curricula related to professionalism, communication skills, practice-based learning.

Background: Patient education is an essential component in quality management of the anticoagulated patient. Because it is time consuming for clinicians and overwhelming for patients, education of the anticoagulated patient is often neglected. We surveyed the medical literature in order to identify the best patient education strategies.

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Among older patients with subdural hematoma, level of consciousness, extreme old age, duration of the hematoma, and nature of the intervention were significantly associated with hospital mortality. These factors should help physicians in clinical decision making and formulation of advance directives for geriatric patients with subdural hematoma.

Background: Pharmaceutical company representatives (PCRs) influence the prescribing habits and professional behaviour of physicians. However, the skills for interacting with PCRs are not taught in the traditional medical school curriculum. We examined whether an innovative, mandatory workshop for third year medical students had immediate effects on knowledge and attitudes regarding interactions with PCRs.

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