The results of international clinical trials that are assessing when to initiate antiretroviral therapy (ART) will not be available for several years.

Impaired visual acuity is common in older adults. Screening for impaired visual acuity could lead to interventions to improve vision, function, and quality of life.

Update of the 1996 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation statement on screening for visual impairment.

Concern is growing about missed test results, but data assessing their effect on patient safety are limited.

Among patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), preoperative imaging tests are important in defining surgical candidates.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained arrhythmia. Medical treatment often fails to control symptoms.

The potential risk for travel-related venous thromboembolism (VTE) has become an important public health concern because of rapid increases in long-distance travel; however, previous studies on this relationship are surprisingly contradictory.

More than 50% of patients who start efavirenz treatment develop limiting neuropsychiatric adverse events (NPAEs).

Catheter-associated urinary tract infection, a common and potentially preventable complication of hospitalization, is 1 of the hospital-acquired complications chosen by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for which hospitals no longer receive additional payment. To help readers understand the potential consequences of the recent CMS rule changes, the authors examine the preventability of catheter-associated infection, review the CMS rule changes regarding catheter-associated urinary tract infection, offer an assessment of the possible consequences of these changes, and provide guidance for hospital-based administrators and clinicians. Although the CMS rule changes related to catheter-associated urinary tract infection are controversial, they may do more good than harm, because hospitals are likely to redouble their efforts to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infection, which may minimize unnecessary placement of indwelling catheters and facilitate prompt removal. However, even if forcing hospitals to increase efforts to prevent complications stemming from hospital-acquired infection is commendable, these efforts will have opportunity costs and may have unintended consequences. Therefore, how hospitals and physicians respond to the CMS rule changes must be monitored closely.

Screening for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in pregnant women to identify newborns who will require prophylaxis against perinatal infection is a well-established, evidence-based standard of current medical practice. In 2004, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended universal screening of pregnant women for HBV infection at the first prenatal visit.

Reaffirmation of the 2004 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation on screening for hepatitis B virus hepatitis B virus infection in pregnancy.

Although use of colonoscopy has increased substantially among elderly Medicare beneficiaries, no one has described colonoscopy-related adverse events in a representative sample of Medicare patients.