Some data suggest that increasing calcium intake may help prevent weight gain.

Models for risk prediction are widely used in clinical practice to stratify risk and assign treatment strategies. The contribution of new biomarkers has largely been based on the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve, but this measure can be insensitive to important changes in absolute risk. Methods based on risk stratification have recently been proposed to compare predictive models. Such methods include the reclassification calibration statistic, the net reclassification improvement, and the integrated discrimination improvement. This article demonstrates the use of reclassification measures and illustrates their performance for well-known cardiovascular risk predictors in a cohort of women. These measures are targeted at evaluating the potential of new models and markers to change risk strata and alter treatment decisions.

The prevalence of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular and chronic kidney disease is increasing in developed countries. Obesity, insulin resistance, and hypertension commonly cluster with other risk factors for cardiovascular and chronic kidney disease to form the metabolic syndrome. Emerging evidence supports a paradigm shift in our understanding of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and in aldosterone's ability to promote insulin resistance and participate in the pathogenesis of the metabolic syndrome and resistant hypertension. Recent data suggest that excess circulating aldosterone promotes the development of both disorders by impairing insulin metabolic signaling and endothelial function, which in turn leads to insulin resistance and cardiovascular and renal structural and functional abnormalities. Indeed, hyperaldosteronism is associated with impaired pancreatic beta-cell function, skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity, and elevated production of proinflammatory adipokines from adipose tissue, which results in systemic inflammation and impaired glucose tolerance. Accumulating evidence indicates that the cardiovascular and renal abnormalities associated with insulin resistance are mediated in part by aldosterone acting on the mineralocorticoid receptor. Although we have known that mineralocorticoid receptor blockade attenuates cardiovascular and renal injury, only recently have we learned that mineralocorticoid receptor blockade improves pancreatic insulin release, insulin-mediated glucose utilization, and endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. In summary, aldosterone excess has detrimental metabolic effects that contribute to the metabolic syndrome and endothelial dysfunction, which in turn contribute to the development of resistant hypertension as well as cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease.

Without population-based evidence, some clinicians recommend short-term suspension of hormone therapy to improve the performance of mammography. Hormone therapy increases breast density, and abnormal screening mammograms are more common among women with denser breasts and among women using hormone therapy.

Simple prediction scores could help identify adults at high risk for diabetes.

Intimate partner violence and control (IPVC) is prevalent and can be a serious health risk to women.

A new H1N1 triple-reassortant "swine" influenza virus was recently described in individuals from the United States and Mexico who presented with respiratory symptoms, and the same virus was subsequently confirmed in patients from several countries around the world. The circumstances surrounding the emergence of this pathogen, and the factors that facilitated the initial cross-species transmission, are still incompletely understood. It became apparent in the early days of the outbreak that the virus can be directly transmitted between humans. Pathogens that originate in animal reservoirs and subsequently acquire the potential for human-to-human transmission have caused outbreaks throughout human history. Although each outbreak is marked by its own particularities, it is important to remember the teachings that emerge from previous epidemics and pandemics. Integrating the important lessons of the past will provide the best opportunity to understand host-pathogen interaction and the most powerful approach to implementing effective prophylactic and therapeutic measures.

In 2004, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force strongly recommended that clinicians screen all pregnant women for syphilis infection.

Update of the 2004 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force statement about screening for syphilis in pregnancy.

Care from high-volume centers or surgeons has been associated with lower mortality rates in coronary artery bypass surgery, but how volume and quality of care relate to each other is not well understood.

Excessive kyphosis may be associated with earlier mortality, but previous studies have not controlled for clinically silent vertebral fractures, which are a known mortality risk factor.

Angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) blunt progression of advanced diabetic nephropathy, but their long-term renal effects in other patients are not clear.