Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is a chronic illness causing progressive deterioration in quality of life. Brain dysfunction may be the most important and least studied problem affecting individuals with this disease.

For the last 50 years, overall age-standardized incidence rates for noncardia gastric cancer have steadily declined in most populations. However, overall rates are summary measures that may obscure important age-specific trends.

Although automobiles remain the transportation of choice for many older adults, late-life cognitive impairment and dementia often impair the ability to drive safely. However, there is no commonly used method of assessing dementia severity in relation to driving, no consensus on the assessment of older drivers with cognitive impairment, and no gold standard for determining driving fitness. Yet clinicians are called on by patients, their families, other health professionals, and often their state's Department of Motor Vehicles to assess their patients' fitness to drive and to make recommendations about driving privileges. This article describes the challenges of driving with cognitive impairment for both the patient and caregiver, summarizes the literature on dementia and driving, discusses evidence-based assessment of fitness to drive, and addresses important ethical and legal issues. It also describes the role of physician assessment, referral for neuropsychological testing, screening for functional ability, tools to assess dementia severity, driving evaluation clinics, and Department of Motor Vehicles referrals that may assist with evaluation. Lastly, it discusses mobility counseling (eg, exploration of transportation alternatives), because health professionals need to address this important issue for older adults who lose the ability to drive. The application of a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to the older driver with cognitive impairment will have the best opportunity to enhance patients' social connectedness and quality of life while meeting their psychological and medical needs and maintaining personal and public safety.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) requires significant infrastructure. Little is known about HSCT use and the factors associated with it on a global level.

The coronary artery calcium score (CACS) has been shown to predict future coronary heart disease (CHD) events. However, the extent to which adding CACS to traditional CHD risk factors improves classification of risk is unclear.

Early data on pandemic 2009 influenza A(H1N1) suggest pregnant women are at increased risk of hospitalization and death.

Although maternal stature has been associated with offspring mortality and health, the extent to which this association is universal across developing countries is unclear.

Cochlear implantation is a surgical alternative to traditional amplification (hearing aids) that can facilitate spoken language development in young children with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL).

Dietary carbohydrates have been associated with dyslipidemia, a lipid profile known to increase cardiovascular disease risk. Added sugars (caloric sweeteners used as ingredients in processed or prepared foods) are an increasing and potentially modifiable component in the US diet. No known studies have examined the association between the consumption of added sugars and lipid measures.

Tracheotomy is used to replace endotracheal intubation in patients requiring prolonged ventilation; however, there is considerable variability in the time considered optimal for performing tracheotomy. This is of clinical importance because timing is a key criterion for performing a tracheotomy and patients who receive one require a large amount of health care resources.

Little is known about how health insurance status affects decisions to seek care during emergency medical conditions such as acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Singapore experienced a single epidemic wave of 2009 influenza A(H1N1) with epidemic activity starting in late June 2009 and peaking in early August before subsiding within a month.

Reliable methods to screen newborns for congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection are needed for identification of infants at increased risk of hearing loss. Since dried blood spots (DBS) are routinely collected for metabolic screening from all newborns in the United States, there has been interest in using DBS polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods for newborn CMV screening.

In recent decades, the fastest growth in lumbar surgery occurred in older patients with spinal stenosis. Trials indicate that for selected patients, decompressive surgery offers an advantage over nonoperative treatment, but surgeons often recommend more invasive fusion procedures. Comorbidity is common in older patients, so benefits and risks must be carefully weighed in the choice of surgical procedure.

The amount of physical activity needed to prevent long-term weight gain is unclear. In 2008, federal guidelines recommended at least 150 minutes per week (7.5 metabolic equivalent [MET] hours per week) of moderate-intensity activity for "substantial health benefits."

Previous studies may have underestimated the contribution of health behaviors to social inequalities in mortality because health behaviors were assessed only at the baseline of the study.