To develop a set of minimum clinical guidelines for use by primary care physicians in the evaluation and management of patients with hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism.

To provide an overview of the published scientific information on the safety and efficacy of very low-calorie diets (VLCDs) and to provide rational recommendations for their use.

Convulsive status epilepticus is an emergency that is associated with high morbidity and mortality. The outcome largely depends on etiology, but prompt and appropriate pharmacological therapy can reduce morbidity and mortality. Etiology varies in children and adults and reflects the distribution of disease in these age groups. Antiepileptic drug administration should be initiated whenever a seizure has lasted 10 minutes. Immediate concerns include supporting respiration, maintaining blood pressure, gaining intravenous access, and identifying and treating the underlying cause. Initial therapeutic and diagnostic measures are conducted simultaneously. The goal of therapy is rapid termination of clinical and electrical seizure activity; the longer a seizure continues, the greater the likelihood of an adverse outcome. Several drug protocols now in use will terminate status epilepticus. Common to all patients is the need for a clear plan, prompt administration of appropriate drugs in adequate doses, and attention to the possibility of apnea, hypoventilation, or other metabolic abnormalities.

These recommendations update previous CDC/American Thoracic Society (ATS) recommendations for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) among adults and children. The most notable changes are in response to the increasing prevalence of drug-resistant TB in the United States. These recommendations include the need for a) in vitro drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from all patients and reporting of these results to the health department, b) initial four-drug regimens for the treatment of TB, and c) initial directly observed therapy for persons with TB. Adherence to these recommendations will help prevent the occurrence of more cases of drug-resistant TB, reduce the occurrence of treatment failure, and reduce the transmission of TB in the United States.

Cardiac arrest treatment continues to evolve. Adequate treatment of the individual patient requires that the whole ECC system function smoothly, consistently, and rapidly. To maximize communitywide survival rates, a careful evaluation of the entire chain of survival is required using standard measurements of performance. The challenge for the next decade is to establish this infrastructure and to conduct multicenter, prospective, controlled clinical trials to better define the key factors that will improve survival of cardiac arrest in every community.