JAMA Clinical Reviews

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Gyms, Restaurants, Mass Transit, and Community COVID-19 Exposures Dec 10, 2020

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Lockdowns resulting from COVID-19 have had a devastating effect on everyone's personal lives and the economy. What factors in people's daily lives are most associated with SARS-CoV-2 transmission between people? Manish Patel, MD, team lead of the CDC's Influenza Prevention & Control Team, discusses a study they conducted examining what sorts of activities might be associated with COVID-19 disease transmission.

Related Article(s):

Community Outbreak Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Among Bus Riders in Eastern China

The Effect of Cannabis Intoxication on Driving Ability Dec 08, 2020

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It is well known that alcohol use severely affects driving ability, but does cannabis? There are many fewer traffic crashes related to cannabis than alcohol intoxication. Johannes Ramaekers, PhD, of the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, discusses his study examining the relationship between vaping THC and driving safety.

Effect of Cannabidiol and Δ-Tetrahydrocannabinol on Driving Performance

Driving Under the Influence of CBD or THC—Is There a Difference?

Air Handling Standards for Increasing the Safety of Indoor Spaces During the COVID-19 Pandemic Dec 07, 2020

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Closing businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating consequences for individuals and the economy in general. Proper air handling combined with the use of masks and physical distancing can greatly improve the safety of indoor spaces. Joseph Allen, DSc, MPH, assistant professor of exposure assessment science at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Andrew Ibrahim, MD, assistant professor of surgery and architecture and urban planning at the University of Michigan, discuss air conditioning standards that can substantially reduce the risk of disease transmission in indoor spaces.

Related Article(s):

Turbulent Gas Clouds and Respiratory Pathogen Emissions

Understanding Permuted Blocks and Stratification in Randomized Clinical Trials Dec 03, 2020

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Roger J. Lewis, MD, PhD, discusses Randomization in Clinical Trials from the JAMA Guide to Statistics and Methods

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Randomization in Clinical Trials

Hearing Loss in Children Dec 01, 2020

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Judith Lieu, MD, from the Department of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery at Washington University in St Louis, discusses the need for screening young children for hearing loss and the importance of treating hearing loss as early in life as is possible.

Hearing Loss in Children

Health Care Facility Certificate of Need Regulations—Laws That Have Outlived Their Usefulness Nov 24, 2020

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Certificates of Need are regulations required by some states before any construction or expansion of services at medical facilities are undertaken. Originally developed to prevent excessive construction of expensive health care facilities, these rules have distorted health care markets and probably should be repealed. Karl Bilimoria, MD, from Northwestern University, Tarik K Yuce, MD, and JAMA Associate Editor Karen Joynt Maddox, MD, from Washington University, discuss the current status of these regulations and their effect on health care markets.

Related Article(s):

Association of State Certificate of Need Regulation With Procedural Volume, Market Share, and Outcomes Among Medicare Beneficiaries

Hematuria and Bladder Cancer Nov 17, 2020

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Mark Litwin, MD, chair of Urology at the UCLA School of Medicine, discusses the evaluation of hematuria and also the presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of bladder cancer.

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Bladder Cancer

Elevated Liver Function Tests Following Liver Transplant Nov 10, 2020

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There are hundreds of thousands of liver transplant patients, all of whom will be seen in general clinical practices. It is common for them to develop elevated liver enzymes--a potentially serious problem that may be a sign that the transplanted liver is failing. Traditionally, patients with these findings are sent to a liver transplant center for an inpatient workup. A new protocol facilitating management of most of these patients in routine outpatient clinics has been developed, greatly improving the efficiency of managing patients with this clinical problem. Fady Kaldas, MD, director of the Dumont-UCLA transplant center, discusses how to manage elevated liver function results in liver transplant patients on an outpatient basis.

Related Article(s):

Outpatient Management of Liver Function Test Abnormalities in Patients With a Liver Transplant

Using e-Cigarettes to Stop Smoking Nov 10, 2020

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Are e-cigarettes helpful or harmful as a tool to help people stop smoking? Mark J. Eisenberg, MD, MPH, from the Jewish General Hospital and McGill University in Montreal, Canada, discuss a recent clinical trial he reported in the November 10, 2020, issue of JAMA examining the efficacy of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid.

Effect of e-Cigarettes Plus Counseling vs Counseling Alone on Smoking Cessation

New Recommendations for How Often to Repeat Colonoscopy Following Polypectomy Nov 06, 2020

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A new multisociety guideline was recently released suggesting that for many patients, the interval between colonoscopies following polyp resection is less than previously recommended. Cecelia Zhang, MD, Duke University, and Maylyn Martinez, MD, University of Chicago, discuss the new guideline.

Recommendations for Follow-up Colonoscopy After Polypectomy