NEJM

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This monthly update is designed to keep you informed about anniversary content and events. We’ll highlight interesting items and let you know what is coming soon. Features currently on the 200th anniversary website include: VIEW » READ THE ANNIVERSARY ARTICLE ON DIABETES Two centuries ago, severe insulin deficiency dominated the clinical presentation of diabetes. Although it still occurs today, it accounts for only about 10% of diabetes cases overall and can be readily treated with insulin. The vast majority of patients with diabetes are overweight and have a combination of insulin resistance and impaired insulin secretion. While scientific advances have led to effective disease prevention strategies, the pathway to cure diabetes has remained elusive for this now worldwide epidemic. In the latest article in our 200th anniversary review series, Dr. Kenneth Polonsky from the University of Chicago describes the progress in the understanding, diagnosis and management of diabetes during the past 200 years. Read the article now and check out the interactive timeline. On November 1st, look for the final review in our anniversary series from Massachusetts General Hospital’s Dr. Michael Greene, “Two Hundred Years of Progress in the Practice of Midwifery.” VOTE » VOTE FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT NEJM ARTICLE IN HISTORY Since January, we have been voting each month on which articles are the most important in a particular time period. Now it is time for the final run-off of the winners from each era. Which NEJM article do you think has had the most impact in the last 200 years? Was it the beginning of ether anesthesia, the first description of platelets, the beginning of bone marrow transplantation, studies on an attenuated measles vaccine, the first oral ACE inhibitor, the knowledge that aspirin prevents heart attacks, the first treatment of stroke, or understanding how to prevent type II diabetes? It is difficult to imagine practicing medicine or being a patient today without many of these advances. Vote now for the one you think is most important. EXPLORE CLASSIC IMAGES A healthy 25-year-old man presented to the surgical clinic with a hole in the roof of his mouth that allowed nasal regurgitation of food when he ate. The hole had been present for a year, and he requested surgical correction. Explore this and other classic images on the Images Physicians Should Know page on the 200th anniversary site. EXPLORE » ANSWER » TAKE THE HISTORICAL IMAGE CHALLENGE This new device was described in a 1913 NEJM article. What is it? Take the latest Image Challenge and share it with friends and colleagues. Look for previous challenges on the same page. We’ll publish new challenges each week. EXPLORE THE HISTORY OF MEDICAL DISCOVERIES Two articles published in the December 1st, 1977 issue of the NEJM explored the cause and source of Legionnaire’s disease that struck many in the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia in July 1976 during the convention of the American Legion. The reports reveal that the disease was caused by a previously unknown bacterial organism, and that it had been transmitted through the air conditioning system of the hotel. The bacterium was given the name Legionella pneumophila because of its initial recognition in those who became acutely ill during the widely publicized outbreak at the 1976 American Legion convention. The interactive timeline on the NEJM 200th anniversary web site has this milestone and many more added since the beginning of the year. Click through to read the articles as originally written. EXPLORE »                    The New England Journal of Medicine SEND TO A FRIEND VISIT THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY SITE