The association between carotid artery disease and stroke has been recognized for more than a century, but the pathophysiology of ischemic events ipsilateral to carotid plaques remains uncertain. Artery-to-artery embolism is one of several mechanisms causing either transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) or stroke ipsilateral to atherosclerotic plaques. Thrombus at the site of arterial occlusion, ath...

Background—Few studies have quantified the relation between carotid plaques and stroke in asymptomatic patients, and limited data exist on the importance of location of plaques or the association with subtypes of cerebral infarction. We investigated the relationship between carotid plaques, measured at different locations, and risk of stroke and subtypes of cerebral infarction in a population-b...

Volume 90, Number 5 www.aafp.org/afp American Family Physician 319 A 65-year-old woman presented with a three-month history of erythematous skin patches on her trunk and extremities that were slowly increasing in size and number. The patches were pruritic and unresponsive to diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and cetirizine (Zyrtec). The pruritus interfered with her sleep. She did not have recent illne...

Mounting evidence shows that inflammation plays a critical role in causing Alzheimer's disease. Over the last few decades we have gone from a situation where inflammation was generally believed to have no role in the disease to the current picture where chronic activation of IL-1 inflammation has been shown to account for many of the hallmarks of the disease. This review is a personal account o...

Previously published Photo Quizzes are now featured in a mobile app. Get more information at http:// www.aafp.org/afp/apps. A 10-year-old boy presented with a rash on both hands that had been present for at least several weeks. He had not worn any new gloves or other clothing. He had received a new video game at Christmas about five months prior and had played it for at least three to four hour...

Previously published Photo Quizzes are now featured in a mobile app. Get more information at http:// www.aafp.org/afp/apps. A 57-year-old woman presented with a largely asymptomatic rash on her feet that began six months earlier. She had infrequent mild pruritus but no other symptoms related to the rash. She had no systemic symptoms such as fever, chills, myalgias, or arthralgias. The rash did ...

There is a common misperception in the cardiology community that most acute coronary events arise from ruptures of mildly stenotic plaques. This notion has emanated from multiple studies that had measured the degree of angiographic luminal narrowing in culprit plaques months to years before myocardial infarction. However, angiographic studies within 3 months before myocardial infarction, immedi...

Alzheimer's disease is a severe neurodegenerative disorder of the brain, pathologically characterized by extracellular beta-amyloid plaques, intraneuronal Tau inclusions, inflammation, reactive glial cells, vascular pathology and neuronal cell death. The degradation and clearance of beta-amyloid plaques is an interesting therapeutic approach, and the proteases neprilysin (NEP), insulysin and ma...