Cigarette smoking-a crucial modifiable risk factor for organ system diseases and cancer-remains prevalent in the United States and globally. In this literature review, we aim to summarize the epidemiology of cigarette smoking and tobacco use in the United States, pharmacology of nicotine-the active constituent of tobacco, and health consequence of cigarette smoking. This article also reviews be...

“There is no disease more conducive to clinical humility than aneurysm of the aorta.” These words of Sir William Osler still resonate today, when many patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms die before reaching the hospital and the mortality rate among those who reach the hospital can exceed 50 percent. The prevention of rupture through early detection and elective repair remains the ...

Heart failure (HF) is a pathophysiological condition with an inability of the heart to fill or eject blood sufficient to meet metabolic demands. The etiology of HF appears evenly distributed between systolic and diastolic dysfunction and currently is the only cardiac condition with an increasing mortality rate. As the elderly population grows, so will the frequency of HF patients presenting to ...

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder that results from defects in both insulin secretion and insulin action. An elevated rate of basal hepatic glucose production in the presence of hyperinsulinemia is the primary cause of fasting hyperglycemia; after a meal, impaired suppression of hepatic glucose production by insulin and decreased insulin-mediated glucose uptake by muscle ...