NEWS & ANALYSIS Oncologists hit by sequester budget cuts to the cost of purchasing and administering cancer drugs are hoping that the potentially devastating impact on Medicare cancer patients will force a quick legislative fix in Congress.
PRACTICE & POLICY S. Yousuf Zafar, Amy P. Abernethy;ONCOLOGY Vol. 27 No. 4 Just as high-quality research has focused on limiting the physical toxicity resulting from successful treatment, future research should focus on mitigating the negative effects of financial toxicity without affecting disease-related outcomes.
ANNOUNCEMENT Janet Colwell New guidelines make recommendations on how physicians should conduct themselves online, examining the effect of Facebook and Twitter on patient-physician relationships.
REVIEW ARTICLE Nathan I. Cherny;ONCOLOGY Vol. 26 No. 1 This article addresses some of the most common major challenges in oncologist-patient communication.
REVIEW ARTICLE Erin R. Alesi, Devon Fletcher, Cameron Muir, et al;ONCOLOGY Vol. 25 No. 13 This article addresses the practical application of palliative care (PC) in the outpatient oncology setting.
Social media may play a role in helping children overcome obesity. Health care professionals are encouraged to use new recommendations as a tool for promoting healthy behavioral change. More »
Social media is not a fad. It allows physicians to “get out of the office” in real time, to learn about patients’ concerns, and to connect with others. More »
ObGyns are among the least likely physicians to accept new Medicare patients, and more physicians will likely begin refusing Medicare patients if the 27% cut in Medicare reimbursement goes through in 2013. What will you do? More »
CHICAGO — CT colonography’s path to reimbursement has been a complicated process, standing as a reminder for radiologists to get involved in political advocacy. More »
Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are increasingly turning to social media to help build, manage, market, and diversify their practices. But how to use social media still maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality? Details here. More »
Starting in April, CMS will require POS codes for outpatient services to match the POS for the technical component of the service, including for imaging. More »
James Rawson, MD, discusses health care reform, appropriate imaging utilization, changes in practice structure, and the upcoming presidential election. More »
Having even a basic idea of the potential--as well as of the perils--of social media is therefore not only important to good practice, but it may be essential to good practice. More »
It's tax season and with the IRS notifying more physicians of tax audits, there are some steps you can take today to avoid being included in this group.
Continuing our 12-month medical practice makeover series, today we examine essential liability coverage required by all medical practices beyond just medical malpractice liability insurance coverage.
A genome-wide association study (GWAS) for circulating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) biomarkers could identify genetic determinants of biomarker levels and COPD susceptibility.|To identify genetic variants of circulating protein biomarkers and novel genetic determinants of COPD.|GWAS was performed for two pneumoproteins, Clara cell secretory protein (CC16) and surfactant protein D (SP-D), and five systemic inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor-) in 1,951 subjects with COPD. For genome-wide significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (P < 1 10(-8)), association with COPD susceptibility was tested in 2,939 cases with COPD and 1,380 smoking control subjects. The association of candidate SNPs with mRNA expression in induced sputum was also elucidated.|Genome-wide significant susceptibility loci affecting biomarker levels were found only for the two pneumoproteins. Two discrete loci affecting CC16, one region
Our previous report showed that platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and related genes were upregulated in a Syrian hamster model and could be detected in all human cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) tissues. We therefore hoped that PDGF could be used as a diagnostic and prognostic marker. We analyzed 78 samples of human CCA and adjacent tissues for PDGF and related gene expression, and localized PDGF protein expression. The mechanism of anti-cancer drugs on PDGF and related genes or proteins in CCA cell lines (OCA17, M156, and KKU100) was studied through MTT cell viability assay, quantitative real-time PCR, and immunoblotting. Mutagenesis of the PDGFRA coding region was analyzed. Moreover, the PDGFRA in sera of CCA patients and healthy controls was investigated. PDGFA was found to be upregulated in CCA tissue (84.6 %). Positive PDGFA immunohistochemical staining was significantly correlated with status (P = 0.000), stage of CCA (P = 0.013), metastasis (P = 0.017), and short survival rate (P =
Marie Unna Hereditary Hypotrichosis 1 (MUHH1; OMIM 146550), a rare monogenic condition characterized by the development of sparse, twisted hair or complete hair loss, is the consequence of mutations located in the hairless (HR) gene. We have identified a 68-year-old Hungarian woman affected by alopecia universalis and limb deformities of all four extremities. Direct sequencing of the coding regions of the HR gene revealed a novel missense mutation in the third exon of the HR gene (c.974G/A, p.Gly325Asp). The affected family member carried the mutation in a heterozygous form, while the only available, clinically unaffected family member (the son of the patient) and the unrelated controls carried the wild type sequence. The association between the presence of HR gene mutations and the development of alopecia is well-established, however, further studies are needed to elucidate the putative role of this novel HR mutation in the development of limb deformities.
It remains uncertain if differences in mortality risk exist among the sulfonylureas, especially in patients with documented coronary artery disease (CAD). The purpose of this study was to assess the overall mortality risk of the individual sulfonylureas versus metformin in a large cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes.|A retrospective cohort study was conducted using an academic health centre enterprise-wide electronic health record (EHR) system to identify 23 915 patients with type 2 diabetes who initiated monotherapy with metformin (N = 12774), glipizide (N = 4325), glyburide (N = 4279) or glimepiride (N = 2537), 18 years of age, with and without a history of CAD, and not on insulin or a non-insulin injectable at baseline. The patients were followed for mortality by documentation in the EHR and Social Security Death Index. Multivariable Cox models with propensity analysis were used to compare cohorts.|An increase in overall mortality risk was observed in the entire cohort with
Mountain sickness (MS) occurs among humans visiting or inhabiting high altitude environments. We conducted genetic analyses of the AKT3, ANGPTL4, eNOS3 and VEGFA genes in lowland (Han) and highland (Tibetan) Chinese. Ten single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were evaluated in Han and Tibetan patients with acute (A) and chronic (C) MS. We compared 74 patients with AMS to 79 Han unaffected with MS, as well as 48 CMS patients to 31 unaffected Tibetans. The ten SNPs studied are AKT3 (rs4590656, rs2291409), ANGPTL4 (rs1044250), eNOS3 (rs1007311, rs1799983) and VEGFA (rs79469752, rs13207351, rs28357093, rs1570360, rs3025039). Direct sequencing was used to identify individual genotypes for these SNPs. Hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), and red blood cell count (RBC) were found to be significantly associated with the AKT3 SNP (rs4590656), Hb was found to be associated with the eNOS3 SNP (rs1007311), and RBC was found to be significantly associated with the VEGFA SNP (rs1570360) in Tibetan
0. Search. Clinical Crossroads| Conferences With Patients and Doctors| March 20, 2013 Clinician's Corner. Computed Tomography Screening for Lung Cancer FREE. Phillip M. Boiselle, MD. Author Affiliations: Dr Boiselle is Professor of Radiology and
Screening for type 2 diabetes and population mortality over 10 years Authors' reply. By - Simon J Griffin, Rebecca K Simmons, Stephen J Sharp, on behalf of the ADDITION-Cambridge study team
Traditional fee-for-service medicine, in which oncologyreimbursement relies disproportionately on profits from expensive chemotherapy drugs, will give way to a variety of alternative payment mechanisms that Medicare and insurance ... protocols. If you
Severe obesity (SO) is increasing faster than obesity in adults and in children. Because it is associated with numerous comorbidities, SO accounts for more health care expenditures than any other medical condition. Furthermore, it is associated with poor pregnancy outcomes for mother, fetus, and infant and a high risk of offspring obesity carried into adulthood. Bariatric surgery is the treatment of choice for SO because nonoperative methods fail to provide medically significant durable weight loss and be
