Judges Urged to Appoint Their Own Expert Witnesses
April 1st 1998PHILADELPHIA--Science in the courtroom has drawn increasing attention in recent years, and has generated proposals that justice would be better served if judges relied on their own panels of expert witnesses when they try complicated cases. A group of panelists at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) addressed this idea and the overall status of science and litigation.
Smoking Bans May Not Hurt Business in Bars and Restaurants
April 1st 1998NEW YORK--Contrary to the fears of restaurateurs and bar owners, smoking bans may actually be good for business. In a survey from the University of Massachusetts and Boston University, two-thirds of 2,356 adult Massachusetts residents sampled reported that smoking bans in restaurants and bars would not affect their patronage.
Overall US Cancer Incidence Falls for First Time in 18 Years
April 1st 1998WASHINGTON--For the first time since 1973, when the government began tracking cancer rates, epidemiologists have documented a significant drop in overall cancer incidence in the United States. They also found that mortality rates for all cancers combined continued to drop in 1995.
Proposed National Tobacco Deal Is Flawed From Public Health Perspective, New Report Concludes
April 1st 1998The establishment through legislation of a national tobacco control policy based on a widely publicized negotiated deal between the tobacco industry and some state attorneys-general would be less effective than no federal legislation at all in promoting public heath and reducing smoking, concludes a new analysis.
An Oncologist’s Postmortem of An IPA That Failed to Flourish
April 1st 1998ORLANDO--A group of San Diego County oncologists, spurred by the rapid advancement of managed care in California, felt they were taking the right step in forming an independent practice association (IPA) known as the Cancer Care Specialist Medical Group (CCSMG). But the group failed to survive. Joel Lamon, MD, a founding member, conducted a postmortem of this IPA at ASCO’s fall educational meeting.
The Ventura County Cancer Network--An IPA Case Study
April 1st 1998ORLANDO--When Alice goes through the looking glass in Lewis Carroll’s classic, she finds her once familiar world turned upside down and inside out. This is how Rosemary McIntyre, MD, described her feelings during the formation of the Ventura County Cancer Network.
New Carcinogen Review Includes Alcohol and Second-Hand Smoke
April 1st 1998RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--Alcoholic beverages and environmental tobacco smoke top a list of eight things the National Toxicology Program recently announced it would review for listing in the federal government’s Ninth Report on Carcinogens, which will go to Congress in 1999.
Toward Development of Guidelines for Managing Fatigue
April 1st 1998FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla--It is difficult to develop guidelines for managing fatigue in cancer patients because of what David Cella, PhD, termed a "shameful lack of research in this area." At its third annual conference, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a coalition of 16 leading US cancer centers, invited Dr. Cella to offer suggestions on how such guidelines might be formulated.
Roles of Advanced Practice Nurses in Oncology
April 1st 1998There is no doubt that managed care is changing health care and the practice environment of all health-care providers. As Baird states, “The economics of health care will probably exert a greater influence on the future practice of nursing than any other single factor.”[1]
Management of Pain in Special Populations of Cancer Patients
Children, the elderly, AIDS patients, and former narcotic drug abusers pose special problems in pain management that may lead to undermedication even more frequently than occurs in the general population of cancer patients with pain. A multidisciplinary panel of six pain experts with clinical experience in caring for these special groups met in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to discuss assessment methods and pharmacologic approaches to the treatment of pain in these patients. A summary of the roundtable discussion follows.
Roles of Advanced Practice Nurses in Oncology
April 1st 1998The article by McDermott Blackburn describes advanced practice in oncology nursing in the managed-care environment. The strength of this article is its detailed description of the traditional roles of the clinical nurse specialist and the nurse practitioner. The author identifies the controversial trend to merge these two distinct advanced practice roles in oncology nursing, and highlights another significant trend-the evolving role of case management in comprehensive cancer care.
ER Physicians Need Current Source for Cancer Information
April 1st 1998I am an emergency medicine physician who practices in a small town. We have one oncologist on our hospital staff. When oncology patients have problems outside of the oncologist’s office hours, they are routinely told to "go to the ER."
ACS Takes Aim at Proposed Federal Tobacco Bills
March 1st 1998PARIS--The international cancer community appears to be taking an interest in the ongoing US state and federal efforts at tobacco control. Jennie Cook, national chairman of the board of the American Cancer Society, was invited to speak on that subject at the Eighth International Congress on Anti-Cancer Treatment (ICACT).
Loan Defaults Disqualify 1,402
March 1st 1998WASHINGTON--The Department of Health and Human Services has disqualified 1,402 health-care professionals from payments by the Medicare and Medicaid programs for failure to repay money borrowed under the Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL) program. The total included 149 allopathic and 28 osteopathic physicians.
Proposed Budget Spells ‘Good News’ for NCI
March 1st 1998WASHINGTON--President Clinton has asked Congress to appropriate nearly $2.8 billion for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for fiscal year 1999, and the Administration wants to increase funding for cancer research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by 65% over the next 5 fiscal years.
Proposed Budget Has Extra Funds for FDA Teen Smoking Effort
March 1st 1998WASHINGTON--In his budget proposal, President Clinton has asked Congress to appropriate an additional $100 million for the FDA’s youth-tobacco prevention program. If approved, the increase would provide the program $134 million in fiscal year 1999.
CRFA Awards 16 New Grants and Fellowships
March 1st 1998ALEXANDRIA, Va--The Cancer Research Foundation of America (CRFA), a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to cancer prevention through scientific research and education, has awarded 16 new grants and fellowships totaling $528,605 for cancer prevention research. The money went to 14 institutions, most of it for 10 laboratory-based studies.
SGO Clinical Practice Guidelines: Introductory Remarks
March 1st 1998Clinical practice guidelines for gynecologic oncology were developed under the direction of the Medical Practice and Ethics Committee of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (SGO) in concert with national trends in medical care in the United States. The members of this committee are listed in Table 1, along with other individuals who contributed to the development of the guidelines. The guidelines, which were distributed in booklet form to the SGO membership in 1996, are being reprinted in this and successive issues of ONCOLOGY for distribution to the oncology community at large.
Scientists Define New Role for Cell Signaling Pathway
March 1st 1998Scientists at Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Southern California (USC) have found a new fork in a much-studied genetic pathway, and their work may lead to new cancer therapies, according to the center’s director.
‘Staging’ of the Managed Care Market Is Crucial
March 1st 1998ORLANDO--Just as oncologists base treatment decisions on disease stage, they may base business decisions on the stage of the managed care market in their area, said Paula Filler, vice president of the Sachs Group, Maplewood, NJ, in her presentation at an education meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Coalition Formed to Further Clinical Cancer Research
March 1st 1998The chairpersons of six National Cancer Institute (NCI)-sponsored cooperative groups have announced the formation of a new entity called the Coalition of National Cancer Cooperative Groups, Inc. The coalition was formed to establish a common platform upon which the cooperative groups can operate, while remaining complementary to the work already being performed within the existing NCI structure.
New Genetic Defect Signals Need for Aggressive Leukemia Treatment
March 1st 1998Researchers looking at a group of leukemia patients have found that a genetic defect that they discovered 2 years ago serves as an early warning signal, calling for a more aggressive approach to treatment in these patients.
NCI, EPA Attempt to Resolve Differences Over Childhood Cancer
March 1st 1998BETHESDA, Md--Officials of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are attempting to resolve their conflicting interpretations of data regarding cancer in children. The NCI has forcefully challenged the EPA’s contention that the United States is in the midst of an epidemic of childhood malignancies.
Immediate Reconstruction Safe After Previous Irradiation
March 1st 1998SAN ANTONIO--Women who have locoregional cancer recurrence after breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy can safely undergo immediate breast construction and use of a TRAM flap after mastectomy for the recurrent disease. However, the breast reconstruction procedure should include use of a free flap, which has a lower risk of necrosis and flap loss than pedicle flaps, Bonnie Baldwin, MD, said at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
AIDS Mortality Drops Dramatically in New York City: 1997 Data
March 1st 1998CHICAGO--The drop in AIDS mortality in 1997 in New York City, one of the epicenters of the epidemic in the United States, more than matched the overall US decline in deaths due to AIDS recorded in the first half of last year (48% vs 44%).
Experts Moving Toward Consensus on Providing Access to Clinical Trials
March 1st 1998FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla--Opinions from a diverse panel of experts, expressed at a special session of the NCCN (National Comprehensive Cancer Network) third annual conference, reflect a nation heading toward convergence on the issue of providing broad access to peer-reviewed clinical trials.
‘The March’ Aims to Wake Up Patients
March 1st 1998SILVER SPRING, Md--On September 26, 1998, an event known to its organizers as simply "The March" will take place across the nation. Conceived by Ellen L. Stovall, executive director of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, "The March: Coming Together to Conquer Cancer" is not a march in the traditional sense, but will encompass many different events in many cities.