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ORLANDO-Payers have an obligation to provide the best possible oncology care, and the obligation is fulfilled "as a direct result of having a managed network," said Christine Ngo, capitation network manager for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida/Health Options, Inc., Jacksonville. Further, she said, "the most successful way we have found to develop a managed network is through capitation."

BETHESDA, Md-The National Cancer Institute is urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to replace its current cigarette testing protocol with one that provides the full range of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yields in individual cigarette brands.

NEW ORLEANS--The number of presentations and overflowing symposia devoted to antifungal resistance were testament to the concerns of physicians attending the 36th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC).

ROCHESTER, Minn-Use of transdermal fentanyl (Duragesic) in ambulatory cancer pain patients appears to be safe and effective, Julie E. Hammack, MD, and her colleagues from four North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) institutions report.

HOUSTON-A new automated computerized system for analyzing the microvessel density of prostate tumors may help physicians more accurately stage the cancer before surgery, and thus assist physicians and patients in making treatment decisions, say Brian J. Miles, MD, of Baylor College of Medicine, and his colleagues at the Mayo Clinic, Washington University, Laval University, Quebec, University of Colorado, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

NEW ORLEANS--Ganciclovir (Cytovene) protects allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients in the early postoperative period, but late infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV) continues to cause serious problems, Helen C. Maltezou, MD, reported at the 36th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC).

ROCKVILLE, Md-The FDA has postponed a meeting of its Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee that was to consider Rescriptor (delavirdine), a Pharmacia and Upjohn Co. drug for use in treating HIV infection. The agency said the postponement will allow time to incorporate results of additional study information that recently became available. The FDA said it will reschedule the meeting, but announced no date.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have found that the very population most likely to be affected by legalizing physician-assisted suicide is the group that favors it the least.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va-A new organization, the National Patient Advocate Foundation (NPAF), has been created to support bills favoring patient access to insurance funding and encourage legislation on issues that threaten cancer patients' coverage for evolving therapies, therapeutic devices, or agents prescribed by their treating physicians.

NEW ORLEANS--Monitoring programs in which hospital pharmacists double-check physicians' orders for antibiotics are proving effective in averting potential problems of safety or efficacy, researchers reported at the 36th Inter-science Conference on Antimicrobials and Chemotherapy (ICAAC).

BETHESDA, Md-The Visible Human Project has become a virtual reality beyond the expectations of many. Already, researchers are experimenting with the computerized anatomies of a man and woman, seeking ways to use them to the benefit of medical education, diagnostics, and surgery.

ORLANDO-"Even with 1.2 million new cancer cases diagnosed each year, 4.5 million cancer patients, and cancer the costliest disease, there are still more oncologists out there than we need," said Harold Wodinsky, vice president of managed care and network development for EquiMed, Inc., a national multispecialty physician practice management firm.

A typical glandular cells detected on cervical Pap smears indicate significant cervical pathology in 17% of cases and require an immediate work-up and biopsy, according to research reported in the October issue of Gynecologic Oncology, the scientific publication of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (SGO).

NEW ORLEANS-Beware the juxtaposition of BCG (Bacillus Calmette and Guérin) and other chemotherapeutic agents. Four patients in the same oncology outpatient clinic in Barcelona, Spain, developed disseminated BCG infection around the same time, apparently due to BCG-contaminated intravenous catheters, Dr. Javier Garau reported at the 36th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC).

NEW ORLEANS-High doses of liposomal amphotericin B are no more effective than low doses in the treatment of invasive aspergillosis in neutropenic patients, European researchers reported at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

TARRYTOWN, NY--An essential step in the life cycle of HIV is entry into the cell, allowing delivery of the viral genetic information to the target cell cytoplasm. Attachment and fusion are the critical events that make this possible.

Researchers report that depleting bone marrow of contaminating malignant cells with anticancer drugs prior to transplantation (purging) may increase long-term survival in certain leukemia patients. This was the conclusion of a comparative study of purged vs nonpurged marrow in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

ORLANDO--More physicians are electing to form specialty networks to contract with health care payers, and professional marketing of these alliances to health plans is critical to their economic survival, said Howard Fagin, PhD, of Physician's Health Corporation, an Atlanta-based company that helps physicians organize single and multispecialty networks.

NEW YORK--A recent Gallup opinion poll shows that Americans are split on the issue of legalizing physician-assisted suicide, but strongly favor hospice care. In the survey of 1,007 respondents, age 18 and over, 70% said they would seek hospice care for themselves if they were terminally ill. Half of the respondents said they favored legalizing physician-assisted suicide, but only 35% said they would choose it for themselves if they became terminally ill.

A cancer vaccine developed by Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers is showing promise in mice for treating brain tumors that had been thought "off limits" for the immune system.

BETHESDA, Md-With the aim of increasing oral cancer survival rates, the National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR) and the National Cancer Institute will jointly fund four research centers to investigate the causes of oral cancers and to develop improved treatments.

A provocative array of observations from both laboratory and clinical investigations indicates that alterations in folate status modulate the process of neoplastic transformation in selected epithelial tissues. Diminished folate

BUFFALO, NY--While most long-term survivors of childhood cancer suffer few psychological scars, up to 30% of fathers and 40% of mothers may exhibit moderate to severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTS)--a disorder commonly associated with war veterans and victims of violent crime.

SAN ANTONIO--A number of Hispanic notables, including Olympic gold medalist Pablo Morales and actors Maria Conchita Alonso and Jesse Borrego, have recorded public service announcements aimed at Hispanics encouraging cancer screening, good nutrition, exercise, not smoking, and sun protection.

ORLANDO-Community oncologists have a number of options in attempting to maximize their position in the managed care environment, said Myron H. Goldsmith, MD, executive director of development for the City of Hope Oncology Network, Los Angeles.

Sphincter-preserving operations represent an important model for integrating the goals of surgery for rectal cancers. These goals--the achievement of cure and local control and the preservation of autonomic visceral

The premise of Steen's book is that nearly everyone is confused about cancer prevention. The public, for whom the book is written, is the most confused, but cannot be faulted. According to Steen, the responsibility for their confusion lies with scientists and the press. Scientists make mistakes by reporting preliminary data from inadequate and mostly "workmanlike, undistinguished" (page 3) studies. The press, in turn, repeats these mistakes, adds some of its own, and so oversimplifies a complex topic that the public, in the end, receives "unconnected facts, partial truths, and outright lies" (page 3).

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Roxane Laboratories has announced that Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will implement the Roxane HIV-Pain Scholars program to train physicians, nurses, and pharmacists to treat and manage HIV-related peripheral nerve pain.

TAMPA, Fla--The average brain tumor patient survives just 1 year after diagnosis, so long-term survival, defined as living at least 100% longer than the median survival of historical controls, is especially remarkable. Previous studies have shown that only 7% to 10% of brain cancer patients survive long-term.

VANCOUVER, BC--AIDS test results are not always what they seem, and current vaccine research may be headed in the wrong direction, Luc Montagnier, MD, said at the 11th International Conference on AIDS. Dr. Montagnier, of the Institut Pasteur, is a co-discoverer of HIV-1, the AIDS virus.