Doc Blog

Breast cancer patients who receive breast-conserving therapy and radiation do not need a follow-up mammogram until 12 months after radiation, despite current guidelines that recommend follow-up mammograms at between six and 12 months after radiation, according to a November 15 study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society [...]

Writing in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association , UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute researchers urge physicians to test for mutations of the fragile X gene in patients of all ages. That’s because, after decades of research, it is clear that mutations in this gene cause a range of diseases, including neurodevelopmental delays and [...]

Dr. Leonel Fernandez Liriano, Professor of Medicine at Pontifical Catholic University School of Medicine (PCUSM), announced nine month follow up results for the first patient treated with engineered stem cells in a clinical study of primary pulmonary hypertension. The stem cells are extracted from patients’ own blood and trained to become new blood vessels. Zannos [...]

Systematic use of pelvic lymphadenectomy (removal of the lymph nodes) does not improve disease-free or overall survival in women with early-stage endometrial cancer, according to a randomized trial published online November 25 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The first site of metastasis for endometrial cancer is often the pelvic lymph nodes. However, [...]

By manipulating the appearance of a chronically achy hand, researchers have found they could increase or decrease the pain and swelling in patients moving their symptomatic limbs. The findings - reported in the November 25th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication - reveal a profound top-down effect of body image on body tissues, [...]

Researchers in Ohio and France have solved a longstanding scientific mystery involving magnetic resonance — the physical phenomenon that allows MRI instruments in modern hospitals to image tissues deep within the human body. Their discovery, a new mathematical algorithm, should lead to new MRI techniques with more informative and sharper images. As described in an [...]

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. has announced that its subsidiary, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., has signed an agreement with AstraZeneca to settle patent litigation involving Teva’s U.S. generic version of AstraZeneca’s Pulmicort (Budesonide) Respules including all claims for patent infringement and damages. Teva launched its generic budesonide respules in the U.S. on November 18, 2008. The [...]

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have synthetically reconstructed the bat variant of the SARS coronavirus (CoV) that caused the SARS epidemic of 2003. The scientists say designing and synthesizing the virus is a major step forward in their ability to find effective vaccines and treatments [...]

Although teens who engage in risky health behaviors such as smoking and drunk driving are likelier to participate in sexual activity than more cautious peers, interventions aimed at reducing sexual activity appear to be similarly effective in high-risk and low-risk teens, a new study finds. No matter where they fell on the risk spectrum, teens [...]

The overall incidence of cancer and death due to cancer dropped for the first time in men and women in the United States, according to a report published in the November 25 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Each year the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, [...]