Suffering from chronic pain or illness—or, as is often the case, both—can feel like a full-time job. One reason for this is that we must constantly assess and evaluate if we’re managing our health and our relationships as skillfully as possible. This ongoing decision making makes up a major part of the workload in this full-time job—a position we certainly never applied ...
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1. Docs Brace for $11 Billion Hit from Sequester. Medicare providers stand to absorb $11 billion of the $85 billion in federal spending cuts that start Friday and last for the rest of the fiscal year unless Congress takes 11th-hour action.
2. Weight-Loss Surgery Results No Better at 'Best' Hospitals. For Medicare patients, having ...
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I knew he was sick when he told me he'd thrown out his cigarettes on account of how badly he felt.
Mr. P had gotten used to the breathlessness when he climbed stairs and the hacking, dry cough that followed him everywhere. What else could he expect after smoking three packs a day since he was six years old? But he had shown ...
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One of the toughest situations in oncology is the discussion about next steps, particularly when it comes to treatment of recurrent or metastatic disease. I believe very much that it is realistic to offer a patient the hope of cancer as a “chronic disease,” that treatment can result in disease stability, even though I cannot predict how chronic “chronic” is.
I was ...
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Disclosure. I am a pathologist, and I work at the interface of molecular oncology and information technology.
Approximately 600,000 American cancer patients emerge uncured from standard of care treatment by medicine, surgery, and radiation each year. That is 1,600 every day. What then?
Enlightened palliation on the way to hospice care does make sense for many. But now there are additional options based upon emerging science.
Molecular testing of the actual ...
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1. HIV Linked to Sudden Loss of Hearing. Having HIV appears to increase the risk of sudden sensorineural hearing loss, at least among younger patients.
2. Residency Rules: Shift Limits Dissed. Program directors who manage interns and residents approve of most of the workload requirements implemented 18 months ago, except for duty-hour restrictions.
3.
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Yesterday I saw a 90-year old woman in consultation. She presented to the emergency room in September with abdominal pain, and in the process of working her up, a chest x-ray was taken which showed an infiltrate in her lingula, part of the left lower lobe of her lung.
As it turned out, there was nothing wrong with her belly, but a follow up CT scan of her chest showed this ...
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1. Sandy's Impact on Clinical Trials Still Being Felt. When Hurricane Sandy shut down a number of its hospitals, New York University researchers worked overtime to keep clinical trials going, but enrollment in new trials is down, according to investigators.
2. Diabetes: Control Better, But Still Short of Goal. More patients with diabetes are meeting targets than ...
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“Look at all those beautiful little white flowers,” I said to my wife. “I don’t remember seeing them there before.”
In the neglected ten-by-thirty foot corner of our garden, a crop of white flowers began to emerge toward the end of the summer.
“You never saw them because they are weeds,” my wife said.
“What do you mean … weeds?” I asked. “They are beautiful!”
“Weeds ...
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1. PSA: One Question, Many Answers. The importance of PSA testing to men varied according to the strategy used to identify factors that might influence the decision-making process.
2. Price Shopping Hit or Miss for Hip Surgery. Most hospitals asked to provide a complete bundled price for a total hip replacement were unable to do so, although ...
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