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February 16, 2007
By Stephen Smith, Globe staff
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino today appointed a specialist in women's medical issues and healthcare disparities to the city's health board.
Dr. Paula A. Johnson, chief of the women's health division at Brigham and Women's Hospital, will replace Dr. JudyAnn Bigby on the board of the Boston Public Health Commission. Bigby, who also was a top physician at the Brigham, is the new health secretary in the administration of Governor Deval Patrick.
Dr. Paula A. Johnson
The commission board approves major public health initiatives in the city, voting in the past, for example, to ban smoking in restaurants and bars. Boston has the nation's oldest public health agency.
Johnson is a participant in Menino's ongoing Disparities Project, which aims to bridge persistent gaps in health status that exist between racial and ethnic groups in the city. Menino has said that healthcare disparities are the city's most pressing medical issue.
Posted by Gideon Gil at 05:54 PM
February 16, 2007
By Scott Allen, Globe Staff
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has successfully lured one of the most promising young cancer geneticists away from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, making Dr. Pier Paolo Pandolfi the director of its newly created cancer genetics program.
Dr. Pier Paolo Pandolfi
The Italian-born Pandolfi, 43, already has won a slew of awards for his research into the molecular and genetic causes of leukemia, lymphoma and other cancers. His work has led to new treatments for a form of blood cancer, acute promyelocytic leukemia.
As both a professor at Cornell University's Weill Medical College and a researcher at the world's largest cancer center, Pandolfi was positioned for a long run in New York. But Beth Israel Deaconess, eager to play a bigger role in the most dynamic area of cancer research, attracted Pandolfi to Boston with the promise of a new program where he will attempt to develop individualized treatments for cancer patients. Pandolfi also will become a professor at Harvard Medical School, for which Beth Israel Deaconess is a major teaching hospital.
In an interview, Pandolfi said he was attracted by the idea of working in Boston's storied Longwood Medical Area, adding that he dreamed of becoming a Harvard professor when he was a boy growing up in Rome. "I have a very good job. Sloan-Kettering is a top institution, but I'm sure we can do as well or better here," he said.
Senior Beth Israel Deaconess officials were full of praise for their new rising star, and one official couldn't resist a little Boston-bests-New York ribbing. "Now they can keep Johnny Damon," he joked.
Posted by Gideon Gil at 02:57 PM
February 16, 2007
James L. Sherley, an African-American MIT professor who was denied tenure, ended his 12-day hunger strike at noon today, but he told the MIT administration his demands for tenure and action to address perceived racism on campus are still on the table.
"Starting today, I will in fact break my fast, in celebration of the attention that has been brought to bear on issues of equity, diversity, and justice at MIT and in higher education," he wrote in a statement posted on the university's website.
"Carefully modified from the original, my demands are still on the table. I urge the administration to act in good faith, to openly acknowledge and respond to the lines of communication and negotiation that have been in place for two weeks and to find its way to meet these demands," Sherley's statement said.
MIT "will continue to work toward resolution of our differences with Professor Sherley," according to a statement posted with Sherley's on MIT's website.
"Professor Sherley's protest has focused attention on the effects that race may play in the hiring, advancement and experience of under-represented minority faculty, and on ensuring that our grievance processes are comprehensive, fair and timely. MIT is fully committed to addressing these issues and will continue to work toward resolution of our differences with Professor Sherley," the MIT statement said.
MIT has said that it has reviewed its decision to deny tenure to Sherley, a stem cell scientist, and that the decision is final.
"We will continue to talk out our differences," said Patti Richards, an MIT spokesperson.
Sherley began his protest Feb. 5 outside the offices of MIT President Susan Hockfield and Provost Rafael Reif, and said in an e-mail yesterday that he had lost 20 pounds.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 01:28 PM
February 16, 2007
Former MIT president Paul E. Gray took issue with James E. Sherley's characterization of Gray's overtures on Wednesday, and an editorial today in the student newspaper, The Tech, said Sherley's claims of racism lack evidence.
Sherley, an African-American stem cell scientist, says he has lost 20 pounds while on a hunger strike since Feb. 5, when he demanded MIT reverse its denial of tenure and take actions to address what he calls a racist environment. In an e-mail yesterday, Sherley alleged that Gray was sent by the MIT administration to "bully" him.
Thursday's e-mail from Gray, an electrical engineering professor, said he visited Sherley to express his personal views of his tenure case and protest.
"I was not 'sent' by the administration. I am not an errand boy. Your messages are rich with claims of lies by members of the administration. You would do well to ascertain the facts before spreading your own lie about me."
The editorial in the student newspaper said evidence of racism in Sherley's case is lacking.
"If his allegations of conflicts of interest, personal vendettas, and misleading public statements are indeed true, they would certainly constitute a breakdown in the tenure process, and would warrant some form of action to safeguard against future problems. However, even if one were to accept every single one of Mr. Sherley's allegations at face value, there would still be no evidence of racism," the editorial says.
"In lieu of any substantive evidence, why would Mr. Sherley, and why should we, automatically assume that racism is the most likely cause for the denial of his tenure? It may well be the case that an offense has been committed against Mr. Sherley in the denial of his tenure. But an offense committed against an individual who happens to be a minority race is different from an offense committed against an individual because they happen to be in a minority race — both may be unethical, but the latter is racism while the former is not."
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 12:05 PM
February 16, 2007
Baystate Medical Center in Springfield has asked the state for approval to build a $259 million wing.
The project would expand the hospital's number of beds to 775 from 653, and provide more room for intensive care services and cardiac and vascular procedures when it's completed in 2011.
CEO Trish Hannon said the hospital is "stretched to its limits in our current environment," with an overcrowded Emergency Department, a shortage of beds that limits the hospital’s ability to carry out its mission, and a lack of procedure and recovery space that delays patient care.
The project would generate more than 200 construction jobs and 550 clinical positions, hospital executives said.
Posted by Gideon Gil at 11:55 AM
February 16, 2007
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CEO Paul Levy says better infection control practices likely saved one life at his hospital in January, and on his blog today he challenged other hospitals and health insurers to share their numbers too.
Levy posted his hospital's monthly rate of central line infections going back to October 2005, a theme first visited in December. A central line is the opening through which a tube delivers medications directly into a patient's bloodstream. An infection can travel this route quickly, causing organ failure.
He urged others to go public with their rates, and the state to make public rates too, arguing that disclosure leads to better results.
"If I can post these rates for BIDMC, why can't people from other hospitals? Cleve, Charlie, and Jim: Why can't the insurance companies (Blue Cross, Harvard Pilgrim, and Tufts) post them? Governor Patrick and Secretary Bigby: Why can't the state of Massachusetts?"
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 09:02 AM
February 16, 2007
A specialist testified that former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis would not have neurological damage to his legs if doctors had performed a second operation more quickly than they did after his initial gastric bypass procedure in June 2002. Defense attorney William J. Dailey Jr. questioned the witness's credibility, saying he had not seen X-rays of Weis until yesterday morning. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is scheduled to testify on Weis's behalf today.
West Virginia and Kentucky have the nation's highest levels of heart disease, according to a first-of-its-kind study released by US health officials yesterday.
Tests on nearly 75,000 wild ducks, gulls, and other birds have turned up no sign of dangerous H5N1 avian influenza in the United States, a federal agency said yesterday.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 06:29 AM
February 15, 2007
We got a few comments on the ongoing James Sherley case. The African-American stem cell scientist has vowed not to eat until he is granted tenure and MIT deals with what he calls a racist environment.
One reader wonders why Sherley didn't raise his racism concerns before he was denied tenure, if, as Sherley says, this isn't about him alone.
"Why is it that Prof. Sherley took on this mantle only after he was denied tenure? The abuses that he alleges certainly must have been worthy of his efforts prior to his denial but somehow it wasn't important enough for him to 'starve' himself until it allegedly affected him," the e-mail said.
A minority professor e-mailed to say his complaint about lab space in 2005 still hasn't been addressed by the MIT administration.
"Like Professor Sherley’s case, this protracted unfair treatment with regard to my space needs has caused irreparable damages to my career and the careers of all students and staff in my lab," the professor wrote.
Other thoughts?
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 06:09 PM
February 15, 2007
Registered nurse Louise Yvette Charles of Cambridge Health Alliance has won the 2007 Excellence in Nursing Award from the New England Regional Black Nurses Association Inc.
Louise Yvette Charles
Charles, a native of Haiti, graduated from nursing school in Port-au-Prince in 1977, immigrated to the United States in 1989, and earned her bachelor of science degree at Emmanuel College in 2004. She joined CHA in 1997 at the Zinberg Clinic, a multidisciplinary AIDS center at the Cambridge Hospital campus. Charles is currently a public health nurse with the Cambridge Public Health Department.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 03:12 PM
February 15, 2007
Dr. Gary S. Moak, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, next month will become president of the 2,000-member American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, the organization said.
Dr. Gary S. Moak
He is director of the Moak Center for Healthy Aging, a geriatric psychiatry group practice in Westborough.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 02:54 PM
February 15, 2007
The nation's first salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter has stricken almost 300 people since August in 39 states, including Massachusetts.
In Massachusetts, five cases of salmonella linked to peanut butter have been reported across the state from mid-November through mid-January, state Department of Public Health spokeswoman Donna Rheaume said today. There have been no deaths or serious illnesses, and all the people who got sick are expected to recover, she said.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating how salmonella got into peanut butter made by ConAgra Foods Inc. at a Georgia factory. The company has told consumers to discard or return jars of Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter with a product code beginning 2111.
Symptoms of salmonella include diarrhea, fever, dehydration, abdominal pain, and vomiting. Cases linked to peanut butter have also been reported in Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont.
Posted by Gideon Gil at 12:47 PM
February 15, 2007
MIT professor James L. Sherley, says he has now lost 20 pounds since his hunger strike began Feb. 5, and he is calling for a boycott of MIT's breakfast tomorrow honoring Martin Luther King Jr. He urges the community in an e-mail to attend "A Forum to End Racism" instead.
Sherley, an African-American stem-cell scientist, is protesting his denial of tenure in the biological engineering department. He alleges racism in the tenure process and has been making his case in campus-wide e-mails and in front of the offices of MIT President Susan Hockfield and Provost Rafael Reif.
Today's e-mail says discussions with the administration are at a stalemate and mentions moves by faculty to find tenure for him in another department at MIT. But that would not be enough, Sherley writes.
"I have not lost 20 lbs to starvation just for tenure at MIT," he says. "I will not eat again until MIT's upper administration either admits that racism and obstruction of justice was a problem in my case and others, or works with my advocates to develop a fair and open process to decide the issue."
A spokesperson for MIT said today, "We continue to try to reach out to him and have a dialogue and keep the channels of communication open."
Read Sherley's latest e-mail below:
OPEN LETTER TO THE MIT COMMUNITY: BOYCOTT THE HYPOCRISY OF THE MIT MLK BREAKFAST CELEBRATION. ATTEND A FORUM TO END UNFAIR DISCRIMINATION AT MIT- TOMORROW FRIDAY FEB. 16 IN 32-124
Dear Colleagues, Faculty, Students, and Friends:
After conducting a protest against unfair discrimination in the treatment and tenure process for minorities at MIT since December 20, 2007, including an ongoing 11-day hunger strike on my part, I am sad to say that Provost Reif and President Susan Hockfield have demonstrated a lack of moral character on this issue. Instead of working with my advocates to develop a fair and open hearing of the charges against MIT's upper administration and members of the faculty in Biological Engineering (BE), they have spent there time hiding behind the veil of confidentiality and propagating lies about the events that precipitated this protest. Chancellor Phil Clay has been selected to be the face of MIT when giving these lies to the media, even though his responsibilities are not for faculty affairs, and he has had no previous involvement in the events or proceedings that are the basis for the charges.
The administration has even gone so far as to send ex-president and lifetime MIT Corporation member Prof. Paul Gray to the protest site in the hallway outside of 3-208 in an attempt to bully me and other protestors. However, he only came armed with the same lies that the provost and the president are spreading among the faculty and department heads. For audio evidence of Prof. Grays' visit to the protest yesterday go to: http://pgen.us/Sherley.html
On Monday of this week advocates acting on my behalf presented a proposal for an external arbitration process to representatives of the administration, including a suggestion for the external arbitrator. The administration's representatives initially accepted the choice of external arbitrator. However, after talking with the MIT attorneys, in later negotiations they rejected the proposal altogether. On Wednesday evening, the MIT representatives stated that all of my demands were non-negotiable. This action resulted in the current stalemate and amplification of the protest to end racism in minority faculty tenure at MIT.
I have learned that some of the faculty are considering other tenured homes for me at MIT besides BE. This is praiseworthy work and I am thankful for it. Certainly, if this conflict can be resolved I may need another department in which to continue my research at MIT. However, the grant of tenure will not suffice for me to end my protest. I have not lost 20 lbs to starvation just for tenure at MIT. Perhaps, the cynical, obtuse, and unclear among you will now understand that what this protest is about is fairness at MIT.It is to bring forth a process that will begin a committed effort by MIT to end racism in the treatment and tenure of minority faculty. I will not eat again until MIT's upper administration either admits that racism and obstruction of justice was a problem in my case and others, or works with my advocates to develop a fair and open process to decide the issue. Any admission of the validity of my charges and the obstruction of justice by Provost Reif, must include tenure, action to end racism going forward, and censure of the responsible members of the faculty and administration.
These actions on the part of our provost and president are nothing short of the water hoses, dogs, and billy-clubs of the civil rights struggles that Martin Luther King, Jr. led. How can we as a community sit and eat at a breakfast led by this administration, that in name celebrates a great warrior for social fairness and justice, when they have dealt in this manner with a protest for fairness and the end of racism that is going on just across the campus? How can we? What will history say about us, if we allow ourselves to be compromised in this manner?
What would you give to end racism and other forms of discrimination at MIT? I invite you to show your will and resolve by boycotting the hypocrisy of the MIT MLK Breakfast Celebration. Instead attend a forum "ON THE COST OF UNFAIRNESS IN HIGHER EDUCATION" AT 7:30-9AM TOMORROW IN 32-124.
Please, share this e-mail and the attached flier with anyone who values freedom and a just society.
"LET FREEDOM RING!"
In truth,
James Sherley
P.S. OFTEN, DOING THE RIGHT THING IS HARD AND UNCOMFORTABLE
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 11:18 AM
February 15, 2007
The case of Rebecca Riley highlights a hot debate in psychiatric circles over the growing number of children who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder -- a battle centered largely in Boston but affecting the treatment of young patients nationwide.
Senator Richard Moore's bill making it mandatory for girls entering sixth grade to receive vaccination against the virus that causes cervical cancer deserves approval from the Legislature, a Globe editorial says.
A new version of the nasal spray vaccine FluMist is better at preventing influenza than traditional flu shots in older babies and children, according to a study sponsored by its maker, MedImmune Vaccines Inc.
Former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis said that he has limited feeling in both feet and experiences pain when he stands for extended stretches. Yesterday was the second day of testimony in Weis's malpractice lawsuit, which claims Massachusetts General Hospital surgeons acted negligently by allowing Weis to bleed internally for 30 hours after the procedure June 14, 2002. Defense attorneys have said that the doctors cared properly for Weis, and that he experienced one of the known complications from the surgery.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 06:27 AM
February 14, 2007
By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff
Last year, the Massachusetts Hospital Association began posting on its website, staffing plans for individual units in hospitals. Starting tomorrow at noon, the organization will post whether hospitals achieved those goals during 2006.
Overall, 85 percent of individual units within hospitals statewide met their staffing plans last year, according to the hospital group.
The website includes brief explanations for units that didn't meet anticipated staffing levels. For example, Cape Cod Hospital planned to have nurses spend an average 7.44 hours a day with patients on one of its units for medical and surgical patients. But nurses on the unit spent an average of only 6.59 hours a day at each patient's bedside, according to a preview of the website. The hospital said the reason was that it admitted more patients to the unit than expected.
Consumers also can compare nurse staffing at different hospitals, including one of the most important aspects of medical care: How many hours nurses spend caring for patients at their bedsides.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association, which is pushing legislation that would mandate hospitals to adhere to specific nurse-to-patient ratios, has said the hospital association's staffing project is intended to stall the legislation -- and does not guarantee a minimum amount of nursing care. The hospital association opposes ratios, saying they don't give hospitals enough flexibility to adjust the number of nurses based on how acutely ill patients are, and other factors.
Posted by Gideon Gil at 07:14 PM
February 14, 2007
Young people feel better after sex.
Not earth-shattering news, you say?
Children's Hospital Boston researcher Dr. Lydia A. Shrier, lead author of a study that reached that conclusion, understands why you'd react that way, but hear her out. She says that until we know what adolescents really think about sex, anyone trying to help them have safer sex -- or no sex -- might be wasting their time.
"If we don't understand exactly how they feel around the time of sex, we're going to miss the boat with our risk reduction or abstinence messages," said Shrier, whose study appears in the Journal of Adolescent Health. "We all know that feelings are very much connected to how we behave."
To assess young people's emotions, Shrier's team gave hand-held computers to 67 adolescents and young adults, 15 to 21 years old, and randomly beeped them at least every three waking hours for a week. A message would then pop up on the participants' PDAs asking them how they were feeling and whether they had had sex since the previous page. To be in the study, the young people had to say they were sexually active.
That's different from asking people what they think about sex or to remember later what they felt like at the time, Shrier emphasized. This nearly real-time report of how they felt makes the study different from previous work, including her own, she said.
"We examined real events in these kids' lives as they were happening. We didn't ask them to recall things or to select out a particular thing," she said. "We asked them to monitor themselves with computers and respond to signals, so we were getting what was actually going on."
The study also stands apart from surveys that asked adolescents their feelings about their first sexual experiences, which tended to be more negative than what the researchers found this time.
Policy makers need to pay attention, Shrier said.
"Without taking a political stance, I'd just say we all want people to ultimately be sexually healthy adults, whatever our beliefs are," she said. "And whether we want kids to reduce sexual risk or be abstinent, we have to understand the feelings of the young people having sex."
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 05:12 PM
February 14, 2007
Children with Kawasaki disease are at risk for developing
coronary-artery aneurysms. Standard therapy includes giving these children intravenous immune globulin and aspirin. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine, led by Dr. Jane W. Newburger of Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, shows that adding a single pulsed dose of intravenous methylprednisolone did not produce better outcomes than the standard therapy.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 05:00 PM
February 14, 2007
After retired New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson told his story of depression and other mental impairments following a succession of on-field concussions, his neurosurgeon, Dr. Robert C. Cantu, thought he might hear from other retired professional football players.
He did. Some came to see him and others just talked to him on the phone about problems they trace to their playing days.
What surprised Cantu, who is chief of neurosurgery at Emerson Hospital in Concord and co-director of the Neurological Sports Injury Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital, was the handful of non-athletes he heard from.
"The scope of the problem goes beyond the athletic fields because people in certain lines of work sustain multiple concussions," he said.
A firefighter or a tree surgeon, for example, might sustain multiple concussions, he said. If not allowed enough time to recover, the brain is more vulnerable to a second or third concussion.
Not every head injury leads to the kind of problems Johnson had, Cantu said, but damage can still be done.
"There are many reasons for depression," he said. "Prior head injury is only one."
If someone had one or more concussions but completely recovered from them, he said, it's unlikely depression 20 years later is related to the earlier injuries. But if someone had a few concussions and ever since had been depressed, the likelihood of a connection increases, especially if the second concussion came when the effects of the first one had not gone away.
Cantu has a message for athletes or other people whose work puts them in harm's way for a concussion.
"Don't go back to a hazardous occupation while symptomatic."
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 11:31 AM
February 14, 2007
Tufts Health Plan next month will start denying gastric-bypass and stomach-banding procedures to some obese patients and require others to enter a yearlong diet and counseling program before undergoing the potentially lifesaving surgery.
Surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital allowed former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis to bleed internally for 30 hours after a gastric bypass operation, bringing Weis to the brink of death and leaving him with permanent nerve damage in his right foot, Weis's lawyer said yesterday. The surgeons' lawyer said that Weis's internal bleeding, while unfortunate, is not unusual for this type of surgery, in which 5 percent to 10 percent of patients have serious complications and 1 out of 100 dies.
Brigham and Women's Hospital researchers say that a risk-scoring system they developed -- which adds two new risk factors, family history and a measure of inflammation -- does a better job of classifying some women's heart-disease risk.
A vaccine against rotavirus, which is the top cause of early childhood diarrhea, is possibly tied to intestinal blockage, a condition that can also occur spontanteosly.
Most of the scattered bird flu outbreaks so far this year probably can be traced to illegal or improper trade in poultry, scientists say. That includes recent outbreaks in Nigeria and Egypt as well as the large outbreak on a turkey farm in England.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 06:32 AM
February 13, 2007
By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff
It is a fact that has long frustrated doctors and their patients: Up to 20 percent of women who suffer heart attacks and other coronary problems had no obvious risk factors -- no high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol. Other women who are told they're destined to experience heart problems never do.
That has left scientists hunting for a better method to gauge the risk of heart disease, which kills more women than breast cancer and lung cancer combined. Today, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, who've worked on the problem for more than a decade, present a more expansive detection model.
For the last 40 years, doctors have relied on five factors to evaluate a patient's risk of heart disease: their age, whether they smoke, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and levels of good cholesterol, known as HDL. But since that model was developed, heart specialists have refined their understanding of the biochemical and genetic roots of cardiovascular conditions.
In the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Brigham team asserts that the risk-scoring system they developed -- which adds two new risk factors, family history and a measure of inflammation -- does a better job of classifying some women's heart-disease risk. In some cases, risk went up; in others, risk went down.
"This is important because we now have a simple and inexpensive way to correctly classify women's risk and therefore get the right drugs to the right women" to prevent heart disease, said Dr. Paul Ridker, the Brigham specialist who directed the effort to develop the new scoring method.
To determine if there was a more reliable way to predict heart disease, researchers collected an array of health data on more than 24,000 US women 45 and older who had never experienced heart disease or cancer. Then, they tracked them for an average of 10 years, recording whether they suffered heart attacks or strokes, or required bypass surgery or other procedures to clear clogged arteries. (Diabetics were not included in the study, because that single condition alone is considered to automatically predispose patients to coronary problems.)
Using sophisticated statistical analysis, the Brigham researchers sought to figure out which of 35 potential risk factors most accurately forecast that women would have a serious cardiovascular problem. It turned out that the five historically important measurements were still relevant -- but so were two others, which researchers believe are critical in assessing heart-disease risk in men as well as women.
One was family history -- specifically, whether either parent of a woman suffered a heart attack before the age of 60. The other factor that mattered, according to the researchers, was something called C-reactive protein, a measurement of inflammation. Scientists increasingly recognize the important role inflammation plays in causing cardiovascular problems.
The resulting scoring system, called the Reynolds Risk Score. The method's name honors the major financial backer of the project, the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, which specified that the research should focus on the cardiovascular health of women.
"I applaud what they've done," said Dr. Daniel Levy, director of the iconic Framingham Heart Study, which provided the basis for the risk-evaluation system now widely in use. "Providing additional approaches to risk assessment is an important step."
Using the health experiences of the women in the study as a yardstick, the Boston researchers compared the accuracy of their new risk-assessment test with the traditional method. More than 90 percent of the time, the two tests yielded similar assessments of risk.
But among women previously identified as being at a somewhat elevated risk of having a heart problem, the Brigham test reclassified as many as half of the patients.
Ridker is an ardent champion of measuring C-reactive protein. But it has proved to be a controversial test, with conflicting research on its value as a predictive measurement of heart disease. The Brigham owns a limited patent on C-reactive protein tests -- which cost about $8 to $12 a patient -- and the hospital and Ridker continue to receive royalties every time the test is performed.
Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz, a heart specialist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said that before the new scoring system is widely accepted, it will need to undergo further validation.
"While this is a very encouraging, user friendly tool, I would like to see other people vet it," Bairey Merz said. "Is this really going to make a big difference, this particular score? That remains to be seen."
Stephen Smith can be reached at stsmith@globe.com.
Posted by Karen Weintraub at 07:21 PM
February 13, 2007
Three-quarters of Massachusetts physicians being monitored for substance abuse or mental and behavioral health problems successfully completed their programs while continuing to practice, a study by the Massachusetts Medical Society's Physician Health Services program found.
The success rate was nearly identical for both types of disorders, showing that techniques developed for helping physicians with substance abuse can be applied to other problems, the authors reported in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice. But they also found that women fared worse than men.
"We thought men and women would do equally well," said Dr. John R. Knight of Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston. "We don't know the exact reasons the women did so poorly. It's really going to require a new look at our program, and I think we've got to consider offering new services for women physicians."
Overall results showed that 75 percent of doctors with substance abuse disorders and 74 percent with mental and behavior problems met all the requirements of the medical society's monitoring program. But women relapsed significantly sooner than men and only 62 percent of women physicians were successful, compared with 78 percent of male physicians.
Five members of the Physician Health Services program, including Knight, looked at 10 years of records for 58 physicians with mental and behavioral problems, such as depression or bipolar illness, and 120 with substance abuse disorders who agreed to monitoring by the program. They were followed for at least three years.
Monitoring included oversight by other physicians they worked with, meetings with supervisors, and drug tests for those with substance abuse problems. Physicians who also had dealings with the state licensing board had a higher success rate than others, especially when substance abuse was involved.
Nancy Achin Audesse, executive director of the state Board of Registration in Medicine, was encouraged by the report.
"I think it is very good news that we have a system in place to identify physicians who are in trouble, to handle them, and to help them back to recovery," she said. "When we have these experienced and capable doctors and they end up with health problems, we don't want to lose them from practice. We want to get them back into healthy practice."
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 06:45 PM
February 13, 2007
Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was so exasperated by his experience commuting to work on the Green Line yesterday morning that he posted a comment on the Universal Hub website. Levy offered a friendly suggestion to MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas: "Take down those really big pictures of yourself at the T stations -- you know, the ones of you standing in front of the American flag -- because I fear for the personal abuse you will take if people get to know what you look like and recognize you on the street."
Posted by Gideon Gil at 12:10 PM
February 13, 2007
Members of the MIT biological engineering faculty who reviewed the decision to deny tenure to African-American stem cell scientist James L. Sherley said the process was conducted fairly, according to a statement supplied by MIT yesterday.
"We state with certainty and a clear conscience that race did not play any role in the decision that resulted in Prof. Sherley's tenure case not being taken forward," according to the Feb. 5 letter signed by 20 professors.
Sherley, who began a hunger strike on Feb. 5, has demanded immediate tenure, redress for what he says was racism in his treatment, promotion of minority faculty, and censure for the provost involved in his case.
MIT has said his tenure case was assessed and decided on its merits.
Read the faculty statement below:
February 5, 2007
A statement from the MIT Biological Engineering faculty regarding James Sherley's tenure case
Dear Colleagues and Friends
Undoubtedly it has come to your attention that Prof. James L. Sherley is protesting his tenure decision. Out of respect and concern for our colleague Prof. Sherley, until now, no public statements have been made by his colleagues in the Biological Engineering Division.
We state with certainty and a clear conscience that race did not play any role in the decision that resulted in Prof. Sherley's tenure case not being taken forward. As in all tenure and promotion decisions, there was a thorough consideration of Prof. Sherley's accomplishments in research and teaching, of the many letters of evaluation received from experts in Prof. Sherley's research areas, and of his service to MIT and to broader science and engineering communities. We believe in our hearts that, as in all tenure cases in our department, it was a fair and honest process executed at the utmost level of integrity and ethics. It is our collective view that Prof. Sherley was treated fairly.
Sincerely,
Angela Belcher
Peter Dedon
Ed Delong
Forbes Dewey
John Essigmann
Jim Fox
Alan Grodzinsky
Roger Kamm
Alex Klibanov
Harvey Lodish
Paul Matsudaira
Leona Samson
Ram Sasisekharan
David Schauer
Peter So
Steve Tannenbaum
Bruce Tidor
Dane Wittrup
Yanni Yannas
Michael Yaffe
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 09:50 AM
February 13, 2007
The use of artery-opening stents has helped lead to a sharp drop in the number of patients having cardiac bypass surgery and contributed to a tight job market for cardiac surgeons and falling interest in the specialty by medical school graduates, according to a report in USA Today.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 07:09 AM
February 13, 2007
In China, an experimental program developed by a Harvard professor stresses monitoring of doctors and enlists local residents to monitor health care, and publicize what they find out, a Wall Street Journal story says.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 07:07 AM
February 13, 2007
Could midday napping save your life? Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and in Athens reported that Greeks who took regular 30-minute naps were 37 percent less likely to die of heart disease over a six-year period than those who never napped.
Studies show drug-coated heart stents are no better at preventing heart attacks and death than the older, cheaper devices they replaced, and in some cases may be slightly worse.
Jon Lester doesn't look any different from the Red Sox pitcher who was winning a bunch of games as a rookie last season until a doctor discovered that he had a rare form of blood cancer known as anaplastic large cell lymphoma.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 06:25 AM
February 12, 2007
By Stephen Heuser, Globe Staff
The most exhaustive studies yet published on drug-coated stents show that the widely used heart devices are no better at preventing heart attacks and death than the older, cheaper devices they replaced, and in some cases may be slightly worse.
A series of studies released today by the New England Journal of Medicine showed that drug-coated stents carried one clear benefit: patients who receive them are less likely to return to the hospital for a repeat heart-clearing procedure.
Viewed over the long term, however, the stents did not improve patients' survival rates.
Dr. William Maisel, a cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who chairs the FDA's panel on cardiovascular devices, said the new studies would likely push doctors to be more cautious about using drug-coated stents. "The decision to put in a drug-eluting stent is now a decision, where before it was used in almost any case," he said.
Click here for full story.
Posted by Gideon Gil at 06:29 PM
February 12, 2007
Dr. Herbert Y. Kressel, radiologist-in-chief at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, will step down at the end of the year to become editor-in-chief for the journal Radiology, the hospital said today.
Kressel will stay on staff one day a week in the radiology department and he will keep his appointment as a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Vassilios Raptopoulos, who was recently named vice chair of clinical services in radiology, will serve as interim chief if needed. A search committee is being formed to appoint a new chief.
Kressel joined Beth Israel Hospital as radiologist-in-chief in 1993. He was chief medical officer and president for BIDMC until 2000.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 04:40 PM
February 12, 2007
By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff
Could midday napping save your life?
If the experience of Greek men is any guide, the answer just may be yes.
In a study released today, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and in Athens reported that Greeks who took regular 30-minute siestas were 37 percent less likely to die of heart disease over a six-year period than those who never napped. The scientists tracked more than 23,000 adults, finding that the benefits of napping were most pronounced for working men.
Researchers have long recognized that Mediterranean adults die of heart disease at a rate lower than Americans and Northern Europeans. Diets rich in olive oil and other heart-healthy foods have received some of the credit, but scientists have been intrigued by the potential role of napping.
The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, concluded that napping was more likely than diet, physical activity or smoking to lower the incidence of heart attacks and other life-ending heart ailments.
Still, the authors cautioned that further research is needed to confirm their findings.
"We don't want the world to start sleeping in the afternoon yet. A single study never conveys a public health message," said Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, a Harvard professor and author of the study, who says he stopped napping when he moved to the States 20 years ago.
Specialists not involved with the study said there are sound biochemical reasons to believe that a nap may help protect against heart disease.
Essentially, they said, sleep at any time of the day acts like a valve to release the stress of every-day life. Blood pressure and heart rates slow. At the same time, the immune system shores itself up -- increasingly, researchers are recognizing the role the immune system plays in heart disease.
"We all know that the three pillars of health are diet, exercise, and sleep, and, sometimes, people forget about the importance of sleep," said Dr. Alex Chediak, president-elect of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and a University of Miami researcher.
Nighttime sleep has been much more thoroughly studied than napping. But, it's assumed that the benefits of nighttime sleep are true also for naps.
The study released yesterday is believed to be the largest ever to examine the link between napping and its health consequences. Napping, researchers believe, allows people a chance to reset their heart rates and blood pressure in the middle of the day.
The researchers quizzed study participants about their siesta habits, defining regular nappers as those who took a midday break at least three times a week, with the nap lasting a minimum of 30 minutes. It was that group that derived the greatest benefit, with a 37 percent drop in deaths attributable to heart disease. The effect was far more modest among those who napped only occasionally, and was not considered statistically meaningful.
The researchers said that while working men appeared to benefit the most from naps, they could not reach any conclusions for working women because there were relatively few in the study.
For retirees, siestas did not lower heart-disease risk.
There's a well-recognized biological impetus for the desire to take a break mid-way through the waking hours: Our bodies tell us to, said Michael Twery, director of the federal government's National Center on Sleep Disorders Research. It happens again right before bedtime.
"The human biological clock has two cycles each day, with two dips," Twery said. "One of those dips occurs shortly after lunch for most people. This is a period when many people feel perhaps a little sleepy, drowsy, less awake."
Napping has historically received scant attention from researchers, but with heart disease still ranked as the nation's number one killer, specialists said the Harvard study should give rise to more definitive nap research.
"Given how prevalent cardiovascular disease is, any intervention that could effectively lower risk would be welcomed and worthy of further study," said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a cardiovascular specialist at the University of California at Los Angeles. "The challenge now is how people read this. If they read it as, 'I can continue to smoke, not eat healthy, not exercise and just take a nap in the afternoon and be protected from cardiovascular disease,' then that is absolutely not the right message to be sending."
In the 24/7-pressure cooker of American society, it is unlikely that many employers -- or workers, for that matter -- will embrace a 30- or 45-minute nap during the work day, sleep specialists acknowledged. If anything, they said, countries where napping has been part of the culture, notably Spain, have increasingly abandoned the practice.
But there are a few places left that champion the midday nap. At a New England company called Yarde Metals', the nap room in Southington, Conn., last week was upgraded to include a full-body massage chair that incorporates aromatherapy and motion. It can simulate the sounds and sights of a beach or a babbling brook.
"It leads to improved safety," said marketing director Susan Kozikowski.
But even if widespread workplace napping is unlikely in the United States, there is something to be learned from the siesta study, said Dr. Michael Irwin, a sleep specialist at UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience.
"The take-home message is we do need a good night's sleep, we do need to look at how much sleep we get and optimize that," Irwin said. "We need to recognize that sleep is a behavior we can control as humans, and if we do that, our overall health will improve in this country."
Stephen Smith can be reached at stsmith@globe.com.
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A web site run by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, an organization of specialists, provides information about sleep and sleeping disorders. The site is underwritten by physicians and does not take funding from pharmaceutical companies or medical device makers.
Posted by Karen Weintraub at 01:31 PM
February 12, 2007
Dr. Ellen Lathi of Caritas St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center has won the 2006 Health Care Professional Volunteer Award from the Central New England Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
A neurologist, she was honored for helping patients gain access to medications. She is a member of the MS group's Clinical Advisory Committee.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 01:15 PM
February 12, 2007
MIT stem-cell scientist James L. Sherley says he has lost 14 pounds as he enters the second week of a hunger strike to protest the university's decision not to offer him tenure.
In an e-mail to the MIT faculty over the weekend, he demanded that MIT grant him tenure immediately, redress racism in treatment and promotion of minority faculty, and censure Provost Rafael Reif for his role in the tenure decision and its review.
"I plan to continue my hunger strike until MIT's upper administration admits that racism is a major factor in the negative tenure decision and that a corrupt investigation process ensued," wrote Sherley, who is African-American.
Reif has said that the tenure decision is final. In an e-mail message, he welcomed a suggestion by Ceasar L. McDowell, an urban studies professor who said he was speaking for "a significant number of the minority faculty," that Sherley and MIT administrators sit down with a mediator.
"The idea of having a professional mediator help Professor Sherley and the MIT administration engage in a constructive conversation is excellent," Reif wrote in an email.
Sherley called the idea "rubbish."
Here are the e-mails. Sherley's letter to the faculty comes first, followed by his comments to a colleague about McDowell's suggestion about a mediator; then Reif's e-mail and McDowell's:
Sherley's e-mail to faculty
Dear Colleagues and MIT Faculty at Large:
Many of you are aware that I am currently engaged in a hunger
strike to end racism in minority tenure promotions at MIT. The
strike started on Monday, February 5, 2007. Based on my home scale,
I have lost about 14 lbs in the past week. I wish to express my
sincere thanks to those of you who have joined me in my effort to
make MIT a better place and to move MIT to lead in redressing racism
in the academy.
I plan to continue my hunger strike until MIT's upper
administration admits that racism is a major factor in the negative
tenure decision and that a corrupt investigation process ensued. I
demand three specific concessions when this fact is acknowledged.
1. That tenure is granted immediately.
2. That MIT actually start a verifiable process to detect and redress
racism in treatment and tenure promotion of minority faculty. The
recent announcement from President Susan Hockfield (e-mailed February
2, 2007) does not even contain the word "racism."
3. That Provost Rafael Reif is censured because of his actions to
obstruct me from obtaining a fair and diligent investigation of my
complaint that because of racist institutional policies, the racism
and improper handling of my case by the chair of Biological
Engineering (BE), Douglas Lauffenburger, and improper actions by a
member of the MIT Corporation, Susan Whitehead, I received a negative
tenure decision.
I recognize that many faculty are uneasy with the demand for
immediate tenure even if my charges are shown to be true. But there
is nothing less to be done when my charges are shown to be true.
There are precedents at MIT for overturning negative tenure decisions
when the process is found to be corrupt. Even if my case were the
weakest ever, the Institute must safeguard against the erosion of
institutional integrity that comes from corrupt process. We all
recognize that even strong cases often do not receive the grant of
tenure at MIT; but this cannot be permitted to occur for reasons of
discrimination that are outlawed in the greater society. I am not
outraged that my tenure case was not advanced just because I think it
was strong enough for tenure. I am outraged because of the racial
discrimination and corrupt process that operated during its decision
and the subsequent investigation of the process that led to that
decision.
If a process shows that I am correct in my charges that led
to my current hunger strike, then MIT must tenure me to provide a
clear and lasting admission that racism and corrupt process were
responsible, and they will not be tolerated at MIT. Only with repair
of the provoking damage can there be a sound foundation for beginning
effective change to end racism at MIT in minority tenure treatment
and promotion. The cynical among you may advance that I have a
personal motivation for this demand. But I ask you, who but the
injured will bring forth a complaint of racism? And who among you
would subject herself or himself to a hunger strike over something
like tenure? This strike is about redressing a problem that is much
bigger, racism. Racism in America harms us all. It prevents us from
a society based on the ideals of freedom, opportunity, and justice
for all; and it makes us destroy and waste valuable human resources.
Where better but in the academy for a new movement to begin to
continue the efforts that were begun during the civil rights era to
end racism in America.
It occurred to me that it might bring comfort to some of you
that, if you embrace this view of overturn of negative tenure
decisions, you would not open MIT up to accepting a poor tenure case.
Doing this succinctly is a bit of challenge, but I will give you some
examples of external evidence that my tenure case, with the features
that resulted from improper process removed, is of sufficient quality
for tenure at MIT.
1. At the time of my tenure case review, I had national recognition
in the form of an Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar Award in
Aging Research. I am one of 5 professors at MIT who are recipients
of this award. The other scholars are Professors Robert Weinberg,
Leonard Guarente, Susan Linquist, and Robert Horvitz, all tenured
professors.
http://www.ellisonfoundation.org/awrds.jsp?program=aging&type=senior&year=2003&show=100
2. Since the negative decision, I received the NIH Director's
Pioneer Award. I am one of two recipients at MIT of this $2.5
million award for innovative research. The other recipient,
Professor Arup Chakraborty, is a tenured professor, as are many, if
in fact not all, of the other recipients.
http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/pioneer/Recipients06.aspx
3. At the time of the negative decision, my research program had and
continues to have a growing international presence. This is
indicated by invitations to participate in international conferences
and scholarly undertakings. See examples at the end of this letter.
Finally, on the issue of the quality of my tenure case, I
recognize that there is confusion about this statement from the
provost's January 29 e-mailed "Message to the Faculty."
"As a result, I may not disclose or discuss the substance of
the deliberations of Professor Sherley's tenure case. However, I will
note that three important faculty reviews occurred between January
2005, when Professor Sherley was notified of the decision not to
advance his tenure case, and December 2006, when I notified Professor
Sherley that I am not going to overturn the tenure decision:"
The "three important faculty reviews" is a misstatement on
the part of the provost. First, there were no faculty reviews of the
tenure case other than that which was the basis for the complaint.
The first proceeding was an inquiry conducted by a single faculty
member to provide facts to Provost Robert Brown for his evaluation of
my request for a grievance to investigate my complaint that racism,
improper procedures, and a conflict of interest resulted in a
negative tenure decision. The second proceeding was a grievance in
which a 3-faculty member committee was charged to investigate the
same charges to provide Provost Reif facts for his adjudication of my
complaint. The third proceeding was a second grievance, on appeal to
President Hockfield, with the same committee of 3 faculty. Although
the appeal was partly based on the lack of diligence on the part of
that committee, the provost insisted on retaining the same faculty
members, despite my protest.
During the grievance investigation, I requested that the
committee be disbanded, because, again, their investigation lacked
diligence. The provost again refused to replace them. Conflicts of
interest also abounded on the committee. One committee member had a
potential conflict of interest due to his relationship with one of
the subjects of the investigation, but the provost ignored this
concern. Also, the provost appointed the chair of the committee as
chair of the MIT faculty during the investigation, ignoring how such
an appointment would compromise the work of the committee.
So, all should be clear now, that my tenure case has only
been reviewed my a group of MIT faculty once, for less than an hour
after the BE faculty had already advised Douglas Lauffenburger to
advance two other faculty member's cases for tenure. They did this
without a committee to assemble my case and select referees, conduct
an in-depth look at its merits, and present it to the rest of the
faculty. They did this after Lauffenburger had allowed them only one
week to review the case in his office. He told them what to do, and
they did it. They enabled MIT's racist policies that discriminated
against me when I started at MIT, and they enabled the racist
practices and improper actions of Douglas Lauffenburger that enabled
him to achieve a negative decision. Surely, when my charges are
shown to be true, the MIT faculty can endorse that the corrupt
negative decision must be overturned with all speed. Such a just
action will not injure the sanctity of tenure at MIT. Instead, it
will preserve it, and at the same time move MIT closer to the ideals
that we hold for it.
Sincerely,
James Sherley
Sherley's comments on McDowell suggestion:
Dear Michel:
Please, recognize that this is not great news at all. It's
rubbish. Please, see it for what it is. First of all, members or
the "minority faculty group" like Rafael Bras are working to support
the Provost, by coming to me at the protest to tell me that no
negative tenure case can be overturned, when if fact they have been
in the past when members of upper administration were willing to
admit that wrongdoing had occurred during the decision. That is, the
process was corrupt. In my case, both the decision process and its
investigation by the provost were and continue to be corrupt.
So, in this setting, first a group of minority faculty, many
of whom have been outright critical of my position, even going so far
as to indict my veracity, make a decision that they will now
represent me. In an immediate e-mail to them, I have clearly
rejected that disingenuous, deceitful proposal.
Despite my rejection of this proposal, the provost moves a
head with suggesting yet another evaluation which he is initiating
and will control. It is also noteworthy that my advocate, Kenneth
Manning, has been excluded from these transmissions. Listen, I want
the minority faculty all to get it in their heads, if they are not
talking to Ken, they are not talking to me.
It is a pitiful commentary on minority intellectuals, that so
many of my minority colleagues have allowed themselves to become
selfish enablers of racism at MIT. Michel, now, please, know that I
reserve these comments for those who have not actively joined me in
the protest and decided not to sign the Degraff, McDowell, Chomsky et
al. letter which HELPED ME. How can those have not join me in the
protest and who refused to sign that elegant letter of truth think
that I would trust them to represent me.
Hear me when I say, this protest is not just about me, it is
about the future of minority faculty at universities like MIT. Is
the minority faculty so filled with internalized racism, cynicism,
and self-denial that they believed that I would have lost 14 pounds
from starvation last week over a trivial issue like my own tenure?!
They need to wake up and believe in themselves and their own minority
colleagues. It is time at MIT to "Fight the Power," to recognize
that "We are somebody!", and to put the fire back into achieving
Martin's dream.
Here's my final word for the minority faculty, if they want
to join me in this struggle. Tell Susan Hockfield to hurry up and
get a committee of external advisors for herself on this protest.
Any resolution process cannot have integrity if the provost plays a
role, because it is he who has been charged with obstruction of
justice in my case.
Michel, I continue the struggle without a change in position,
other than allowing the provost censure instead of dismissal. Peace
with joy!
James
Reif's e-mail to McDowell
Forwarded message from -----
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007
From: L Rafael Reif
Subject: Re: Statement from Min Faculty
To: Ceasar McDowell
Dear Ceasar,
Thank you for your note.
I want to thank you, most sincerely, for all your significant efforts
and those of the minority faculty in this extremely difficult and
painful situation.
The idea of having a professional mediator help Professor Sherley and
the MIT administration engage in a constructive conversation is
excellent. This mediator would be a mutually acceptable person
experienced with educational institutions and in matters including
racial sensitivities. Please help me convey this message to
Professor Sherley.
Sincerely,
Rafael
Ceasar McDowell wrote:
Dear President Hockfield, Provost Reif and Professor Sherley
On February 6, 2007 a significant number of the minority faculty expressed the following opinions:
1. Our community is very worried about the damage that the dispute between Prof. James Sherley and the MIT administration is causing to all the individuals involved and to the Institute.
2. We urge all parties in the dispute to consider external mediation/arbitration.
We stand ready to help in any way that may lead to a resolution of this problem.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 12:14 PM
February 12, 2007
MIT scientists have identified a new defense mechanism that tumor cells use to survive chemotherapy, a discovery that could lead to drugs that make existing cancer drugs work better at lower doses.
Writing in the cover story of today's Cancer Cell, Dr. Michael B. Yaffe and his biomedical engineering colleagues explain that once tumors lose their ability to repair DNA that has been damaged by drugs or radiation, they turn to a signaling pathway involved in inflammation in order to survive.
"The exciting thing is we can now target this pathway," said Yaffe, who is also a surgeon at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and affiliated with the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. "It won't make normal cells any more susceptible to chemo but it will make cancer cells much more sensitive."
The scientists tested their idea by turning off the inflammation pathway in mouse tumors. After they gave low doses of the common cancer drug cisplatin to the mice, their tumors melted away, Yaffe said.
A drug that works against a molecule important in inflammation called MK2 is already being tested. Originally conceived as a treatment for arthritis, it may be modified to thwart just the inflammatory pathway that cancer cells use to survive.
"Our results suggest it might have a second life in helping to treat cancer patients," Yaffe said. "It could mean standard chemotherapy would suddenly become much more effective."
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 12:00 PM
February 12, 2007
Scientists announced yesterday the discovery of important genetic clues to type 2 diabetes, opening a new chapter in the study of the fast-growing disease that affects about 20 million Americans.
More than half of all elderly hospitalized patients suffer severe confusion. Many ultimately decline into dementia. Are there common triggers to both?
Researchers call breast density a cancer risk too long ignored.
The Medicare prescription drug benefit was a terrible piece of legislation, Marcia Angell writes, because it prohibited Medicare from negotiating drug prices, even though those prices rise much faster than inflation. Most new drugs are not advances over old ones, but minor variations with new patents and higher prices. In other words, "me-too" drugs.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 06:35 AM
February 12, 2007
The road to personalized medicine is a bumpy one, but researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute have found a method that might smooth the way.
Writing in yesterday's Nature Genetics, they report on a faster, cheaper method of screening for multiple mutations that turn on cancer genes.
Taking advantage of mass spectrometry, a tool researchers use to detect variations in genes, they were able to narrow down their search for relevant mutations in 1,000 samples of tumor tissue by examining only regions of genes where most troublesome mutations occur.
"You don't have to sequence the entire cancer genome," said Dr. Levi A. Garraway, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber and an associate member of the Broad, a joint MIT-Harvard institute. "All you need to do is look in specific locations."
The researchers discovered that some tumor samples showed mutations not normally expected for the kind of cancer the patient had been diagnosed with. If a patient with pancreatic cancer showed a mutation more commonly found in lung cancer, for example, there might be a treatment to use that would not otherwise have been considered, Garraway said.
The screening method could be used along with the Cancer Genome Atlas, a large, complex project to sequence cancer genes.
There are two barriers to making individualized cancer medicine a reality, the paper says. One is to identify all the genes involved in the spectrum of cancers, and the other is to translate that knowledge into therapies for patients.
"We're trying to pave a way to get past both bottlenecks," Garraway said.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 06:00 AM
February 12, 2007
Older, active, and opting for heart surgery: More patients over 80 are benefiting from advances in treatment for heart disease.
The agonizing, complicated, lingering questions of shaken baby syndrome, 10 years after Matthew Eappen's death.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 05:57 AM
February 12, 2007
A freak accident at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., exposed just how poorly prepared the world's most expensive health care system is to handle a surge of patients with serious injuries, according to an excerpt from Stephen Flynn's book "The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation" in the online U.S. News & World Report.
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 05:56 AM
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