News Brief
Based on a study by the American Medical Association:
Less than a third of physicians use email to communicate with their patients, a study shows.
Most patients “want the convenience of email” to communicate with doctors, but physicians are concerned that emails could increase workloads and compromise patient safety.
Physicians said they feared lawsuits and receiving urgent […]

News Brief
A new study in the journal Stroke has identified a link between income and the occurence of strokes:
Researchers found that the least wealthy were three times more likely to have a stroke between ages 50 and 64 compared with those who were in the top 75th to 89th percentile in wealth (the very […]

News Brief
Results of a new international study appear to show that lung cancer patients who undergo an immune-boosting treatment instead of chemotherapy after surgery have a reduced risk of relapse.
The study results were presented at the 1st European Lung Cancer Conference which was organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International […]

News Brief
A preliminary but hopeful development:
A new study says a protein that stops the spread of breast cancer tumors in mice may predict the spread of the disease in humans.
The gene was added to breast cancer cells in mice and produced a unique gene signature.
That signature was also detected in human breast cancer patients.
Researchers […]

News Brief
Forbes.com:
A quick, self-administered test to identify surgical patients who may have potentially life-threatening obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been developed by a team of Canadian anesthesiologists.
The STOP questionnaire by Chung and colleagues includes four simple yes/no questions: Do you snore loudly?; Do you often feel tired, fatigued or sleepy during daytime?; Has anyone observed […]

News Brief
With the best of intentions, Google, Microsoft and Revolution Health have put a lot of work into designing software which is for you to use in keeping your medical records straight.
It’s a good idea in theory but risky legally. Either the law has to change—-highly unlikely—or personal maintenance of the actual record is not […]

News Brief
The flu season is still going.
A “mismatch” between the strains vaccine experts recommended be in flu vaccines, versus the influenza strains which actually hit this year, were the cause of the lower than usual effectiveness of shots. According to this report, people who took the flu shot were 44% less likely to get the […]

News/Commentary
By Cheree Cleghorn, Editor
Our vet has an outstanding reputation with pet owners and other vets. He has been given awards. He lets low-income people pay on an installment plan so that they can afford to own and keep their beloved pets healthy.
I was there once when a man came in to make his final […]

News Brief
Models whose images fill the pages of magazines—-editorial and ads—-and websites show images of young women who, bluntly, could fit right into pictures of Third World children starving to death.
Use Photoshop to change these ghostly-looking creatures’ color into darker skin tones, and it might truly be hard to tell the difference the affluent-starving from […]

News Brief
What if everyone who filed an application for a permit to carry a gun had to take Gun Ed?
No, not the how-to-shoot-straight training. We should have what-happens-when-you-shoot-somebody training. It would also be valuable to include images of the damage different caliber guns do. People could make much more informed gun choices, based on […]