Friday, March 22, 2013
Amid Doctor Shortage, Hospitals Turn To Dwindling Supply Of Nurses, Physician Assistants - Forbes
Blogger's Note/Opinion: this is not 'new' news nor is it specific to any particular or recent changes in health policies; physician shortages (in general terms) are of international concern and have been known for decades mostly due to aging in medical domains and increasing specializations; the politics of healthcare; on the 'plus' side a recent report indicated that more medical students are favouring family physician practices either as group practices or standalone
Forbes
Specialists Agree HRT Best for Menopause Symptoms
Medpage
Signatories included the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Asia Pacific Menopause Federation, the Endocrine Society, the European Menopause and Andropause Society, the International Menopause Society, the International Osteoporosis Foundation, and the North American Menopause Society.
media: The politics of cancer - Odessa American: Columns: ovarian cancer, national comprehensive cancer network, cancer, michael milken, health
ESTRICH: The politics of cancer
"The last thing someone diagnosed with a serious cancer wants to hear about is politics."
"We headed to the barricades for breast cancer. Today, the experts are debating whether too many women are being screened and not too few......
It’s time to do the same for ovarian cancer. Yesterday."
SGO conference: Trial Endpoints That Matter to Ovarian Cancer Patients
Trial Endpoints That Matter
" Ovarian cancer patients set the bar high for levels of toxicity and efficacy of new treatments that they deem acceptable, a new survey has found....
Thursday, March 21, 2013
open access: Building access to specialist care through e-consultation | Liddy | Array
open access
Interpretation: This low-cost referral system has potential for broader implementation, once payment models for physicians are adapted to cover e-consultation.
Interest of individuals from BRCA families to participate in research studies focused on male BRCA carriers
Abstract
Although men and
women are equally likely to carry a mutation in the BRCA1 and BRCA2
(BRCA) genes, the clinical significance of mutations in men remains
incompletely defined. We sought evaluate interest of individuals from
BRCA families to participate in a research study focused on men from
BRCA families. Through an anonymous survey posted on the website of the
BRCA patient advocacy organization, facing our risk of cancer empowered
(FORCE), data was collected over a 21 month period (August 2010-June
2012) from members of BRCA families. The survey was completed by 405
individuals with known BRCA mutations, including 150 males and 232
females. The median age of survey respondents was 49 years (50 years for
males and 48 years for females). Overall, 84 % of survey respondents
indicated prior BRCA mutation testing (95.2 % females, 67.3 % males).
For the overall group of survey respondents, 84 % (86 % females, 84 %
males) indicated they would tell their male relatives about a research
study focused on high risk men from BRCA families, and 53 % (39 %
females, 74 % males) thought that their male relatives would be
interested in participating in such a study. Despite limited studies
focused on men from BRCA mutation positive families, our survey suggests
that both male and female family members are highly interested in
focused on male BRCA mutation carriers. The importance of further
studying this topic is underscored by emerging literature that suggest
cancer surveillance and treatment decisions may improve outcomes in men
with BRCA mutations.
Improved survival trends in platinum-resistant patients with advanced ovarian, fallopian or peritoneal cancer treated with first-line paclitaxel/platinum chemotherapy: the impact of novel agents.(15 yrs)
Abstract
CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of novel agents without cross-resistance to platinum or taxanes has improved the prognosis of platinum-resistant patients.
Darlene Gray posted in Ovarian Cancer Awareness & Treatment in Saskatchewan (OCATS): "This group, website, facebook page is closed..."
Darlene Gray posted in Ovarian Cancer Awareness & Treatment in Saskatchewan (OCATS): "This group, website, facebook page is closed...": Darlene Gray posted in Ovarian Cancer Awareness & Treatment in Saskatchewan (OCATS): "This group, website, facebook page is closed..."
Belgium: Defining the palliative care patient: A systematic review
Blogger's Note: an impression of this abstract could be that is is more of a 'hospice care' definition as opposed to 'palliative'; full paper may clarify
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Defining the palliative care patient: A systematic review:
Background:
The lack of a clear definition of the palliative care patient hampers the comparison of results across different studies and impedes implementation of research findings in everyday practice.
CMA decries new medical marijuana rules
CMA
"The federal government's decision to stop managing the use of medical marijuana and to hand over that responsibility to health professionals has drawn an angry response from the CMA.
"If you go to Health Canada's website, the section describing the process for reviewing and approving drugs for therapeutic use states that Canadians' safety and well-being is the department's paramount concern," CMA President Anna Reid told cma.ca. "That's what Canadians expect of their government, only in the case of marijuana the government has abdicated its role. It's akin to asking doctors to write prescriptions while blindfolded.".....
Skepticism about proposed medical marijuana rules not limited to MDs: poll
CMA
"A poll conducted for the CMA indicates that Canadians share physicians' skepticism about the federal government's proposals for revising its approach to the use of medical marijuana.
The online poll of 1,000 Canadians, which was conducted in late February, found that 85% of respondents believe that the drug "should go through the same rigorous testing and approval as other medicines." As well, 70% said Health Canada would be failing to meet its responsibility to Canadians if it ended its role in authorizing the use of medical marijuana.....
Toolbox helps MDs improve referral practices
Toolbox
Several factors contribute to long waits for specialty care, and individual physicians have little if any opportunity to influence most of them.
However, there is one factor - inefficient referral processes - that physicians can tackle within their own practices. To help them do that, the CMA, the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada joined forces to create a Referral and Consultation Process Toolbox.......
see also:
Background
- MDs tackle referral processes in battle to reduce wait times
- The referral and consultation process: making the system work better for patient outcomes (multi-stakeholder summit, December 2011)
- Experiences with referrals: results of two surveys
- Referral and consultation (MD Lounge, Nov. 2010)
- Referrals (MD Lounge, Sept. 2008)
Secondary mutations in BRCA2 associated with clinical resistance to a PARP inhibitor
Abstract
PARP inhibitors (PARPi) for the treatment of BRCA1 or BRCA2 deficient tumours are currently the focus of seminal clinical trials exploiting the concept of synthetic lethality. Although clinical resistance to PARPi has been described, the mechanism underlying this has not been elucidated. Here, we investigate tumour material from patients who had developed resistance to the PARPi olaparib, subsequent to showing an initial clinical response. Massively parallel DNA sequencing of treatment-naive and post-olaparib treatment biopsies identified tumour-specific BRCA2 secondary mutations in olaparib-resistant metastases. These secondary mutations restored full-length BRCA2 protein, and most likely cause olaparib resistance by re-establishing BRCA2 function in the tumour cells.
Analysis of Over 10,000 Cases Finds No Association between Previously-Reported Candidate Polymorphisms and Ovarian Cancer Outcome
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death among women. In an effort to understand contributors to disease outcome, we evaluated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously associated with ovarian cancer recurrence or survival, specifically in angiogenesis, inflammation, mitosis, and drug disposition genes.METHODS:
Twenty-seven SNPs in VHL, HGF, IL18, PRKACB, ABCB1, CYP2C8, ERCC2, and ERCC1 previously associated with ovarian cancer outcome were genotyped in 10,084 invasive cases from 28 studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium with over 37,000 observed person-years and 4,478 deaths. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the association between candidate SNPs and ovarian cancer recurrence or survival with and without adjustment for key covariates.RESULTS:
We observed no association between genotype and ovarian cancer recurrence or survival for any of the SNPs examined.CONCLUSIONS:
These results refute prior associations between these SNPs and ovarian cancer outcome and underscore the importance of maximally powered genetic association studies.Impact: These variants should not be used in prognostic models. Alternate approaches to uncovering inherited prognostic factors, if they exist, are needed.
Science world abuzz as virologist turns down Gairdner award - The Globe and Mail
media
"Michael Houghton, who holds a $10-million Canada Excellence Research Chair in virology at the University of Alberta, had apparently surprised the Gairdner Foundation by being the first person to decline the prize in its 54-year history. Dr. Houghton, who was not at the ceremony on Wednesday, said he could not accept the Gairdner because two close collaborators were not being similarly recognized. Qui-Lim Choo and George Kuo worked with Dr. Houghton......
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