The End of Peer Review and Traditional Publishing as We Know It

The financial requirements and time commitments of caregivers  for
autologous
stem cell transplant recipients.

Meehan KR,  Fitzmaurice T, Root L, Kimtis E, Patchett L, Hill J.
Bone Marrow Transplant  Program, Section of Hematology/Oncology,

As the economic picture keeps getting worse, the doubts grow about President-elect Obama’s ability to do much of consequence in remaking health care. Tom Daschle, the former senator tapped to become head of HHS, has argued that all Americans should have to have health insurance, an expensive prospect whose fiscal feasibility is in question.

The International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) - supporting research and providing education, advocacy and support for myeloma patients, families, researchers and physicians - said findings from its myeloma DNA bank identified genetic links to bone disease in multiple myeloma, a cancer of cells in the bone marrow, that in some cases can also include bone deterioration. These findings also may both support and explain associations that have been observed between environmental toxins such as dioxins and benzene, and an increased risk for myeloma.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dozens of deaths have been linked to medications that have never been reviewed by the government for safety and effectiveness but are still covered under Medicaid, an Associated Press analysis of federal data has found.

Taxpayers have shelled out at least $200 million since 2004 for such drugs, and millions of private patients are taking them as well.

From the Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

Supported in part by grants CA62242, CA85818, CA93842, and CA100080 from the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD.

Individual reprints of this article are not available. Address correspondence to S. Vincent Rajkumar, MD, Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55905 (rajkumar.vincent@mayo.edu).

Each year, thousands of Americans die while engaging in activities that involve some degree of risk. Although these activities provide no essential social benefit, society bears the cost of injuries and deaths that occur from people parachuting out of airplanes, skiing down steep mountains, and engaging in other dangerous but perfectly legal activities.

We clip them to our belts or slip them in our pockets, manically text until our thumbs require medical attention, and are ditching the landline for them at a steady pace.

Statistically speaking, it's almost impossible to escape them.

With 262 million American wireless subscribers, we're very close to a cell phone democracy.

Almost 80 percent of American teens have a mobile device, mostly provided by a parent with safety in mind.

But are they safe?

As a baby boomer growing up without fluoridation, I had 14 cavities before my 18th birthday, including seven at one particularly mortifying dental visit.

A generation later, my teenage daughters, who've grown up in a fluoridated city, have a combined total of none.

As the slowing economy swells the ranks of the unemployed -- and uninsured -- more people are getting help from prescription-drug assistance programs normally aimed at providing medications to the poorest Americans.

Newswise — Despite the long-held belief by many doctors that discussing end-of-life issues with patients increases the patients' emotional distress, such conversations can actually lead to improved quality of life -- both for patients and their loved ones, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers and colleagues have found.

This article explores the health care revolution created by the internet, explaining how the Web has helped patients take better care of themselves.  It explains that individuals with health care concerns are now able to use the internet as a health resource so they can study up on their disease.  Not only is the individual more knowledgeable as a result but sometimes they are able to find better treatments, insist on better health care or even collaborate with medical professionals.