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"> "> by David Rind, MD A number of the other blogs that have noted the existence of this blog seem to have “Pharma” in their titles in one way or another, and the implication is not that the blogger likes much about Big Pharma. In the late 1990s, when I was spending much of ...

"> "> Originally posted in Insidermedicine The eye is very similar to a camera. Both are optical systems that have lenses in the front to focus light rays onto a film. The retina is the eye’s film. It is a tissue that consists of 10 layers and is about 500 microns thick—or, half a ...

"> "> Originally published in MedPage Today by Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today Staff Writer For years, the pager and cell phone have summoned on-call radiologists to the emergency room. Now this leap in technology: an iPhone App that lets radiologists diagnose a patient remotely, wherever ...

"> "> As both patients and doctors find themselves increasingly on Twitter and Facebook , more are wondering whether they should be talking to one another using social networking outlets. This issue has come up before, most recently when the New England Journal of Medicine asked whether ...

"> "> The following is part of a series of original guest columns by the American College of Physicians . by Steven Weinberger, MD, FACP It is difficult to find a medical guideline that has garnered so much press and controversy as the recent recommendations about breast cancer ...

"> "> Originally published in Insidermedicine Sodium intake has a direct and independent impact on the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease, according to a meta-analysis published online ahead of print in the British Medical Journal . According to the American Heart ...

"> "> Originally posted in MedPage Today by Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today Staff Writer Medical students are frequently stuck by needles, and few report their accidents, researchers say. In a survey, about 60% of surgery residents reported being stuck with a needle while they were in ...

"> "> Will the billions we’re thinking of spending on health care reform matter if we don’t address poverty and homelessness ? Surgeon Amina Merchant has her doubts in a Washington Post opinion piece. She observes something that’s rarely mentioned, namely, that some ...

"> "> by Glenn Laffel, MD, PhD Barack Obama is certain that electronic health records (EHRs) can improve the quality of care and the efficiency with which it is delivered. How certain? Certain enough to have bet billions on a program that pays providers to adopt and meaningfully use EHRs. ...

"> "> Originally published in HCPLive.com by Anthony Niehaus As part of the 2009 HITECH Act, a national health information technology infrastructure (NHITI) is required for access and use of electronic health records resulting in a more “effective marketplace, greater competition… ...

"> "> Originally published in MedPage Today by Michael Smith, MedPage Today North American Correspondent The CDC is keeping a careful eye on a mutation in some strains of the pandemic H1N1 flu that Norwegian researchers isolated from three patients with severe disease. The mutation ...

"> "> When it comes to terminal disease, experimental therapies can be a patient’s last hope. Should physicians try to bend the entry criteria of clinical studies to include these often desperate patients? A recent study from the University of Massachusetts medical school revealed ...

"> "> Like last year, I’m participating in the Engage with Grace blog rally. I’ll be signing off until Monday. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Last Thanksgiving weekend, many of us bloggers participated in the first documented “ blog rally ” to promote Engage With Grace ...

"> "> by Edwin Leap, MD I practice in the rural, northwest corner of South Carolina, also known as “The Upstate.” It is a place of expansive lakes, white-water rivers and the mist covered foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The area includes thousands of acres of Sumter National Forest. ...

"> "> Originally published in Insidermedicine Three distinct types of drugs that affect mental processes can increase the risk of falling when taken by adults over 60, according to research published in the latest edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine . Here are some ...

"> "> Originally published in MedPage Today by Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today Staff Writer Only a quarter of baby boomers take advantage of preventive services such as flu vaccines and cancer screenings, a new report from the government and two powerful interest groups says. At the ...

"> "> Have you ever wanted your Lego bricks to undergo a CT scan? Well, wonder no more. Someone did it. From the commentary : “This is a volume rendering based on the axial scan. Note that the density of the bricks is different for each color.” (via voxel123 on ...

"> "> by Jeoffry B.Gordon, MD, MPH The recent recommendation of the US Preventive Services Task Force against routine screening mammograms for healthy, low risk women under the age of fifty has demonstrated our broad consensus about the value of breast cancer screening. The discussions ...

"> "> Originally posted in Insidermedicine Identification and treatment of individuals with high LDL or “bad” cholesterol has improved in recent years, but patients are still slipping through the cracks, according to a survey published in the Journal of the American Medical ...

"> "> Originally published in MedPage Today by Emily P. Walker, MedPage Today Washington Correspondent The emotional debate over a federal panel’s proposal to end routine mammograms for women in their 40s has reignited controversy over a contentious healthcare reform issue: ...