All Entries in the "Specialty Corner" Category
The Spring Edition of the 2013 Journal of the Student National Medical Association is here!
Click here to access the Spring 2013 JSNMA! This issue is focused on chronic diseases in the minority community. More than 130 million Americans suffer from chronic conditions today. The number continues to rise, as we are a population that is living longer. The leading causes of death from disease are from heart disease, cancer, [...]
Researchers Identify Genetic Signature of Deadly Brain Cancer
A multi-institutional team of researchers have pinpointed the genetic traits of the cells that give rise to gliomas – the most common form of malignant brain cancer. The findings, which appear in the journal Cell Reports, provide scientists with rich new potential set of targets to treat the disease. “This study identifies a core set of [...]
Study: Cheap vinegar test cut cervical cancer deaths in India; could help many poor countries
MUMBAI, India – A simple vinegar test slashed cervical cancer death rates by one-third in a remarkable study of 150,000 women in the slums of India, where the disease is the top cancer killer of women. Doctors reported the results Sunday at a cancer conference in Chicago. Experts called the outcome “amazing” and said this [...]
New Discoveries in Head and Neck Cancers
Shutting down inflammation within the body, and then harnessing the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells, could provide the one-two punch needed to effectively treat head and neck cancers, according to researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Research into the pivotal role played by the inflammatory molecule inducible nitric oxide synthase [...]
For A Black Doctor, Building Trust By Slowing Down
Dr. Gregory McGriff, who serves a predominantly white community, says he finds he has to communicate a bit more than his white colleagues to earn his patients’ trust. It may be hard to imagine that people can distill their thoughts on a topic as complicated as race into just six words. But thousands of people [...]
Consequences of not screening for prostate cancer prove dire
SAN DIEGO – The mean survival of men who initially presented with a prostate-specific antigen score of 100 ng/mL or greater was just 18 months, results from a single-center study showed. In an effort to provide insight into the consequences of not screening for prostate cancer, researchers at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, San Jose, [...]
Stroke patients see signs of recovery in stem-cell trial
Five seriously disabled stroke patients have shown small signs of recovery following the injection of stem cells into their brain. Prof Keith Muir, of Glasgow University, who is treating them, says he is “surprised” by the mild to moderate improvements in the five patients. He stresses it is too soon to tell whether the effect [...]
Teen Birth Rate in U.S. Declined to All-Time Low in 2011
Teen birth rates dropped 25 percent in the U.S. in a five-year period to an all-time low in 2011, as pregnancy prevention measures paid off, according to a health agency report. In all U.S. states except North Dakota and West Virginia, the rate of teen mothers dropped 15 percent in 2011 from 2007, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control [...]
Penn Medicine Researchers Identify Four New Genetic Risk Factors for Testicular Cancer
Large, First-of-its-Kind Study Finds Genomic Regions Associated with Higher Risk PHILADELPHIA — A new study looking at the genomes of more than 13,000 men identified four new genetic variants associated with an increased risk of testicular cancer, the most commonly diagnosed type in young men today. The findings from this first-of-its-kind meta-analysis were reported online [...]
Doctors Transform How They Practice Medicine
Dr. Thomas Bellavia transformed his traditional medical practice in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., into a so-called medical home where patients are seen by teams of doctors and nurses. He says it has paid off in better, more coordinated care for his patients and healthier income for the nurse practitioners and physicians in his group. Dr. Mark Holthouse took a [...]
