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Every so often, one runs across a paper that is somewhat offbeat, but could have some beneficial clinical implications. One such article appeared recently in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that dealt with a way to possibly counter the fetal effects of maternal hyperthermia and even protect the brains of fetuses/infants against potential hypoxic insult during labor.
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Through the contraceptive choice project, the authors performed a prospective cohort study in which 9256 women living in the region surrounding St. Louis, Missouri, received a reversible contraceptive method of their choice for up to 3 years at no cost.
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Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy has become the standard approach for patients with locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma. For patients who achieve a complete response determined preoperatively, less than maximally aggressive surgery has been contemplated. However, improved accuracy of the preoperative assessment needs to be established. In the current prospective evaluation, assessments of response were made with and without the use of PET/CT in a consecutive series and it was found that the additional scans were useful adjuncts to comprehensive clinical examination.
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Results of this well-done trial strongly suggest that CoQ10 administration over 24 weeks' time does not help relieve the treatment-related fatigue experienced by a significant proportion of women with newly diagnosed breast cancer.
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A 57-year-old retail pharmacist presented to his primary care physician because of progressive headaches, blurry vision, hearing loss, and episodes of confusion. He had not had night sweats, fever, or weight loss. On physical examination he was found to be pale and there were ecchymoses over his upper and lower extremities that he reported occurred spontaneously over the past 3 months. He had attributed these to his current medications including both aspirin (81 mg/day) and clopidogrel (75 mg/day), although he had been taking these medications for more than 5 years without noticing ecchymoses in the past. He did not have palpable lymphadenopathy nor was there splenomegaly.
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In this single-institute pilot study, 30 subjects with hepatocellular cancer were randomized to transarterial chemoembolization with or without bevacizumab. Bevacizumab use significantly improved progression-free survival at 16 weeks but no significant difference was seen with respect to the primary outcome (vessel count) or in the overall survival.
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Lorcaserin for weight loss; statins and fatigue; treatment-resistant gonorrhea; hydrocodone classification changes; USPSTF recommendations; and FDA actions.
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In a multicenter, Phase 3 trial, perioperative chemoradiotherapy with capecitabine proved safe and equivalently effective as fluorouracil in reducing local recurrence. In fact, post hoc analysis demonstrated better disease-free and overall survival for those treated with capecitabine. This is a finding that will resonate in the offices of community-based oncologists.
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The authors performed a retrospective cohort study of 1,293,423 pregnant women aged 16 to 40 in the United States from June 1, 2005 to May 30, 2008, using data from the Quest Diagnostics Informatics Data Warehouse.
