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SYNOPSIS: Prior vaccination of both parents with Tdap (¡°cocooning¡±) protects newborn infants from contracting pertussis.
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Capitalizing on a large cohort of British patients followed after treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma, the risk of occurrence of second malignancy was assessed in the context of treatment with chemotherapy alone vs treatment with combined chemotherapy and radiation.
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A 61-year-old female was evaluated for intermittent upper abdominal discomfort. A non-contrast enhanced CT revealed 5x3x4 cm lesion in the spleen that appeared to be cystic.
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There have been reports over the past decade of an interesting inverse association between allergy and glioma. In the current report pooling data from four large cohorts, investigators examined (prediagnostic) immunoglobulin E levels in 169 individuals who were to develop glioma and compared these with levels in 520 matched controls.
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In an analysis of outcomes for patients treated at M.D. Anderson for metastatic renal cell carcinoma before and since the advent of treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), the development of brain metastases was shown to be significantly reduced. The authors speculate that TKI treatment is altering the natural history of renal carcinoma.
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New recommendations for HPV vaccine; guidelines for treatment of essential tremor; updates on smoking cessation drugs; and FDA actions.
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In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, clonidine and venlafaxine both proved superior to placebo in reducing hot flashes in breast cancer patients. The study was insufficiently powered to prove superiority of one drug over the other. However, venlafaxine produced earlier reductions and it appeared clonidine had more sustained effect (i.e., at 12 weeks of treatment).
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In an epidemiologic analysis of SEER data, middle-aged patients with early-stage disease who opted for active surveillance rather than retroperitoneal lymph node dissection experienced a greater rate of second malignancy. The investigators speculate that this may relate to increased radiation exposure (multiple CT scans) and a greater likelihood of subsequent chemotherapy use.
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