Economic value of a cancer case management program.

Purpose: To assess the impact of the cancer support program (CSP), a telephonic case management program led by oncology nurses, on cancer-related medical costs and hospice use.

Methods: Members of large employer-funded health plans were referred to the CSP if they had a cancer diagnosis and met program criteria. Patients were referred to the CSP (July 2009-June 2011; index date is referral date) and chose to participate (participants) or not (nonparticipants).

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura after cephalosporin administration: a possible relationship.

Background: Acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is an autoimmune disorder. The pathogenesis is believed to be mediated by an autoantibody directed against the metalloproteinase responsible for the degradation of the very-high-molecular-weight multimers of the vWF. The syndrome can be precipitated by a variety of conditions, and certain medications also have been implicated.

Serum cholesterol, beta-carotene, and risk of lung cancer.

This paper hypothesizes that beta-carotene mediates the association between low serum cholesterol and increased risk of lung cancer, predicts that the association should be greater in population strata with low intake of beta-carotene than in those with high intake if the hypothesis is correct, and investigates this prediction with data from a 24-year cohort study of 1,960 middle-aged employed men. In the total cohort, serum cholesterol was not related to risk of lung cancer. The relative risk associated with a difference of -1.

Dietary cholesterol and incidence of lung cancer: the Western Electric Study.

The hypothesis that dietary cholesterol is positively associated with lung cancer was investigated in a 24-year cohort study of 1,878 middle-aged men who were employed in 1958 by the Western Electric Company in Chicago. The relative risk of lung cancer associated with an increment in dietary cholesterol of 500 mg/day was 1.9 (95 percent confidence interval 1.