Cancer Screening in Older Patients.

Although cancer is the second leading cause of death among persons 65 years and older, there is a paucity of clinical trial data about the effectiveness and harms of cancer screening in this population. Given the heterogeneous nature of the older population, cancer screening in these patients should not be based on age alone. Studies suggest that a life expectancy of at least 10 years is necessary to derive a survival benefit from screening for breast and colorectal cancers; therefore, screening for these cancers is not recommended in those with a life expectancy of less than 10 years.

Reminder Cards Improve Physician Documentation of Obesity But Not Obesity Counseling.

Background And Objectives: Physicians frequently fail to document obesity and obesity-related counseling. We sought to determine whether attaching a physical reminder card to patient encounter forms would increase electronic medical record (EMR) assessment of and documentation of obesity and dietary counseling.

Methods: Reminder cards for obesity documentation were attached to encounter forms for patient encounters over a 2-week intervention period.

The effect of living in the United States on body mass index in refugee patients.

Background: We describe body mass index (BMI) trajectories over 20 months in newly settled refugees in the United States.

Methods: Growth curves were modeled in in hierarchical linear modeling for cohorts from Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Results: For refugees from Southeast Asia and Africa, coefficients suggest an increase of greater than 1.

B lymphocytes from patients with a hypomorphic mutation in STAT3 resist Epstein-Barr virus-driven cell proliferation.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) oncogenes exert potent B cell proliferative effects. EBV infection gives rise to B cell lines that readily proliferate in culture. This ability of EBV represents a powerful tool to study cell proliferation.

Time-dependent changes in skeletal response to teriparatide: escalating vs. constant dose teriparatide (PTH 1-34) in osteoporotic women.

Once-daily injections of teriparatide initially increase biochemical markers of bone formation and resorption, but markers peak after 6-12 months and then decline despite continued treatment. We sought to determine whether increasing teriparatide doses in a stepwise fashion could prolong skeletal responsiveness. We randomized 52 postmenopausal women with low spine and/or hip bone mineral density (BMD) to either a constant or an escalating subcutaneous teriparatide dose (30 μg daily for 18months or 20 μg daily for 6 months, then 30 μg daily for 6 months, and then 40 μg daily for 6 months).

Effects of teriparatide, alendronate, or both on bone turnover in osteoporotic men.

Context: We have previously demonstrated that alendronate reduces the ability of teriparatide to increase bone mineral density (BMD) in osteoporotic men. The underlying basis for this observation is poorly understood.

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to determine whether teriparatide increases osteoblast activity when the ability of teriparatide to increase osteoclast activity is suppressed by alendronate.