Reading About Thinking (on D. Kahneman’s Ideas on Perceptions of Knowledge)

An article appeared in yesterday’s NYT Magazine on the hazards of over-confidence. The Israeli-born psychologist (and epistemologist, I’d dare say), Nobel laureate and author Daniel Kahneman considers how people make decisions based on bits of information that don’t provide an adequate representation of the subject at hand. He recounts how poorly, and firmly, army officers evaluate […]

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A Medical School Problem Based Learning (PBL) Parody of ‘The Office’

Last week a video came my way via ZDoggMD, a popular blog by doctors who are not me. The Office Med School Edition — The clip is a parody of The Office about Problem Based Learning (PBL). In a typical PBL, the students meet regularly in small groups. On Monday they begin with clinical aspects of a case. The […]

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New York City Mayor Bloomberg Promotes Healthy Lifestyle Choices

In the city where I live, it’s hard to buy a muffin at a Starbucks without stepping back from the counter and reconsidering. Swallowing 460 calories for a minimal-nutrient breakfast seems foolish. So I eat fewer muffins than I used to. The posted nutritional tidbits, however imprecise, on the contents of pieces of quiche, slices of […]

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Should You Tell Your Employer When a Loved One Is Ill?

An article caught my attention in the September AARP Bulletin: The Caregiver’s Dilemma considers the 61.6 million people in the U.S. who care for older relatives or friends. People with jobs are, understandably, unsure if they should let their boss or supervisor know they’re caring for someone who’s sick. This indirect cost of illness and […]

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Reducing Cancer Care Costs by Comparative and Cost-Effectiveness Research (CER)

Well, it’s the day after Labor Day, time to resume our discussion of Bending the Cost Curve in Cancer Care. We’ve reached the end of the list, on ideas to reduce oncology costs put forth by Drs. Smith and Hillner in the May 25 issue of the NEJM. Really this 10th and final point intended for […]

Posted in cancer treatment, clinical trials, Economics, health care costs, Oncology (cancer)Tagged , , , , , , , 2 Comments on Reducing Cancer Care Costs by Comparative and Cost-Effectiveness Research (CER)

Mars Chocolate Company Advertises With Broccoli

The other day, over lunch, I was reading the Sept 2011 issue of the Atlantic and came upon this image on p. 37. According to the not-so-fine print, this full-page broccoli fix is sponsored by MARS chocolate, North America, website listed: www.marshealthyliving.com So we can find out about nutrition from the company that manufactures M&M’s, Snickers, Twix, MilkyWay […]

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What is a Cybrarian?

ML learned a new word on Twitter last week: cybrarian: “a person whose job is to find, collect, and manage information that is available on the World Wide Web” My source is the on-line, ever-handy Merriam-Webster dictionary. (H/T to Dave deBronkart, who sent the term flying across cyberspace.) —– Related Posts:Twitter, The Notificator, and Old Social […]

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NIH to Drop Requirement for Websites Disclosing Researchers’ Ties to Industry

Today’s word comes from Nature News that the NIH is dropping a proposed requirement for universities to disclose researchers’ financial ties to industry on websites. This is a loss for patients, who may not be aware of their doctors’ relationships with pharmaceutical companies and others who fund clinical trials, fellowships, conference junkets and other perks […]

Posted in Academic Medicine, clinical trials, Communication, Informed Consent, PolicyTagged , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment on NIH to Drop Requirement for Websites Disclosing Researchers’ Ties to Industry

New Fairway Delivers Fresh Produce to My Neighborhood

On the local, national and nutritional fronts: How refreshing, in this heat, that Fairway opened a new store on East 86th Street yesterday. Coincidently, Michelle Obama’s push to eliminate “food deserts” – places where it’s hard to find affordable fresh produce and other healthy foods – was highlighted this week when several big retailers signed […]

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The Trouble With Placebos

The latest NEJM features a big story about a small trial, with only 39 patients in the end, on the potential for placebos to relieve patients’ experience of symptoms. This follows other recent reports on the subjective effectiveness of pseudo-pharmacology. My point for today is that placebos are problematic in health care with few exceptions. First, […]

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On Admitting Nice, Ethically-Minded People to Med School

This week the Times ran a leading story on a new med school admission process, with multiple, mini-interviews, like speed dating. The idea is to assess applicants’ social, communication and ethical thinking (?) skills: …It is called the multiple mini interview, or M.M.I., and its use is spreading. At least eight medical schools in the United […]

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Reducing Costs by Holding Back on Chemotherapy for Cancer Patients Who are Frail

This is the fourth in a series of posts on Bending the Cost Curve in Cancer Care, by Drs. Thomas J. Smith and Bruce E. Hillner, in a recent NEJM health policy piece. The authors’ third suggestion: to limit chemotherapy to patients with good performance status, with an exception for highly responsive disease, is surely one of the most […]

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FDA Approves New Assay for Her2 in Breast Cancer

This week the FDA approved a new assay for Her2 expression in breast cancer biopsies. The technology, Inform Dual ISH, is manufactured by Ventana Medical Systems, a Roche subsidiary. Inform Dual ISH works like this: technicians, typically working under the supervision of a pathologist, expose a tiny bit of a breast biopsy specimen, fixed on […]

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A Recipe for Fresh, Low-Fat Blueberry Muffins

This morning I noticed we had too many blueberries in the fridge. So while my husband went out for a run, I opened the windows wide (to cool the apartment), turned on the oven and made some fresh breakfast food. It had been two decades or so since I’d baked anything like these. My recollection, […]

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First Look at the Burns Collection of Early Medical Photographs

CBS News has posted a gripping set of images, mostly of cancer patients, dating to the 1880s. The photos from the Burns Archive are graphic, as much as they’re telling, instructive and rare.   This photograph, taken in New York City in 1886, is one of the earliest ever taken of breast surgery. Surgeons had […]

Posted in Communication, Medical History, Oncology (cancer), PhotographyTagged , , , , , 2 Comments on First Look at the Burns Collection of Early Medical Photographs

TV Meets Real Life Oncology, and Anticipating the MCATs

Yesterday I wrote on some tough decisions facing a TV show‘s protagonist. She’s got metastatic melanoma and might participate in a clinical trial when the show resumes. Now imagine you’re an oncologist, or a real patient with this killing disease – you really need to be on top of new developments, to understand the pros […]

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Get Off My Case

In my inbox this morning, via ASCO‘s “Cancer in the News” feed: The UK’s Telegraph (5/6, Beckford) reported that as “many as 20,000 British women could avoid developing” breast cancer “each year, if they took more exercise, drank less and ate better.” Latest figures “suggest that 47,600 women developed breast cancer in 2008,” and the […]

Posted in Breast Cancer, Essential Lessons, Fitness, Life, Life as a Patient, Medical News, Oncology (cancer), Pseudoscience, Women's HealthTagged , , , , , , 20 Comments on Get Off My Case

Some Articles I Authored A While Ago

This post, on my research in cancer immunology, is strangely personal. At one level, what follows is nothing more than a list, a narrative if you will, a sketch of a formative chunk of my career and personal history. I’ve wanted to put this out there (here) for quite a while, but couldn’t: It’s been […]

Posted in Academic Medicine, from the author, Life, Life as a DoctorTagged , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments on Some Articles I Authored A While Ago
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