As a journalist, I’m accustomed to doing research online. Before I interview someone, travel somewhere to report or cite data from an organization, I typically do a background search. When I decide to buy something, I operate …
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In medicine, rudeness may hurt more than feelings
Like all professions, medicine has its fair share of office politics — which can generate sniping, griping, eye-rolling and even the occasional temper tantrum. Yet, in a medical setting, can day-to-day rudeness do more than cause hurt feelings and wounded pride? Applying findings from several studies analyzing the cognitive impact of
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Negative effect of limiting surgical residents to 50 hours
A new study from Swiss researchers adds to the ongoing debate over the best method for maintaining the highest educational standards for medical residency programs while also ensuring optimal patient safety. While plenty of research has indicated that exhaustion among medical professionals can lead to more mistakes, critics of rules
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HIV research: breastfeeding, kidney transplants
New research published in the July 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine suggests promising developments in the battle against HIV and AIDS. In a study of more than 2,300 breastfeeding HIV-positive mothers, researchers from the University of North Carolina and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that
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Slight drop, but plastic surgery still a $10 billion industry
A reflection of the still sagging economy, there was a slight overall drop (1%) in elective cosmetic procedures last year compared with 2008, but 12.5 million Americans still spent an estimated $10 billion on plastic surgery in 2009, according to data released this week by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Nine percent fewer
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In Spain, the world’s first full facial transplant
Though at least 10 partial facial transplants have been performed by plastic surgeons around the globe—beginning with surgery on a 38-year-old woman in France in 2005—last month surgeons at a hospital in Spain performed the first ever full facial transplant, according to the Associated Press. After a 24-hour procedure that involved a
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For kidney donors, no long-term risk of premature death
Live kidney donors have similar long-term survival rates as non-donor peers, according to a new study published in the March 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Each year, an estimated 6,000 healthy people donate kidneys to ailing loved ones or, in some cases, to strangers through large chain donations. Yet
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Which prostate surgery is best? Depends on the surgeon
The current standard of surgery for prostate cancer patients is what is known as open radical prostatectomy, which involves a surgeon accessing and removing the cancerous prostate gland by making a standard surgical incision. Yet, in recent years, a less invasive approach, known as laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, which often uses
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Breast reduction surgeries on the rise—for men
Men feeling self-conscious about the size of their breasts is nothing new—as members of the Seinfeld generation will recall, the episode in which Kramer invents “the Bro,” or the “Mansierre” to tame oversized “man boobs” first aired in 1995. Yet, according to the BBC, in recent years discomfort over what are colloquially known as
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Preventing girls’ knee injuries on the soccer field
With the increasing popularity of soccer around the world comes a corresponding uptick in soccer-related injuries. And considering that fútbol fever has grown particularly rapidly among women in recent years—the number of female soccer players grew by 19% between 2000 and 2006, to 26 million players—female futbolistas have been
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Bo-tax: a levy on nips and tucks?
The health care bill currently being debated in the Senate includes a provision that would levy a 5% tax on elective cosmetic surgeries. The proposed Bo-tax is being presented by supporters as a simple economic tool to help offset health care costs, yet detractors—including some 7,000 doctors in the American Academy of Plastic
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A possibility for regrowing breast tissue?
A team of Australian researchers are set to begin a clinical trial next year to see if a technique for regrowing breast tissue will prove successful in humans. The novel strategy, which could offer hope to breast cancer patients who have undergone mastectomies as part of treatment, involves placing a “scaffolding” in the breast, and
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Seeking the ‘perfect vagina’: elective surgery has its risks
As my colleague Laura Fitzpatrick reported last year, the “designer vagina” trend is on the upswing, with a growing number of young women seeking out surgery to trim, sculpt and perfect their private areas. Yet while more women may be going under the knife in hopes of improving their intimate aesthetics, according to research published
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