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New Orleans-The radioactive seeds implanted during prostate brachytherapy
apparently find their way into the lungs of more than one-third of patients,
according to researchers from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University
of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Brunswick.
Washington-Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD has been named the first
urologist to head the National Cancer Institute. Dr. von Eschenbach, 60, comes to NCI from the University of Texas M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center, where he was director of the Genitourinary Center
and director of the Prostate Cancer Research Program. A prolific investigator,
Dr. von Eschenbach has published hundreds of papers on prostate cancer,
cancer biology, and urologic surgery.
This is an exciting time to be involved with interstitial cystitis, from
the clinical aspect of caring for patients, to the search for markers and
better methods of diagnosis, to the basic research so critical in ultimately
finding etiologies and a cure. The articles in this month's Urology Times help to underscore these issues
(see page 8). Tomohiro Ueda, MD, PhD, and colleagues have identified a cytokine
inhibitor that seems to improve interstitial cystitis symptoms and increase
bladder capacity, according to a preliminary trial in patients with non-ulcerative
disease. The potassium chloride test study of Tony Yen-Huang Chen, MD, would
appear to limit the usefulness of this potentially painful examination as
a diagnostic adjunct. The profile that Frederic Liandier, MD, did of 287
IC patients serves to confirm that while we have many therapies for this
disorder, nothing works for everyone and the treatment of IC is as much
art as it is science-perhaps more so.
Unique tax laws make fringe benefits affordable to employees and principals
alike
When it comes to today's employment picture, we live in a strange world.
A high school student is paid $10 per hour to sit inside while a successful
executive pumps his or her own gas out in the rain. The manager of the fast-food
place down the street sides with a surly employee because it is far easier
to attract customers than to find and train new employees. And the convenience
store on the corner is offering unheard-of wages plus fringe benefits and
cannot find applicants.
Under Section 529, assets may be transferred to another child in family
without penalty
Q I've heard there is now an alternative to custodial accounts for
college savings that offer better tax advantages. What type of account is
this, and where is it available?
Attention to reimbursement, billing/collection, and accounts receivable
will boost cash flow
Concerns related to stem cell research and human cloning appear to have
been resolved
Washington-Even though Congress is heavily embroiled in issues resulting
from the Sept. 11 catastrophe, health care strategists are trying to figure
out how to move several Medicare issues of importance to urologists and
other physicians. At the same time, important decisions are being made on
such key policy concerns as stem cell research, human cloning, and even
the shortage of nurses.
Cleveland-Although skeletal fractures attributed to androgen suppression
are present in a small percentage of men on the therapy, the incidence may
be as high as five times that of the normal population, according to Vincent
S. Ricchiuti, MD, chief resident, department of urology, Case Western Reserve-University
Hospitals, Cleveland.
Shiga, Japan-The improvement of interstitial cystitis symptoms with a still-investigational oral agent correlates well with a reduction in bladder platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor/thymidine phosphorylase (PD-ECGF/TP) expression, suggesting the agent's potential for treating symptoms in patients with nonulcerative IC.
For many Americans from every walk of life, California typifies the American dream-a high standard of living, prestigious colleges and universities, and some of the country's best-known attractions. But for many physicians, including urologists, the Golden State represents the worst aspects of practicing medicine in the twenty-first century.
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