Increasing the ability to identify sentinel nodes - the very first lymph nodes that trap cancer cells draining away from a breast lesion site - has a major impact in the treatment and outcome of breast cancer patients, possibly eliminating the need for unnecessary and painful surgery. Researchers found that using SPECT/CT imaging aids in sentinel node identification - especially for overweight or obese women, according to a report in the February issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. [click link for full article]

Nearly 3 in 4 people with diabetes at high risk for amputation have diseased toenails. These are the findings of a recent study presented at the Council of Nail Disorders in advance of the American Academy of Dermatology in Washington, DC. The study, coauthored by Drs. Stephanie Wu and David G. Armstrong of Scholl’s Center for Lower Extremity Ambulatory Research (CLEAR) at Rosalind Franklin University, was the first to rigidly evaluate a controlled group such as this. [click link for full article]

President Bush has renewed his call for nationwide tort reform, but federal legislation addressing medical malpractice lawsuits is unlikely to pass while Democrats hold the majority in Congress, the Chicago Tribune reports. Bush in Illinois last week said, “I’m worried about frivolous lawsuits that are running up the cost of health care. [click link for full article]

A gene called menage-a-trois 1, or MAT1, plays a crucial role in the function of a master switch for production of energy in the heart cell — a finding that has important implications for understanding and maybe even treating heart failure, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and other institutions in a report published in today’s issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.When Dr. [click link for full article]

Researchers have discovered a pivotal new player in early events that commit fat cell precursors to becoming full-blown fat, according to a report in the February issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, published by Cell Press. Drugs that block some activities of the enzyme, known as xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR), might therefore offer a novel antiobesity therapy designed to fight fat before it even forms, the researchers said. [click link for full article]

As people age, they may have to exercise even harder to get the benefits afforded to younger folk. That’s the suggestion of a report in the February issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, published by Cell Press, showing that a signal that gives muscles a kind of metabolic boost in response to exercise is blunted in older animals. [click link for full article]

The Lancet’s first forum on cancer management will be held in Singapore in April (Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Singapore, April 21-22, 2007). Entitled Asia and cancer management in the 21st century and comprising a faculty of 43 speakers and other presenters representing 25 countries, it will draw together over 400 leading cancer experts, researchers, and policymakers from around the world, in a bid to tackle the growing cancer burden in Asia. [click link for full article]

U.S. District Court Judge David Coar on Tuesday denied Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s (D) request to lift an injunction on a 1995 state law requiring parental notification for minors seeking abortions, the AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports (Robinson, AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/6). [click link for full article]

Several newspapers recently published opinion pieces and a letter to the editor addressing the Medicare prescription drug benefit. Summaries appear below. Opinion Pieces [click link for full article]

By not including funds to offset a pending cut in Medicare payments to physicians, the president’s FY 2008 budget will accelerate the collapse of primary care, create access problems, and manufacture obstacles to fundamental reform of physician payment policies, the American College of Physicians (ACP) said. [click link for full article]