Hearing Loss and Cancer Care: Important Facts and Resources 

Treatments used for many forms of cancer, as well as certain rare types of cancer that directly affect the ear(s), can affect your hearing. It’s important to understand the possibilities and know what to look for because, in some cases, early action can help. If you are affected by hearing loss, there are also resources … Read more

ChatGPT and Medicine: The Good, the Bad, and the Bizarre 

The artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT has wowed users with its seemingly human-like ability to generate and respond to language, and worried others by that very same ability. Like virtually every technological innovation that has come before — from the telephone to refrigeration to plastics — ChatGPT is sure to find uses in medicine. People are … Read more

Aspartame: What You Need to Know 

Alongside gasoline engine exhaust and radiofrequency waves from cell phones, aspartame, the sweetener found in diet sodas and many sugar-free foods, is now categorized as “possibly carcinogenic.” The decision, made by the World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), has gotten a lot of attention.   We spoke with Timothy R. Rebbeck, … Read more

How to Stay Healthy When Air Quality Is Not

On June 7, 2023, New York City had the world’s worst air quality as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted southward. Images of the city showed orange skies and a barely visible skyline. Air pollution is a leading cause of death worldwide and is also connected to cancer. According to the American Lung Association (ALA), long … Read more

How is Standard of Care for Cancer Treatment Determined? 

In general, standard of care is treatment accepted by medical experts for a certain type of disease and that is widely used by healthcare professionals. It is also called best practice, standard medical care, and standard therapy.  The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology lay out the recognized standards for cancer … Read more

What is MRI-Guided Radiation Therapy?

Doctors use traditional radiation therapy to guide a beam of radiation toward a tumor, making every effort to minimize the effects of that radiation on surrounding healthy tissue. But some tumors are hard to treat this way because the tumors don’t stay put. They move as a patient breathes or even as they digest. MRI-guided … Read more

Exercise Hormone Reduces Parkinson’s Disease-Associated Brain Degeneration and Symptoms in Animal Model

An exercise-related hormone, irisin, administered to animals with a model of Parkinson’s disease reduced nerve degeneration and symptoms associated with the progressive movement disorder, say scientists from Dana-Farber and Johns Hopkins Medicine. About one million people in the United States, and 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s, which is characterized by tremors, slowed … Read more

Refractory Cancer: What It Is and How It Is Treated

What does “refractory” mean medically? The word “refractory” in general use means stubborn or intractable, and in medicine it is specifically applied to disease that does not respond to treatment. Refractory cancer refers to cancer that may be resistant to initial therapy or becomes resistant during treatment. “We would consider disease refractory if doesn’t respond … Read more

Trouble Swallowing: What You Need to Know

Difficulty swallowing, known as dysphagia, can come in many forms. Some people with dysphagia may experience issues in the oral phase or mouth. This is characterized by one or more of the following: holding food in the cheek without being aware of it due to weakness difficulty moving the food around the mouth leakage of … Read more