Looking Back for a Change

     Last week was the 50-year anniversary for the “counter revolution” in Greensboro, NC, when four black students seated themselves at an all-white Woolworth lunch counter. One of my favorite former NY Times editors, Howell Raines (who is from the south, himself, I am proud to report), wrote an excellent editorial on this pivotal historical moment which you can read here.

     Back to the present, Watch our Medical Headlines Videos :

• “Filling Cartilage Potholes” details how orthopedic surgeons at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan are getting a 90-percent success rate fixing non-arthritic patients’ knees with a cartilage transplant procedure.

• Ironically, STDs are proving to be useful, according to oncologists at UC San Diego. See “Herpes Kills Cancer” to learn how injecting herpes cells directly into melanoma lesions is yielding encouraging results.

• In “Saving Kids’ Eyes: Retinoblastoma,” watch how doctors at the Retinoblastoma Center of Houston are using “suicide gene therapy” as well as a proton beam radiation to target cancer in children’s eyes. An interesting fact in the story is that The American Academy of Ophthalmology says if a camera flash produces the appearance of a white pupil in photos of your child, get them to an eye doctor immediately, as it’s common to have that occur in kids with retinoblastoma.

     In other news this week, take a look at our report from Cedars-Sinai on a non-surgical approach to removing uterine fibroids and read the fascinating In-Depth Doctor’s Interview with Elizabeth Franzmann, M.D., an otolaryngologist at the Sylvester Cancer Center at the University of Miami, on the topic of detecting head and neck cancer earlier with a simple oral saline rinse test. And whether or not you’re a frequent traveler, everyone needs to read our story on bedbug infestations, which have increased by 71-percent in the U.S. since 2001.

     In case you missed them, you may want to check our past reports, Premium Content in Archives Postmenopausal Woman and Antidepressants: Deadly Combination? or Premium Content in Archives Using a Tooth to Restore Sight!. Premium Content in the Archives may be purchased for as little as $9 for 24-hour, unlimited access. If you would like to access Premium Content for the first time click here.

     Finally, as most of you know, we also produce a television series called Smart Woman. This month, our Executive Producer of Medical Programming, Melissa Medalie, produced a riveting 3-part series called “Dangerous Games.” It covers moms at home surreptitiously drinking the day away, the “smiled upon addiction” of the shopaholic, and how sex addiction has been linked to other psychological conditions. It’s not just Tiger Woods with the problem!