On December 23, 1971, the National Cancer Act was signed into law by Former President Richard Nixon, granting authority to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) director to develop a national cancer program. In December 2021, First Lady Jill Biden celebrated the legislation’s 50th anniversary in an NCI video, in which she recognized the importance of the act, cancer advocacy, and the disease’s personal impact on her family.
Adding to its earlier approvals for use in adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), on August 25, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ivosidenib (Tibsovo®) for adults with previously treated, locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma. Cholangiocarcinoma, or cancer of the bile ducts, is a rare cancer, and ivosidenib is the only currently approved agent for patients with an IDH1 variant.
Nurses and other healthcare professionals persevered through 2021 and its obstacles, including the COVID-19 pandemic, staff shortages, and increasing rates of burnout, and their selflessness, drive, and honesty have not gone unnoticed by the American public, according to Gallup’s annual Most Honest and Ethical Professions Poll. In results released in January 2022, Americans ranked nurses as the most honest professionals for the 20th consecutive year on a list that also included physicians, grade-school teachers, pharmacists, and other professions.
Driven by evidence-based practice and patient-centered care, nurses have earned the faith of the American public. For two decades, nurses have been ranked the most trusted and ethical profession in the United States. Although trust is critical, what it lacks is support for the profession through federal investment in research, education, and workforce issues for long-term stability.
The extra or missing chromosomes—also called aneuploidy—in 90% of cancer cells may be a factor in treatment resistance, a new study shows. Researchers reported the findings in Developmental Cell.
Pathogenic variants in the CDH1 gene are associated with hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC), a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma that infiltrates into the stomach wall. It causes the stomach wall to thicken without forming a distinct mass, which limits effective screening strategies.
To reduce the disparities affecting maternity health outcomes, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office on Women’s Health (OWH) launched the Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Data and Analysis Initiative, an $8 million contract with Premier, Inc., the agency announced in December 2021. The initiative is rallying a network of hospitals to deploy evidence-based best practices in maternity care.
Benjamin, your 28-year-old patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, received a 10/10 matched, unrelated donor for his allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Two months post-transplant, Benjamin developed grade 4 skin and gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease.
On January 12, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported Lohxa’s voluntary recall of one lot of senna syrup 8.8 mg/5 ml unit-dose cups to the consumer level because of microbial contamination.
Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums increased by 4% for families in 2021, bringing the average annual cost to $22,221 per family, according to the results of a benchmark Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Employer Health Benefits survey released in November 2021. KFF also assessed the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on workplace health benefits, including telemedicine and mental health services.