Calling Dr. Bauer As 2014 draws to a close, I thought this would be a good opportunity to give our readers a brief update on what’s new in the world of pulmonary medicine. Here we go: Lung Cancer: We are discovering new proteins called driver mutations on the surface of lung cancer cells…
Editor’s Note Dear Santa, have tried to be very good this year! I read a simple little book entitled Live and Learn and Pass It On and identified with many of the observations. I have learned that every person I have met and talked to had something to say that I found interesting or…
What to Say and What Not to Say! We bet you have heard many of the comments that are listed here. People mean well, but many times don’t understand what they are really saying to a person dealing with a chronic medical condition! Are you nodding your head in agreement as you read?…
What Exactly is Ebola? The American Association for Respiratory Care tells us the first case of Ebola outside of Africa was reported in Dallas, Texas earlier this year. Ebola is a rare and deadly disease caused by infection with a strain of Ebola virus. The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history,…
Readmission Penalties More than 2,600 hospitals have been fined because too many Medicare patients being treated for heart failure, heart attack, pneu- monia, elective hip and knee replacement readmissions and chronic lung disease. As part of their Hospital Readmission Reduc- tion Program, Medicare reduced payments to hospitals that had high readmission rates. The…
Replacement Therapy Will the Real Stem Cell Please Stand Up Stem cell replacement (SCR) therapy for a wide variety of medical diseases has been a topic of discussion for many years now. The term “stem cell” first appeared in the scientific literature as far back as 1868. A German biologist named Ernst Haeckel used…
Sharing the Health! This holiday season, remember to plan and pace! Plan your activities in advance so you have the time to pack your clothes, or get all the gift wrapping supplies or rec- ipe ingredients without being rushed. Pace yourself to go as fast as you feel comfortable going! Be careful…
Back to Basics Clearing the Airways The body’s respiratory system has sev eral ways to keep itself clean. When you think about it, the lungs are the only internal organ to have contact with the outside world! Your nose is the first defense. As you breathe in, large particles are stopped in the hairs…
COPD News John Walsh, President of the COPD Foun- dation, is asking all people with COPD to become involved with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute – PCORI. The nonprofit agency is funded by imposed fees on health insurance policies. PCORI’s purpose is to assist people involved in health care – the patients, medical…
Fibrosis File Merry Christmas! Thanks to input from people dealing with the disease, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two new drugs, Nintedanib (tradename Ofev® from Boehringer Ingelheim-BI) and Pirfenidone (tradename Esbriet® from InterMune), to help Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). It is the first time the FDA has approved any treatment…