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Dry Autumns And Winters May Lead To Fewer Tornadoes In The Spring, Says UGA Researcher
Global warming will likely mean more unpredictable weather, scientists say, and a new study by researchers at the University of Georgia pins down, possibly for the first time, how drought conditions in an area"s fall and winter may effect tornado activity the following spring.

New Online Tool Maps HIV, AIDS Prevalence By County, Other Statistics
The National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF) today launched an online tool that maps the prevalence of HIV and AIDS by county, age, gender and ethnicity in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The HIV/AIDS Atlas is based on 2006 data collected from states and cross-checked with CDC data. The NMQF partnered with George Washington University"s School of Public Health and Health Services to collect and analyze the data. Gary Puckrein, chief executive officer of NMQF, said the new tool will help improve data collection and analysis, prevention initiatives, early diagnosis and routine testing efforts in areas most affected by HIV/AIDS (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/21).
News of the day
Electronic Health Records For The U.S. Difficult To Do, But Could Pay Off
"Creating an electronic health record for every American by 2014 is a big part of Obama"s agenda but it may be easier said than done," CNN Money reports. "For one, the cost can be prohibitive - easily running into the tens of millions of dollars. Getting physicians on board can be challenging. And the sheer magnitude of implementing the technology can be overwhelmingly cumbersome - translation: try creating a system for a hospital that serves 600,000 patients." The ambitious idea is to eventually create a network between hospitals and doctors offices all across the nation (Goldman, 7/31).
Cardiovascular

Is It Possible To Differentiate GISTs From Leiomyomas By Endoscopic Ultrasonography?

A research article in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. This research led by Professor Kim and his colleagues in Pusan National University, South Korea. They evaluated the EUS features of gastric GISTs in comparison with gastric leiomyomas, and tried to determine the EUS features that could predict the malignant potential of gastric GISTs according to the histological risk classification. In their study, to differentiate GISTs from leiomyomas by EUS, the following four features were helpful; inhomogenicity, hyperechogenic spots, a marginal halo and higher echogenicity as compared with the surrounding muscle layer. These features appeared more frequently in GISTs than in leiomyomas. The presence of at least two of these four features had a sensitivity of 89.1% and a specificity of 85.7% for predicting GISTs. Except for tumor size and irregularity of the border, most of the EUS features were not helpful in predicting the malignant potential of GISTs. On multivariate analysis, only the maximal diameter of the GISTs was an independent predictor. The optimal size for predicting malignant GISTs was 35 mm. The sensitivity and specificity using this value were 92.3% and 78.8%, respectively. Gastric mesenchymal tumors are often asymptomatic, and they are usually incidentally discovered during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for unrelated conditions. The main problem in the asymptomatic patient is to determine whether or not the tumors have a malignant potential. Because GISTs have malignant potential, gastric mesenchymal tumors, even if they are small, should not be ignored if the EUS features are suggestive of GISTs. Even though, there are already a large number of publications on the EUS-features of stromal cell tumors available, this research would provide an additional clinical approach guideline in patients with gastric mesenchymal tumors. Reference: Kim GH, Park DY, Kim S, Kim DH, Kim DH, Choi CW, Heo J, Song GA. Is it possible to differentiate gastric GISTs from gastric leiomyomas by EUS? World J Gastroenterol 2009; 15(27): 3376-3381 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/15/3376.asp Lin Tian World Journal of Gastroenterology


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