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Breast cancer remains the most common cancer among women. In the last two decades, the treatment of breast cancers has become personalized. This has been possible due to the subtyping of breast cancers. Breast cancers have been subtyped based on the receptors on the breast cancer cell. The most clinically significant receptors — those that have targeted therapies — are the estrogen and progesterone receptors and the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Cancers that have the estrogen and progesterone receptors are termed hormone receptor (HR)-positive cancers.

The development of hormone therapy for HR-positive breast cancers means that some women, for whom the risks of chemotherapy outweigh the benefits, may be able to forego chemotherapy. The development of genomic assays, tests that analyze genes expressed in cancer, have provided a way to help doctors and women decide who will obtain the most benefit from chemotherapy.

How does genomic testing

NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with Dr. Paul Nestadt, a psychiatrist who studies gun violence, about public health responses to gun violence — which President Biden has called an epidemic.

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Did you know that antidepressant medications are often prescribed for people without depression?

It’s true. Antidepressants are frequently prescribed for chronic pain, especially pain related to nerve disease (called neuropathic pain), chronic low back or neck pain, and certain types of arthritis.

In fact, some guidelines for the treatment of chronic low back pain and osteoarthritis (the most common type of arthritis) include antidepressants. One antidepressant in particular, duloxetine (Cymbalta), is FDA-approved for these conditions.

Just how antidepressants reduce pain is not well understood. One possibility is they affect chemicals in the brain involved in pain perception, a mechanism that differs from how they fight depression.

Not usually the first choice for pain relief

For people with chronic low back or neck pain or osteoarthritis of the hip or knee, an antidepressant medication is not usually the first treatment recommended. Other approaches, such as physical therapy, exercise, losing excess weight, … Read the rest

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is reversing restrictions on the use of fetal tissue in medical research implemented under former President Trump.

(Image credit: Ed Reschke/Getty Images)

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