The CDC reported a hopeful statistic in the country’s fight against the coronavirus on Sunday. On Monday, every adult in the country will be eligible to register to be vaccinated.

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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.

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Like the rest of the country, I awoke on Wednesday, March 17 to the horrific news of a mass shooting in Atlanta that killed eight people. Six were Asian women, ranging in age from 44 to 74. I immediately went numb. Lulu Wang, the Chinese American filmmaker and director of The Farewell, gave voice to my pain on social media: “I know these women. The ones working themselves to the bone to send their kids to school, to send money back home.”

The fact is, I’ve been in a state of numbness for much of the past year. On top of the unprecedented strains that COVID-19 has placed on all of us, Asian Americans like me have had to confront skyrocketing rates of discrimination, verbal assaults, and physical violence. We have been punched, shoved, stabbed, spat at, told that the pandemic is our fault, we brought it this country, … Read the rest

The Supreme Court has approved an inquiry into President Jair Bolsonaro’s pandemic response. Doctors Without Borders says the country’s approach has led to a “near collapse of Brazil’s health system.”

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