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20th Annual Conference At the Slopes
The South Central District of the Pennsylvania Society for Respiratory Care will hold its 20th annual Conference at the Slopes March 15-17, at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Champion, Pa.
Among the presentations to be offered will be “Healing the Healer,” by Leo G. Frangipane, Jr., MD; “Respiratory Issues in Spinal Cord Injuries” by William Demays, MD; “Are Customers Satisfied with the Service You Give?” by Elaine Lester, RT, MHA; “Clinical Indications for NPPV in the Home,” by Jacquelyn McClare, BS, RRT; and “Acute Myocardial Infarction,” by Lauren Saul, RN, BSN.
There will also be a biofeedback workshop on Wednesday, conducted by Lewis Mahl Madroma, MD.
Additionally, there will also be several presentations designed to help participants relax. Carol Leene, CMT, will conduct two “Best Foot Forward” sessions, demonstrating foot reflexology techniques. Liz Pezzati, CA, will discuss aromatherapy.
There will also be plenty of opportunities to enjoy winter recreational activities, including an organized snow tubing event on Wednesday night.
For more information, contact Bev Sherwood-Burns at (814) 467-6611.
Researchers Link Smoking and Cancer
Researchers speaking at the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists annual meeting recently announced results of their study suggesting the putative tumor suppressor gene FHIT may represent a gene central to cervical cancer which appears particularly susceptible to cigarette smoke carcinogens.
Cigarette smoking is an epidemiologic risk factor for cervical cancer, and cigarette smoking carcinogens have been found in cervical mucous. FHIT, which is frequently altered in smoking associated lung cancer, is located on chromosome 3p14.2, surrounding FRA3B, one of the most fragile sites of the human genome and a known human papilloma virus (HPV) integration site.
In over 90 percent of all squamous cell carcinomas of the uterine cervix, HPV is detected and is thought to be essential for cervical cancer. However, reported annual rates of HPV infection are over 1,000 times higher than the annual incidence of cervical cancer, and at least 90 percent of infections with HPV resolve spontaneously.
The study was conducted by Christine H. Holschneider, MD; Rae Lynn Baldwin, MD; Jeffrey S. Epstein, MS; Beth Y. Karlan, M. of Cedars Sinai Medical Center and the University of California-Los Angeles; and Juan C. Felix, MD, of the University of Southern California.
Researchers hypothesized that cigarette smoking-associated cervical cancer may likely share certain pathogenetic features with other tobacco-associated malignancies. Studies of lung cancers and premalignant pulmonary lesions have demonstrated a strong association between cigarette smoking and alterations of a putative tumor suppressor gene, the fragile histidine triad gene (FHIT).
Indiana Critical Care Seminar in Fort Wayne
The Indiana Critical Care Seminar will take place Wednesday, March 1, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Grand Wayne Center in Fort Wayne, Ind.
This year’s keynote speaker will be Charles Durbin, Jr., MD, of the University of Virginia Health System. He will speak on “State-of-the-Art in Lung Protection Strategy.”
Other presenters will include Brian Youn, MD, discussing the interpretation of chest X-rays, and Mark O’Shaughnessy, MD, speaking about congestive heart failure.
The seminar will conclude with a panel discussion titled “Gift of Life: The Health Care Worker’s Role in Organ Donation.” A representative from the Indiana Organ Procurement Association and other health care experts will lead a discussion of ways respiratory care practitioners and other allied health professionals can assist in the organ donation process.
For more information, contact Ronnie Greenberg of the American Lung Association in Ft. Wayne, Ind., at (219) 426-1170.
Three Chicago Hospitals Discuss Consolidation
Cook County Hospital, the University of Illinois Medical Center and Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, all in Chicago, have hired the Lewin Group of Falls Church, Va., to look at how the three hospitals might collaborate in the areas of patient care, education, research, and community service, according to the American Hospital Association.
Leaders of the three institutions are discussing what form such collaboration might take, including the possibility of a merger.
“It’s really just at the talking stage,” said John Pontarelli, director of media relations for Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, a private institution. Both Cook County and UIC are public institutions.
