Publications Update # 48

Contents:

Non-Medical Article of the Week - How to Make Stress Your Friend

Mini-Tutorial - Neuroendocrine Tumors of the Cervix

EIN, Sentinel LND and Lymphedema

Statistics - Confidence Intervals

Review - Osteoporosis management article from NEJM

Non-Medical Article of the Week

How to make stress your friend

Stress. It makes your heart pound, your breathing quicken and your forehead sweat. But while stress has been made into a public health enemy, new research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal urges us to see stress as a positive, and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others.

TED TalksKelly McGonigal

You might already be familiar with this video from a wellness or resilience training program provided by a hospital or medical society.

Even if you've seen it before, I strongly recommend watching it again, particularly for those about to face oral board examinations in the coming weeks.

My first encounter with this video was back in 2013, during a period when I was navigating job interviews. Initially, I was doubtful. How could simply reframing palpitations and sweating be preparatory responses for stress or convincing oneself that the stress response is beneficial to transform it into a positive rather than problematic experience? Nevertheless, I decided to try it, and, to my surprise, it was highly effective. In the midst of my board exams, I began to view my tachycardia as my body's method of enhancing blood flow to my brain, thereby improving my decision-making abilities.

Will it be effective for you? As V eloquently puts it in "V for Vendetta,"

"There is no certainty, only opportunity."

Mini-Tutorial

Neuroendocrine tumors of the Cervix

Diagnosis

PET-CT is significantly better than contrast CT, leading to changes in diagnosis and treatment for nearly one-third of patients based on PET scan results.

PET/CT scan improves detection of metastatic disease compared with CT scan alone in women with high-grade neuroendocrine cervical cancer: a NeCTuR study - PubMed

A CT scan is inferior to a PET/CT scan in assessment of metastatic disease in women with high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix. Almost one-third of patients with newly diagnosed high-grade neuroendocrine cervical cancer would have received incorrect therapy had treatment planning been ba …

PubMedMichael Frumovitz

Order a PET scan for diagnostic workup of neuroendocrine tumors of the cervix