This Federal Register notice announces the FDA release of a proposed rule on combination products, Current Good Manufacturing PracticeRequirements for Combination Products (pdf). According to the FDA Law Blog post, FDA Issues Proposed Rule on cGMPs for Combination Products:
The proposed rule does not independently establish new requirements, rather, it clarifies which set of existing [...]

Kay Lazar in the Boston Globe tells a sad story. Several weeks ago, Governor Patrick and his administration pushed through a plan to help assure that legal Massachusetts immigrants would continue to receive coverage under the state’s landmark health care access bill. This was a gutsy move, staving off prejudice and xenophobia, and [...]

A loyal reader sent in this wonderful photomicrograph from a recent case of cerebral Baylisascariasis (click on the picture to see it up close). A cause of eosinophilic meningoencephalitis, infection with Baylisascaris procyonis is typically characterized by necrosis and eosinophilic inflammation. Larvae are often encapsulated within fibrous tissue (reference 1). Although not particularly neurotropic, [...]

The September 24th Nature came in the mail today and as always with this journal (otherwise I wouldn’t pay for it!) is full of interesting stuff. One paper of particular interest is a cool merger of evolution, computational biology, structural biology and protein engineering.
An interesting question in evolution is to what degree are [...]

I had dinner tonight with a grateful prostate cancer patient who was able to take advantage of our Cyberknife to receive targeted radiation therapy. But what especially impressed him was the fact that he was able to meet with a medical oncologist, a urologist, and a radiation oncologist all at the same time to [...]

When you walk through New England woods, you often come across stone walls. They are a reminder that the region is more forested now than it was 100 years ago. The stone walls used to delimit pastures.
This one is in Rocky Narrows, a Trustees of Reservations property in Sherborn, MA. The video [...]

The BIDMC team again joined in the Hub on Wheels, a bike ride through the neighborhoods that is a fundraiser for the Boston public schools. Our team raised about $7000, and we and Cataldo Ambulance Service also donated medical services for the ride. Mayor Menino’s bicycling czarina Nicole Freedman visited the medical tent before [...]

I have previously written about the email signatures used by some of the girls on the soccer team I coach. Here is another one, from a player with musical talent as well as excellent foot skills.
–~~~~~~~~~~$$$$$$~~~~~~~~~.$$$**$$~~~~~~~~~$$$”~~’$$~~~~~~~~$$$”~~~~$$~~~~~~~~$$$~~~~.$$~~~~~~~~$$~~~~..$$~~~~~~~~$$~~~~.$$$~~~~~~~~$$~~~$$$$~~~~~~~~~$$$$$$$$~~~~~~~~~$$$$$$$~~~~~~~.$$$$$$*~~~~~~$$$$$$$”~~~~.$$$$$$$..~~~$$$$$$”`$~~$$$$$*~~~$$~$$$$$~~~~~$$.$..$$$$$~~~~$$$$$$$$$$.$$$$~~~.$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$~~~~$$$*~’$~~$*$$$$$$$~~~’$$”~~~$$~~~$$$$3$$~~~~$$~~~~$$~~~~$$$ from jillian…~$$$~~~$$$~~~’$~~~~$$$~’*$$~~~~$$$~~$$~~:$$~~~$$$$~~~~~~~$$~$$”~~~~~$$*$$$$$$$$$”~~~~~~~~~~““~$$~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~’$~~~~~~~~..~~~~~~$$~~~~~~$$$$$$~~~~$$~~~~~$$$$$$$$~~~$$~~~~~$$$$$$$$~~~$$~~~~~~$$$$$”~~.$$~~~~~~~”*$$$$$*”

Image via Wikipedia
I ran across this information packed and thought provoking series about wine and your heart. It consists of 3 parts:

Part I: More than just Enjoyment!
Part II: Preventing Heart Attacks
Part III: To the Heart of the Matter

Ellen Mack, M.D., M.P.H., the author, says:
The first two parts (see Part 1 &Part 2) [...]

Yesterday was a good day for catching up on the literature; not only did I finally get around to the IL28B papers I blogged about yesterday, but I also took a run through the genome fusion paper which is being seen as the fitting marker of the end of the “Communicated by” mechanism of PNAS [...]