| Red Cross still wants your blood
For information about donating blood to the American Red Cross, call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (800-448-3543). Any healthy person age 17 or older, weighing at least 110 pounds, may be able to donate blood. You can visit http://www.BeADonor.com and search for the blood drive or center location nearest you. The Red Cross has blood centers in Newark, Oakland, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton and San Jose. Hospice by the Bay gay men's grief group Hospice hosts an eight-week grief support group for gay men who have lost a life partner or close relationship. From 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays continuing through Dec. 6. There is no charge for those who received Hospice by the Bay services within the past year. $160 fee for community members. To reserve a space, call 415-487-4313.
All contents, unless so noted, ©2007 Estes Park Trail-Gazette
Nov. 10 — “Secrets and Hidden Meanings" featuring the Renegade Artist Group at the Cultural Arts Council Fine Art Gallery; collection of contemporary works features shrines, masks, mixed media, acrylic, oil, photography and found objects, www.estesarts.com, 586-9203. Through Nov. 18 — “Iridescence and Light" featuring jewelry by Eli Roehl and fiber by Deb Coombs at the Art Center of Estes Park, 517 Big Thompson Ave., 586-5882. Through Nov. 25 — “Lawrence Lubeck's Rocky Mountains" large-scale paintings exhibit in the RMNP building at the Estes Park Museum, 200 Fourth St., 586-6256. Through Feb. 22, 2008 — “Herb Thomson Remembered" exhibit examines the legacy of the Estes Park watercolor artist at the Estes Park Museum. “Oklahoma!" Nov.
NFL Preview - St. Louis (0-8) at New Orleans (4-4)
Both New Orleans and St. Louis stumbled out of the gate to start the 2007 NFL season, but one of those teams has since turned things around. The Saints go for their fifth win in a row on Sunday, when they host the winless Rams at the Superdome. The Saints began the season 0-4 before their current winning streak, which reached four games after last weekend's 41-24 rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars. It isn't hard to figure out why the Saints have been winning. After scoring just 51 points through its first four games (12.8 per game), New Orleans has ripped off 122 points over its last four contests (30.5 ppg). At 4-4, the Saints sit in a tie with Carolina for second place in the NFC South, just behind 5-4 Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers are idle this weekend, meaning a victory would guarantee New Orleans at least a tie for first in the standings.
FDA approves Nexavar® for liver cancer
WASHINGTON, D.C. Nov. 19, 2007 The U.S. FDA today approved Nexavar (sorafenib) for use in patients with a form of liver cancer that cannot be treated with surgery.
Nexavar, originally approved in 2005 for the treatment of kidney cancer, received the approval for a type of liver cancer known as hepatocellular carcinoma based on clinical trial results showing increased survival for patients taking Nexavar.
"In a randomized clinical trial, the group of patients with inoperable hepatocellular carcinoma who received Nexavar survived 2.8 months longer than the group of patients who didn't receive the drug," said Dr. Robert Justice, director of FDA's division of drug oncology products. "This is an important new treatment option for patients who are fighting this very difficult form of cancer."
Nexavar is a type of anticancer drug called a kinase inhibitor.
Pill makes endoscopy easy to swallow
Studying and treating disorders of the digestive system might not be the most glamorous job. But you'd never know it from talking with Dr. Fawaz Hakki, a gastroenterologist. These days, he's feeling like a movie director. The feature presentation? It's a full-color video of the tight, twisted tunnels of a patient's small intestine. Welcome to real fantastic voyage, the story of a pill-sized camera that is making intestinal endoscopy easier to swallow. "It's awesome technology," said Hakki, of Potomac Gastroenterology in Waynesboro, Pa. "In my opinion, it's the gold standard when it comes to examining the small intestine." The procedure is called capsule endoscopy and, according to Hakki, it allows gastroenterologists to view pictures of the small intestine where bleeding, inflammation, lesions and other causes of abdominal pain might occur.
Virtual Hospital
Inside a tiny state-of-the-art control room at Germanna Community College's Locust Grove campus sit a couple of laptop computers, an audio-visual monitor, microphones, a bunch of walkie-talkies and headphones. Like a familiar scene from the Wizard of Oz, associate nursing professor Patti Lisk playfully projects her voice from behind a one-way window draped with a burgundy curtain portraying a bevy of characters. She uses a joystick to manipulate the overhead camera in the next room to track the students' every move. Next door, in the medical surgery room, two nursing students - dressed in white lab coats with matching slacks - move swiftly Tuesday checking on their "patient's" frequently changing condition. Sporting a stethoscope, Culpeper nursing student Kris Painter pays close attention to "Ima Wheezy," an 80-year-old congestive heart patient.
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