The talks will be held 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. every Thursday of the month.

What’s Stress Got to Do with It? — February 2

Dr. Bonnie McGregor is a behavioral medicine pioneer interested in how psychological factors affect the health of our bodies and our minds. Hear how stress influences our vulnerability to disease, and how stress management techniques can help you reduce your own disease risk.

Stem-cell Therapy: The Hope, the Hype and the Real Potential – February 9

Join Drs. Beverly Torok-Storb, Tony Blau, Phil Horner and Chuck Murry in a discussion of stem-cell research. Learn about the different types of stem cells, common misunderstandings about stem-cell work, clinical therapies being explored and what these researchers envision for the future.

Cancer and Infectious Diseases: Making a Global Impact – February 16

Did you know that nearly a quarter of cancers around the world are infection caused or related? Meet Dr. Corey Casper, the force behind the Hutchinson Center’s research on infection-related cancers in Uganda. By focusing efforts in a country with a higher disease burden, we hope to understand how chronic infections lead to cancer, including why this happens in some of us and not in others.

Influenza: A Study in Evolution – February 23

Soon personal genomic sequences will be cheaper than personal computers. But genomic sequences don’t come with instruction manuals, so revealing what they tell us about evolution and disease remains a challenge. Dr. Jesse Bloom will take us on a journey along the evolutionary path followed by one influenza gene over the last 40 years, and reveal the obstacles and forces that shape genetic change as we attempt to understand evolution at the molecular level.

When:

Thursdays
February 2-23
7-8:30 pm

 Where:

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
1100 Fairview Ave. N., Seattle
Thomas Building
Pelton Auditorium

To Register go HERE.

Every week, KHN reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reads from around the Web.

TIME: Should Journals Describe How Scientists Made A Killer Flu?

In experiments conducted at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, researchers engineered a strain of H5N1. … The next logical step would be for the researchers to publish studies in major scientific journals, describing the newly created flu, including its genetic makeup. And that would mean that anyone with the proper scientific training — from another researcher to a terrorist — would likely be able to read the studies and potentially make the new H5N1 themselves. Cognizant of that risk, on Tuesday the U.S. government did an unprecedented thing: it asked scientific journals not to publish the details of the H5N1 experiments, for fear that the information could fall into the wrong hands and be used to create a bioweapon (Walsh, 12/21).

Image: 3-D model of the flu virus Credit: Dan Higgins/CDC

The New Republic: The Mandate Miscalculation

The story of the individual mandate is replete with ironies. (Barack) Obama spent much of the 2008 primary season denouncing the mandate, which Hillary Clinton supported.

At the time, Mitt Romney was strongly identified with the idea, which had been central to the reforms he introduced as governor of Massachusetts.

Four years later, Romney may be the nominee of a party that abhors the mandate, while Obama now defends it. Yet perhaps the greatest irony has to do with the mandate’s policy merits.

Many liberals assume that universal health care requires an individual mandate; but there are arguably better alternatives (Paul Starr, 12/14).

Salon: Why Women Have Second Trimester Abortions

Later abortions are no one’s ideal situation. … But as a new quantitative study from the Guttmacher Institute shows for the first time, most of these women aren’t living in ideal situations – they are likelier to be teens, to have less education and to have more disrupted lives.

The stereotype, says Susan Schewel, executive director of the Women’s Medical Fund in Philadelphia, is that women who have second-trimester abortions are “willfully irresponsible.But the women who call our help line are instead women who often are trying to be responsible, but their lives are so difficult. They have so many balls in the air, and more pressing financial needs – for example, housing. They just can’t manage everything” (Irin Carmon, 12/21).

American Medical News: Seven Land Mines Of Hospital Employment Contracts

For some physicians, a job with a hospital is a dream come true. A physician can practice medicine and have a steady paycheck, regular hours and none of the hassles that may come with a solo or small practice.

But to make it less likely that this dream will turn into a nightmare, physicians need not only read the contract but also be wary of potential land mines hidden within. …

Physicians tend to have more negotiating power when a hospital is trying to attract them rather than after several years of service, analysts said (Victoria Stagg Elliott, 12/19).

AARP Bulletin: The Case Of The Very Difficult Mother

Johnnie’s children and neighbors urged her to get medical help, but she refused. … Johnnie looked “real sick,” according to one EMT, and there was a strong odor of feces and urine.

At first, Johnnie would not leave, slapping at a paramedic and knocking off his glasses. Eventually, she agreed to go. When the ambulance personnel picked her up they saw feces, urine, pus and blood in the couch. Johnnie’s gown was covered with feces and urine, and she had bedsores. … After she left the hospital, Johnnie went to live in a nursing home.

On March 4, 2002, Stanley and Barbara were charged with one count of cruelty to the infirm. They argued that they did the best they could with their mother, despite her forceful refusals of help and her threatening manner. … Should Barbara and Stanley be charged with cruelty? How would you decide? (Robin Gerber, 12/19).

Illustration: Michal Zacharzewski

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog.

It’s here. The cholesterol-fighter Liptor, the biggest hit in the history of the pharmaceutical industry, is now widely available in generic form.

The Pfizer drug finally lost its U.S. patent protection at the end of November, opening the door for cheaper substitutes (atorvastatin, generically) and ending the monopoly for one of the most profitable brand-name products of any kind.

So how much might you save on Lipitor now? If you have insurance, you should be able to get atorvastatin for the price of a generic copayment. Around $10 is typical.

For the next few months Pfizer is looking to keep people using brand-name Lipitor with subsidized copays. Depending on your insurance, you might get a month’s supply for as little as $4 out of your wallet with the Pfizer deal. Without the card, the average copay for the brand is around $25.

What are the actual prices of Lipitor and the generic copycats?

That question isn’t easy to answer. The bottom-line price paid for prescription drugs by insurers, pharmacy benefits managers and drugstore chains is practically a state secret. There are incentives and rebates that aren’t made public.

But you can get a sense of the cost difference from the cash price someone without insurance would pay.

My neighborhood CVS said a 30-day supply of the 10 milligram dose of Lipitor would cost $150.99. The generic: $117.99.

How about Wal-Mart? One nearby quoted a $119.78 price for the same strength of the brand and $105.46 for the generic.

At the nearest Costco, a month’s worth of 10 mg Lipitor goes for $116.74 while the generic is $87.14.

Are Pfizer’s $4 copay card and some other deals to help it hang on to market share working out? Sort of.

For the week that ended Dec. 9 (the first full week generic atorvastatin was available in the U.S.), brand-name Lipitor accounted for 41 percent of prescriptions for the statin, according to Goldman Sachs. Generics (there are two right now) already claimed 59 percent.

Drug industry analyst Richard Evans says the real price breaks should come in the second half of 2012, when more companies start making and selling generic atorvastatin. Don’t be surprised if the generic costs as little as $4 a month during the second half of next year, he says.

Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Steven Nissen says Lipitor’s transition to generic status marks the end of an era in the pharmaceutical industry. “But a new era is beginning,” he tells Shots. “Many of the tremendous benefits [for heart health] we’ve seen can now be achieved at much lower prices.”

To learn more:

• Read the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed page on Atorvastatin(a tore’ va sta tin)

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

RNA interference (RNAi) is an important pathway that is used in many different organisms to regulate gene expression. This animation introduces the principles of RNAi involving small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs).

We take you on an audio-visual journey through the steps of gene expression and show you an up-to-date view of how RNAi can silence specific mRNAs in the cytoplasm.

Animation by Ballard-based Arkitek Studios.

To learn more:

• Go to the Nature Reviews Genetics webpage where you can find additional information and a poster in a pdf file.
• Visit Arkitek Studios.

Heather Kirkwood, a HPS patient who stars in the film and serves as Director of Outreach/VP for the HPS Network, will facilitate our discussion and take questions following the film.

When:

• Tuesday, December 13, 5:30 to 7:30 P.M.

Where:

• 415 Westlake at Kakáo Chocolate & Coffee, Seattle.

Cost: 

•  $10 at the door

Note: Attendance by RSVP

Click here to RSVP or call 206-957-3337×306,