The past few weeks in blog land…

CVS has announced plans to end tobacco sales by October 1 of this year. This item from NPR’s The Takeaway discusses the news, the company’s move toward being a health provider, and includes comments from the CEO about some of the foods CVS sells (which have been mentioned in criticisms of the move). For an example of criticism on this widely applauded announcement has drawn consider 33 Charts’ blog. On Respectful Insolence a reminder to focus on the big picture that positive move this is from CVS.

Gene by Gene has settled it’s patent infringement case with Myriad and will not sell  BRCA tests in North America. No doubt, bloggers are writing about this and related cases now.

Last week a comment in Nature, Policy:NIH plans to enhance reproducibility (by Francis Collins and Lawrence Tabak) addressed the problem reproducibility in science and policies the NIH hopes can combine with the efforts of other interested parties to help “reset the self-corrective process of scientific inquiry”.

5 Key Things to Know of Meta-analysis is a great explanation of important factors to keep in mind when looking at meta-analytical studies. Hilda Bastian has included examples of studies using the different methods discussed, links to further explanations of the statisical methods involved, and charming cartoons to explain the concepts involved. (via @bonnieswoger)

On Cancer.net, MSK’s Dr. Anas Younes wrote about Cancer in the Age of Social Media, asking other oncologists about the recent pieces about blogger Lisa Adams prior to giving his own (admittedly biased) opinion.