Category Archives: In the News

New Thyroid Cancer Guidelines, NCI Blogging in Spanish and More…

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Some of the stories that caught my attention:

  • Researchers at King’s College London and the University of Strathclyde in France conducted an in-depth review of randomized trials of specific screening tests and found that the benefits of mammograms are likely to have been overestimated. The results were published as a systematic review in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. There have been a number of articles published lately in this area of ongoing debate.
  • University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) scientists recently led a panel of experts in revising national guidelines for thyroid cancer testing to reflect newly available tests that better incorporate personalized medicine into diagnosing the condition. Their clinical explanation for when to use and how to interpret thyroid cancer tests was published in Thyroid.
  • A new method for culturing stem cells has been developed by scientists at the University of Adelaide. The research is expected to lead to new treatments for transplant patients. Read more about this development in the journal Stem Cells.
  • NCI’s Cancer Current Blog is now available in Spanish. While not every blog post will be translated in Spanish, stories of specific interest to the Spanish-speaking population will appear in español.

Publication Delays and Acceptance Times by Journal

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In this edition of Blog Buzz, a great post sent me down a fascinating rabbit hole. Here we go!

Upon noticing a long delay between acceptance and publication of his paper in PLoS Computation Biology, Daniel Himmelstien analyzed the PLoS journal family for similar delays and found some notable patterns which are represented with great visuals in his post Publication delays at PLOS and 3,475 other Journals. He then looked at delays in 16 open access publications both in his field and in journals indexed in PubMed with usable data. In closing, he suggests a Yelp-type review site for publications in order to help authors make informed choices about where to publish.

There is a lively discussion in the comments, including similar studies focused on other disciplines (check out lags in Cell Biology Journals, for example), responses from people who have launched journal review sites, and more,  .

If you are an author interested in average publication times in particular journals or looking for journals in your field for potential publication, the MSK Library can help you find what you need with tools like PubsHub and JANE (learn more in previous posts about these resources here and here). Reach out to our Reference Team for help!

Three Powerful Videos, Basket Trials, and More

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• In an online June 30 article, Adweek highlights three powerful videos that tell inspirational, very personal cancer stories. At the end of each video story, the line “science saves more than lives” appears on the screen, “underscoring that MSK’s expertise played a key role in allowing the subjects to realize their post-cancer dreams and aspirations.”

• A recent article on myCentralJersey.com presents information on basket trials at MSK’s Basking Ridge center. A basket trial “focuses on a specific mutation that may be found in cancers that originate in different parts of the body”. There are currently six basket trials underway at MSK, with the first one launched in 2012.

• Dr. Lee Jones, PhD, exercise scientist at MSK, and Cara Anselmo, MS, RDN, registered dietician and nutritionist at MSK, are featured in an upcoming live web chat, “Exercise and Good Nutrition During and After Cancer Treatment: Your Questions Answered!”. The web chat is scheduled for August 4, 6:30-7:30 PM EST, on CancerConnect.