A normative model based on the variation in volume growth rates of stable lung nodules may be used in the surveillance and monitoring of lung nodules and aid in the differentiation of benign and malignant lesions, according to a study published online Dec. 8 in Radiology.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will provide 34 states and one territory with funds from its Distance Learning and Telemedicine program for the purpose of improving access to healthcare and education, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced.

Medtronic has agreed to pay the U.S. $23.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claim Act by using physician payments related to two post-market studies and two device registries as kickbacks to induce doctors to implant the companys pacemakers and defibrillators.

Sens. Dan Coats and Kelly Ayotte, Republicans of Indiana and New Hampshire, respectively, have introduced a Senate version of the FDA Mission Reform Act, which was submitted to the House in October by Michigan Republican Mike Rogers.

A high percentage of older adults continue to report receiving cancer screenings, despite ambiguity of recommendations and the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force guidelines recommending against routine screening for breast, cervical, colorectal and prostate cancer for patients age 75 and older, according to a report published in the Dec. 12/26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. An accompanying commentary acknowledged the high rates of cancer screenings, but argued that an ideal cancer screening model is hard to define.

The Supreme Court has promised to review not only the issue of the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on the individual mandate, but also of whether the PPACAs Medicaid expansion violates the U.S. Constitution, wrote I. Glenn Cohen, JD, and James F. Blumstein, LLB, in a Dec. 7 perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Pointing to two horrifying incidents that recently focused public attention on the problem of surgical firesboth resulting in serious facial burns to patientsthe FDA has released new publicity around its Preventing Surgical Fires initiative launched in October.

Discredited and obsolete data used in the updated Forrest model, published Dec. 8 in the British Medical Journal, underestimated lives saved by mammography screening by half. The authors comparison of anxiety from false positives to breast cancer deaths is also questionable, according to a Dec. 9 statement issued by the American College of Radiology (ACR).