Nine physician specialty societies have identified commonly used tests or procedures in their respective fields that are not always necessary and are releasing the lists as part of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundations Choosing Wisely campaign, aimed at helping physicians make better use of finite health resources.

The American College of Radiology (ACR) and the Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) have responded to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine which concluded that 15 to 25 percent of cancers in the Norwegian mammography screening program are overdiagnosed, saying those overdiagnosis rates are overestimated, according to a statement on ACRs website.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) used its standard competitive review processes and criteria to select the recipients of comparative effectiveness research (CER) grants and contracts using American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (Recovery Act) funds, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published in February.

The U.K.s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) appraisal committee recommended rivaroxaban for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation in a final appraisal determination. The recommendation is subject to appeal until April 17.

Standardized uptake value of regional lymph nodes on PET/CT may provide a threshold to differentiate benign and malignant lymph nodes in patients with inflammatory breast cancer, according to a study published in the May issue of Academic Radiology.

Participation in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and the Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program has continued to grow, according to a February report from the agency itself. Combined, both programs paid $662 million in incentives in 2010 across all participation options, a 72 percent increase from 2009.

Immunotherapy with the antibody bapineuzumab in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimers disease (AD) resulted in decreases in a cerebrospinal fluid biomarker, which may indicate downstream effects on the degenerative process, according to Phase II research published online April 2 in the Archives of Neurology.

Research has shown systemic inflammation causes an increase in depressive symptoms concurrent with changes in glucose metabolism in the parts of the brain responsible for mood and motivation, and the findings could lead to depression treatments for patients who have symptoms related to inflammation in the body or brain, according to a study published in the April issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.