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Atlanta-The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) apparently is serious about finding the causes of and treatments for a mysterious condition known as Morgellons disease.

Change doesn't come easy for most of us, especially when it involves money. If you're like me, you still remember the first time you walked into a bank to open an account - the fortress-like building, the prim and proper employees, tellers behind their glassed and barred cages. It was an intimidating experience, but somehow you knew that your money would be safe behind that imposing brass door to the bank vault.

Dermatologist John David Carey, M.D., did the interview for this profile while multitasking. He was washing dishes and keeping an eye (via baby monitor) on his son, Andr?, as the baby slept peacefully in another room.

Certainly, asset protection planning is a crucial part of a client's wealth planning today - especially for physicians. Everyone acknowledges that there is some risk of a beyond-insurance limits lawsuit for any doctor. If this is true, and proper asset protection may actually help you BUILD wealth, then such planning cannot be ignored.

The basic premise is that anyone can contribute to a 529 plan, regardless of age or income. This includes an individual, a corporation, a partnership, a trust, a guardian, a committee, a trustee, an executor, an administrator or any person acting in a fiduciary capacity. Local governments and some nonprofit organizations may also participate.

By using a protective chamber to shield mouse skin seeded with BCC, researchers say they have created the first reliable means of transplanting these tumors.0

Melanomas can appear very different in the dermoscope and have different genetic mutations, depending on the amount of ultraviolet radiation insult received over the years.0

Transplant patients have a higher risk of developing skin cancers than the normal population, and their specific risk factors must be scrutinized by wary physicians. According to one expert, a proactive treatment approach is crucial in order to control, diminish and even prevent skin cancers in this sensitive and susceptible patient population.

Using a gene-based sunscreen that can literally prevent your skin from developing non-melanoma skin cancer may sound a bit far-fetched. According to a recent breakthrough study, this is precisely what may be available to everyone world-wide, possibly making non-melanoma skin cancers a thing of the past.

New evolving technologies have always been welcomed by practicing physicians if these technologies serve to better diagnose and treat patients. According to one expert, confocal microscopy is one such technology that can positively assist dermatologists in more accurately diagnosing pigmented lesions. However, the sky may be the limit for this up and coming diagnostic tool.

A nonablative 1,550 nm erbium-doped fiber laser effectively treats facial and non-facial photodamage, rhytids and dyspigmentation with a favorable side effect and recovery profile, according to a recent study.

As the cosmeceuticals category explodes, dermatologists need to know how to dispense practical advice while keeping recommended regimens simple, says an expert.

State-of-the-art periorbital rejuvenation requires going beyond skin-tightening surgeries to address underlying structures from a three-dimensional, volumetric standpoint, says an expert.

Zoe Diana Draelos, M.D. answers cosmetic questions about hair shine and sunscreen safety

Results from a repeat treatment study highlight the persistence of the benefits provided by the family of smooth-gel hyaluronic acid fillers (Juvéderm, Allergan) for correction of nasolabial folds. The retreatment was administered within 24 to 36 weeks after the last initial treatment. It required significantly less filler volume than originally, and after 24 weeks, was associated with clinically significant improvement exceeding that achieved originally.

A relatively new trolamine/sodium alginate emulsion has proven to be noncomedogenic, according to a small study.

A clinician's physical assessment of a patient with diabetes should include evaluating the patient's vascular status, bony/structural deformities, footwear and foot sensation. Because diabetic patients may have sensory neuropathy, the nerves in their feet do not provide the alarms or triggers that tell them that there is possible trauma to the foot that could lead to ulceration.

In a recent psoriatic arthritis study, infliximab was associated with lower total medical costs, including hospitalizations, physician visits and OTC drug purchases.

PHOENIX 2 is a phase 3 study evaluating the efficacy and safety of ustekinumab (Centocor), a fully human interleukin-12/23p40 monoclonal antibody in patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis.

A recent study shows that melanoma cells expressing the ABCB5 molecule on their surface are key players in the growth and metastasis of melanoma.

San Antonio - Adam Jeremy Freidman, M.D., won first place in the North American Clinical Dermatologic Society (NACDS) Resident Clinical Research Award competition, sponsored by Abbott Laboratories.

Dermatology Times has won five 2008 Gold Triangle Awards from the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).

Along with the perils of industry support (see main story), controversies facing dermatologists include the impact of biologic drugs for psoriasis, the efficacy of treating actinic keratoses (AKs) for cancer prevention, the advancement of pay-for-performance programs, the rise in Mohs utilization rates and the role of food allergies in childhood eczema, experts say.

It's time for dermatologists to realize the many ways in which accepting industry support can compromise patient care, an expert says. Despite mounting financial pressures, accepting industry support remains a matter of choice, he says.

Diane R. Baker, M.D., outlined the challenges, strategies and successes of her year at the helm of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), in an address at the 66th annual AAD meeting here in February.

In an address to the American Academy of Dermatology, 2008 president C. William Hanke touts the value of leadership, and encourages dermatologists to become involved in the political process.

The increased risk of skin cancer through exposure to sunlight, and the benefits of that exposure through enhanced production of vitamin D, were brought into sharper focus in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science in January.

The University of California, San Francisco, news release on the CA-MRSA paper highlighted the "superbug" nature of the research. It also used language suggesting that gay men were not part of the "general population."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is appealing a Federal Court order requiring the release of information about the number of Medicare claims filed by individual physicians. The order was the result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Consumers' CHECKBOOK/Center for the Study of Services, a nonprofit consumer research and information organization.

WASHINGTON – A new report to Congress this month by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is expected to recommend that lawmakers approve an average increase in Medicare physician fees of 1.1 percent for 2009 rather than allowing a scheduled 5 percent reduction to take effect.