While profits are insanely up, applications for new drugs (non-“me-too” drugs) are insanely down , as Ezra reports.

The Independent Urologist gives you 5 reasons to support single-payer if you’re a solo practice doc (even as a specialist!). The Medicare reimbursement forms are no more complicated than the insurance companies, and Medicare is one of the most on-time payers there is.

In These Times examines the risks from CT scanning: CT Scans and Cancer Risk . Do we do too many CT scans? Hell yes, but I would have to argue that some of it is defensive, as Americans become less and less tolerant of physicians being human and imperfect. Some of it is also diagnostic, as in, “I have no idea what’s wrong with the patient’s abdomen, maybe it’s time for a scan.”

Link to the FDA’s radiation risk , which has a good, important quote:

A CT examination with an effective dose of 10 millisieverts (abbreviated mSv; 1 mSv = 1 mGy in the case of x rays.) may be associated with an increase in the possibility of fatal cancer of approximately 1 chance in 2000. This increase in the possibility of a fatal cancer from radiation can be compared to the natural incidence of fatal cancer in the U.S. population, about 1 chance in 5. In other words, for any one person the risk of radiation-induced cancer is much smaller than the natural risk of cancer. Nevertheless, this small increase in radiation-associated cancer risk for an individual can become a public health concern if large numbers of the population undergo increased numbers of CT screening procedures of uncertain benefit.

My emphasis. Translation: CT or not, you have a pretty good chance of dying from cancer. While a CT scan doesn’t increase your risk a whole lot, if you magnify that effect over the millions of people that get a scan every year, we’re definitely giving some people cancer they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Long Live Grand Rounds! I had no idea Grand Rounds used to be like this. Never seen one Grand Rounds in the previous format. Sad? Maybe. Will it come back? Probably not, unless someone familiar with the previous system decides to bring it back.

Free language lessons , and practice with Skype language exchange .

But Happy Christmas . A cute/funny holiday card from a hospital’s NICU.

The cutest/saddest animation ever. Happy Thanksgiving!

I know LPs can be frustrating–it took my resident and I about 15 tries to get the tap, but this is ridonkulous.

A woman wins the lottery, and uses it to pay for med school. Color me jealous. (via KevinMD )

Free videos from MIT’s web classes .