Physicians at MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital have developed a treatment algorithm to standardize care for children with sickle cell disease who present to the Emergency Department with a fever. With the new algorithm, emergency physicians confer with the hematology/oncology team to determine patients’ levels of risk, recommending that low-risk patients be treated as outpatients. The tool could at once improve the efficiency of care and decrease costs for patients and their families.

A study by scientists at the University of California, Riverside shows ultrasonic cigarettes, or u-cigarettes, marketed as a less harmful alternative to traditional e-cigarettes, may pose significant health risks due to the presence of harmful metals in their liquids and aerosols.

New research out of VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center—published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity—is the first to suggest that a tumor-driving gene known as AEG-1 actively regulates the inflammation responsible for causing chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), a common and painful side effect of cancer treatment. Eliminating the function of this gene using targeted therapies could become a critical strategy for managing a debilitating side effect experienced by many cancer patients.