The five most-read posts on Scope this week were:
Using stem cells to treat and cure immune diseases: Director of Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Irving Weissman, MD, along with student Agnieszka Czechowicz, published an article discussing how a one-time treatment with blood stem cells could potentially provide a cure for autoimmune diseases, HIV/AIDS and may also eliminate the ongoing need for anti-rejection drugs by organ transplant recipients.
Disagreement and uncertainty about Gulf oil spill effects on human health: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several other local and national agencies say the spill poses only mild, temporary health risks to cleanup workers and none at all to the general public. But media reports suggest the public continues to be skeptical of the government's claims relating to oil spill safety.
The "July effect" confirmed at teaching hospitals: A study by UC San Diego shows in-hospital fatalities related to medication errors spike about 10 percent every year in July. Researchers suggest reevaluating responsibilities assigned to new medical residents and increasing the supervision of them to fix this problem.
Why physicians aren't using LinkedIn: A discussion on why the popular social networking service hasn't taken hold in the medical community.
New Stanford Genomics Center to bring personalized medicine to patients: The School of Medicine announces the creation of a new Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine. The center brings together the most advanced sequencing technology and experts in genomics, bioinformatics, molecular genetic pathology and ethics and genetic counseling.
The Grand Roundup is posted every Saturday.
