The five most-read posts on Scope this week were:
A beautiful blood clot: A colorized scanning electron micrograph of a blood clot. The image comes from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where findings showed how fibrin behaves in blood clots.
Stanford filmmakers document life with a rare disease: On July 13, Stanford hosted a free screening of a new documentary by filmmakers Maren Grainger-Monsen, MD, director of the Program of Bioethics and Film, and Nicole Newnham. A compelling story of hope and overcoming great odds, the film offers a closer look the lives of patients diagnosed with rare diseases. In this Q&A, Grainger-Monsen discusses the bioethics of rare diseases and her experiences making the film.
Image of the Week: Ear hair cells derived from embryonic stem cells: An intriguing image from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Flickr photo stream depicting mouse embryonic stem cells that have matured into bundles of hair cells similar to the ones that transmit sound in the ear. The image comes from the lab of Stefan Heller, MD, PhD, at Stanford.
Research links bulimia to disordered impulse control: A recent article in the East Bay Express focused on eating disorders, such as bulimia, and discussed research by Stanford’s James Lock, MD, PhD, psychiatric director of the Comprehensive Eating Disorders Program at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Lock’s research suggests that bulimia is an impulse-control disorder (where the impulse is binge eating), a class of disorders that also includes shoplifting and drug addiction
Breast cancer’s pink, girly ads may not resonate with viewers: A recent study in the Journal of Marketing Research suggests that the pink and girly-centric advertising used to promote breast cancer awareness may be actually alienating women.
