Daily Rounds: Stem Cell Underground; Pushing Heart Implants; Cell Phone Advice; Breastfeeding And Work

Unapproved stem cell treatments causing concern - USATODAY.com Doctors at top U.S. medical centers are increasingly worried about a flourishing stem cell underground where patients get expensive, untested and unregulated treatments that are promoted as stem cell therapy. (yourlife.usatoday.com)

Sales Tactics, Not Data, Influence Implant Choices - NYTimes.com Since last year, the Justice Department has been investigating Biotronik’s sales and marketing practices. Biotronik and its consultants have not been accused of wrongdoing. However, sales tactics, rather than scientific data, can determine which company’s device a patient gets because doctors have no independent source of information about which implants work best or last longest, several experts said. (nytimes.com) David Katz, M.D.: Cell Phones: Assessing and Preventing Risks Cell phone advice from a leading researcher:
* Keep your cell phone away from your body whenever it is on. Use a corded headset, speakerphone or text.

* Minimize cell phone use among children, teens, and pregnant women.

* Demand that the federal government revise regulations, fund research, and issue precautionary health recommendations. (Huffington Post)

Medical News: Delayed Return to Work Boosts Breast Feeding - from MedPage Today Women who stay away from the workplace longer after giving birth may be more likely to breast feed, according to a nationally-representative study. But maternity leave alone didn't predict initiation or duration of breast feeding after adjustment for other factors, perhaps because it didn't always coincide with time of return to work, Chinelo Ogbuanu, MD, MPH, PhD, of the Georgia Department of Community Health in Atlanta, and colleagues found. (medpagetoday.com)