Daily Rounds: Post-Chemo Hair Power; HIV Drugs For The Healthy; Grasping Language At Six-Months Old; Death In Oregon

Post-Chemo, New Hair, New Outlook (The New York Times) — "Now, for many women who have lost hair during cancer treatments, dyeing is empowering — and doing it in an open, chatty session makes it all the better. “They’re feeling good again,” said Alexis Antonellis, a colorist at Oscar Blandi who often sees clients who want hair colored after chemotherapy. “They want to go back to who they were. They’re so excited to sit back in the chair and get their life back. It’s really nice. You’ve got to see the smiles.” Even Ms. Kreek, who wears a stunning blond shoulder-length wig because her hair is not yet long enough to color, has become less guarded. “I used to make them wash my wig on my head,” she said. “Now I just hand it off.”

Fight Over Use Of HIV Drugs (The Wall Street Journal) — "Scientists are scrutinizing a new approach to preventing the spread of HIV that involves healthy people taking drugs to keep them from being infected by partners with the virus that causes AIDS. Early evidence from three clinical trials suggests that this method, involving antiretroviral drugs normally used to treat HIV infection, is effective when people take the drug properly. New scientific findings released this week also help explain why the method didn't work in another study among women that had to be halted, and that prompted doubts about the approach."

Six-Month Old Word Learners (National Science Foundation) — "But new research says infants may begin understanding language much sooner than previously thought. They understand the meaning of some words far earlier than parents or even social scientists theorized. In fact, before they talk, walk or point, infants know the meanings of some words merely from everyday exposure to them. "By six months, infants understand the meaning of words related to foods and body parts," said Elika Bergelson, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, who recently conducted a study that challenges current views of the developmental sequence of human language learning."

Oregon Emphasizes Choices At End Of Life (NPR) "A two-page form created in Oregon is providing insight into how people want to be cared for at the end of their lives. And the so-called POLST form — short for Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment — offers far more detailed options than a simple "do not resuscitate" directive does. Terri Schmidt, an emergency room doctor at Oregon Health and Science University, remembers the day an elderly man with congestive heart failure came into the hospital from a nursing home. The man didn't have a form, so, by law, Schmidt had to provide all the medical care possible. "I intubated the man. I did very aggressive things. It didn't feel right at the time," says Schmidt. "There was just this sense in my mind that this is a 92-year-old very elderly person with bad heart failure. And about 15 minutes later, when I was able to get a hold of the family, they said, 'You did what? We talked about this! He didn't want it. We had a big conversation in his room about a week ago.' "