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Daily Rounds: Buffett's Prostate Test Questioned; A Troubling Departure; Music For Dementia; The Shaved Head Arrives

Why Was Warren Buffett Screened For Prostate Cancer? (The New York Times) — "A day after Warren Buffett announced he had prostate cancer, the question on the minds of many men and their doctors is this: “Why was an 81-year-old man screened for the disease in the first place?” Mr. Buffett’s cancer was detected with a prostate specific antigen blood test, commonly called a P.S.A. test. But the decision by Mr. Buffett’s doctors to screen him at all goes against the recommendations of the highly regarded United States Preventive Services Task Force, a government panel that issues screening guidelines. In 2008, the task force recommended against routine use of the test for men 75 or older. The test is notoriously unreliable in older men, who often have elevated P.S.A. scores as a result of natural aging or an enlarged prostate."

President's Exit Stirs Fears On Hospital's Fate (The Boston Globe) — Dorchester community leaders are worried about the future of Carney Hospital after last week’s abrupt departure - some say firing - of its president, Bill Walczak, a longtime neighborhood activist hired by Carney’s new corporate owner only 14 months ago. Walczak took issue with a spokesman for Steward Health Care System, the parent company of Carney, who said Friday that Walczak had quit. “I did not resign from the Carney Hospital,’’ Walczak said Wednesday. He declined to elaborate on the circumstances behind his leaving the 186-bed hospital, which has been losing money for years amid cuts in government insurance payments for low income patients...But several of Walczak’s friends and associates say he was fired after proposing a three-year strategic plan calling for Steward to make new investments in Carney."

For Elders With Dementia, A Musical Awakening (NPR) — "Henry, an elderly Alzheimer's patient in an American nursing home, recently became a viral star. In a short video that has been viewed millions of times online, he starts out slumped over and unresponsive — but undergoes a remarkable transformation as he listens to music on a pair of headphones. The clip is part of a documentary called Alive Inside, which follows social worker Dan Cohen as he creates personalized iPod playlists for people in elder care facilities, hoping to reconnect them with the music they love."

Making The Most Of Nothing (The New York Times) — "Like anyone, I have seen how the ravages of male pattern baldness can make even the most youthful and handsome men look old and clownish. But that’s only part of the problem. What is particularly insidious about hair loss is the toll it takes on a man’s ego during its slow but steady march, the years of mirror gazing and shower-drain inspecting as he helplessly monitors his hairline’s inexorable retreat. The options for dealing with it (comb-overs, hair plugs, toupees, topical hair-growing slime, or, most humiliating, the infomercial powder-in-a-can product that promises to fill in thin spots with the squeeze of a spray pump) only aggravate feelings of inadequacy. It’s as if he’s a fragile flower held together with duct tape and glue, deathly afraid of rain, wind or a flirtatious hair-mussing from a colleague. It’s no way to live. Luckily, I hit my hair-loss turning point at a time when there is, if not a solution to baldness, then a cooler alternative: head shaving."

This program aired on April 19, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

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