Compiled by Debra Scherban. Please send items to dscherban@gazettenet.com.
In recognition of National Skin Cancer Awareness Month, dermatologist Richard Wyatt and physician’s assistant Mike Brown will provide free skin assessments May 8 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, 30 Locust St., Northampton.
The clinic, which runs from 5:30 to7:30 p.m., is a cooperative effort among the Mass General Cancer Center at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Amherst’s Pioneer Valley Dermatology and the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, the incidence of skin cancer grew significantly in white men and women between 2003 and 2012, the latest years for which data are available. Nearly 5 million people are treated for skin cancer each year in the United States.
UV rays from sunlight are the greatest during the late spring and early summer in North America, with the greatest exposure occurring between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., according to a prepared statement by Cooley Dickinson.
Most skin cancer can be prevented, according to the statement. Common risks include unprotected and/or excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation; fair complexion; family history; occupational exposures to coal tar, pitch, creosote, arsenic compounds, or radium; multiple or atypical moles or severe sunburns as a child.
Registration for the screening is required. Call 888-554-4234.
Four members of the Smith College community, led by assistant professor Hannah Karpman at the School for Social Work, will have their research findings published this month in Midwifery, an international medical journal. Their study set out to learn more about maternity information (or misinformation) available via online forums for lesbian, bisexual and queer women.
The other authors are Emily Ruppel, an undergraduate at Smith, and two alumnae, Mallory Merryman, research coordinator of the Known Donor Project and Carolyn Delk of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.
The researchers’ main findings are:
1) Lesbian, bisexual and queer women’s online conception and pregnancy groups, which are created for social support, are often used to seek or provide medical advice. Of these posts, over a quarter of information exchanges are related to the mechanics of artificial insemination.
2) Conception and pregnancy group members often provided medical information on the basis of personal experience or hearsay, which increases the risk for the spread of misinformation. This may heighten health disparities among LBQ women attempting conception. Furthermore, the high level of engagement in these groups suggests that other methods of accessing this kind of information may not fit LBQ women’s needs, and that medical providers should consider ways to make their services more accessible. The frequency and depth of medical questions in these settings suggests that interest in reproductive health information is high within this community and that members do not have frequent or relevant discussions with their healthcare providers about these issues.