M. Alexander Otto began his reporting career early in 1999 covering the pharmaceutical industry for a national pharmacists' magazine and freelancing for the Washington Post and other newspapers. He then joined BNA, now part of Bloomberg News, covering health law and the protection of people and animals in medical research. Alex next worked for the McClatchy Company. Based on his work, Alex won a year-long Knight Science Journalism Fellowship to MIT in 2008-2009. He joined the company shortly thereafter. Alex has a newspaper journalism degree from Syracuse (N.Y.) University and a master's degree in medical science -- a physician assistant degree -- from George Washington University. Alex is based in Seattle.
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Lidocaine-prilocaine cream tops lidocaine injections for vulvar biopsy pain
Studies have pitted the cream against the injection before, but they did not compare patients’ maximal pain scores.
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Fewer complications, better outcomes with outpatient UKA
“In carefully selected patients, the ambulatory surgery center seems to be a safe alternative to the inpatient hospital setting.”
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CRISPR-engineered T cells may be safe for cancer, but do they work?
All three patients who received CRISPR-engineered T cells in a phase 1 trial experienced cancer progression but minimal toxicity.
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Staged hemispheric embolization: How to treat hemimegalencephaly within days of birth
“Neurosurgeons won’t touch them.”
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RCT confirms CT scan screening catches lung cancer early
CT screening of older people with heavy smoking histories – using lesion volume, not diameter, as a trigger for further work-up – reduced lung...
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Serum keratin 18 promising as AAH biomarker
There is a stronger association between serum level of keratin 18 and amount of hepatocyte death and liver disease severity than for other...
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Wuhan virus: What clinicians need to know
“It’s not good enough to just download CDC’s guidance; use it to make your own local plan and know what to do 24/7.”
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Exogenous boosting against shingles not as robust as thought
U.K. investigators perform a study to try to solve a varicella vaccine debate on whether pediatric vaccination is indicated.
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Hippocampal sparing temporal lobectomy recommended for medically refractory epilepsy
BALTIMORE – Hippocampal sparing anterior temporal lobectomy reduced the risk of memory impairment in patients with intractable temporal lobe...
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Cognitive screening of older physicians: What’s fair?
A new report leads to questions about how to standardize the process rather than have a piecemeal institutional approach and whether to focus less...
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Draft ACR Takayasu’s guidelines: Surgery is the last resort
ATLANTA – One of the goals in soon-to-be-published Takayasu’s arteritis guidelines from the American College of...
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Prednisolone scores for hand OA
ATLANTA – The approach “is for short course. Long-term steroids can have important side effects, like osteoporosis. We do not think this study...
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Methotrexate gives durable remission from idiopathic granulomatous mastitis
ATLANTA – A study presented at the ACR annual meeting and previous work from others builds a case for methotrexate.
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EEG surveillance, preseizure treatment prevents TSC epilepsy, cognitive loss
BALTIMORE – “If you are not convinced to do early treatment,” at least “do surveillance with EEG. You will diagnose epilepsy earlier, and treat...
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Down syndrome arthritis: Distinct from JIA and missed in the clinic
ATLANTA – “If you only have a second to examine a child or you can’t get them to sit still, just go straight for the hands, and have a low...