The Thunderworld reports on research from Rosalie Sears, Ph.D., that finds the MYC protein — long known to drive tumor growth — also repairs DNA damage caused by chemotherapy and radiation, helping cancerous cells survive treatment; the same team has begun a clinical study testing a drug called OMO-103 that targets MYC in pancreatic cancer patients.

A large, national study finds veterans diagnosed with cancer face a suicide attempt rate of 203 per 100,000 — significantly higher than the general population — with risk peaking in the first six months after diagnosis and remaining elevated for up to five years, even for those with more treatable cancers. Donald Sullivan, M.D., says, “Our findings really show that suicide risk doesn’t end when treatment ends. For some patients, especially younger veterans and those with certain cancers, the risk remains elevated for years.”

At a media availability, Maria Rodriguez, M.D., and Shereef Elnahal, M.D., highlight the impacts that state abortion bans have on patients, including a recent study that finds patients in ban states are more likely to receive only misoprostol to manage abortions, rather than the safer and more effective mifepristone-misoprostol combination. Rodriguez says, “We can’t restrict one area of reproductive health care without there being far-reaching impacts.”

MedPage Today reports that the American Cancer Society updated its colorectal cancer screening guidelines to add several newly FDA-approved blood-based and stool-based testing options alongside the existing colonoscopy gold standard, while cautioning that blood-based tests have lower sensitivity and emphasizing that any positive result from a non-colonoscopy test requires timely follow-up with a colonoscopy. David Lieberman, M.D., emphasizes that adherence to follow-up colonoscopy among patients who obtain a blood test “will be important.”

Salon covers an OHSU study that found that state-level abortion bans were associated with a reduction in evidence-based medical care for miscarriage management. Maria Rodriguez, M.D., says, “These are very real and dangerous clinical implications for the hundreds of thousands of women experiencing miscarriages annually”:

Coverage of a rescue effort to free a climber pinned beneath a 16,000-pound boulder on Mount Hood notes that a surgical team from OHSU was put on standby, flown to Mount Hood and circled above the rescue operation, ready to land and amputate the climber’s leg if crews could not get the golf-cart size rock off him.

Coverage of a rescue effort to free a climber pinned beneath a 16,000-pound boulder on Mount Hood notes that a surgical team from OHSU was put on standby, flown to Mount Hood and circled above the rescue operation, ready to land and amputate the climber’s leg if crews could not get the golf-cart size rock off him.

High Country News reports on the growing body of research examining the impact of wildfire smoke on the ability to conceive. The story highlights OHSU research showing that wildfire smoke can impact fertility treatments. Molly Kornfield, M.D., says she was alarmed to see that “even this acute episode of only 10 days — which, of course, is really severe — can have a negative impact.”

Eating Well covers advice from experts on ways to reduce cancer risk. Kerri Winters-Stone, Ph.D., says “Reducing sedentary time is also important, but is distinct from getting enough physical activity.”

A cover story in Science News magazine highlights OHSU’s use of high-frequency focused ultrasound for treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Dan Cleary, M.D., says the effect is immediate for patients who have struggled for years with debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s: “Families get very emotional. The patients get emotional. We get emotional. It’s a big thing.”