Archives for category: 2007


By the time Jim Hurley, 54, learned last year that he had early-stage prostate cancer, the disease had already killed his father and struck two brothers. With that family history, the plaster artisan from Springfield, N.J., wasn’t about to take chances. For two months, he pored over scientific studies, books, and websites about the cancer. He discussed his situation with doctors, his brothers, and other survivors. A surgeon recommended surgery. A radiation oncologist advocated a form of radiation therapy. But Hurley, concerned that either could leave him impotent or incontinent, settled on a novel technique that attacks cancer with sound waves. He had to drop $23,500 and fly to Toronto to get treated with high-intensity focused ultrasound, or HIFU. (Health officials in Canada and Mexico permit the procedure, but U.S. regulators haven’t made a decision on it.) So far, he’s pleased with the results.

U.S. News &  World Report, September 2007

For Kyle Anderson, 19, the battle began with a row of welts on his stomach. Soon the Arizona State University student, who was living in a private apartment complex in Tempe, was waking up repeatedly at night to smash anything that moved.

His prey? Cimex lectularius, those notorious nocturnal, lentil-size bedbugs that feed on human blood, can travel on anything from luggage to a used sofa and are now popping up everywhere across America—from homes to hotels to summer camps—in surprisingly large numbers. “History is repeating itself,” says Michael Potter, an entomologist from the University of Kentucky and a leading bedbug expert, who notes that most American homes were crawling with the bugs prior to World War II. The widespread use of potent insecticides such as DDT nearly wiped them out. Experts aren’t sure what’s spurring a comeback now, but they theorize it’s a combination of international travel and the move away from strong pesticides.

U.S News & World Report, 2007