Scientists have once again linked a drop in breast cancer rates from 2003 to 2004 to a parallel decrease in women's use of hormone therapy. Since 2002, the decline in breast cancer rates persisted even though mammography screening rates remained stable, said researchers at Kaiser Permanente, reporting in the August issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. "The message is pretty straightforward," said study lead author Dr. Andrew Glass, senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. "If you need to take hormone therapy to block menopausal symptoms, do it for the shortest duration and the lowest dose."

Programs from our Oncology Library that discuss breast cancer include:

• Caring for the Patient with Breast Cancer (507)
• Basic Genetics for the Oncology Nurse (504)
• Chemotherapy Administration for the Oncology Nurse (512)
• Managing Physical Assessments and Supportive Cancer Care (505)
• Symptom Management for the Radiation Oncology Patient (513)
• Cancer as a Diagnosis: Supporting the Care Givers (515)
• Traditional Pain Management in the Oncology Patient (517)
• Alternative Pain Management in the Oncology Patient (516)
• Guided Visualization (511)

All of these programs can be used in schools of nursing, hospitals, and out-patient oncology centers for both staff development and patient teaching.

Implantable defibrillators can reduce the risk of sudden death in high-risk patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetically linked thickening of heart muscle. This pathology "...is the most common cause of sudden death in young people, including athletes, and a defibrillator affords the opportunity, as it turns out, to change the natural course of the disease and prevent sudden death," said Dr. Barry Maron, director of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. "In a way, this highlights the use and effectiveness of the device in this genetic disease in these young patients and expands the number of patients that could be eligible at least for consideration of a defibrillator."

Older adults also have implantable defibrillators. As a matter of fact, Vice President Dick Cheney had the battery and generator in his device replaced last week during a minor surgical procedure at George Washington University Hospital in the District of Columbia.

Two of our series, Electrical Therapy for the Heart (502), and 3-Lead EKG (117) discuss the use of these devices and arrhythmias. In addition, Cardiac Disorders: Heart Failure (116) and Cardiac Disorders: Coronary Artery Disease (115) describe various cardiac pathologies. All of these series can be used in schools of nursing as well as in hospitals for orientation or staff development.

Dietary treatment of children with behavioral disorders has been a subject of research and debate since the 1920s. However, at this time, there is little scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of dietary restrictions in treating childhood psychiatric disorders, in particular, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Over the years, many young children with behavioral or developmental problems have been provided with a vast array of treatments, yet few have been validated as safe and effective. And despite their questionable efficacy, the use of complementary and alternative therapies such as dietary regimens has become widespread. Perhaps it is due to the fact that these disorders have no known cure, parents often feel powerless, wanting desperately to help their children. They often look for the "magic pill" rather than recognizing that successful treatment involves a variety of long-term educational, behavioral, habilitational, therapeutic, and parental interventions. Our program on AD/HD (205) provides up-to-date information on the diagnosis and management of the disorder while Nutrition of the Young Child (675) explains the dietary needs of all youngsters. These series can be used by schools or professionals in nursing, social work, psychology, nutrition, or education.

Concept Media produces and distributes award winning education media for colleges, healthcare institutions, social service agencies and counseling centers throughout North America, Europe, and the South Pacific. Most programs come in VHS, DVD and CD formats. Site Licenses and Distance Learning packages are also available for our library of programs.

Concept Media is best known in the area of professional nursing education and represented in more than 95% of the nation's nursing school media libraries. We have developed partnerships with leading nursing education institutions including Brigham Young University, Drexel University, and ICN/ Washington State University College of Nursing. Concept Media is well-respected and has received numerous awards for programs on diabetes, human development, mental health, substance abuse, counseling, and addiction.

For your convenience, Concept Media also offers additional resources in the form of Instructor's Guides which are available online. And, in keeping with our mission to focus on the needs of educators in the healthcare field, we invite you to call with any suggestions, questions, program requests, or ways in which we can better serve you.

We would like to hear from you. Please email us on any topics you would like to see covered in Hot Topics.

hottopics@conceptmedia.com. Or call us at (800) 233-7078.