When planning for surgery, patients too often don't consider the kind of anesthesia they will receive. In fact, the choice of anesthesia can improve recovery, even outcomes.

NewYork Quality Care, the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) of NewYork-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell and Columbia, has been selected as one of 89 new Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations, providing approximately 1.6 million additional Medicare beneficiaries with access to high-quality, coordinated care across the United States, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced. That brings the total to 405 Shared Savings Program ACOs serving over 7.2 million beneficiaries.

New information published this week in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, from the landmark AFCAPS/TexCAPS study of lovastatin (Mevacor), suggests that low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, the "bad" cholesterol) is not the best predictor of risk for a major coronary event in generally healthy persons with average LDL-C and below average high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, the "good" cholesterol) levels.

The Hearst Burn Center's pamphlet,"Burn Wise! Burn Prevention Information of Special Interest to Observant Jews," has been revised and is available free in English or Yiddish to schools, synagogues, and community groups.

The seventh issue of Cancer Prevention has arrived

A new hypothesis linking cerebrovascular disease to the onset of depression in elderly patients provides impetus for the further study of the treatment and mechanisms of depression.

Scientists report they have identified a key pair of molecules, called ILT3 and ILT4, that could help clinicians precisely modulate the immune response to help treat a variety of diseases. The molecules are the first to be characterized on antigen presenting immune cells, called dendritic cells, to function as a brake for the immune response. Antigens are molecules, such as proteins from viruses or even from the body's own tissue, that can elicit an immune response.

An eight-month-old boy from Northern New York successfully received five transplanted organs as part of a single procedure at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian -- the first procedure of its kind performed at the Hospital. A liver, small bowel, pancreas, colon and stomach were transplanted in the seven-hour operation, called multi-visceral transplantation -- a complex procedure that is rarely performed and requires superb medical and surgical co-ordination. The boy's recovery has been successful, and he is expected to return home soon.