Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel discuss the gunshot wound George Orwell suffered when fighting in the Spanish Civil War. “The novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ was almost never written after Orwell was seriously wounded,” they write in their latest Medical Discovery News column.

“It’s not just about comparing success rates; it’s about defining what success means for each family, whether that’s minimizing interventions, avoiding anesthesia, or achieving the lowest chance of readmission,” Dr. Isabella Faria tells Medscape. Faria was an author on a recent paper reevaluating nonoperative management of pediatric appendicitis.

Nurse Practitioner Jill Resendez shared how her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis shaped her career and her life. Resendez works in UTMB’s Division of Plastic Surgery where, among other procedures and services, she performs areola tattooing for patients who have undergone a mastectomy and breast reconstruction.

The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), a leading global molecular diagnostic society, has honored UTMB’s Dr. Michael Laposata with its prestigious Champion for Innovation Award for his countless contributions to the clinical laboratory field and for his role as a joint plaintiff in AMP’s lawsuit challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s rule on laboratory-developed test procedure regulation.

A new strain of mpox, caused by the monkeypox virus, has surfaced in Southern California. "What's really required is vigilance or surveillance … to detect new cases and try and stop them from being spread further," Dr. Thomas Ksiazek tells Fox News.

“The pace of hospital consolidation has slowed but will continue over the next few years,” Dr. Jochen Reiser, president of UTMB and CEO of UTMB Health, tells Becker’s Hospital Review. Becker’s spoke C-suite executives from hospitals, health systems, academic medical centers and universities across the U.S. to share their outlook on the future of hospital consolidation.

Following up on last week’s column, Drs. Megan Berman and Richard Rupp explain how maternal RSV vaccination works and how it can protect newborns from RSV.

“Mindful eating is purposefully taking the time to taste, chew, and enjoy your meal,” explains Dr. Samuel Mathis in his latest column. Taking time to mindfully eat your food has some surprising health benefits, he writes.

Medpage reports on a UTMB retrospective cohort study that linked GLP-1 receptor agonists to a lower risk of legal blindness in patients with type 2 diabetes and risk for cardiovascular disease. UTMB’s Dr. Praveena Gupta, Dr. Andrew G. Lee and UTMB medical student Ethan Jarrett, all authors on the study, were quoted in the Medpage article.

People diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called alopecia areata suffer from a disruption in hair growth that leaves them with patchy scalps and uneven hair, write Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel in their latest Medical Discovery News column. But new drugs are available that can restore hair growth.