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Take this MedPage Today survey on the practice of naming diseases after the doctors who discovered them.

CHICAGO -- A star chef with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue is undergoing aggressive chemoradiation hoping to avoid a resection that would cripple his sense of taste.

Respondents to a MedPage Today poll were almost equally split over whether bariatric surgery should be first-line therapy in the treatment of obesity, but most of those who said Yes did so with reservations.

PRESTON, England -- From Addision's disease to Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, medical eponyms remain ubiquitous in the literature in favor of more scientific descriptions of disease. Now comes a proposal to do away with Down's and its ilk.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Only six of the 17 declared candidates for President showed up at a two-day forum designed to bring cancer care to the forefront of campaign issues, but the discussion broadened into questions of overall health care.

BRISTOL, England -- Autistic children have an impaired ability to place unfamiliar faces in memory, possibly explaining some of the social difficulties associated with the disorder, investigators here concluded.

SEATTLE -- ZIP codes and property values will provide a better handle on the scope of the nation's obesity problem than income, race, or education, investigators here reported.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- When imatinib (Gleevec) therapy fails in Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), it may be because the B-cells involved lack a critical tumor suppressor gene, researchers here said.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A daily dose of crushed flaxseed halved hot flashes in postmenopausal women who did not want to take estrogen, according to a pilot study.

BRASILIA, Brazil -- A newly found mutation in one of the genes involved in sexual development prevents puberty in males but allows it to occur in females, researchers here said.

SYDNEY, Australia -- Acute restoration of fluid volume for patients with severe traumatic brain injury should be done with saline rather than albumin, researchers here found.

BALTIMORE -- The message that it's not smart to use cocaine has apparently gotten across to better educated people, found researchers here.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- For some genes involved in the development of lung cancer, smoking may be forever, according to researchers here.

LOS ANGELES -- The mutation that leads to Apert's syndrome may also confer a selective advantage on the germline cells that harbor it, researchers here said.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Untreated gestational diabetes nearly doubles the risk that offspring will be obese by kindergarten age, but treatment of maternal hyperglycemia can prevent it, said investigators here.

BALTIMORE -- The muscle-bound Mighty Mouse created by taking away one protein gets even mightier when another is added.

BOSTON -- Bright spots commonly seen on T1 magnetic resonance imaging brain scans of multiple sclerosis patients may help predict risk of disease progression, researchers here said.

NEW YORK -- Presurgical hypnosis may improve pain control during and after breast cancer surgery and cut costs as well, researchers said.