Baby steps. It’s what it sometimes takes to just get started in changing habits or building the momentum needed to push through. Although five minutes a day doesn’t seem like much, the benefits of doing these incremental activities will make a profound difference in your professional life. From tried-and-true exercise habits to practice mindfulness, learn what you can start today to become a better doctor tomorrow.

This Research Article from Blood – available as a PDF – discusses two main points. First, antibody response to BNT162b2 mRNA COVID19 vaccine in CLL patients is markedly impaired and affected by disease activity and treatment. The second point shows that, in patients treated with either Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) or venetoclax ± anti-CD20 antibody, responses are relatively low.

From the pages of Blood Advances comes this Clinical Trials & Observations piece discussing the IDEAL trial. Backed by visual abstracts, tables, and charts supporting the data, the article explores two key points in augmenting chemotherapy efficacy: caloric restriction and using insulin and adiponectin as potential biomarkers of B-ALL chemosensitivity.

In this Q&A with Dr. Jorge Cortes, the Director of the Georgia Cancer Center, the drug asciminib is discussed based on its utility as a third-generation TKI as well as its favorable, unique characteristics. Early data has shown promising results with few adverse events, possibly illuminating the drug as a potential first-in-class agent.

Based on the Medicus Firm’s hundreds of job searches and placements across the US, the results are a case of good news and bad news. The bad? Elective procedures canceled, hiring slowed, and signing bonuses stalled. However, the good news is that those people canceling the elective procedures still need them, bringing about a necessary return to a high-demand healthcare environment.

This article from the American College of Physicians (ACP) provides a deeper dive into the pause of the J&J vaccine, which was recommended by the FDA and CDC on April 13, 2021, after six cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) among patients who had received the vaccine was reported. The pause is being done to determine whether the vaccine is associated with any other types of thrombosis and to develop more specific recommendations for its use, possibly based on age.