This article is sponsored by SurgeryCR.com Medical Tourism Facilitators.

The Intercontinental Hotel in (Escazu) San Jose Costa Rica has been chosen as the site where the PROMED Council and the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) will host this year’s annual International Medical Tourism Travel Summit Conference. The summit/conference will take place from April 23rd through the 25th in the luxurious hotel located in Escazu.

For a quite some time now Costa Rica has been developing into a hotbed for medical tourism, making it one of the most popular destinations for travelers seeking high quality healthcare at reasonable prices. Last year’s conference proved to be successful, with over 500 attendees from 15 countries. Representatives from Latin American, North American, European, Caribbean, and Asian nations were all participants at the 2011 Summit. This year’s conference is set to smash past records and is already being heralded as “the most important Medical travel event in Central and South America in 2012”

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Costa Rica experienced her first heartbreak of the new year with the sad passing of Carmen Naranjo, one of the country’s most important literary figures and a highly respected citizen whose work to advance the interest and welfare of the citizenry will never be forgotten. Ms. Naranjo passed away from complications related to cancer. A national vigil has been scheduled for Wednesday evening at the Teatro Nacional.

Carmen Naranjo was born to a Costa Rican mother with a Sephardic Jewish bloodline. Her father was a gentleman from Spain who was instrumental in fostering his daughter’s deep interest in literature. Carmen’s gift at her quinceañera was a copy of El Siglo de Oro Español. That gift essentially sealed young Carmen’s destiny as a woman of literature.

Ms. Naranjo studied at Universidad de Costa Rica, and later performed postgraduate work in Mexico and Iowa. She represented her country in Israel as ambassador, before the United Nations, and the Organization of American States as well. She was a champion of universal health care and the rights of the common citizen. She truly loved her native land.

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According to La Nacion and the Costa Rican Red Cross, 2011 had 19 fewer overall reports of violent deaths than 2010.

In total, 2011 had 967 records of violent deaths while 2010 had 986. December was one of the months with the highest amount of incidents, a whopping 90 (16 more than 2010, though overall the year ended with less). Two of these deaths took place on the 31st. However, between July and April 96 were killed by various causes. One of the explanations offered for this was that the National Holidays of “Semana Santa” happened during April, while July was the month when public schools had their mid-year vacation period. Both of these events meant that large numbers of people traveled to the various rural areas of the country in order to enjoy their time off, which in turn signified more cars on the roads. November was the month with the fewest deaths with only 50 reports.

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The underlying mechanism of a promising study into cancer treatment was dissected in a scientific paper by Tico biomedical researchers years before it made headlines.

Ever since Canadian researchers at the University of Alberta announced their progress on the effects of dichloroacetate on human cells in 2007, there has been quite a bit of scientific controversy over the future of cancer research. The published results of the clinical trials in 2010 were certainly promising: dichloroacetate (DCA) alters the metabolism of cancer cells by cutting off their nutrition and weakening their stubborn resistance to existing pharmacokinetic therapies. The fact that DCA was discovered a very long time ago, and thus cannot be exclusively patented by the pharmaceutical industry, has lead to speculation about whether a cure for cancer is being snubbed by Big Pharma.

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