Fine-tuning freezing improves fertility rate
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By using sodium-deleted, choline-substituted culture medium and a slow-freeze, rapid-thaw protocol, researchers in Los Angeles have achieved pregnancy success rates of 63 percent resulting from the use of frozen eggs (oocytes).
Dr. John K. Jain and his associates at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California reported their institution’s outcomes at the annual meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine in Montreal.
Marital status doesn’t affect breast cancer outcome
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A woman’s marital status does not affect the outcome after surgery and radiation for breast cancer and should not be a factor in choosing treatment, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers reported this week at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology (ASTRO) in Denver, Colorado.
Dr. Shelly B. Hayes presented results of a study of 2,143 women with early-stage breast cancer treated with lumpectomy, which involves surgical removal of the tumor only, and radiation between 1984 and 2003. Women were divided into four groups, according to marital status. Overall, 65 percent were married, 10 percent were single, 10 percent were divorced and 18 percent were widowed.
Risk factors for BC death same for blacks, whites
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African-American women are known to be more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, yet new study findings show that the factors associated with an increased risk of death from the condition are similar in both groups.
“This study found that major known risk factors do not vary considerably between these two groups, so this study underscores the need for all women to follow breast cancer screening guidelines,” said study author Dr. Marjorie L. McCullough, of the Atlanta-based American Cancer Society.
Impotence drugs need stronger warning
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Drugs to treat erectile dysfunction need stronger warnings on their packaging about the risk of blindness, U.S. consumer group Public Citizen said on Thursday in a petition filed with health regulators.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should “immediately add a black box warning regarding the risks of drug-induced blindness for the three phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors that are prescribed for the treatment of erectile dysfunction,” Public Citizen’s Health Research Group wrote.
Debate Over Wider Use of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis
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Preimplantation genetic diagnosis—first used in assisted reproduction 15 years ago—is becoming more and more widely used. But whether it should be employed universally drew heated debate here.
Researchers here say that data show preimplantation genetic diagnosis is becoming accurate to the point that in some settings it can dramatically improve the rate of successful pregnancies by winnowing out all but the completely normal embryos.
Incidence of Acute Lung Injury Higher Than Previously Thought
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There may be a lot more cases of acute lung injury in the United States than previous estimates suggested—perhaps 2.5 to five times as much.
An estimated 190,600 cases of acute lung injury occur each year that result in 3.6 million hospital stays and 74,500 deaths, Gordon D. Rubenfeld, M.D., and colleagues of the University of Washington here reported in the Oct. 20 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Abused Boys Prone to Psychiatric Ailments and Future Violence
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Boys who are physically abused, often by their mothers, have a heightened risk of psychiatric illnesses, legal troubles, violent behavior, and doing prison time as adults, researchers here reported.
A random telephone survey of 197 men here found a history of childhood physical abuse to be significantly associated with depression (P=0.003), post-traumatic stress disorder (P<0.001), the number of lifetime sexual partners (P=0.035), legal troubles (P=0.002), and incarceration (P=0.007), investigators reported in the Oct. 18 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
HIV Patients Perceive Discrimination by Physicians
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Many doctors don’t gladly welcome HIV patients—or so the patients perceive.
One in four HIV-infected adults reported that they had experienced discrimination by a healthcare provider, with more than half citing their physicians as offenders, according to a large nationally representative study.
Serve more food and they will eat it
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If you eat too much fattening food one day, don’t count on yourself to be good the next day and eat less.
People offered large meals will eat them day after day, according to a study released on Wednesday at a conference of North American obesity researchers in Vancouver.
Most airlines agree to regular water monitoring
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Most U.S. airlines have agreed to regularly monitor water on their planes after some samples taken from commercial aircraft last year were not safe to drink, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Wednesday.
It said 11 major airlines and 13 smaller ones reached agreement with the agency to routinely analyze on-board water supplies for bacteria and other contaminants and disinfect aircraft water systems serving galleys and bathrooms.
Herceptin very effective in HER2+ breast cancer
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Two studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine show that treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin; Roche) can dramatically improve outcomes in women with breast cancers that are HER2-positive.
HER2 overexpression occurs in approximately 15 percent to 25 percent of breast cancers and is associated with a worse prognosis than HER2-negative tumors.
Ambulatory Management of Childhood Obesity
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Objective: Childhood obesity is one of the most challenging issues facing healthcare providers today. The aims of this study were to describe the ambulatory management of childhood obesity by pediatricians (PDs) and family physicians (FPs) and to evaluate knowledge of and adherence to published recommendations.
Research Methods and Procedures: A 42-item, self-administered questionnaire was mailed to 1207 randomly selected primary care physicians (PDs = 700, FPs = 507) between September 2001 and January 2002.
Cognitive Change in Obese Adolescents Losing Weight
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Objectives: To investigate how obese adolescents think about themselves in terms of exercise, eating, and appearance and whether these cognitions change over the course of a residential weight loss camp.
Research Methods and Procedures: Obese adolescents [N = 61; age, 14.1 (±0.2) years; BMI, 33.9 (±0.7) kg/m2] completed assessments of body weight and height and self-esteem and a sentence-completion test eliciting thoughts and beliefs about exercise, eating, and appearance at the start and end of the camp (mean stay, 26 days). They were compared with a single assessment of 20 normal-weight adolescents [age, 15.4 (±0.2) years; BMI, 21.8 (±0.5) kg/m2].
UK plans mass vaccination against pandemic flu
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Britain plans to buy enough vaccine to protect the entire population in case a deadly bird flu virus develops into a pandemic strain capable of killing millions of people, the government said on Wednesday.
Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson said vaccine manufacturers are being invited to tender contracts to supply 120 million doses, enough for two shots per person, once the pandemic strain is known.
Many young children don’t get enough sleep
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A survey being released on Wednesday shows what millions of groggy parents already know: Many babies and toddlers do not get enough sleep.
Twenty-six percent of parents of children up to four years old said in a recent survey that their child gets less than enough sleep. The survey was commissioned by Pampers and conducted with the nonprofit National Sleep Foundation (NSF).
