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Simple blood test may help to predict cardiovascular risk in older women

White blood cell (WBC) count may predict cardiovascular events and risk of death in postmenopausal women who are not currently identified by traditional cardiovascular risk factors, according to an article in the March 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

14 Mar 2005

Gene identified that confers susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration

By combining the tools of high-throughput biology and statistical genetics, scientists at Rockefeller University, Yale University School of Public Health and the National Eye Institute have identified a gene that confers susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of vision loss in the United Sates for those over 60.

14 Mar 2005

Secondhand smoke causes breast cancer

A California agency, the Air Resources Board, which first linked secondhand smoke to heart disease, now says secondhand smoke causes breast cancer too.

10 Mar 2005

Maternal smoking during pregnancy associated with chromosomal abnormalities

A preliminary report suggests that maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with increased chromosomal abnormalities in fetal cells, according to a study in the current issue of JAMA.

9 Mar 2005

Finding may open new horizons for understanding the initiation of chemically induced cancers

A team from the chemistry and biology departments of New York University, in collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), has uncovered a conformational switch - a change in shape in a carcinogen-damaged DNA site - in tumor suppressor genes altered by a known cancer-causing chemical found in cigarette smoke.

9 Mar 2005

Efforts to improve the quality of post-heart attack care working better for men than for women

Efforts to improve the quality of post-heart attack care in hospitals are working - but they appear to be working better for men than for women, new research shows.

9 Mar 2005

Pregnant women who smoke risk their child getting cancer

Smoking has a wide range of possible consequences during and after pregnancy, such as infertility, coagulation problems, obstetric complications such as extrauterine pregnancy and placenta previa, and intrauterine growth retardation, according to background information in a recent study.

8 Mar 2005

Asthma relapse linked to allergies

Researchers have found that some children who supposedly outgrew their asthma saw it re-appear by the time they reached their mid-20s.

8 Mar 2005

Cigarette smoke worsens respiratory infections in infants

Studying Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) to learn what puts children at risk for the most severe infections, Washington University researchers at St. Louis Children's Hospital found that a child's age at the time of infection and whether that child lives with a smoker could mean the difference between the sniffles and the intensive care unit.

8 Mar 2005

Lung cancer rates among men are on the decline

Results of the most comprehensive analysis to date of the impact of gender differences in lung cancer incidence in the United States indicate that lung cancer rates among men are on the decline, while the rate in women remains steady.

8 Mar 2005

Asthma relapse in children common

One third of children with asthma who go into remission by the age of 18 will relapse and redevelop asthma by the time they are 26, says a new study published in the March issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.

8 Mar 2005

Keep laughing, its doing you more good than you realise

Dr. Michael Miller of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore showed two movies, one humorous, one stressful, to 20 healthy volunteers and tested the function of their blood vessels.

7 Mar 2005

Association between cigarette smoking and suicidal thoughts and attempts

Suicidal thoughts or attempts are associated with daily smoking in current smokers, but not former smokers, according to an article in Archives of General Psychiatry.

7 Mar 2005

Aspirin does not prevent first heart attacks or death from cardiovascular causes in women

The Women's Health Study is the first large clinical trial to study the use of low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attack and stroke in women.

7 Mar 2005

Underhand methods used to challenge secondhand smoke's link to infant death risk

The link between secondhand smoke and sudden infant death has been discredited in the last few years in scientific articles paid for and influenced by cigarette manufacturers, according to a new study of once-secret industry documents.

7 Mar 2005

First genetic marker to help identify ruptured brain aneurysm

Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered a genetic marker that may pave the way for a fast, inexpensive blood test to predict one type of deadly stroke that strikes 30,000 people in the United States annually.

6 Mar 2005

Prostate screenings could be used to encourage colon checks

Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in men, but according to a new University of Michigan Health System study, fewer than half of men surveyed were up-to-date with colon cancer screenings.

3 Mar 2005

Meditation may reduce heart disease risk

Black adolescents with high normal blood pressure who practice transcendental meditation improve the ability of their blood vessels to relax and may reduce their risk of becoming adults with cardiovascular disease, researchers say.

3 Mar 2005

Inflammation is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease among rheumatoid arthritis patients

Mayo Clinic epidemiologists have found that the systemic inflammation characterizing rheumatoid arthritis may be to blame for the increased risk of cardiovascular death in patients with the disease.

3 Mar 2005

Smoking prevention programs in junior high or high school have little influence on whether teens choose to light up

"Our study shows there is little evidence to suggest that existing school-based smoking prevention programs produce long-term reductions in smoking prevalence among youth," says the study's first author, Sarah Wiehe, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of pediatrics, Division of Children's Health Services Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

3 Mar 2005