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Three dead in New Zealand from legionnaires' disease

Three people have died in an outbreak of legionnaires' disease in Christchurch, New Zealand.

9 Aug 2005

Disney terror ride real fright for British girl

Leanne Deacon, a 16-year-old British girl who suffered a cardiac arrest after riding on an attraction at Walt Disney's Florida park, has been flown home and is now in a UK hospital.

9 Aug 2005

New theory as to why some people die during sleep

According to scientists the reason why some people stop breathing fatally in their sleep, is because a cumulative loss of cells in the area of the brain that controls breathing triggers a condition called central sleep apnoea.

9 Aug 2005

U.S. ready to make bird flu vaccine

Even though officials in the United States say more testing needs to be done, the U.S. could begin mass production of an experimental avian flu vaccine by September.

9 Aug 2005

Testing for the activity of certain genes can predict response to chemotherapy for breast cancer

Breast cancer patients could find out whether they will respond positively to chemotherapy treatment by testing for the activity of certain genes.

9 Aug 2005

Hospital characteristics appear to be associated with use of do-not-resuscitate orders

Hospital characteristics, including size, non-profit status and affiliation with a university, appear to be associated with use of do-not-resuscitate orders (DNR) in California, independent of the patient's characteristics, according to a study in the August 8/22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

9 Aug 2005

First evaluation of California's much-watched ratios law

There has been much controversy regarding implementation of legislation to regulate hospital nurse-patient staffing ratios and its impact on patient safety and quality outcomes.

9 Aug 2005

MicroRNAs play an important role in regulating oogenesis

Researchers at Northwestern University and Carnegie Mellon University have found that a recently described class of molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in regulating oogenesis, the process by which females make eggs.

9 Aug 2005

Researchers develop new diagnostic methods to better detect future monkeypox or smallpox outbreaks

The research also sheds new light on the 2003 monkeypox outbreak in the Midwest - monkeypox is closely related to smallpox. This new information suggests that the 2003 outbreak was larger than the 72 cases reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

9 Aug 2005

DDT resistance in flies carries no cost

For those concerned with the troublesome effects of genetic resistance to drugs and pesticides, the conventional wisdom of evolution offers a reassuring word: In the absence of the original chemical threat, most resistance mutations would cause a disadvantage to their hosts and might be expected to quickly leave the genetic landscape once the use of a drug or insecticide is suspended or withdrawn.

9 Aug 2005

Mothers looking for employment face disadvantages

...including being less likely to be hired, being offered lower salaries and facing a perception that they would be less committed to a job than fathers or women without children, according to an experiment conducted by researchers at Cornell University.

9 Aug 2005

Study results reaffirm cyclin D1 as a candidate target for molecular therapeutic control of breast tumor development

For about a decade, scientists have recognized that many cases of hereditary breast cancer result from a mutation of a specific gene called BRCA1, which, in its normal state, helps keep tumor formation in check. About five to 10 percent of breast cancer cases arise from these genetic miscues, about half of which are linked to the abnormal functioning of BRCA1.

9 Aug 2005

Two minor changes in technique could make a major difference in the radiation dose used in survey CT scans

...a new study shows. Survey scans are those that are performed before a regular CT scan, usually to plan for the examination.

9 Aug 2005

Mosquitoes are most attracted to children infected with malarial parasite

Malaria remains a devastating problem in Africa and understanding the factors affecting its transmission remains a crucial part of the effort to combat the disease.

9 Aug 2005

Scientists identify protein that may inhibit cellular movement

Scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a protein that may inhibit cellular movement, or migration.

8 Aug 2005

Feeling depressed and fatigued does not increase a person's risk for cancer

...according to a new study. Severely exhausted people, however, do engage in behavior that is associated with a higher cancer risk.

8 Aug 2005

Failure to account for shift in tumor size can lead to overestimation of the impact of treatment advances

A new study finds that the size of newly diagnosed breast cancers has shifted towards smaller tumors, even within conventional cancer stage categories, and that this shift accounts for a proportion of the improvement seen in breast cancer survival over the last 30 years.

8 Aug 2005