Body

A mobile outreach program staffed by current and former sex workers is associated with increased entry to detoxification and residential drug treatment among women in street-based sex work, according to an evaluation led by the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) and the University of British Columbia (UBC).

At a press conference held in Brussels today, the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), the Belgian Bone Club and the European Parliament Osteoporosis Interest Group called on health care professionals and health policy officials in Europe to take action to prevent spinal fractures. The call to action was made at the launch of a unique photographic essay, 'snap! the breaking spine', leading up to World Osteoporosis Day on October 20, 2010.

Comprehensive new guidelines from the Osteoporosis Canada aimed at preventing fragility fractures in women and men over the age of 50 are published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100771.pdf.

Hospital patients admitted with malnutrition or who don't eat for several days are at greater risk of a prolonged hospital stay, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj091977.pdf.

Having a family history of breast cancer can lead some people to wonder if their risk is out of their control. However, a study of more than 85,000 postmenopausal women observed that regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, and drinking less alcohol lowers breast cancer risk for women with, and without a family history of the disease.

Gardeners could help maintain bumblebee populations by growing plants with red flowers or flowers with stripes along the veins, according to field observations of the common snapdragon, Antirrhinum majus, at the John Innes Centre in the UK.

"You don't have to go out into the woods anymore," says tick expert Brian F. Allan, PhD, who just completed a postdoctoral appointment at Washington University in St. Louis. "The deer are bringing tick-borne disease to us."

So, it stands to reason that anything deer like, might increase the risk of tick-borne disease for people.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- University of Florida researchers presenting new fossil evidence of an exceptionally well-preserved 55-million-year-old North American mammal have found it shares a common ancestor with rodents and primates, including humans.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Women with epilepsy may be more likely to experience infertility, according to new research published in the October 12, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study of women in India found that women with epilepsy experienced infertility at more than twice the rate of that found in the general population. The research also found that women who were taking multiple epilepsy drugs were more likely to be infertile than those taking fewer drugs or no drugs for epilepsy.

Use of folic acid supplements appears to lower blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine—theorized to be a risk factor for heart and blood vessel disease—but does not appear to be associated with reduced rates of cardiovascular events, cancer or death over a five-year period, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies in the October 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Insulin resistance, a condition in which insulin produced by the body becomes less effective in reducing blood glucose levels, appears to be associated with an increased risk of stroke in individuals without diabetes, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The number of Medicare recipients undergoing treatment for retinal conditions nearly doubled between 1997 and 2007, with significant shifts in the types of procedures most commonly performed, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Newer treatments for age-related macular degeneration (AMD)—including an intravitreous (into the eye) injection of a chemotherapy drug and use of a related compound approved for use against the eye disease—do not appear to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular complications or death when compared with existing therapies, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Adding topotecan to carboplatin plus paclitaxel, the standard treatment for ovarian cancer, does not improve progression-free survival in patients and leads to greater toxicity, according to a study published online October 11 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.