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Media coverage of clinical trials does not contain the elements readers require to make informed decisions. A comparison of the coverage received by pharmaceutical and herbal remedy trials, reported in the open access journal BMC Medicine, has revealed that it is rarely possible for the lay public to assess the credibility of the described research.

Hawai`i's ongoing problem with invasive species such as snails and slugs, including their serious impact on plant nurseries and other aspects of the local horticultural industry, has been investigated and documented by four University of Hawai`i at Mānoa researchers. It is the first documented baseline compilation of the distributions of all snail and slug species associated with the horticultural industry throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

Enormous cave bears, Ursus spelaeus, that once inhabited a large swathe of Europe, from Spain to the Urals, died out 27,800 years ago, around 13 millennia earlier than was previously believed, scientists have reported.

The new date coincides with a period of significant climate change, known as the Last Glacial Maximum, when a marked cooling in temperature resulted in the reduction or loss of vegetation forming the main component of the cave bears' diet.

Globally every year, obese people waste billions of pounds on food products that 'imply' that they aid weight loss, but are totally ineffective, says a nutritional expert on bmj.com today.

Professor Lean from the University of Glasgow, is hopeful that a new European Union (EU) Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices, adopted this year in UK, will finally protect vulnerable consumers who are tricked into to buying useless food products or supplements in attempts to combat their disease.

Researchers at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Canada, have discovered that adiponectin, a protein secreted from adipocytes, is a metabolic link that can explain, in part, the known positive relationship between obesity and both bone mineral density and reduced susceptibility to fractures. This study appears in the December issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine. Circulating adiponectin levels are significantly lower in obese humans and rodent models than in lean controls.

NEW YORK (Nov. 25, 2008) -- Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest and most difficult to treat cancers. Now, in a major step forward, researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center have shown that administering radiation therapy prior to surgery nearly doubles survival in pancreatic cancer patients with operable tumors.

CHICAGO (November 25, 2008) - Do you regularly take aspirin or antiplatelet medications? Do you know whether or not these drugs should be stopped before dental procedures or surgeries? According to a study published in the May/June issue of General Dentistry, the clinical, peer-reviewed journal of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD), stopping antiplatelet medications prior to a surgical procedure places a patient at greater risk of permanent disability or death.

CHICAGO (November 25, 2008) - You see it in movies or while viewing your favorite sitcom; a scene at the doctor's office where the character inevitably gets a little woozy which leads to a fainting spell. It may seem funny when watching it all unfold on television, but according to a study in the May/June 2008 issue of General Dentistry, the Academy of General Dentistry's (AGD) clinical, peer-reviewed journal, this type of reaction, in real life settings, these breath-holding scenarios are the most common emergency situation in the dental office.

Systematic use of pelvic lymphadenectomy (removal of the lymph nodes) does not improve disease-free or overall survival in women with early-stage endometrial cancer, according to a randomized trial published online November 25 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The first site of metastasis for endometrial cancer is often the pelvic lymph nodes. However, few prospective studies have examined whether systematic removal of the pelvic lymph nodes improves patient outcomes.

Alerting surgeons when their breast cancer patients did not attend a follow-up consultation with a medical oncologist was associated with a reduction in racial disparities in adjuvant therapy, according to a non-randomized study published in the November 25 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The overall incidence of cancer and death due to cancer dropped for the first time in men and women in the United States, according to a report published in the November 25 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

BOSTON – November 25, 2008 – A new study led by researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School has found that a common genetic variant associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) in the general population is also linked to an even higher risk for people with diabetes, particularly those with poor glucose control.

CHICAGO – Following introduction of a new system in 2002 to determine the allocation of donated livers, black patients no longer are less likely to receive a liver transplant, but disparities for women remain, according to a study in the November 26 issue of JAMA.

Medicare patients who receive ventricular assist devices (a type of heart pump) have high rates of death, illness, prolonged hospital stays, with resulting high costs of care, according to a study in the November 26 issue of JAMA.

An analysis of randomized trials indicates that use of inhaled corticosteroids for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) does not improve the rate of survival after one year, but is associated with an increased risk of pneumonia, according to an article in the November 26 issue of JAMA.