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The prognosis of pancreatic cancer is extremely poor and early diagnosis is difficult. At the time of diagnosis, local vascular involvement, nodal and distant metastases are frequently present. Currently, the best way of preoperative staging of pancreatic cancer is bolus-contrast, triple-phase helical computed tomography. However, the positive predictive value of the test is low, and approximately 25%-50% of patients predicted to have resectable disease on computed tomography turn out to have unresectable lesions at laparotomy.

HILTON HEAD, SC—Women are four times more likely than men to experience a broken forearm and require a cast (immobilization). To examine whether the effects of casting were similar between the sexes, researchers examined immobilized volunteers for a period of three weeks. They determined that while men were able to regain 99% of their strength within a week of removing the cast, women's strength was still 30% lower when compared to before the cast was applied. These finding may have implications for the treatment of fractures based on gender lines.

HILTON HEAD, SC—One out of every three Americans is obese. These individuals are at greater risk for additional diseases, since obesity leads to other health problems, such as diabetes.

Obesity-related complications are associated with an abnormal fat metabolism in the muscle. As a result, accumulated fat by-products inside the muscle affect insulin resistance. To avoid the build up of fat by-products, fat must either be oxidized (burned, as in exercise) or stored (as benign fat) in muscle.

Hilton Head, SC–Reactive oxygen species (ROS) occur as a by-product of aerobic metabolism and impair cellular function by damaging proteins, nucleotides and lipids. Organisms possess a variety of anti-oxidant mechanisms to mitigate the effects of ROS, and the oxidative stress model of aging and senescence suggests that physiological performance declines with age due to lifetime accrual of ROS-induced damage and progressively limited anti-oxidant capacity.

HILTON HEAD, SC—Statins are powerful drugs that reduce "bad" cholesterol and thus cut the risk of a heart attack. While these medications offer tremendous benefits to millions, they can carry side effects for some. The most frequently reported consequence is fatigue, and about nine percent of patients report statin-related pain. Both can be exacerbated when statin doses are increased, or physical activity is added. The results of a new study may offer another note of caution for high-dose statin patients.

Genomic signature sequences used by clinical researchers to detect, quantify and diagnose nucleic acid sequences are not inclusive enough. New research published today in BioMed Central's open access journal Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials shows that many published sequences are of unacceptably low sensitivity for most clinical applications.

An infant diet that includes fish before the age of 9 months curbs the risk of developing eczema, indicates research published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

The prevalence of atopic eczema and other allergic disease has risen sharply in developed countries in recent decades, say the authors. Environmental and dietary factors are thought to play a part.

A weak bladder is putting many young women off participating in sport, or prompting them to give it up altogether, suggests research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The prevalence of urinary stress incontinence, defined as an involuntary leakage of urine, is relatively high among women, with some research putting the figure as high as 46%.

The researchers asked 679 Italian women about whether they had ever had urinary stress incontinence. All them were still having regular periods, and took part in non-competitive sports.

In an editorial response to a report in the September 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine on the efficacy of intravenous thrombolysis treatment in the hours after acute ischemic stroke, Patrick Lyden, M.D., professor of neurosciences and director of the UC San Diego Stroke Center, cautions that the study should not be interpreted to mean that such therapy can be withheld for hours or even minutes.

Kidneys from older donors often do not survive long after transplantation because of certain structural dysfunctions that can occur as the kidney ages, according to a study appearing in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The findings indicate that the number of functioning glomeruli—the filtering units of the kidney—drops significantly with age, leading to a self-perpetuating injury in the rest of the kidney.

A landmark study indicating that angioplasty may not be cost effective for some stable heart disease patients and research indicating individualized consent forms may help patients make better decisions are among topics reported in the debut issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

The majority of infertility patients are in favor of using left-over embryos for stem cell research and would also support selling left-over embryos to other couples, according to a recent survey.

The survey is published in two related studies in the September issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility.

COLLEGE STATION, Sept. 24, 2008 — America's war on terror includes fighting the dark side of deadly chemical agents, and Texas A&M University chemist Dr. Frank Raushel is helping with the fight by developing an enzyme that might neutralize one such chemical agent, the organophosphates.

Ottawa, Canada - September 24, 2008 -Microbiologically contaminated water plagues approximately 1.1 billion people in rural and peri-urban populations in developing countries. Roughly 2.2 million people without safe access to drinking water die each year from the consumption of unsafe water, and most of them are children under 5 years of age.

St. Louis, Sept. 24, 2008 — Calorie restriction, a diet that is low in calories and high in nutrition, may not be as effective at extending life in people as it is in rodents, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.