Body

The most popular method of breast cancer detection today is X-ray mammography, which takes images of a compressed breast by low-dose ionizing radiation. However, there are several disadvantages to using X-rays for breast cancer screening, chief among them being the invasivity of radiation and the high costs, which limit their wide use and can deter women from getting them. In addition, depending on the age of the patient and tissue density, X-ray mammograms often result in false positives and negatives.

PITTSBURGH, July 7 – Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified key players in a little-known biochemical pathway that appears to regulate blood pressure. The findings, reported in the early online version of Cardiovascular Research, have evolved from studies conducted by Jeffrey S. Isenberg, M.D., Eileen M. Bauer, Ph.D., and their colleagues at Pitt's Vascular Medicine Institute.

Philadelphia, PA, July 7, 2010 – Approximately 10% of low back pain (LBP) sufferers experience persistent pain and significant disability. In a study published in the August issue of Pain, a group of Australian researchers investigating the relevance of health literacy in patients with chronic lower back pain (CLBP) found that LBP-related beliefs and behaviors affect a person's disability more than pain intensity or a standard measure of functional health literacy.

An expensive treatment recommended for a genetic disorder called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency has no proven clinical benefit, according to a systematic review by Cochrane Researchers. The disorder causes chronic lung disease and the review concludes that considering the lack of evidence for its benefits, and possible adverse effects, the treatment should not be recommended.

In this week's BMJ, a group of senior doctors say they have no evidence that the four hour A&E target benefits clinical care. They also argue that it has encouraged target led rather than needs led care.

The UK four hour standard for processing patients attending emergency departments was introduced at 90% in 2004 and has sat at 98% since 2005, write Suzanne Mason and colleagues in a letter to the journal.

Last week, this target was relaxed to 95% by the new coalition government.

It's seen as a sign of getting old, but scientists have discovered that arthritis is not just a human problem as a study lasting 50 years reveals how moose suffer from an identical form of the condition. The research, published in Ecology Letters, also casts new light on how malnutrition early in life can lead to the disorder in both moose and humans.

Suicide barriers on bridges might not reduce overall suicide rates by jumping from heights, as people may change location for their suicide attempt, according to a new study published on bmj.com today.

Researchers from Canada found that the overall suicide rate (by any means) in Toronto reduced after a barrier was erected at one particular bridge known for a high suicide rate, but suicides from jumping remained the same.

In the fourth of five papers in the PLoS Medicine series on maternal, neonatal, and child health in sub-Saharan Africa, Valerie Snewin from the Wellcome Trust and colleagues discuss the challenges of implementation and research capacity in Africa. While technical knowledge about what could be done to address death and disability associated with maternal, newborn, and child health is available, actual implementation is neither straightforward nor easy in the often difficult circumstances on the ground, say the authors.

In 2007, an estimated 656 million fevers occurred in African children aged 0-4 years, with 78 million children of the 183 million attending a public health care facility likely to have been infected with P. falciparum (range 60-103 million), the parasite that causes the most dangerous form of malaria. These findings come from a modelling system devised by Peter Gething and colleagues from the Malaria Atlas Project, a multinational team of researchers funded mainly by the Wellcome Trust.

Researchers at NUI Galway have made a discovery that could lead to the development of more effective treatments for a number of diseases. They have shown that a protein produced when cells are stressed interacts with a stress sensor allowing cells to survive conditions of intense stress. Understanding this interaction may help scientists interfere with cancer cells so the cells can no longer survive exposure to stressful conditions. These findings are published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology.

In this study, Shuichi Takeda at Nagoya University and colleagues present the X-ray crystal structures of the actin capping protein (CP) complexed with its inhibitors, V-1 and CARMIL, and demonstrate that the two regulators modulate the filament capping activity in very different manners. These findings will be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology.

Chapel Hill, NC – In its early stages, prostate cancer requires androgens (hormones that promote the development and maintenance of male sex characteristics) for growth, and current first-line therapies target the receptor for these hormones to slow cancer's development and spread.

However, advanced prostate cancers are often androgen-independent, meaning that androgen-blocking therapies are ineffective.

There is significant variation among lung transplant centers in the U.S. in the 5-year survival rate of patients, with a higher number of procedures performed at a center only partly associated with longer survival of patients, according to a study in the July 7 issue of JAMA.

A new study suggests that shorter length of leukocyte telomeres – chromosome markers of biological aging – are associated with an increased risk of cancer and death from cancer, according to a study in the July 7 issue of JAMA. A leukocyte is a type of blood cell.

Patients with hypertension, diabetes and coronary artery disease who maintained their systolic blood pressure at less than 130 mm Hg did not have improved cardiovascular outcomes compared to patients with usual blood pressure control, according to a study in the July 7 issue of JAMA.

"Hypertension guidelines advocate treating systolic blood pressure (BP) to less than 130 mm Hg for patients with diabetes mellitus; however, data are lacking for the growing population who also have coronary artery disease (CAD)," according to background information in the article.