Body

A study of a large group of adults who underwent bariatric surgery finds that the risk for self-harm emergencies increased after the surgery, according to a study published online by JAMA Surgery.

Online advertising may be a feasible way to deliver targeted prevention messages related to indoor tanning and skin cancer, according to an article published online by JAMA Dermatology.

Skin cancer is more common than all other cancers combined and indoor tanning is a preventable risk factor that accounts for more than 450,000 new malignant neoplasms (cancers) each year. Awareness of the dangers of tanning beds is one factor that can lead to behavior change.

Women who served in Vietnam have higher odds of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than women stationed during that era in the United States, and this effect appears to be associated with wartime exposures including sexual discrimination or harassment and job performance pressures, according to an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry.

Gay and bisexual men were up to six times more likely than heterosexual men to take part in indoor tanning, and twice as likely to report a history of skin cancer, including nonmelanoma and melanoma, according to a study led by UC San Francisco researchers.

Conversely, gay and bisexual women were half as likely as heterosexual women to report both indoor tanning and non-melanoma skin cancer, according to the study, led by Sarah Arron, MD, PhD, a UCSF associate professor of dermatology.

Online advertising based on Google search terms is a potentially effective way to deliver targeted cancer prevention education, according to a study led by Eleni Linos, MD, DrPH, an assistant professor of dermatology at UC San Francisco.

Indoor tanning is a preventable risk factor for skin cancer that accounts for almost half a million new malignancies per year, said Linos. "More than one in five adolescents and more than half of all college students use tanning beds, which makes them especially vulnerable," she said.

BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA, and CARDIFF, UK -- Researchers at the University of Arizona (UA) have developed a prototype of a new microscope technology that could help surgeons work with a greater degree of accuracy. The new technology, call augmented microscopy, overlays images depicting diagnostic information such as blood flow and cancerous tissue over real images of blood vessels and other tissues and structures being viewed in the microscope.

(PHILADELPHIA) - Bone marrow transplantation is a life-saving therapy for many patients with blood cancers like leukemias and lymphomas. Currently, the gold standard blood-generating stem cells are obtained from a donor, a sibling, with a perfect match to the patient in order to minimize the chance of rejection and other complications. However, not all patients will have a perfectly matched sibling. Some cancer centers have begun to explore whether half-matched donors might work just as well.

This news release is available in French.

Women who have ovarian tissue removed, stored and then transplanted back to them at a later date have a good chance of successfully becoming pregnant, according to a review of the largest series of ovarian transplants performed worldwide.

Scientists have long theorized that the long neck of modern-day giraffes evolved to enable them to find more vegetation or to develop a specialized method of fighting.

A new study of fossil cervical vertebrae reveals the evolution likely occurred in several stages as one of the animal's neck vertebrae stretched first toward the head and then toward the tail a few million years later. The study's authors say the research shows, for the first time, the specifics of the evolutionary transformation in extinct species within the giraffe family.

Catching cancers when they are small still makes a difference to survival, even in the current era of more effective therapies, suggests a study of breast cancer patients in The BMJ this week.

The research team, based in the Netherlands, say that traditional factors such as tumour size and number of positive lymph nodes "still have a significant and major influence on overall mortality independent of age and tumour biology."

Over the past 40 years, deaths from bowel (colorectal) cancer have been falling in an increasing number of European countries. Yet considerable disparities still exist between men and women and between specific regions in Europe, finds a study in The BMJ this week.

Colorectal cancer is a major public health issue in most western countries. Over the past two decades, mortality has been steadily decreasing in many European countries, mainly due to a reduction in risk factors such as smoking and alcohol intake, greater participation in screening, and advances in treatments.

A study comparing preferences and willingness to pay for end-of-life treatments between advanced cancer patients and the general population of older adults has shown that patients are willing to pay more for all aspects of a good end-of-life experience compared to what healthy older adults believe they would pay if in a similar situation. Yet, both groups are willing to pay more to be free of pain and to die at home rather than for treatments that moderately extend life.

PHILADELPHIA - Rhythmic expression of key genes is essential for maintaining proper timekeeping of the body's clock. In addition, rhythmic degradation of clockwork proteins is also crucial. However, surprisingly, researchers know little about these specific processes.

MANHATTAN, Kansas -- Kansas State University wheat scientists have completed the first study of a chromosome in a tertiary gene pool and have called it a breakthrough in exploring wheat wild relatives for future crop improvement.

Their study, "Exploring the tertiary gene pool of bread wheat: sequence assembly and analysis of chromosome 5M of Aegilops geniculata," was published Sept. 27 in The Plant Journal.