Body

A European study has defined the profile for the usage of long-acting contraceptive methods. The work, presented with the National Congress of Gynaecology award, shows, amongst other things, that 10% of women use these methods, the majority over 30 years old.

"Long-acting contraceptives (the IUD, contraceptive injection or contraceptive implant) are still not widely used", Sergio Haimovich, researcher at the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona and author of the study published in the European Journal Of Contraception And Reproductive Health Care, explains to SINC.

MALAWI—October 28, 2009—An analysis of three and half decades of maize research in African farming communities finds big benefits. A multi-country study, in Agricultural Economics, reports the significant role international maize research plays in reducing poverty. It finds that since the mid-1990s, more than one million people per year have escaped poverty through the adoption of new maize varieties.

Bold new strategies in the battle against cancer may turn forms of the disease that presently are incurable into manageable conditions that can be controlled for long periods of time, according to an article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

C&EN Senior Editor Lisa Jarvis notes that "molecularly targeted" drugs are having a major impact in treating cancer of the breast, colon, and other body parts. Those medications interfere with specific molecules involved in cancer's growth and spread. However, further advances are critical.

Migraine with aura (temporary visual or sensory disturbances before or during a migraine headache) is associated with a twofold increased risk of stroke, finds a study published on bmj.com today. Further risk factors for stroke among patients with migraine are being a woman, being young, being a smoker, and using oestrogen containing contraceptives.

The risk was highest among young women with migraine with aura who smoke and use oestrogen containing contraceptives.

The skin of that pumpkin you carve into a Jack-o'-Lantern to scare away ghosts and goblins on Halloween contains a substance that could put a scare into microbes that cause millions of cases of yeast infections in adults and infants each year. That's the conclusion of a new study in the current issue Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Foreign body ingestion is a frequent gastrointestinal emergency. However, long spoon swallowing is a rare event. Most swallowed spoons have been found in the stomach. Previously, there has been no reported case of a long spoon reaching the jejunum.

Offspring whose mothers had been supplemented with iron-folic acid during pregnancy had dramatically reduced mortality through age 7, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Researchers found that other supplement combinations, including the multiple micronutrient supplement, did not confer the same benefit. Nearly 40 percent of pregnant women worldwide are estimated to be anemic.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Pregnant women with significant symptoms of depression tend to have a stronger biological reaction to the seasonal flu vaccine than do women with lower depression levels, according to a new study.

The finding provides an argument in favor of flu vaccination during pregnancy, researchers say, because it suggests that the immune systems in depressed pregnant women are not functioning typically. This immune dysregulation could affect symptom severity among women who become infected with influenza.

Since the isolation and culture of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in 1983, this bacterium has become accepted as an important human pathogen for the development of gastritis, peptic ulcer, and gastric cancer. Cyclooxgenase-2 (COX-2) is a prostaglandin-synthesizing enzyme. Elevated expression of COX-2 is observed in a wide variety of human malignancies, including gastric cancer. Long-term high dose COX-2 inhibitors can inhibit gastric carcinogenesis in animal models, but the possible life-threatening cardiovascular adverse events limit its popular application.

Blood glucose levels in a lot of patients fed normal liquid food (NLF) and a high calorie diet (HCD) were high. There was no significant difference in the blood prealbumin levels. There was a significant increase in the blood cortisol levels in some patients. The stress of surgery may be tolerated by children by feeding up to 2 h before elective surgery.

Although Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) has been classified as a class I (or definite) carcinogen by World Health Organization (WHO), the controversy as to why only a minority of infected patients develop gastric cancer still remains. Moreover, in Asian countries such as Indonesia, Japan, China, and Thailand, where the H. pylori infection rates are similar, there is a significant difference regarding the outcome of gastric cancer. That fact has been termed the "Asian paradox".

MADISON, WI, OCTOBER 27, 2009 -- Worldwide demand for a safe and secure food supply is growing with plant breeding at the forefront of sustainability discussions; however many research programs have seen their funding decrease due to the erosion of traditional public or formula grants. Researchers are now turning to other sources for funding for their domestic and international plant breeding programs.

Hospitals that make greater use of inpatient diagnostic imaging exams achieve lower in-hospital mortality rates with little or no impact on costs, according to a peer-reviewed study of more than 1 million patient outcomes in more than 100 hospitals nationwide published in the November issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR).

Spain holds position number 16 in the world ranking of countries where people live happier for more years, according to the last update of the World Database of Happiness (WDB Hap) in whose preparation have collaborated researchers of different Spanish universities, such as the University of Granada.

Edmonton – Several new guidelines and position papers offering the most up to date information to ensure that clinicians practice evidence-based medicine were released at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2009 this week.

Among them are the following: